Welcome to Week 62 in our 36 Week project…. It’s all about finishing now.
bathroom niches have their lightstiled flooring is down in the bathrooms, but no shower screens yetfiddly short tiles cut to finish the floor, but no mirrormaster vanity unit has been moved, but no lightsRich tiled the utility splashback .... and started the tiling in the kitchen
looks much more kitchen-like; requests for moral support go unheeded…
Lots of pressure to Buy Things like… doorbells. Have you ever given much thought to them? The button bit can be a nice design piece, and there are many many different types to choose from. But the ringer, chime, sounder, whatever you call it, has three flavours: school bell, electric programmable with a bijillion different “songs”, or an antique from eBay. We went for a chrome schoolbell in the end. Boring, but necessary.
doorbell: brick mounted or doorframe mounted?garden getting cleared graduallytiling and water buttthinking herb garden thoughtsmore herbs: got a recommendation or favourite to share in comments below?horrible scary crack filledsecurity lights installedoak beam in lieu of bricks to support garage installed
There was an area on the back porch where the supports under the structural oak were slightly shy of the windows leaving a 20 mm gap. There was 10 mm tolerance generally for windows abutting to structure in the specification, and the guys managed to put it all on one side, making the 20 mm of air. The windows were installed just after Christmas, and this gap had been glaring at us ever since. One transgression for the Quirky House Police, but it’s filled now and looks much better.
Paul filled the gap with surgical precisionplinth splits for guttering downpipes restored
The bricklayers elevate their work to an artform. I hope that they’ve enjoyed working on this place, because they’ve had a lot to think about. Mind you, this week’s daily quizzes were mostly about war films which really tested my memory of dates, battles and geography. Oh yeah, ….. and what is the only airport in the States with an actual airplane in it? And whom is it named after? But check out the symmetry around every wall and detail as you look at any photo with bricks in. Genius.
study is finished with flooring and electricsmassive patch panel in the utility room to centralise all the data pointsfireplace with temporary buildout, but the room looks miles better with a coat of paintcolours look alright in the kitchen into family room — Dulux Trade is A-OKmaster bedroom detailwardrobe rails inelectrics are getting there one socket at a time, but not sure about the labelling…
We’re moving in on the Thursday of week 63. In theory. Kitchen commissioning on Monday morning, air permeability test in the afternoon. Tuesday is the contractor’s last formal day on the interior. Wednesday is cleaning, and Thursday we’re in.
When we first started this project I had visions of the finished product being presented in a more defined way. I kinda expected a ta-da! moment. I thought we’d have some time to think about the job, to go around with the contractor in a logical way to see if anything was overlooked, to snag it, to rectify the snags, and to move in with a huge smile. As it is, it’s rushed, the project manager is on holiday, the electricians are still (incredibly shockingly and disappointingly) not finished, snagging hasn’t started, the air-test is going on unsupervised and might fail our SAP calcs for us, and there is still a ton of work to do outside both within and outside the contract. Like, there is no drive and no lawn, but these will be done by others. There are no curtains, yet. And, strangely, there is no TV aerial which somehow counts as AV equipment which was conveniently client-specified but not highlighted until now.
There have been many parts of this project when we’ve seen our naive decisions come to fruition, and some have worked out just fab and the product is marvellous. But mostly, I really just haven’t wanted to look at bits and pieces in case we’d made a poor stab at something. I feel far more fear than excitement or pleasure at moving in just now. Maybe it’s just the fact we’re coming to the end of a period of exam hell with the kids and staffing challenges with the business all at once conveniently coordinated with the week we’re moving in. Maybe it’s because it’s the hottest week of the year. Maybe it’s that the budget is starting to burst at the seams. Maybe in five years’ time this feeling of unease and self-doubt will have morphed imperceptibly into something more comfortable, settled and positive. I hope my future self laughs heartily on reading today’s momentary dip in my attempt to retain a consistently high level of relentless positivity throughout this long journey. This future self will be enormously grateful and very happy in our family home that we’ve had built the way we wanted and was intended to provide the centre of gravity for the six of us at least for many many years to come.
Without going into too much drama about tempers flaring, lines of communication being tested, inspections on the edge and deadlines looming, …, despite all this, it’s all mostly going to plan. This week’s post will be mostly pictorial as I’m struggling to write anything at all coherent in the rush to finish this project. Loose ends include all electricals as we haven’t seen a blub a-flickerin’ yet, the entire fireplace concept, some of the big wood pieces from Neil, the sanitaryware, tiling and the drive. On the positive side, the Moldovian chippies Adrian and Vadim are generally fantastic and are busy getting on with doorframe, skirting and ironmongery. Terry and Josh finished the stairs too–I don’t think they’ll be in a hurry to fit any more capping in the hand and floor rails, but Josh remains undeterred, even when faced with a chisel in his hand and a trip to Epsom hospital. Didn’t stop him smiling when he returned to site to finish the day’s work.
The cornice company arrived early in the week and transformed some of the rooms.
awesome coving, but, oops, poor decision on light placementdoes this work around the units?drawing room looking more formal
Finishing touches around the staircase are being decided with things like skirting beading, window/stair boards, and capping under the newels. James is great at making use of extra pieces to create some of the finishing touches. And it’s only when you see these things installed that you can get a feel for what the finished product looks like. Most things have been fantastic, and some require small tweaks, like the window board used on to top the plasterwork in the front bay. We’ve decided that the trim should have a profile more like the stairs, so this bit of boarding will be replaced, but it was excellent to have the flexibility and chance to check out the profile and have the option. This exercise prompted some deep thinking about what exactly we’re trying to do in the space.
is it a window board or a stair board?
Likewise with the trim between the structural oak and the floorboards. Initially, I wasn’t keen to have so many different kinds of oak hanging around, so I didn’t want the trim in at all when we started the finishes. And James’ advice was not to have too many different trims or the whole thing looks cluttered. But now I feel that if each piece does what it’s expected, then it follows the ethos of honest materials in the house, and it should be ok to have a little bit of trim that matches around the house, and it will blend in better in time. We opted for the little bead around the structural oak in the photo. The floors remain protected, and the windows will have a layer of dust on until the final sparkle-clean, so it’s hard to tell what the final finish will be anyway!
beading on the floorunder-newel
Vadim and Adrian have been boxing in pipework and building wardrobes around them. We’ve decided on a semi-complicated painting scheme with the interiors being darker shades of each room’s trim.
Gemma’s wardrobeGillian’s wardrobedouble checking the spec on ironmongery
Looking forward to snagging the kitchen next week. We’ll discuss a few trimming bits, and do a double check on things like the work-surface edge.
discussion piece: is this pencil or bevel?
The bathrooms are looking good, but we’re finding a few things that could have been better designed. Like,…. the door slamming into the unit when entering the bathroom. We’ll have to install a rubber baby buggy bumper on the back side of the door along with advice to tell the boys to be jolly careful without entering their bathroom with too much energy (shouldn’t be a problem, they’re a bit slow int he mornings). Much consultation with Allison in the States and friends in the UK to generate a survey of vanity unit heights in an attempt to get ours right. We’ve decided 900 to top of unit is a good height–a little higher than most, so it won’t be our family keeping the local chiropractors in business.
boys’ bathroom
In a dull moment, the guys found time to remove the plinth they’d lovingly installed before we changed our minds. Our MO seems to be build it, then remove it….
plinthless fire
…. just like the piers!
looks better now
Clinton never really liked the piers in the front; they were only put there to carry the rainwater downpipes into the ground in a clean swoop. So, taking advice from the architect and structural engineer who both said that they weren’t critical to the structure, we decided to take the bold (= expensive) move to remove them. This leaves an obvious problem for the bricklayers who now need to come back and make these areas pretty again. But the overhang looks much less fussy now, and we’re happy with it. At least we were until a giant gaping crack appeared around the first floor cavity trays.
omg
On further advice, we adopted a suck-it-and-see approach, and the whole thing looks pretty stable despite the crack. It hasn’t shifted since it first appeared, so should be ok. After all, there is an enormous great big steel holding up this side of the house, and the roof is all complete as one separate structure spread across the whole building. It SHOULD be ok. At least it is when I close my eyes. And a little mortar in the joint before we move in and all will be well. Right?
Lee, Jamie, Djokovich, and the groundwork gang were back to lay the paving for the patio. Their work was hampered by the water board inspector who deemed it fit to ask the guys to dig the main supply to the house a little deeper. This was an enormous pain which required un-building of the garage and some of the edging stones the guys had laid last week. The inspector didn’t stop there, took a deeper look at some of the work and started going off on other trench work depths, like the supply into the taps in the garden. He even had a go at some of the pipework internally, which never happens apparently. Usually the inspector has a cursory look around near where the water enters the building and leaves the M&E team to get on with things downstream. The groundwork guys have done hundreds of jobs like this without fuss, and the plumbing team was livid by the time the inspector finally passed it all, and all the trenchwork could be filled in. They’d none of them ever seen anything like it. Clearly this house has been jinxed from the start. The guy earned a few choice nicknames around site, and luckily for him some of the spare pieces of wood lying around didn’t get airborne.
high water table in the mains trenchon the positive side, slabs are looking good
We’re even venturing into town to look at furniture and light fittings. Mostly these experiences highlight that fact that neither of us like shopping very much, nor do we like going into town unless it’s work related. We’re much more country-bumpkins these days. Either we’re super boring (likely), or we just dread the time it takes to travel around aimlessly looking at one low-profile uncomfortable sofa after another. I think Clinton was definitely going to lose the plot entirely if he got close to one more Edison bulb singeing his retinas. The best way forward is to continue on our current course of clicking our way through doing most of the furnishings.
Deep breath. Another week. Lots happening onsite though. I’m thinking Pareto thoughts as we get into the last 20% and see lots and lots of little tiny things blossoming into Good Things and other parts turning into Snagging Things.
It’s all about stairs at the moment. The last newel came to site, and got chipped into the corner.
cut newel
And the last baluster went in with the weird expanding foamy glue.
ewthe balustrade, pre-balustersempty handrail
Tony brought the long-awaited balusters to site on Tuesday. They looked a treat when he got them out of the van and laid them out carefully in the family room.
Tony and his balusters
He’s rightly proud of them and set them out with enough room between them so they didn’t touch each other. We anticipated a smooth installation, and Tony brought Dave along to help. But when everyone was onsite and we all tried to negotiate Tony’s metal work with Terry’s wood work, James quickly realised that because stairs are installed sequentially, our plan to add Metal and Wood in parallel wasn’t going to work. Tony usually operates as a discrete trade that doesn’t rely on anything else going on after his work is installed, so when we decided that to avoid a lot of standing around and waiting while wood and capping were placed in line after each baluster, we all decided it was best that Terry install the whole thing, and Tony left, a little disappointed.
the first one went in fine….pointy-down on its rail
The pattern is kind of complicated and made more so by having mirrored patterns along primary newels while retaining a consistent direction for the pig-tails (what Josh calls them). One small bit of trouble bubbled up upon inspecting the holes cut for the pointy-ups and curlicues. They’d CNC’d into the treads at the joinery base, but they were rounded, too small, and bereft of further drilling into the stringers. The holes were short so the lengths that Tony cut perfectly to size couldn’t be fit. Another reason that Tony went home early from the party.
This was potentially a bigger problem than working out the process of labour in the installation. The holes are meant to be square to accommodate the metal sections, and drills are generally round, so straightforward drilling out wasn’t an option. Could chip them in with a chisel? In order to get the chippings out of the hole and keep a square profile there’d be no way to get a chisel down in there at the right angle to do the work. Much chin scratching and tutting all morning. Luckily, the joinery company sent down a lucky victim later in the week with a portable mortice chisel machine to sort it all out, and once that was done, Terry and Josh could get fitting, working their way gradually around the balustrade.
too small and too roundishbalusters on rails
More chin scratching occurred when we realised that a couple of the rails pointed the curlicues in the wrong direction. But that was quickly sorted. Between Terry and Tony, it was only me that was panicking for no reason at all.
Terry flipped the pigtail by cutting the railbalustrade looking more and more finished
did we have to go and make it this complicated?
Decorating continues on a pace. I read somewhere that when they’re midflow, it’s important to hold your nerve, make no changes, and see what the colour looks like when they’re done. I must admit to having to do just that at a few moments while Mike has had the brushes out. None of the colours are particularly contentious, all different shades of neutral. But I’m used to seeing all the walls in white, and some of the colours seem a bit, well, bold in large scale.
tower mid Potters Clay 2 and Potters Clay 3Mike makes it look easy
The guys are putting in all the door handles as well. Graham has been very patient with our list of door furniture, and it’s incredible how many working parts and variations there are to doors. Bathrooms sets, locks, latches, flush bolts, roller catches, magnetic catches, exterior espag sets. And I still haven’t chosen a front door knob or a post box.
levers and latches
There is a lot of dippy stuff going on behind the scenes to do with bathroom fittings. The WC basin is a freestanding floor thing, and fitting it is giving the guys kittens just because it’s a little unusal. How far from the wall, madam? How high for the taps? It’s almost in, and the water is live. They still have to tile the back of the room before installing completely, and that will be next week sometime.
Another problem was bath valves. Valves are the things that turn the water on in plumber-lingo, and we’d planned to have them drilled into the bath. But of course what’s on the architect plans didn’t quite match up with the bathroom order that we placed last October, and the holes had gone off into the ether. The logical alternative was to fit them on part of the horizontal buildout from the bath to the wall. And this looked alright until we remembered the vanity unit that would stand between the user and the dials. So I thought, let’s just cut to the chase: I recalled what Dan had said about controls when we started talking about bathroom gear in the first place, and I opted for a simple manual shower valve for the bath. Martin was as great about it as he’s been since he’d picked up our job after Dan had left the company, and he did a straight swap that included two drives to Farnham (mine) to return and collect.
I don’t have any photos of this gear, but it’s really simple. In fact, it’s so simple that Trevor and Dave on the M&E side said that it wouldn’t pass building regs. Apparently there’s a pesky TMV3 (?) regulation that these valves do indeed need to be thermostatic and not manual so little-‘uns doesn’t get scalded. This whole bath tap thing has been a very long and boring saga which has included me looking for options on the internet on my phone in tiny-vision in meetings and in the middle of the garden trying to make a decision about taps that would work.
So instead of photos of bath taps and Surrey countryside, here are some pictures of things happening around and about the build this week.
toolsensuite tiles, pre-groutlone pointy bits against beechthey moved the ceiling pendant in the hallway
If I haven’t mentioned Rachel before, I’m really happy to finally mention her now. She’s helping with the interior design part of the project, with goddess-like patience, and at the moment it’s all about blinds and curtains. My good friend Lou paid us a visit on Friday and kindly helped me out (read: got roped in…) to measure each and every one. We counted 36 windows that need separate coverings. And there’s a long lead time on these, and as we’ll be moving in around the summer solstice (we’re at 51 degrees latitude up here in the south of England, so it’s very light, very early), it’s good to put these in the important and slightly-urgent box. I’ve made a list of priorities for these. I think we’ll be open to the world for a while if only for cost! At least the lane isn’t exactly the M25 for traffic …. Cardboard is underrated as a window dressing anyway.
There are a few teething problems, but I’m sure it’s nothing that won’t be overcome in time. The most imperative thing that needs a little attention is the presence of the hole that’s been drilled for the ducting. James had organised a massive 7″ core drill to be onsite for the job, but the work that was carried out didn’t use that tool, so we’ve got a preliminary hole for the moment. This will have a lovely grille over the front of it in a couple of weeks, and eventually it will be covered by hydrangea or otherwise. But for now, we don’t want any little beasties crawling in and making a home before we do.
hole and bits
Terry and Josh have been working hard on the stairs. There is an incredible amount of chipping, gluing, measuring and fitting involved. And inherently, there is a lot of up and down, up and down, so it must be tiring. The bottom steps were set into place and they look ever so graceful. We can actually use the stairs now, but they’re still covered up with protection, and I think James will keep the ladder up as long as possible to prevent boots from risking accidental chamfering off of the square nosings. It’s interesting to see the scaffolding morph into different positions as required during a working day.
The fiddly CNC’d secondary newel posts arrived as well, and Mike and Clive have covered them in a lovely coat of their favourite, Osmo. They look a bit lonely off the stairs, but they look great in the pdf files–can’t wait to see them go in.
tool bedsecondary newelsnot-quite-fitted
graceful first step
Some of the floor on the landing doesn’t quite meet up with the oak. It is extremely difficult to foresee these join details in planning the house, and lots of these things will emerge in the coming weeks as we race towards the finish line. So today’s decision was to choose a wood detail to act as a mini-skirting. We could have a full-height skirting just like the rest of the house. Or, we could fit a cut-down bit of architrave of the same profile as the rest of the house, or even a tiny bull-nose piece of oak that joins the floor and the beam. Since the structural oak remains the most substantial feature of the build, and the goal is to expose as much of it as possible, we’ve gone ahead and chosen the bull-nose, but as low as possible so we don’t have to chop the dowels, and as thin as possible so it doesn’t look silly.
More site meetings, more baking. Ben’s been very patient with us over the time it takes to make these little decisions. Hopefully by the end of the project we’ll get the process dialled and each one won’t take so long. But for now, seeing bits and pieces in situ helps a lot, and sometimes this means climbing up ladders and holding bits of wood up to see how they look!
keeping the troops going on cake at a timethe things you do for clients, Ben
We finally bit the bullet and removed the oak collar on the clad sections in the master bedroom. Hands in the air, we fully admit to being over-enthusiastic with Neil when we designed the piece. Although the king-post and curved webs were awesomely built, and Terry, Josh and James spent a week installing it, we felt adding them was a decision made in haste so we asked them to take it down. I’m more than a little embarrassed about this decision, but it had to be done. Now it feels like we can breathe in the room.
The guys initially thought they’d have to take down a load of plasterboard and really fight with the screws that held the cladding to the oak. But in the end, they managed to cut the insulation and plasterboard in a nice straight line along some temporary battens put up temporarily alongside the cladding, and the oak was drilled out with a minimum of destruction. Very impressive. We now have to hang fire until Neil can manufacture the new cladding and get it to site. This stuff will be slightly thicker so it meets in the middle thereby covering up the central steel beam.
… and we can finally breathe again
makings of a really nice bird house from the old oak beams
The sun is swinging around towards the front of the house during the day, and it belts in through the front bay in the afternoons making all sorts of lovely shadows and lines.
The bathrooms are getting tiled and painted, and the bedrooms are getting their dressing of trim in the skirting and wardrobes.
Next week will see the groundworkers returning. They’ll start on the patio around the back, and they’ll swing up to the side of the house before they hit the front. Then it’s the all-important bridges. Tony the structural engineer is putting the finishing touches on the design before issuing instructions to Tim and his team. The goal at the moment is to devote resources to the interior as much as possible and leave the drive until last.
Tim had the club tiles moved up another rung this week. It’s a tiny little detail, and it took a lot of effort to move everything up just one course, but we’re very grateful and it looks great–thanks, Tim!
front of the houseback of the house in the sun
We finished the week with a trip to Rye to visit Nick and see how the painting is coming on. He’s so accommodating and patient with our numpty questions, making us cups of tea, even talking about Gillian about her GCSE final piece and taking us for a tour of Rye Creative. It’s lovely to see the painting again and to have a little bit of input into the work. Gillian and Matt joined us, and after a lovely lunch at The Globe, we spent the afternoon wandering around Rye Harbour, dodging waves, looking for jellies and doing a spot of geocaching. The weather closed in near the end, and it was great to finally see Rye in a bit of sun for a while as in all the previous times I’ve been down there, I’ve been treated to a bit of horizontal rain and lashing gales.
creating some new ideastools of the tradebig beachhow do you work this thing again?
It’s official: we’ve Given Notice on our rental house. This event sparked a flurry of activity in the household. Given that we’ve moved out of the old house in the first place (after 15 years of living there–there should be a law that people are forced to move every five years in an effort to decouple themselves from years of rubbish that “is perfect for car-booting” or “I’ll save for the grandkids” (grandkids?? OMG what am I thinking?)), then to the first rental for 7 months and now to this one for what will have been the last year and half by the time we move again, there is no way on god’s green earth that I will cart around (and pay to be moved) old hosepipes, used bunk beds, boxes of duplo and out-dated TVs a fourth time. This just will not happen. The only thing for it was to get the kids on board and take everything out of the garage for a well-needed sort out.
the boys are not quite on board
I have to admit that by later afternoon when we decided to ebay the barbie dolls one at a time, I kind of lost the plot.
The biggest event this week was the stairs. After Clive and Mike thoroughly Osmo-ed all the individual parts, they handed over to Josh, Terry, and James to gingerly squeeze them into the hallway. There were a few headaches along the way such as design of the last newell in the SW corner. It fits so that the corner of the wall is in the middle of the newell making it appear to kind of wrap around the wall. I’m not sure where the communication gap lay, because it never even hit my radar until I saw Colin onsite, but the post was delivered as if it were flush with the wall thereby leaving an exposed unfinished edge into the hallway. When the guys rang Colin at the joinery company around midday to ask what to do, I kid you not, Colin hopped in his car, zoomed up to site straight from their base in ANDOVER! and sorted the problem immediately. I cannot believe he dropped everything so fast and made the solution happen. Terry says the new newell will be here early next week. This jaw-dropping effort, coupled with the effort made to give Tony the blacksmith scale drawings and meeting with him at his forge, have made the job a complete pleasure. Colin–you’re a rock star!
the same awesome company made the stairs and doorfront room workshopforlorn stairs with added newellunderbelly will be covered with plasterboard
How much do you think a solid oak staircase weighs? Clearly less than four guys can lift on a random afternoon in April.
that looks healthy and safe to me
More bits were added as the week went on. You can see the long aprons that cover up the first floor buildup being installed at the end of the week on the time-lapse. Handrails, newells, starting steps, nosings, stringers…. stairs are a very esoteric thing when you consider all the measured parts. The guys have labelled each with a Sharpie on the edges to help so that they get installed correctly and to limit the chance of some going walkies. The fancy secondary newells are due onsite soon, and Tony will be back to fit the balusters around the middle of May.
Taking any chance to visit the forge again and see how Tony was getting on with the balusters, I was off like a shot on Tuesday to approve paint. All the parts are finished, and they’re ready for powder coating. I still have reservations about powder coating in principle, because it’s not the natural metal finish we were originally after. But solid bronze balusters would completely break the budget and steel would rust, so neither were ever a real option. With bronze, we would never have had the pleasure meeting Tony and learning about metalwork. The colour he’s chosen is a kind of off-black with tiny flecks in, and it’s more of a satin finish than a gloss. I’m sure it will be amazing.
finished balusterworking platform
It does feel like the space has shrunk in some ways, but since stairs give the house a backbone, it feels in other ways like they’ve always been there. Shame to see Terry’s temporary banister taken down!
Clive and Mike have been painting things and they are concentrating on bedrooms. I haven’t gone into too much detail of how we ultimately chose these colours, but we found that it’s much easier to knock out what you don’t like than it is to choose what you do like. All the rooms are Marble White with trim in one of the darker shades on the Dulux Trade range. No Farrow & Ball here–they want £195 just to have a conversation, so we’re DIY-ing again like the lights. Mike calls each room by its shade: Mineral Haze, Quartz Flint (or whatever it is, clearly not enough headspace devoted to decoration, note to self, perhaps saving that £195 was a mistake…..), and I call them by the kid who will live there: Gemma, Gareth etc. They’ve pretty much finished Gemma’s bedroom and it will be great to see the others come to life as they work their way around the house.
pre-paint…… and now the Potters Clay room (sorry, Gems)another room pre-paint
When choosing the skirting last year, we had a devil of a time working out which profile to use in the bedrooms. We wanted to save a bit of cash and make a decorative statement by using painted skirting, but we couldn’t find a profile we liked. After much costing and quoting (sorry, Tim!), we threw our hands in the air and found a company to make the same lambs-tongue profile as downstairs but in softwood. More expensive than off-the-shelf, but less than solid oak. It’s great to see them in, and amazing to see them painted at long last. I just hope it doesn’t look too twee or artificial in paint. The window subframes and the cills remain oak, and of course, the flooring is oak, so it should be a good balance in theory.
Mike loves Osmo
Other random bits of the week include finishing off the hallways with skirting and architrave.
And the WC buildup on the back plinth magicked itself into completion. The drawing is actually with Dave, but James figured it was a simple amendment to make the cill and the top of the buildout be the same level, so he predicted where the additional boarding would go, and just built it. Looks fine to me.
and he kindly left the pipes exposed for the plumber
The tilers have been beavering away in the upstairs bathrooms. This meant choosing the final position for the lights and mirrors so they can drill the electrics through the tiles. And of course, we have no idea what these mirrors or lights are yet, and less of an idea of committing to their location. Awesome planning on our parts as usual. Not. So double-quick to the internet and my graphics package to sketch out what was required. I think I’ve got it under control, but buying these things is pretty complicated as well because as this was our first foray into Fancy Stuff For The House and not just lumber and bricks, I wasn’t quite sure how the purchasing stream worked. As an exercise, it was good to get these things solid and communicated well to all parts of the team so everyone knows what to expect. In fact this whole buying thing sat alongside a review and future purchase of the electrical fittings which was interesting and time-consuming, but also rewarding because it’s forced me to know exactly what light goes where right down to the temperature colour and flange finish. This is a convoluted way of saying that although the tiling looks great, the work going on behind the scenes has been hectic.
I met Kevin onsite on Monday, and the guys have been putting up tiles steadily all week. By Friday they’d almost finished two bathrooms. By next week, it might just be most of the way there.
lucky boys’ bathroomboys’ nichesa “bold” colour in the master ensuite, says Richaccommodating my light fitting design in the master ensuite
Artur finished off fitting the kitchen and utility and left us this week, and handed over to Jason the marble guy who spent an afternoon templating the worktops. It will take about a week at least before they’re installed. We discussed in massive detail locations for the cuts for the hob and downdraft extractor, and it all hinged around fitting the ducting that runs from the extract, through its remote motor and out to the wall. The ducting quotes we got through originally were quite high, so I naturally tried sourcing it myself. Firstly understanding the function of each component and then finding a guy who would take the project (and my naivety) on board were interesting enough, but when it came to actually looking at the space onsite and taking responsibility for the spot where the colossal 200 mm diameter hole that’s going to be cut out of the brickwork for this part of the kitchen installation will be, I completely lost my nerve and quickly came to realise I was totally out of my depth. So I promptly handed this part back to Claire at the kitchen company. She was entirely professional and diplomatic, I would have been seething at some dippy client putting my project back a week, but it is now rather a hot potato as timing is an issue; the motor and its ducting are dropped in before the worktop is installed, so unless the gear arrives double quick, it might indeed hold up this part of the supply chain. Full marks for enthusiasm on my part, nil for effectiveness.
utility looking oututility looking indot marks the spotvirgin brickwork where a 200 mm dia ducting hole will live
The roofers came back to relocate the club tiles and the whole tile hanging face is almost there. There are six rows above the club tiles and six rows below, but it still seems a little low, so I think they’ll be back.
And I haven’t taken a photo of the front door for a while, so just to remember what it looks like, here’s an image out of the winter shadow an in the sun now that spring is here.
Other parts of the exterior of the building are coming along too. The nice weather helps to make the site look good, and the guys are doing a great job of keeping everything tidy. And when they’re in the middle of a job, most of the bits and pieces are kept together and out of other trades’ ways. It’s amusing to see little empires of woodwork, electrical bits, decorating, and piping in different rooms.
artsy wheelbarrowselectrical detritus in the front porchpanels are coming on
The roofers finished the scalloping on the back windows. They’ve only got the garage flat roof and the club tiles to go.
sunny scalloping on the back of the house
The garage door arrived–hooray! The installers were super jolly and put the thing up in a day. There was a massive design moment at the beginning of the project when we had to decide if to make the door high and bespoke as it is, or to make it a standard size with a brick soldier course on top. The higher door keeps the top in line with the tops of the windows along the face, but it was the expensive option, and I hope that you agree that it makes sense to spend the extra cash on the extra height.
door arrivaldoor installed
The plumbing team has been quietly getting on with the boiler and fittings all without any fuss whatsoever. It’s funny to come to site, say good morning to Sid who’s mostly been doing this final bit, and for him to get right down to business with a fast-paced “Now, where do you want this exterior tap?” These guys don’t hang around! But you can see that the services are all ready to go in a happy configuration of geometry.
boiler arrangementtap located on the garage wall
The Sparks have been working hard on the trunking while the other trades are busy in other rooms. They’d rather be cutting out holes for LED down-lights, but this needs doing as well, so now the cables are set in trunking within the coats cupboard. How we finish this area is up for grabs as it’s not plastered. But trunking and plaster don’t usually mix and the whole wall will be painted to seal in the dust, then boxed in to finish it off.
trunking
The kitchen arrived at the appointed hour without fanfare; just a couple of guys who quietly discovered that there was no trolley packed in with the kitchen units. The only solution was to carry each unit by hand, so Artur simply slung them on his back and carried them in. It turned out that he was in charge of fitting the units and most of the appliances as well in the coming week.
that’s the kitchen in therebit of rubble doesn’t get in the waybefore the kitchen arrivesthe contents of the truck land in the kitchen spaceappliances and more kitchen units
Eventually Artur fitted the whole thing single-handedly. I’ve never had a kitchen this nice and it’s a real luxury. Or hopefully it will be if we made the right decisions. I said to Dave onsite this week that when asked if I was excited about all this recent action that a very large part of me doesn’t want to look at it while it’s being installed in case I change my mind or don’t like some part of the design. But the other part of me is jumping up and down inside and really excited about running the family from this little area.
Some bits like the humungous drawers make it feel really usable and very real. I recall Auntie Eileen saying she really hoped that I’d make a good go of the kitchen when we finally got round to doing the house. That was a very kind thought and I hope she would approve of this incarnation.
magic drawersthree days of work and it’s almost all in — amazing
We knew that the overhang on the peninsula was going to be tight with regard to the big dining table in the room, but it’s only now that the units are in that we can line up a mock table to get a feel for the size. One of the things yet to do is site the pendant and LED spots over it. This isn’t easy and requires a fair degree of commitment on table location. We haven’t quite decided where the lights should be, but one thing is for sure: the overhang and the table together don’t provide enough space to get around comfortably, so the overhang will have to go. That means my two bar stools will go too.
burlap mock table
Part of the ironmongery order arrived last week and was installed while we were away. It’s nice to go around and be surprised by the existence of doors. Sometimes it’s the boundaries that make the space feel like well-defined areas. One nice touch was a set of parliament hinges on the family room doubles.
that’a nice hinge
The shower trays went in while we were away too. We wanted the master ensuite tray to be 100 mm bigger than the well was built for, and this was always going to be a problem with the underfloor heating. The idea was to chip out enough of the concrete floor to accommodate the tray while avoiding puncturing the heating tubing set in the concrete. This was a tricky job that James wasn’t too keen on doing. I wouldn’t be keen on it either; I recall the words “catastrophic” and “potential” and “failure” being used in discussions about this bit. But it was done, and done very well as usual, and the trays are all in sitting in their seals of silicon.
shower tray
The decorators started with the Marble White in the bedrooms, and the skirting went in.
white on white in Bed 05
The stairs arrived as well.
newellsbottom treadsCNC’d area to fit treads…… and the bit that fits into it
Lots of decisions behind the scenes, and we’re not keeping up with the pace. The pressure is on and everyone can see the horizon now!
I thought I’d skip Week 52, the week celebrating one entire year of this project. Instead, we dragged our pasty selves up North to clear the winter cobwebs for a walking holiday with the family for the Easter Break.
Lakes
The first day in Yorkshire was gorgeous: 15 degrees, sunny and beautiful.
We had the excellent good fortune of walking through Hutton Roof where we stumbled on a farm that had been converted into half stone yard and half car sales lot. We made an effort to find the showroom, and lo and behold it was 10 minutes from our cottage on the way into Kendal. We met Alexis who guided us through the stone she had in stock, and we fell in love with what will become our paving slabs for the patio. Should be nice. So amazing to spend weeks looking and looking for something down South, then finding the perfect stone when you least expect it. We also fell in love with some of the Lakeland slate, and while it’s outrageously expensive for the garden, we might consider it for some other areas in the house. I like the idea of sourcing this stuff from places we’ve been and people we’ve met rather than buying it out of a catalogue. And knowing it’s providence suits the building too–all very Frank Lloyd Wright-ian. I’ve been listening to a few too many design podcasts for my own good recently!
future patio
The week before we left was hectic with many different trades on site.
Having made the decision to go with the plans on the brick slip panels in the back of the house where they were parallel to each other, we decided it didn’t look as great on the five side panels in the front. Clive and Mike knowingly stopped half way through the second one for us to have a look because they knew dang well that we’d only go and change it.
brick slips that need changing
Lovely to see the tile hanging again. But the decorative club tiles need to be scooted up a bit and also wrapped around the left side of the building. This should happen in the coming weeks and then the towers can come down to make room for the drive.
shame to change this as well
Hinges are going on the doors.
big doors and big template
They’ve set up a nice little shop in the master bedroom with a stand and a template so they can crack through each door quickly. Have a look at the time-lapse for the doors getting lifted up through the hallway one at a time. They get through them ever so quickly!
We’ve been dithering like fury to get the WC organised, to the frustration of James and Tim who are getting really tired of our start-stop approach. But as usual, simple is always best, the design is less complicated than the original layout, and next time you see this area, it will look less like the electricans’ storage area and more like a downstairs loo.
future loo
Meanwhile Lee and the gang have been laying out the patio. It’s quite a job to set out the area in two dimensions, but once you consider the levels in the third dimension, steps up to the house to be even with the interior tiles, and then calculate the runoff angle for rainfall, the whole thing becomes a right pickle. Luckily, between Nicola planning beds around the building and Lee planning the runoffs to fall away effectively, the patio shouldn’t have any puddles that cause the tiles to discolour.
side patiofirst go at painting out the back patioherb garden
Having moved the drainpipe away from the structural oak gable in the front of the house, the pipe needed to match the rest of its platoon and cut into the plinth at the foot of the building. With this one already built, James and Josh simply cut it out with an angle grinder. Clearly it needs finishing, but once it’s behind the drainpipe and the box hedge that will sit in front of it, maybe we won’t notice the cut bricks too much in years to come. Our instinct is to do it properly and rebuild the pier, but we’re going to give it a few weeks before we decide to spend the cash for such a drastic measure.
snip snip
The tilers arrived this week. The first thing they did was see if the building was flat and square. Kevin was pretty impressed, and I suspect even James was a little surprised. He wasn’t actually on the job when the house was laid out–that was Nic, and all credit too him, it’s pretty near as dammit impressively square to a couple of mm. The only problem was a small area where the floors weren’t quite level. To check the floor flatness, Kevin scooted the 3m level over the whole floor and found a small high point between the family room and the kitchen. Lee was on hand for a consult, and before the morning was out, he’d shaved off the required few mm with a horizontal sander (wish I’d been around to take a snap of that), and the floor lined right up.
centre spot of the whole house
They use these really awesome little wedges to set up the tiles to exactly the right height.
wedges and separatorswhere is the centre tile?
Last was a decision about how to lay the marble tiles. The Portnall stone is super varied in colour and has lots of veining, so we opted for a brick bond throughout. This makes the whole thing a little less uniform, but it wasn’t Kevin’s immediate suggestion. Hope we’ve made the right decision, but we really won’t have a chance to see the floor again until the protection is up.
Tile, seal, grout, seal. And then protected with lots of padding on top so no one mucks in any stones or gear across it and ruins it.
ditramat under the tiles ready for grouting
I’m looking forward to seeing what has happened while we’ve been away, and I’ll be approaching the build with a renewed enthusiasm.
Ben had the drone out and it’s great to finally see the roof in its glory. Here’s a visual progress report from the get go.
6 May 2016
And these….
Tony had the fire on early in the week, so he kindly invited Ben and me to have a look at making balusters. Each of these is completely hand made by drawing out the bar to a point, then curling it very carefully to match the test piece precisely. Incredible work and much labour involved. Tony has Dave in to do the hammering and finishing, and anyone with eyes can see that their years of working together on projects like this make it seem so easy, but in fact it’s a lot of unspoken expertise involved to make each baluster. There are a lucky-13 curlicues that are framed by straight ones going either up or down. Should be amazing to see when it’s done.
The joinery company making the stairs have been brilliant in supplying Tony with scale drawings of each piece. Colin has travelled from Andover to Betchworth (more than once!) to deliver the drawings and talk about the work with Tony so that the joined up staircase between the two completely disparate trades are installed seamlessly at the end of April. Can’t wait!
Tony and Dave working to draw the bar into a pointchecking the curve by eyebending viceforest of balustersa proper working forgesorry, can’t stop taking photos of these
Meanwhile onsite, the wood floor arrived. Usually, they hoist the planks up box by box, but the ceilings are a little high for that here, so they were hoisted up two planks at a time–it took a while.
First the guys prime the floor, then they lay a layer of latex which acts as a barrier between the concrete floor and the wood. They mix this bucket by bucket onsite. Then a really thin membrane of foam is cut to shape, and finally the floor is put on top.
the wood arrived, hooray!primer coatlatex milkmixing gearpouring latex on a primed section of floorspreading around by handGillian’s room with the finished floor
The services are being installed gradually. We’re waiting on the water board to come and inspect its trench, so although James doesn’t like leaving it open for health-and-safety, it has to be left until they drop round. The boiler should arrive soon; the flooring guys need it so some heat can get into the floor to dry it out. So we were very pleased to see the gas company arrive and install the meter in the hedgehog box around the side of the house. After the drama of last week’s engineer unable to install, this took a grand total of 10 minutes and the guy was off. And the three-phase upgrade for the electrics will be in the middle of April.
not a hedgehogready for electrics
The Sparks are in cutting holes in the ceiling. There is so much to this electricity piece, and we haven’t even chosen any fancy fittings yet. Here’s a challenge for you: next time you’re in a place with small LED ceiling lights, go ahead and have a look at the geometry of their placement. The glossy mags always say to hire a light designer because you yourself as a layperson could never hope to achieve a good effect: what you’re lighting, how you’re lighting, when you’re lighting, controls….. The Sparks want things in grids, as do the architects. We’ve opted for a DIY approach to tweaking Dave’s placements just a little in order to centralise some of the fittings around architectural features like doorways and cupboards. I’m no expert at this, and I hope that I will remember fondly this m.o. when I’m not too upset at the finished product but instead, basking in the glow of the thousands of pounds saved that I didn’t pay to the lighting designer. (Fingers crossed, obvs.)
The guys use their laser sights and chalk lines to get the rows straight. This doesn’t please the decorators who then have to wash off the chalk because the dye runs into the paint, especially if the paint is white. Like on a ceiling. Where the lights are. Duh.
takes a day to set outand another couple to drill
The non-herringbone panels on the side of the house are coming together. I had a total 4 am brain-fade about the side panels which are not at 90 degrees, but rather are offset and parallel to each other. I texted James about it suspecting they’d have to rip off the half-laid panel, but he replied with a photo of the plans which clearly show the bricks in parallel. Glad someone’s on the case! And note to self: consult the plans before hitting the panic button.
brick slips
But there are still a bunch of gaps in the design. The biggest one is the fireplace, and Steve came up from deepest Sussex again to speak with Dave and me about how to accomplish what we’re after for the surround. We’ve made it enormously complicated, and probably unfeasible from an engineering point of view. We’d like a floating stone mantle–but how to fix it? Lots of head scratching, and to be honest I’m about to give in to a simpler design. This room was never designed to live in, mostly to look at, and this is disappointing as we should have thought about it more from the start. The windows are too close to the fireplace wall to put units in, and the building regulations put so many restrictions on measuring out non-combustible zones that it’s all very tiresome. We’re at that last 20% that takes 80% of the effort. But it will be beautiful, the workmanship is great, and it’s only complicated because we the clients are trying to squeeze too much in. Much better to simplify, pare back and let the features in the room breathe a bit. Watch this space.
blank wall, blank heads
Another bug-bear is the garage roof. The guys have done a brilliant job at getting the end to just kiss the fence, so the dimensions are perfect. But how to support it is another kettle of fish. The original (built, then unbuilt) brick pier was a thing of beauty, but it didn’t give us very much room to get around. So we’ve opted for an oak post on a smaller plinth instead. In the meantime, there is a slightly bendy Accro holding the roof up at the spot where Terry says holds the max load. But this still leaves us a little short on space to get around. Do we place the final post off the sweet spot either towards the building or away from it and add a stiffening bracket? Can we? Or do we suck it up and just stick a post in?
jury is out on replacement to bendy Accro
Last week’s tile-hanging design query was bottomed out, but this ended up being just a case of making sure everyone was looking at the same revision. The flare at the bottom will be great, and the roofers will fit in the tile hanging when they next have a gap in their diary. It’s a stand alone piece, and not mission critical–which is refreshing!
While the weather improves and we’re thinking about trenches, services and meters, here are some pix of the outside of the house.
roofers roofingground guys diggingback doors shiningready for downpipesmore roofers roofing… on a Saturday!
The problem with glazing bar alignment across the two planes of windows in the front bay that we had back in Week 42 has been resolved. Thank you to the Bronze company that agreed that this couldn’t be left as it was. It’s funny: now that the bars align, you kind of don’t see them any more. Good design kind of disappears.
Doors are on.
welcome…and the side door we’ll probably use more
This isn’t a standard box house, it’s very complicated. It’s also been through three sets of architects, two contractors, and lots of TLC and tweaks along the way. Like Terry designing the kick to the garage roof off the cuff with no plans. Some of the details only make themselves known when things are being fitted, so it’s helpful (not sure Tim and James think so..?) to be able to take time out and be onsite more and more as we race towards the finish line.
Case in point is the downpipes. There is one in the front labelled clearly on the drawing, and it goes right up in the corner between the vertical tiles and the huge two-storey beam. Well, having a drainpipe alongside the oak is a dippy idea as it’s front and centre and visible to god and everybody. But it wan’t not obvious until it was right there. A puzzle and much discussion: we can’t ditch the pipe because a LOT of rain will be flowing down that little section of gully. Water from the valley section and three faces of roof will be chucked down here right next to wood. But it dangling there alongside the wood and block its view was equally lacking. The solution that Spencer suggested as to add a few strategically placed special plastic vertical tiles that you can fix downpipes to on the opposite side of the gutter section, about three feet out from the gable and down the pillar to the east. That way you get your flow, and it’s away from the wood. A super plan on the first floor, but still not great on ground floor, because each downpipe is cut into the plinth at the bottom which is a gorgeous detail, and there isn’t one built in the new spot. I’m sure James will work something out……
looking up the beams and thinking about locating that downpipe
Architrave and mist coats are making the ground floor look more finished every day.
kitchen and family roomkitchen proper: the working areadrawing roomhallway looking northhallway looking southhallway looking upquirky hallway upstairschoosing colours again
khaki mist 3 or patters clay 2?
And ironmongery….? Luckily we’ve found the mecca of hinges and handles, and it’s in Fleet. We have dithered for weeks about finding a match for the bronze windows, much to the annoyance of Tim who simply wants to get the doors ON ferchrissake, but nothing was doing the job. Actually, there is a company in the States that does the job if you want to spend about £1k per doorset. Have not yet won the lottery so clearly not an option. So we’re going for black to match the balusters and to be a little non-controversial. Graham is helping us, and he’s immensely patient with our wavering and our questions.
more choice than most
With all the flooring being laid shortly, James helped us in choosing the exact locations for the ground lights in the hallway and master bedroom. These are meant to light up the oak in a subtle way, but as we’ve not chosen the fittings yet, James left a suitable gap where they’ll go and concreted in around them. He didn’t waste any time: we were there with sections of pipework in the afternoon, and before they’d packed up, the lights were were packed out.
light spot
With deadlines about colours, hinges, ironmongery, garden slabs, light fittings, driveway colours, and fireplace design passing us by, tempers are getting short. We are all working towards the same goal, even though it’s challenging to stay positive and keep all our pointy fingers from taking aim. When things like the long-awaited gas meter are put back as the installer drives away because the job was labelled for the gas board’s subcontractor as a Swap instead of an Installation (it WAS a swap, just a swap for a missing meter, remember?), it gets a little frustrating.
But then you’ll get one of those awesome spring days where everything is fresh and blue, and we’re reminded that everyone on this job is on message about quality, the finished result is gorgeous, and it doesn’t seem so bad. Good weather and more cake… that’ll fix it.
Goodbye scaffolding! It took three days to get all the gear down, and now we can see the whole building.
scaffold neatly stacked and ready to depart
No scaffolding in the way means that Terry and Josh can get on with building the roof for the garage. This is a wiggly little beast that has had Terry brushing off his thinking cap to calculate the pitch of the flare. The flare determines the soffit width, and the soffit width determines the supporting post position, and all this is constrained by the location of the neighbour’s fence. And don’t forget the guttering…. Much hemming and hawing occurring this week, and even Dave was onsite to have a look and a ponder. In the end, we all reckoned the best way to build it was just to get on with it and see how it fell. So we all left Terry and Josh to it, and by the end of the week, they had a plan that matched the flare the same pitch as the rest of the house and he reckons the guttering will just kiss the border just like the old house used to.
the first truss on the garagebuilding the garagemore trusses from the back of the houseand even more from the front
Lee, Sean and the groundworks team have been back with their digger to make the rainwater drains meet up to the soak-away in the garden. There are six downpipes at the back of the house that all run to the inspection port. It was a little odd to see the this thing poking its head up above lawn-level, but the plan is to cut it down to as low as it can go, and if we ever need to rod the downpipes we’ll have to find it and dig it out to get access. This is ok with me. I regularly used Douglas’ old set of rods to sort the drains in the old house, so a bit of potential digging on the off-chance that these need sorting isn’t going kill anyone.
inspection portgroundworks returnnimble diggergarden massacre but the camellia is undeterred
Now that we’ve sorted the design on the fireplace and have signed off on the plans, it’s down to the guys to build it. But there are still a number of trades to coordinate: stone, joinery, fireplace, general building, electrics. There is a lot to this piece. I had my first foray into sourcing stone this week having gone to the stone yard to have a look at some off-cuts. I hope the inside does justice to the outside.
lots of stonechimney symmetry
It’s always a challenge to walk around site and to visualise what it will look like when finished. It’s hard to resist taking photos of general stuff going on, but equally hard to figure out where the best vantage will be for the “before” or “during” snap to compare to the finished “after” one.
during?
Nicola’s design is being finalised, but here is a quick working-drawing teaser.
The plasterers work hard when they’re onsite–we just need a final push to get it done and then the architrave and skirting can go up. In preparation for that day, Clive is staying out of their way and has got a great system set up in the master bedroom for the task of painting miles and miles of wood.
family room ceiling — tickkitchen with plasterers’ platformliving room with tray ceiling and bags of plasterground floor ceiling protrudes until the landing apron is installedOsmo-ed architraverelief grooves in the backs of the tall oak skirtingClive loves his Osmo
We’ve come up against a stumbling block with shower trays. The current ones we’ve chosen are expensive, and two don’t fit. One of the wells made for them to drop into is slightly too small and we’d like to see if we can grow it. This shouldn’t be too much of an issue, until you take into account the underfloor heating. Risking making a hole in the pipes set in concrete to chip out the necessary extra 100 mm would be catastrophic at this point. So we’re trying to figure out other alternatives, one of which might be a wet room type of thing. Tim can’t start tiling until the trays are down so we’ve got to get our skates on to sort this out or the whole programme will suffer and we’ll push everything back weeks. The jury is still out while we research other options, so in the mean time, here is a photo of the shower in the girls’ bathroom.
where’s the waste, Wally?
You would think that choosing colours would be the fun but, and it is. But agreeing on colours is another matter. And nudging the kids to make decisions about their rooms is proving a challenge too. Tim says to paint the whole thing white and wait with colour until the rectification period is over and the inevitable cracks are plastered over. This makes a LOT of sense, but it is so tempting to just paint it its final colours and get it done. With our usual speed of making decisions on this project, it may be after the warranty period before we finally decide, so Tim just might get his way after all. And by then, Tim will be sailing off into the sunset, drink in hand, remembering fondly the lovely job he did at St Anne’s and it being ancient history!
tableau of indecisionJosh needs a new pair of boots
I’m not sure where the communication gap lay, because it never even hit my radar until I saw Colin onsite, but the post was delivered as if it were flush with the wall thereby leaving an exposed unfinished edge into the hallway. When the guys rang Colin at the joinery company around midday to ask what to do, I kid you not, Colin hopped in his car, zoomed up to site straight from their base in ANDOVER! and sorted the problem immediately. I cannot believe he dropped everything so fast and made the solution happen. Terry says the new newell will be here early next week. This jaw-dropping effort, coupled with the effort made to give 
