Heating update

The heating engineer arrived onsite for the first time to do a quick survey. A minor change to the kitchen has had a(nother) slight unintended consequence - we moved the back wall out a foot or so, and this has reduced the area of the roof we had set aside for the solar panel array.  So we now have nowhere for an optimal south facing collector to be positioned.  We can still position East-West but it won't give us as high a return in energy as otherwise.  It's still worthwhile, if we switch from a flat-plate collector to an evacuated tube collector the mirror lens under each tube will focus the incoming rays to the centre of the tube from a wide range of angles.  Pity.

Apart from that, the cap-stone fro the chimney is now causing an issue - its very heavy and our builder has bailed out of the offer to manhandle it up to the top.  A crane willbe very expensive to hire - I'm wondering if we can go old school about it and construct a block and tackle frame against the rafters, with the A frame above the height of the chimney and haul it up.  If the Greeks could do it, then so can we.  Thank you Archimedes.  Of course it may well be rubbished by the experts.  Happens a lot.

Progress

With the thaw and a bit of messing on stairs measurements and window measurements, we're now tipping away again.  The stairs is being formed in situ, which looks quite complex due to the spiral.  Wooden formwork is up to shutter the concrete, with steel rebar into the walls and through the stair structure.  Since the stairs floats away from the walls at places, its quite an interesting feature overall.  Here is the basic formwork for the 1st flight beginning to take shape.

The wood forms the base of the steps, and the centre drum the centre of the spiral.  All the wood will be removed once the concrete sets leaving space in the middle.

Apart from the stairs, we have the window openings measured by the supplier and contract signed.  We need to bverify a couple of details tonight and they start to manufacture the windows.  In preparation for the fitting there was a bit of work to do over the weekend - where the doors are placed in I needed to cut out a step for the frame to sit in.  This allows a proper damp-proof-course layer to be placed in, and prevents water collecting where the door and house meet at the bottom (the water collects, but below the level of entry into the room).  It also reduces the step over the frame at a later time.

First I cut out the markings with an Angle Grinder - this was to promote sharp defined edges for the next stage of hammering out the concrete.

It's not muc concrete to be removed in terms of quantity, but it takes a long time to hammer out this stuff, even with high power tools.  I'll level off these cuts with a screed to bring it to the right height and level and then install DPC before the doors are installed.

We also attacked the interior tip that our house has become, with hours of sweeping we now have a very clear main floor and basement areas.  Roofers have yet to finish and upstairs will then be tackled.

New year

/new year and hopefully a new imputes on the build.  I've rethought some of the schedule, a few items were stolen off site over the Christmas period and as a result I'll suspend any internal fit out until the house is sealed.  I had planned to get a start on the HRV, 1st fix plumbing and the suspended ceiling frame, but rather than pay for some things twice, or have someone punch small holes in the Qualplex, I'll hold off.  Its annoying, but we're not in a rush.

The biggest blocker is still windows.  Snow badly delayed the sill fitting, not completed until late December.  Measurements were taken by a few companies for realistic quoting and we're waiting on these, once we can get them ordered we're away.  In the meantime, there are a few things we can do, and on Saturday we had a meeting with the builder, roofer and architect to plan a few things.

1. Chimney - we need to build up the chimney from the 1st floor balcony to the roof, and above.  We'll fit in pipe for a 7" flue, and work from that.  Blocks to build up to the roof and out, then we can plaster around the chimney and slate to it.  That will be the roof pretty much finished.
2. Front Door - big decision to go to a double front door - as a result a central pillar there has to be taken out.  Good bit of steel rebar in there so I presume cutting it will be fun.  But it's what we both want, and I'm not sure where we lost this in the process, I'm blaming myself to be honest.  Very often you get caught up in something and afterwards remember to talk about feature x... and maybe I never got there.  Still, easier to fix now than in 10 years.
3. Stairs - A little studding to be done at the top and a collar for the roof over the stairwell and we can start getting the stairs installed.  I'm excited about that - it'll float between floors anchored at diagonal corners only, so it will be some feature I hope.  It'll also give my wife a chance to see the 1st floor, she's too afraid of heights to tackle the ladder!  It'll make access between floors much easier, esp with any equipment.
4. Grouting the hollowcore - This should stop the floods of water hitting the basement where there are clear gaps, that will allow us to clean it out and get ready for 1st fix.
5. Service shaft - I still don't know how, but the carefully planned service shaft got fubar'ed on the second floor.  We'll have to joint the shafts and draw them on a short diagonal, then up again on an offset hole in the 1st floor hollow-cores.  It's probably for the best, there is less of a chimney effect and may be safer for fire and warmer to insulate.. who knows

In the meantime I have to tidy up some of the sill corners with silicon and insulation.  Then await the windows!

Slippage from the cold

The cold weather put the inevitable jinx on the schedule, just when things were taking off again. With snow and ice for 2 weeks the site was largely inaccessible at the best of times, and even then as it started to thaw the surface is very slippy and carrying heavy granite sills would be a nightmare.  Similarly a roof would be also particularly treacherous and the last thing we'd want are any accidents.  That said, progress has been made, with the majority of the sills in and finishing off today, and the slates starting to go up on the roof.

We'll measure and order the windows straight after Christmas and then we'll be motoring.  It has been 4 weeks since I was on site, and a taste of what's to come in the future with the hill being snowed in.  With Lorraine's parents trapped in the house for a week or so its something we'll need to keep in mind, particularly when changing cars.  Rear-wheel drive isn't really the best option.

Internally, the roof is shaping out the upstairs rooms nicely, there are some features in there that will make it - in the master bedroom where we have extra height around the front window, and the triangular window above the sitting room framed by the rafters will be lovely

So once the sills are done then we'll be pausing for Christmas, and attack it with a vengeance in the new year. We'll try and get the 1st fix in while waiting for windows- HRV and plumbing, then once the windows are in we can get plastering done and 1st fix electrical.

Gables finished

Finally we have the gables complete - the concrete pour happening this morning.  The house structure is now finished and with the roof frame well under way we can see the full outline of the house for the first time.

There is loads to get a feel for now, we can get into each roof and see what the light is like, the views we'll have and generally feel like it's becoming our house.  I've yet to coax Lorraine up the ladder on the left hand side to get up to the second storey - even the incentive of seeing her walk-in wardrobe isn't enough.  But, with planning to be done in the next couple of weeks for bathroom plumbing, we'll have to find a way, I'll invest in some blinkers perhaps.

With this complete, all the window and door openings are defined and this week should also see the sills installed.  If that works out, we'll be in a position to measure windows by the weekend, and then we'll get those on order.  While waiting, we'll get the roof finished, solar panels installed, and start some of the internal fit out - HRV ducting and plumbing.  Probably best to wait till it's weather tight before we go for the wiring!

Here is another recently completed window - this is in our bedroom looking out.

All in all it's back on track in terms of moving, the roofers are bulling through it and getting great work done.  With the rest of the work as described above we could have a very productive month ahead.

Daylight viewing

This weekend I managed to be down in the daylight to get some photos of the roof.  So far you can see the general frame of it, and we're still not finished on the gables.  There is nothing waiting on these, we need to get the builder back on site to finish them off and pour the concrete.

Also we have the window sill measured out, and can order these from the supplier.  These will take about a week to prepare and deliver, and a couple of days to install.  With these in, we can finally measure and order the windows, with them in we'll have a weatherproof interior and can really crack on with the internal fit out.  Ideally we'll be able to keep the scaffolding onsite until then, and get the outside render done at the same time.  Then it'll start to look like a house for real.

Roof well under way

4 weeks since the last post, but its been slow going for that month.  The roof has certainly started with the skeleton of the roof in place and the majority of the rafters on, you can certainly see it looks like a house now.  With other commitments, the ICF builder should be in place next week to finish off the gable walls, finalise the last of the window openings and start casting the stairs.

In addition, we're considering an extension already! Not much mind you, but in order to have a preferred double-door at the front door we need to extend out about 1300 to create a porch area that we can sit the double door into.  We originally talked about converting the door where it is but the stairs starts right in the middle of that spot and a double door would be pointless.  It should be a nice feature, we're planning on a glass roof there making it light and airy.

Apart from that we have a chap lined up to do the sills, and a decent quote of the actual stone, so hopefully we can get that moving next week and order windows (finally).

With Daylight Savings there is no way I can get down during the week while it's bright, but I'll be getting some photos this weekend to post up.  It should be some noticeable progress!

Roof starts!

A change of plan means that despite not finishing off the gables, we're going to start the roof.  All the internal block work is done, and with that we have all the areas that the roof will be resting on.  So instead of finishing off the ICF and hoping it fits the roof, we can do the roof and fit the ICF to it.  Hopefully this will result in a better fit.  Our roofer is starting the scaffolding, and hopefully within a week we'll be able to polish off the gables.

The internal blocks upstairs completed, we can walk through all the rooms - once you're prepared to climb up a 3m high ladder of course!  There is a really nice bedroom there, with fantastic views and access to the roof of the sunroom - if we have more than 1 child it'll be a fight for that room. We can start planning the layouts of the bathrooms as well.

The other piece to move on now it the window cills - we picked out the type we want and are looking fro quotes.  We're also going to get a blocklayer to fit them, I'd prefer to pay for it to be done right as the damp proof course around these is vital.  We'll try and get this sorted this week and start installing them.  We'll cover them with plastic for the last ICF pour, and then we can have the windows measured.

Up Top

Over the weekend I managed to get up onto the top floor and have a look.  The walls are poured with only the gable-ends left to build up to their peaks... so still a lot of the defining shape of the house is left. Still, getting up there and looking around I could start to pace out where our bedrooms are, the en-suites etc, and check out the views we'll get from these rooms.  Again the windows should be long, close to the floor at the bottom and heading up to a regular height, here in this end is our bedroom and en-suite and somewhere as well is the walk-in-wardrobe that was the principle design effort in terms of sizing! All I know is i'll probably get a drawer or two if I'm lucky.

Also you can stand where the balcony over the living room is and look down into that area.  As the height at that point is significant it seems like a long way down and I'm not worried that the landing area there will be part of the sitting room. its the guts of 3.5 meters here.  The right edge will have a wall running along its length partitioning the stairwell from this room completely.

Once the gables are up we can then start fitting cills and measuring windows as all the openings will be cut.  All going well we can start all that process next week.  Then the stairs needs to be specified and poured - we'll be able to access all levels easily, and the roofer starts.  Then I'll feel like we have some real momentum again.

Almost there

With the height extensions on our ground floor, we've come up against the fact that the house is taller than had been anticipated.  With the ICF walls in bright white, this means we have a very stark impact on the countryside - I can see the house as I drive down from 25 kms away if truth be told.  However, when the roof is sitting on top, we've stone on a large % of the front and a muted render (I guess my dreamed of cerise pink is a no no) then it'll fade back a bit into the environment.  A few pieces of strategically placed vegetation and the fig-leaf covering will be in place.

Right now though its imposing - standing at the front door I look up over 8m to the roof plate which is almost complete.  The roof will drag the effect of this down ideally.  So - Roof plate finally is in sight with the projected pour of these walls tomorrow.  Then the roofer can get busy, we can start casting the stairs and screeding the exposed areas of the hollow-core to stop water pouring in. That'll be a major milestone, enable us to unlock more of our mortgage and start locking in the next parts of the build.  Its been tough to write about this for the last couple of weeks as I'm feel I'm repeating myself at the moment, it's been a week away for the last month and its frustrating.  However the pendulum will swing and soon I'll be giving out about the amount of time it's taking up!  Never happy me.

This was a couple of days ago as the top floor is being constructed.  Without a stairs there is no way for me to get up onto that floor either - so I've no idea what its like up there, but our architect was very happy with the views from that floor where our family bedrooms will all be.  With the heights all finalised, our room ceilings are even higher than we'd originally hoped - with the bulk of the ground floor at 3.3m from finished floor to ceiling.  Plenty of cat swinging room in that.