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.