Day 80 - Odd Jobs

One of the things that they don't tell you when you're planning on taking on a self-build is that there is one person you will have to rely on to do all of the odd jobs that none of the other trades can be bothered with - yourself!

This week I've been filling the gaps between the window heads and the lintels with expanding foam, trimming it back and then cutting and fixing a uPVC architrave to complete the finish. I've also been installing a 20mm square uPVC strip to cover the gap in the brickwork where it meets the soffit. Once up and sealed with a silicone sealant it looks quite good.

Oh, and we seem to have our first house guest.

Where's my rifle...

    

Day 79 - Topped Out!

The brick layers completed their work last Monday with the chimney pot finally being set into place. Martha and I had our own little topping out ceremony at the top of the scaffold together!

Work is on hold now for a week or so - hence the blog delay - as I'm waiting on some final windows and doors to arrive. There will be some work in the meantime; the roofers will be back to finish the porch roof to the rear and the flat roof over the sun room this week.

I'm going to be up a ladder finishing the soffit detail and the gaps around the windows. Pictures of my handiwork to follow!

    

Day 77 - Brick-based bummer

Fate spits in my project managerial soup once more; we ordered 10,000 bricks, but we need one pack more. Work has stopped achingly close to the finish on the brick work whilst we wait for a pityfully small number of more bricks. Just enough to complete two more courses over the sunroom and the final stages of the chimney.

Oh, and I took a trip to Birmingham on Monday to pick up our chimney pot, but I forgot to photograph it for you. It's not that impressive (well I think it is, but I'm going a bit weird that way at the moment...).

It's looking good though, and as I'm off work this week and next I've been able to get lots done ready for the next stage.

Watch this space for more!

    

How a heat pump works

I found this excellent little flash movie on the Ice Energy website which explains exactly how my ground source heat pump works.

If you'd like to read more, you can read the full page here.

Day 75 - Bricks at roof level

The brick work has reached the roof level at around 80% of the house, and the chimney is taking shape nicely.

We're going to order up our chimney pot on Monday and, weather permitting, the brick layers should be done by the end of next week.

  

Structural Curiosities...

One of the delights of self-building is that you are generally at the mercy of the expertise, or more worryingly, lack of expertise of your tradesmen. Normally this doesn't result in anything too serious as you can hear from the uncertainty in their voice that they don't know what you mean and you can head the potential disaster off.

However, every once in a while something gets through the net and, if you're unlucky, becomes a structural cock-up. This is my latest:

 

What you're looking at here is the soil pipe coming up through the concrete slab next to a block work pillar or pier. The reason its there is because the ground workers saw a shaded square on the plans and assumed it was marking the location of the soil stack.

Alas not.

It was where the pier was supposed to go. I guess it must have been the way that the square was shaded the same as all of the other block work on the plans that confused them...

But worry not! We can always bodge something.

 

What we have now is the pier next to the soil pipe, as you can see, with a steel lintel running across the top and acting as a short cantilever over the gap where the pipe is.

Lets just hope there's no other "structural curiosities" left to find!

Day 73 - Steel at last

The bricklayers cracked on again today, completing the brick work to roof height along the west wall and finishing the block work for the chimney breast. The long awaited heavy duty steel lintels also finally arrived which means they can move full steam ahead on the large sun room arches and the brick work above them.

    

Day 72 - Fireplace

The bricklayers are back, despite the rain, and work has continued. The brick work over the front door is now in thanks to the arrival of the missing arches last week and work to construct the fireplace has got off to a great start.

   

Day 71 - Guttering

This weekend we tackled the guttering. Andrew and I were up the scaffold on Sunday and, despite the rain, had the job licked in just over four hours. The guttering is white uPVC with a ogee profile and looks really good. It all clips together with rubber seals at the joints so even complete novices like us can do a good job!

   

Day 70 - Bricks & Blocks

The brick and block work is moving on at pace and we're just waiting on a few structural items (lintels, arches) etc that have been delayed. Work should resume later this week.

This weekend Martha and I painted the facia and soffits - three coats! - and I took delivery of the guttering that I'll be fitting myself this Sunday.

We're getting there!