Plastering - 21st January 2013

The deadline for getting everything ready for the plasterers is today. Well, we made it. It took a couple of weeks to complete the first fix electrics (getting the wires threaded) and the plumbing for 1st floor radiators.  The plumbing also needed to be pressure tested so I  had to temporarily fit the radiators too (these are 100% bigger than they need to be since we are running lower temperature water in them).  The pipes for these are served by 28mm speedfit plastic pipes that needed to come through an internal 400mm rubble filled stone wall.

The shower base and waste needed to be fitted so we could get the stud partition walls just right in bathroom. For the hot water tank I had to fit a pressure discharge waste requiring 28mm copper that had to be vented to outside. The MHRV needs a condensate drain as does the air source unit on the hot water tank (Ecocent unit - see here for information) so multiple pipes were connected in the floor void to the internal soil stack. We also needed to decide on a cooker hood and fit 110mm vent pipe to outside.

It took us over a week to decide on the kitchen and supplier (DIY kitchens online). To go with modern green or white units or the traditional wooden oak doors? We went with the tradtional as it seemed warmer.
All new integrated electric units needed though: fridge freezer, oven, washing machine.

We partially fitted the MHRV (see here for link) unit and some of the vents: lounge, main bedroom and through vets to other part of house. There was a lot of taping and joining the alloy rigid pipe to T's and bends.

Wires and pipes in perfect harmony

 

28mm from pump to 22mm on the long runs to 15mm at the radiator.

 Vents and stud partitions in bathroom area.

  Shower base and stud wall - glass block wall opening in shower cubicle

 Yes we have a toilet (no more watering the bushes) and very large radiator in the bathroom.

 Kitchen/Diner all ready for plastering

 Another view of kitchen area

 Not much going on outside

December 3rd

Wires, wires, wires...

Think I must have threaded around 600m of electrical cable of some description over the last week or so: 3x 2.5mm ring mains, 2x 1.5mm lighting circuits, satellite cable to 3 rooms, cat6 ethernet to two rooms, earth bonding cable, telephone cable, 6mm cooker cable, thermostat cables ...

All looking neat and tidy between the joists. 

Sparks Paul wired up the tails to the new consumer board. 

No holes allowed in the membrane so cable is taped on

And now the plasterboard can go on... signs of progress

Building Progress - November 14th

 Quite a bit happened outside at the end of Oct and beginning of this month.

'Staytey' gets roped into some raking.

The wood burner is installed. Mmmm... toasty

The walls get the 'battening' treatment and the floor goes down upstairs.

The battens on the exterior walls have 50mm of solid insulation behind.

 

The gang: Joc, Mike, JD and Dil rake the whole plot prior to seeding.

 Nearly done.

The grass seed goes down and some flowers find their way into the borders.

All the windows and door are fitted - this is the view from the bedroom window.

OMM 2013 - Howgills

This year, we clearly were not up to competing but went along to help out with some marshalling. The OMM was in the howgills in 98 were we had out best ever placing - 2nd overall, 1st Vets and 1st mixed team in the Short Score class. It was VERY wet and windy, with only 17% of the 'B' class making it through the weekend.

The weather was much fairer this year. Especially on the Saturday:
 

A sunny checkpoint for 'C', 'D', MS and SS classes. Saw hundreds of teams.

Windy and wet on Sunday on one of the Elite checkpoints. Saw 27 teams and sat in the tent for 6 hours.

October break

I used to call it half term, but when you're not teaching, it's just a break from the building.
Went to the Lakes for a few days before helping out at the OMM (this year in the Howgills).

Keswick, Derwentwater and Cat Bells from Latrigg.

 Autumn colours.

On one day we did Grisedale Tarn to White side on the Helvellyn ridge.

 Heading up the gill next to Seat Sandal

 Grisedale Tarn a bit further up

 Looking towards Grisedale from Dollywagon Pike

Somewhere near Lower Man on the way down

You can just see Grasmere in the distance

Another day we did something new by Ennerdale - over Caw Fell and down the Steeple Ridge. Uncanilly still and warm for October.

 

 Not a single ripple on Ennerdale Water.

 Plenty of mist and a plague of Crane-flies near Steeple.

 We managed a couple of longer runs: one up to Skiddaw House from Keswick and another over in the Caldbeck Fells - Carrock Fell being very mushy to get to.

 Skiddaw in the background

The track just below Skiddaw House.

October 15th

Major landmarks achieved in the last week, had a lot of help though:

Laying screed is a job for professionals, especially over undefloor heating.
46 square metres laid in around 3 hours.

At last ... a level, moisture free, warm floor.

Glad I didn't have to dig the trench for the cable to the pond. 

Glad I didn't have to dig the pond.

  Glad I didn't have to move the two-tonne slabs into place

5th October

More help

JD came round and got the old render off another part of the old house - it pretty much fell off as it had been put onto a previous smooth render. Not sure how we're going to get better adhesion when we get it all re-rendered.

October 3rd

Underfloor heating - what a great place to put your radiators!

Last couple of days have seen us starting to get the pipes down. The screed covering is booked to be laid on 12th October so we need to lay all pipes, get manifold hooked up, filled with water and pressure tested by then.

Here we've put down the insulation and upstands next to the wall. 

Starting the pipe runs - 150mm apart and not to go under the ktchen units, hence the gaps. The pipe is fixed onto a light steel mesh with standar zip ties. Hard work on the fingers tightening 300 of the blighters!

The underfloor radiator in the lounge. We needed two seperate pipe runs as each coil is only 100m

Next week Nigel (Mr Groundworks) will be in so we need get all remaining render of this part of the property and tidy up the garden a bit.

Mike gets going with 'Kango Hammer' on the render.

Joc burns the last of the rotten floor joists and roof timbers.

Dill adds the capping stones to her lovely gabion wall.

September 29th

Tanking... tanking... tanking

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! How I hate the tanking.

It's not so much hating doing the work, more hating spending time (and heaps of money) on something that I'm not convinced will work. I mean, how can sticky tape (it is pretty sticky I must admit) stop water seeping into the screed when it's laid?

Here is evidence of one thing that may stop it - under the floor membrane is a drainage system that will collect any condensates and drain them to outside. This vertical piece is a rodding point in case of crud build up and a blockage.

OK... it will work, It had better work!

Not much has happened outside recently - nearly all windows and door are in and next week Nigel (Mr groundworks) is coming to do the final levelling of the heaps of topsoil and stone spoil hanging around the place. Then we can seed the future lawns and get things a bit tidier outside.

A fair bit has happened in the lounge since I took this photo but it does show the door in the process being blocked up - this opening will become a half sized window cos we need all the light we can get into the lounge as it's in the middle of the house.