Day 8 - Buoyancy Problems

The Ground Source Heat Pump pipework arrived today and the Rainwater Harvester pit was completed. The harvester was in the ground but by Sunday evening the pit had refilled with water and the tank - still empty and so extremely buoyant - has floated to the surface.

We can't tell if any damage has been done until the ground workers arrive tomorrow morning and move the digger which is currently pinning one end of the tank down.

Fingers crossed its okay.

 

Day 7 - Slow Progress

Progress was slow today. We took delivery of some more hardcore and work continued on the pit for the Rainwater Harvester. The depth is almost there - half of it is below the water table - so it will be back to the pumps first thing tomorrow.

  

Day 6 - Pumps and Repairs

First order of the day was to fix that leaking pipe from yesterday. The boys quickly got to work with a pump and emptied out the trench so we could see what we were working with.

With the pipe cleaned up, we attached a new piece of poly-pipe using flexible jubilee seals at either end. We clamped down one end and then teased out the makeshift clay bung we had used to block the pipe yesterday. The water began to gush out fast so we had to work quickly to secure the second end of the new sections.

        

Everything went according to plan and the broken pipe was successfully fixed.

The ground workers then completed the service trench right upto the house, backfilled the trench and completed all of the hardcore for the drive. They also had time to start on the pit for the Rainwater Harvester.

Back on track.

  

Day 5 - Mysterious Pipes

And it was all going so well...

Well, at least it started off well today. The Rainwater Harvester arrived as planned from Germany and, as expected, the driver didn't speak any English. But through a series of hand gestures and encouraging vowel sounds we managed just fine. Tomorrow we'll begin digging the massive hole required to house this baby.

    

However, before we get onto that, we've got to deal with the problem of the day: an unexpected leak from an ancient cast iron pipe running diagonally across the drive way.

Anglia Water don't know what or whose it is, and we can't work out where the water is coming from! We'll attempt to repair the pipe tomorrow morning and hopefully get us back on track.

Man the pumps!

  

Day 4 - Service Trenches

Today saw the first of the digging with the ground workers opting to warm up on the service trench that runs up the driveway. This trench will house mains water pipes and electricity and telephone cables, connecting the house to the outside world.

As you can see, we have, as expected, encountered the Fenland water table at around 800mm into the ground...

We'll be bringing in pumps for tomorrow as we've got to go down to 2.5m to install the Rainwater Harvester which we'll have to strap to concrete footings to prevent it from bobbing out of the ground when it's empty!

   

Rainwater Harvester

One of the nice things about building your house from scratch is that you can work in all sorts of goodies that would be far harder or even impossible to retrofit to an existing property.

One of the best of these is our Rainwater Harvester.

Made in Germany by Hydro International, the harvester will collect rain water from our gutters and store it in a 3300 litre tank which will sit underground. A pump is connected to the internals which feeds filtered rain water into the house for use in the washing machine and toilets, and to outside taps for use in the garden etc.

The net result is a around a 50% saving in the amount of mains water you need to use. Good eh?

You can read all about the system and how it works here.

Day 3 - Site Preparation

The ground workers have been busy today laying hardcore in the drive (not a day too soon given the performance on Day 1!) and have also pegged out the corners of the house so we can see for the first time where it will sit on the plot.

Exciting stuff, but as you can see from picture 2, I don't think they're completely convinced on the exact location quite yet...

  

Day 2 - Site Clearance

The ground workers began in earnest today with site clearance. All of the trees came down and the grass and shrubs have been taken up. The plot looks quite stark now, but its good to see exactly how much room we have to play with.

Exciting stuff!

  

Day 1 - False Start

I was all fired up for Day One of the build until about 17:30 last night when I called the ground workers to confirm. Problem: they were delayed on their current job and couldn't start until Thursday.

This wasn't great, but I had arranged for a couple of deliveries to arrive today so I planned to wait around until they turned up in the morning and then head on into work.

Well that was the plan!

It all started to go wrong when I arrived on site at around 10:00 to find that the HSS man - delivering my security fencing - had driven right onto the plot and managed to get stuck in the mud. Whilst revving the engine to the point of near distruction in a vain attempt to free himself he then wedged the van up against the fence!
We called it in to HSS who sent out an RAC man in a disappointingly small van. He sucked his teeth for a while and then went, saying he'd get a bigger truck to come and pull it out.
So while we waited for a solution I busied myself with setting up the security panels that he had delivered. Alas I had exhausted that task in under 5 minutes and so I was back to waiting again.
An hour or so later - still no sign of any tow truck - and my toilet arrived. You can tell how bored I was as I actually got excited about a portaloo.
After lunch, an AA man arrived in an even smaller van. He did a remarkably accurate impression of the RAC man, and then left. It was at this point - 6 hours after I arrived on site - that my enthusiasm for the day began to take a downward trajectory.
But then a breakthroguh! My ground workers arrived with all manner of large machinery ready to setup for the following day.
They took one look at the problem and had a solution straight away. "What we really need here", they said, "is a 6 tonne JCB and some chain." Which was lucky, becuase that's exactly what they'd brought over from Wisbech. Five minutes later and the back of the HSS van was in the air moving back up the drive way to freedom.
So all's well that ends well. I have my toilet installed.
And I have the plant on site ready for tomorrow.
And I finally have my security gates up, which will hopefully prevent people from driving into the plot and getting stuck in future! The moral of the story? "Don't mess about, get a JCB."

Wicken Fen

A large part of our decision to build in Wicken was due to the proximity of the Wicken Fen Nature Reserve. It's five minute walk from our back gate and is home to all manner of species of wildlife. If you've never been and live in the area I would strongly recommend a visit. A crisp, sunny day this time of year is one of the best times to come.

Here are just a few of many photos that I took on the Fen just over a year a go on just such a day.

   

Our First Structure!

Okay, so it's not quite what you were expecting. It's not exactly Grand Designs material!

I spent the morning at the plot today putting up an aluminium tool store that we'll use throughout the build to keep subbies' gear safe overnight. It was a bit cold to start with (-4 deg C at 8:00am) but soon warmed up. Which was good because it was getting difficult to hold onto the screws!

I also arranged for a 10 step ladder to be delivered so I could have a chop at some of the trees overhanging the drive with my newly aquired bow saw.

Martha arrived at 1:30 with some much needed provisions and did a sterling job preventing me from falling off the ladder into Number 45's garden!

Bricks

As the build goes on I thought I'd take the time to show you some of the materials and products that we're using.

To start with I thought that I'd show you which bricks we're going to use. They're called Bradgate Multi Cream from Ibstock.



Apologies for the picture of the developer tower block but its the only thing I can find online that has been built using these bricks. They look good in the flesh, though - don't worry!

As a part of our planning permission all external materials must be agreed by the council in advance so the choice of bricks is very important to ensure what we build fits in with its surroundings.

We think these should do the trick and, luckily for us, the council agrees!

Plot Pictures

	I went down to the plot this afternoon to take a few pictures. The first (top left) is of the driveway and the rest are from various points around the plot. As you can see there are a few trees to clear before we can get started. We're going to keep the big apple tree and one or two of the others. Make the most of this view - its about to get a whole lot more muddy!