Filling in the blanks... part due

July 2014, we were now frantically getting ready to move in. All the major works on the house were completed but it is amazing how much time the finishing (and preparing to finish) takes. July seemed to be a really good month for progress, with very visible things happening. 

Starting with the upstairs bathroom. After watching the dry lining being done I decided that I would have a go myself in the upstairs bathroom and made the frame, fixed the plasterboard and tape and jointed. At best it would look alright and at worst it was in the back of the bathroom so wouldn't matter anyway! I don't think it ended up too bad and we have another useful little storage box. 

A bit messy but looks OK, pipe work boxed in

Bathroom floor down ready for painting and tiling

Oak shelf, cut, fitted, oiled and ready for the bathroom suite and radiator 

Tiling taking shape

Reclaimed toiled and sink plumbed in and fitted. Radiator sat on the oak shelf.

Bathroom feature wall

Josh's room all cleaned up and ready for underlay and floorboards to go down.

Nearly there, last couple of boards and Josh room floor will be done

Engineered oak flooring in Olivias room , starting to look like a home upstairs

We've put the same engineered flooring through the upstairs rooms 

While the upstairs progressed, downstairs the Oak architrave and skirting boards also were being fitted. The oak was sourced from a local timber yard just down the road in Mortimers Cross (Good Brothers). We used them for quite a bit of the internal oak finishes as I found them very helpful and the timescales they were able to turn around orders also suited our build. I also hadn't forgotten how they managed to turn around the door linings within a couple of days earlier in the build, which meant the plaster boarding wasn't delayed. 

Oak architrave and skirting boards downstairs

Mitred joints and screw and plug fixing

Caps ready to fill the holes in the oak

Oak ledge doors hung

The quartze worktop supplied and installed by Fontoura in Leominster. Just 7 days from the templating the worktop was installed and the kitchen started to feel like a useable space. 

While the inside progressed a lot was happening on the outside as well.

The sceptic tank - we now have somewhere for the waste to go, which is the last thing that would enable us to move in. 

 Lighting up the oak and sitting area outside the french doors. When we have time for BBQs!

Outside lights by the front and rear doors. A bargain of the interweb. 

Really happy with the Lindab galvanised steel guttering, especially against the roof tiles and grey timber cladding. 

Thats it for now, thanks for looking! Tim 

Behind the scenes... Boarded exciting times..

I haven't written a blog for over a month now, and this is a direct result of how busy we've been on the build. Without doubt the last month has been the toughest and most intense we've had during the build process and just to make it that little bit harder to identify with - most of the hard work has now been hidden behind the plasterboard!!!

Still on view however are window sills, door linings, cupboard door linings, bathroom shelves and that's about it - behind the scenes have been noggins, lots of noggins (to attach the plasterboard to)! Insulation finally finished, more stud walls/frames, sound deadening insulation between walls and floors. I dread to think how many hours we've put into the house over the last month. It's been really tough because this has been combined with our normal working lives.It's amazing how much work has to happen that is invisible after the plasterboard is up.

Stud wall built to hide bathroom soil pipe

Under Eves Cupboards upstairs frames out for plasterboard

Stud wall to create service gap between internal brick wall and hallway

Oak window boards, cut and fixed - and covered to protect them!

Knauf Earthwool Acoustic sound deadening insulation in stud walls between rooms

Knauf Acoustic sound deadening between ground and first floor

Vapour barrier between Kingspan K18 37.5mm insulated platerboard and frame

Upstairs Bedrooms enveloped in Kingspan 37.5 Thermal Plasterboard

The May day bank holiday, we set ourselves a target of what we needed to do by the end of the Monday (make the Eclisse pocket door frame and install it complete with plasterboard, make the cupboard door lining downstairs by the back door, cover the window sills to protect them, tape all the oak that beams and linings that have edges against the plasterboard, remove the kitchen temporarily from the house and have a really good clean up) - for the first time in ages we managed to complete everything we wanted to do and before 6 pm!

Moisture resistant plaster board in bathroom

Eclisse pocket door frame made & fitted

Pocket door boarded ready for drylining

 

Hallway looking into bathroom / Knauf Aqua Panels for tiled areas in shower room (and shower)

Under eves cupboards boarded out - the frame I made obviously did the job!

Throughout the house we've used as much sound deadening as possible to try to reduce the noise transfer. This has included using Gyproc 12.5mm sound deadening plasterboard on all stud walls between rooms and 15mm on the ground floor ceiling. On external walls and upstairs ceilings, we've used Kingspan K18 insulated plasterboard (25mm insulation mechanically fixed to 12.5mm plasterboard), in the upstairs bathroom we've used moisture resistant boards and in the downstairs shower room we've used moisture boards and in the shower/tiled areas we've used Knauf aqua panels. Herefordshire Drylining have done our boarding and are also doing the drylining. 

Drylining - taping & jointing 1st coat underway

Liv's bedroom (still don't understand why we haven't got the biggest bedroom!!!)

So there we are for now. This weekend will be really exciting because Saturday I am helping to fit the stairs (guess what the next blog will be about)!! Next week the tape and jointing will be finished and sanded ready for painting, the window opening/catching issue will be resolved and subject to that being OK, they will be re-decorated. 

It really feels like we are on the home straight now, still plenty to do but we have a house taking shape!