Week 6 - More concrete sir?

Just a quick one really.  Dave and Garry have been carrying on this week building up the block walls so now it's looks pretty good but with a huge amount of concrete!  What can we expect if you want to reinforce a deep hole I suppose but it's a bit annoying.

Nigel Davies the QS met with Harry yesterday to indicate that we can indeed probably afford the house!

I met with Celtic Solar (can't remember his name) on Monday.  He was very knowledgable having a good answer to my questions and concerns.  The solar thermal panels could be positioned on the south facing side with the PV panels (which I still think is viable 10 yr pay back) on the south west side.  He did think that in colder times we're probably have to use the gas boiler as the wood burner back boiler output will not be enough.

Looking more like a cellar

Enjoyed a few hours this afternoon with Polly and Isla up at the Ropewalk watching the steel reinforcing mesh be fixed into place ready for the concrete base layer to be poured tomorrow morning.

Week 4 - Jubilee bank holiday & rain

Jubilee Bank holiday and a change of weather

Week 4 - 6th - 8th June

Hurray! Work on the site began again in ernest trying to make up for the days lost which didn't help the rain coming in off the Atlantic in a series of depressions.  Garry, Dave and JJ carried on through it all.  I only stopped a few times really to have a look at the larger digger and the solution coming in the form of a big steel frame being placed into the ground in order to act as a temporary retaining wall.  After that it sounds like the initial concrete is poured for the base, then the block work starts going up and then at some point lots more concrete will be poured on the outside of this frame at which point it gets lifted out before said concrete sets.  All sounds ok in principle but these things are heavy and it certainly wasn't helped by the torrent of rain coming down and is unfortunately predicted to also fall for most of the forthcoming week!  That's it time to take the Eore (?) principle of luck that will be probably be the wettest summer in living memory and only stop raining when the roof has been put on.

Don't get me wrong ground works is a very essential element to any build works but frankly it doesn't make great opportunities for images!

On a research front Flora has got a clearer idea of ranges / cookers having visited Spillers of Chard. I agree with her that an induction hob sounds good which all seems to easy surely we should arguing about something not agreeing all the time (ok most of the time she's very patient).

I've just found a company that says it's very good at dealing with multiple connections rather than going to all the different utility companies deal with just the one.  With my experience over the past few months of trying to deal with SSE I would be delighted if there was another solution.

Week 3 - wot no work

Enjoy the sun! A perfect time to build a house.... 

Week 3 – 28th May to 1st June

No work has taken place (Monday as will not this week) apart from the meeting with two ground works firms.  In summary is means good news as Dave and Garry will be able to carry out the work themselves with the only real cost coming from additional plant hire, time and materials so yes there is an extra cost attached but certainly not at what I was thinking £10,000 - £20,000 more. I estimate somewhere in the region of about £5,000.  I’ve decided that you can’t really think about building a house unless you think of chunks of £5,000 or probably most things it’s more likely to be £10,000. Which doesn’t mean I want to spend this money it just seems to be the way things go!

Week 2 - a hole of a problem

Week 2 – The hole gets bigger.

The hole is getting bigger which is causing quite a bit of speculation amongst the parents at the primary school. Then quite suddenly there is a noticeable line in the soil.  One side of the soil was very noticeably different to the other.  Apparently, everyone thinks that the rock was quarried out a long time ago and backfilled.  We what can you do?  Get angry?  Nope, I’ve been frustrated enough with the PV panels at Mill on the Brue to last me a lifetime!

Met with Nigel the QS who seem like a good person to have on board. He’s going to talk to Dave and Garry and Andrew next week in order to get the detail.  Well I just hope he comes up with a figure that we can afford, as it’s too late now.

The hole situation has meant that the building works has had to stop on Thursday.  The structural engineer came out to see and discuss the matter with Dave and Garry plus Harry.  He’s approached two companies that specialize in more difficult ground works.  Garry said that if the cellar hadn’t been excavated then they might have never known the true difference of the soil.  The worst case scenario would have been to see the houses’ back break if and when the foundations on the weaker ground subsided.

Centre of image the distinctive line marking what is thought to be the boundary between old quarried backfill (right of line) and virgin soil.

And they're off!

It could actually be happening...

It's amazing how after over two years of waiting it still comes as shock when this morning Gary, Dave, Gareth and JJ started shifting the sawn logs still sitting on the ground from the chainsaw massacre only a few weeks ago ... ok the laylandi trees (?) were taken down.

Lots happening including most importantly the QS is meeting up with us (Harry and I) on Thursday which the wrong way around as it was supposed to be done with the greatest of urgency but there you go we've started.  I've decided that the first part of any building project is the best (finishing is great but time luckily softens the enviable pinch points) as we all feel good and excited about staring without having to write a large cheque for that pleasure!

Polly & Isla on the top soil mound

Digger taking out the old foundations

Week 1 – Ground breaking with diggers!  It was great to finally get started changing the garden to our building plot.  Garry, Dave, Gareth and JJ worked hard and enthusiastically.  We decided or I persuaded Flora that if we were going to ever have a cellar then this was the time.  I think about the German houses most of which have cellars and well frankly they’re a more pragmatic nation that we will ever be.  I looked up fences, portaloos and steel containers for hours on the internet but luckily we were saved probably quite a bit of money just getting accepting that the Gary / Dave combination was going to get a better price!  Not a problem John Griffen and Sons transported the large amount of soil and stones into two piles in the old archery field.

Start date - Monday 14th 2012

We all met up yesterday on a cold damp May afternoon at the Ropewalk a far cry from the sunshine and warmth of that week in March. Monday 14th May there will finally be builders at The Ropewalk. Still it's been agreed that Garry and Dave are going to project managed up until the shell has been built where Andrew will take over. Very soon I may actually have some interesting images to post rather than ones of a tatty garden. Depending on the weather this bank holiday weekend we may try and burn the huge pile of branches in the first real attempt to clear the site. Things to do include talking to Celtic Solar - after lots of debate we're going to have a cheaper back boiler rather than a gasifier which will be connected to the thermal store which in turn will be also connected to solar thermal panels. I'll see about PV panels. I think it makes sense to use the one recommended companyI just hope they can come up this far. Talk to farmer John Griffen to book him to move any soil into the old archery field at Mill on the Brue.