Building a new house

We had what seemed to be a good meeting on Friday with our new renewables contractor, Keith Bentley, his chosen borehole driller, Sam from Dragon Drilling, and Pat. We now await a new quotation for the heating and PV systems, with work on the roof covering (we've finally chosen in-roof panels) and drilling due to start within a couple of weeks. Ian the joiner is off on holiday now but has completed the covering of the gable end timbers, so we are hopeful that the felting and battening may start soon. The roof structure inspection is due to take place tomorrow. we are looking for crisp lines with the black gable boards fascia boards will also all be black some detailing remains to be completed we are not expecting the chimney pot to be placed for some time yet this is the rear gable of bedroom 2 this view through the house from the back to the front door will remain the ladder is where the upper part of the staircase will be neat gable detailing

We are in the middle of a mini-heatwave here, but work has been continuing at the plot. We missed a daily visit yesterday, but were rewarded this evening with more roof joinery completed, including valleys and finished gables, and completed blockwork on all the gables, together with an extra steel joist installed upstairs on the only solid first floor wall (the remainder will be timber stud walls). The last building control visit for the superstructure is scheduled for Thursday, and on Friday we are hoping to meet the boss of the renewables company which will probably take over the work from South West Heat Pumps, who have gently withdrawn from the job because of the distance (and, we suspect, their workload as the end of RHI approaches early next year). The new company, Bentley Bespoke Renewables, come recommended by SWHP and use 'their' ground source heat pump, made by Clausius. the gables have sharp lines now upstairs internal block wall and steel the rear bedroom 1 gable se...

There is a lot of work to do on this kind of roof even after the main trusses have been put in place. There are the complications of placing the rafters over the double height entrance area, which will be lit by Velux windows, and a lot of valleys have to be constructed. Ian the joiner has been on site all week (fortified by another batch of brownies today) and the blockwork duo have also been hard at it, building up both skins of the gables and constructing the flue and chimney (which is rather trickily tapered from ground to top). It's looking more and more like a house. the view from the road is becoming familiar now, with the front gables fitting in with next door the left-hand gable encloses a void, but breaks up the mass of the frontage looking up from the hall past where the staircase will be - the wider gaps will have velux windows and this will be the velux in bedroom 3 we have a chimney (and a departing Elizabeth) here's the bottom of the flue in the sitting room and ...

We're pleased that so much has been done on the roof in the last couple of days. The main shape is now clear, with a small gable to the front and the rafters over the staircase to be completed.  Then the valleys will be lined and the carpenters' work will be done. We have photographed the structure from all angles and continue to be pleased with the way it sits in the plot. It obviously benefits from the established trees around it, but given that it's not too far from neighbouring properties we feel that it fits well and, when finished, will not look as if the space has been invaded. Some of these photographs are included because I like the geometric shapes, and some because I like the joinery detailing. from across the field from the road, rising above our next-door neighbours' outbuilding from the front looking up through both the floor joists and the roof structure Elizabeth looking up the imaginary staircase again, roof above joists this will be the roof above bedr...