Building a new house

After a few very rainy days, today we went to the house and had it to ourselves with no one working there. We have been leaping ahead of ourselves, talking about blinds and curtains, so we wanted to remind ourselves of the window surrounds and which openings might not need any closures at all. I wanted to record some of the details of the wiring work that Rob has done and the plumbing done by Sion - all this work will be covered when the plastering starts. We were also thinking again about what kind of shower closures to have in the different places. I did a minor repair to the temporary fencing in case our local farmer reintroduces cattle to the field now that the maize has been cut. I think it's the wrong time of year for him to do this but I still have a lot to learn about local farming practices. We are hoping that we will very soon be able to put (or have put) a proper stock fence around the two extra patches of land which we are receiving, but for now the legal processes grin...

We were over in Manchester today, seeing one of our children's family and doing odd jobs. This morning's planned working visit to the house by the heating engineer, plumber and electrician having been postponed to tomorrow, we  dropped by the house on our way home at tea-time without expecting very much to have changed since yesterday's surprise of finding that Ian and his apprentice had fitted the large skylight over the dining area, having also done more work on the timbers of the garage roof. However, the sprinkler team had obviously been at work. I should explain that Wales is unusual (unique, perhaps) in now stipulating that all new-build properties, domestic and business, be fitted with a fire sprinkler system. This adds thousands of pounds to the cost of the build, and, depending on the local water pressure (not known until the mains supply is connected via a roadside meter, which Welsh Water haven't done yet) may require a tank in the loft and an electric pump t...

It's been remarkable how few organised site meetings we've had on this job. Most of the discussions with Pat or his sub-contractors have taken place when we've called by to see how things were going, and we've had very few examples of changing plans as we've gone, which has kept things simpler for everyone and presumably saved costs. However, this morning we needed a decision about the siting of the air source heat pump and how to connect it to the internal systems. Promptly at 8.30 as arranged I joined Pat and Keith (who had driven up from Whitchurch) and we established that the main unit will sit outside the kitchen wall, not taking up space in the walkway from the side door to the back garage/workshop door. It will go on a simple pea gravel base which will act as a soakaway for condensation. The insulated water and electrical connections will go a short distance underground before surfacing to penetrate the utility room wall. Inside there will be an integrated wa...