Building a new house

Today was a beautifully sunny autumn day, and we headed over to Gellifor for a bit of a walk and a look around the house. It's the first time for a while that we've been there out of hours, so a chance to walk the scaffolding and see things close up, now that that the guttering has been added. the garage/workshop awaits its roof and doors we shall have something like this view towards the village from bedroom 1 the guttering is now in place, but the downpipes will be added after the rendering and weatherboarding have been added interesting corner detail, with the lead valley nudged to guide the rain water looking along one side of bedroom 1..... ....and back along the other side the roof vent is for the extractor fan of bedroom 2's ensuite neat lead details around the chimney.... .....and again proof that the ridge tiles are mortared in place, though more discreetly than used to be the style another valley nudge from the back, down the kitchen side, with Liz standing just o...

As the week comes to an end, the basis of the garage gable has emerged, and Rob has continued the long job of fixing cables and putting back boxes in place as part of the first-fix electrics. We can now also see the network of timbers which has been put in place downstairs to create the void beneath the floor into which the pipes for the sprinkler system (compulsory now in all buildings in Wales) will go. This complicates the possible future business of fixing things like a sheila maid (drying rack) to the ceiling, so the photographs will serve as a reminder as to where suitable fixing points may be. the front view keeps changing, if only slightly - the gable blocks will be extended to meet the roof trusses when they are in place provision for incoming water and electricity in the garage/workshop the electrical distribution box will go above the downstairs heating manifold in a utility room cupboard someone in the shadows by the back/side door for ceiling fixings, there's a batten ...

The last few days have been pretty horrible with torrential showers and longer periods of rain. We're full of admiration for our block-layers, who have kept going on the garage throughout, and for our electrical team and, today, our joiners who at least had the benefit of working under a roof. We haven't yet had the roof-lights over the dining room and porch fitted, so it's not all dry inside. We're looking to the second week of November (hopefully) for our windows to be fitted. Quite a change now that the garage walls are up and the studwork downstairs is in place. the plan is that the garage/workshop will 'soften' the front gable - and one day the forecourt will have the hardcore removed garage walls supporting the lintel and awaiting the mid-wall buttresses very neat to have had the roof truss fixed in position on the front wall as a guide very impressed with the neat joinery for our hall cupboard - it will be an interesting plastering challenge yesterday the...

We are still waiting for confirmation of the plans for the (replacement) air source heating system, but in the meantime the first-fix electrical work has started, and cables are sprouting here and there around the house. Because the ground floor is solid, the bulk of the wiring will be in the ground floor ceiling / upstairs underfloor. It's important that we agree with the contractor this week everything that we will need, as once the plastering is done on top of the cabling there are few options left. Some of the scaffolding at the front of the house has been removed to allow the garage to be built. The water supply will come into the property through the garage, so the utility company won't come to site until the garage is roofed. We have been given November 10 as the delivery date for our windows, and Openreach have today quoted a 12 weeks' wait for a surveyor to come to see how our telephone/internet service will be routed to the house. S is for socket - the first part ...

Last week was to have been drilling week - the plan being to sink two boreholes each of 130m in depth, to suck warmth from the earth which our ground source heat pump would transfer to our underfloor heating and domestic hot water supply. Things started well, and a million pounds worth of radio-controlled drilling equipment made a dramatic entry to Gellifor and our plot. somewhat amazingly, the transporter was only in position for a little over 5 minutes even more amazingly, the rig is being controlled remotely from the little orange box on the technician's waistbelt so here we are, almost ready for action this is the business end and this is the top of the rig a small selection of the rest of the kit (borehole grout and the smaller of two compressors on site) It was the team's intention to spend day one setting up, prior to completing a borehole on each of the following days. However, in the middle of the afternoon, a significant telephone call came from head office - a last m...