A lot has happened in the last month or so, with a number of fronts moving.
First fix is completed, with kilometers of electrical cable, 900m or metal in the suspended ceiling and a goodly number of pipes for plumbing and HRV, this crystallises a lot of room layouts. With the showers integrated into the walls we have the mixing units and pipes to the shower heads all installed.
There was a massive amount of little detail that goes in here, you walk around with the plumber and electrician and mark out every socket and switch, every sink basin and toilet. Light types are needed - are they LED or Halogen, are they dimmable, density of lighting, sockets here or there, TV point locations, door opens this way or that way - its hours of tiny decision making that will certainly annoy you where you get it wrong.
Once that's completed, we start slabbing the interior where the walls are ICF. Where they are block then we'll use sand/cement and a skim coat, and we have only a tiny amount of stud partition where the building is irregular. This tricky work is around the window reveals where we have to square them up.
Outside we had a big job of scaffolding the back and north side of the house - 10 hrs and 2 guys it took, and after that I was shattered. However it gives the plasterer a good run at the outside and this is where we're under time pressure as winter is coming.
The grey areas are the sealing base coat, this seals up and gives strength (via cement additive and a fiberglass mesh) and applied onto the ICF directly. The white area is a primer coat that is applied before the topcoat and helps the final colour to be correct. Finally a textured top coat to give the finish goes on as below
Apart from plastering, we've also got another builder to finish off what was left behind by the last one. So far we have the steps fro the front door in place, and the finish to the roof over the front door, the last vital as it was a water leak that will destroy the plasterboard slabs if not addressed.
So - now we can finally order the front door and sidelights and get the house truly locked up. Once inside is plastered we can get teh finished floors insulated and poured inside (with the underfloor heating coils). Then paint and 2nd fix. Hopefully we can get all this done over winter.
Outside, the driveway and septic tank are the biggest items with landscaping and levels. Then drains and sewers.
First fix is completed, with kilometers of electrical cable, 900m or metal in the suspended ceiling and a goodly number of pipes for plumbing and HRV, this crystallises a lot of room layouts. With the showers integrated into the walls we have the mixing units and pipes to the shower heads all installed.
There was a massive amount of little detail that goes in here, you walk around with the plumber and electrician and mark out every socket and switch, every sink basin and toilet. Light types are needed - are they LED or Halogen, are they dimmable, density of lighting, sockets here or there, TV point locations, door opens this way or that way - its hours of tiny decision making that will certainly annoy you where you get it wrong.
Once that's completed, we start slabbing the interior where the walls are ICF. Where they are block then we'll use sand/cement and a skim coat, and we have only a tiny amount of stud partition where the building is irregular. This tricky work is around the window reveals where we have to square them up.
Outside we had a big job of scaffolding the back and north side of the house - 10 hrs and 2 guys it took, and after that I was shattered. However it gives the plasterer a good run at the outside and this is where we're under time pressure as winter is coming.
The grey areas are the sealing base coat, this seals up and gives strength (via cement additive and a fiberglass mesh) and applied onto the ICF directly. The white area is a primer coat that is applied before the topcoat and helps the final colour to be correct. Finally a textured top coat to give the finish goes on as below
Apart from plastering, we've also got another builder to finish off what was left behind by the last one. So far we have the steps fro the front door in place, and the finish to the roof over the front door, the last vital as it was a water leak that will destroy the plasterboard slabs if not addressed.
So - now we can finally order the front door and sidelights and get the house truly locked up. Once inside is plastered we can get teh finished floors insulated and poured inside (with the underfloor heating coils). Then paint and 2nd fix. Hopefully we can get all this done over winter.
Outside, the driveway and septic tank are the biggest items with landscaping and levels. Then drains and sewers.
