Day 203 - Utility room underway

Lots of work this week. The utility room is now finally underway and looking great. Perry the kitchen fitter is having to work wonders to fit everything around the plumbing but its going really well so far.

Pete the plasterer was back yesterday to plaster under the stairs and put up some board in the utility room, while Paul the decorator is on site finishing the gloss work and preparing the skirting board.

The granite guys have also been on site taking the templates for the kitchen worktop, and the electricians have almost finished but have frustratingly left a few items undone.

Today more plumbing and kitchen work, hopefully some electrics and then its finishing touches next week.

Not long now!

            

Day 201 - Extractors and Cupboards

The understairs cupboards are going in nicely, and Chris has managed to sort out the creaky steps caused by the flooring guys cutting away at the newels. The extractor hood is on and looks great, and Matt has started fitting the bathroom furniture.

The island will be done today and if it works will be a major centrepiece for the whole kitchen.

Watch this space!

   

Day 200 - Wood Floor and Heat Pump Complete!

The wood floor is now complete throughout the house and looks amazing.

The heat pump is online and working well. We have hot water! The engineer from Ice Energy was on site all day last Wednesday and finally, after many fine tweaks and tuning to the plumbing, it finally came to live around 5:30pm.

Work is continuing now on the bathrooms, with Matt the plumber hooking up the sinks, taps and showers today. The kitchen work has slowed as we wait on mising materials and parts. The new wine fridge is still not on site, and the stainless steel for the island turned up late and wrong!

I have a new carpenter now (Darrell the last incumbant went AWOL) and he has started work today on the cupboards under the stairs with two new doors that Potton sent over last week. He'll be working on the skirting board next week.

Paul the decorator will be back this week and next to paint the skirting and finish off the last bits of gloss work, and Pete the plasterer will be back on Thursday to finish the plaster work around the staircase and in the utility room.

Oh, and I fitted the internal door handles this weekend and, with a little help from colleage Rupert "Second Row" Davey installed the new canopy over the front door. I didn't have my camera with me on the day so I make an unprecedented apperance in shot thanks to Rupert's camera phone!

        

Day 195 - More wine please!

It is all a bit turbo onsite at the moment. I have two electricians, three floor fitters, two kichen fitters, a plumber and for today, two ventilation system fitters as well. They are in the most part playing nice together but there have been a few spats about mess, mostly by the kitchen guys who are very meticulous and trying to keep everything neat and tidy whilst people make a right old mess around them!

The HRV system is being commissioned today. The system takes hot, stale air from the kitchen and bathrooms, extracts the heat and uses it to warm cold, fresh air from outside which it pumps into the living spaces. All being well it should recover 75% of the heat from the air it handles, cutting heating bills and keeping the house fresh. Plus without trickle vents in the windows, there should be no drafts or noise when its windy.

The electricians are motoring on fitting the power and control systems for the heat pump and underfloor heating which is due to be commissioned tomorrow. Fingers crossed that Matt the plumber can have it ready in time!

The kitchen is looking great, but we have broken oven (the door fell off), no stainless steel for the island, extractor fan or sink for the utility, plus the biggest disaster of all; the wine fridge is too small.

As you can imagine this is a complete show stopper bordering on the criminal, so hopefully the man from Moeben should be on site today to handle the crisis...

           

A bit about Bamboo

The the wood floor that we have chosen for the house was not by any means an easy find! We searched for months and months trying to find a floor that did everything we wanted.

Firstly it had to be dark. In the US you can source all manner of beautiful dark, baked oak flooring materials that look spectacular, but for some reason over here nearly everything is based around light oak, and it is very hard to find a proper dark wood floor.

Secondly it had to be refined. We didn't want a rustic, farmhouse finish as it just wouldn't go with the house. We found all manner of oak floors that could be baked or dyed down to the right colour, but none with the finish we wanted.

Thirdly it had to be stable over under-floor heating, which generally means going for what's called "engineered" rather than solid boards. A thin layer (usually around 5-10mm) of the real wood is backed with a ply wood substrate. This is more stable under changes of temperature and won't dry out and "cup" like solid wood can.

Well after much searching I finally stumbled upon a product hidden away in a flooring company's warehouse. Based on strand-woven bamboo of all things, the boards we have not only meet all three of our criteria above but, as bamboo is a fast growing wood, are extremely environmentally friendly to boot as they are made from easily replenishable stocks.



After all the searching to finally see the floor going down is an amazing sight.

All we have to do now is keep people off it with boots and high-heels and pray that we can avoid any surprise panda attacks...

Day 193 - Ovens and hobs

The new ovens and hob went in today in the kitchen and look great. I'm not so sure about the oven they have supplied. The one I wanted was out of stock so they gave me an upgrade to the top of the range model but it's got a funky sliding door mechanism that is just a bit too fiddly for my liking. I may have to back it!

I painted the front and back doors today in the light blue that we've chosen. It's a bit of a shock to see it for the first time but by the time I get the second coat, brass work and the canopy on it should look great.

Work on the floor continues as well. Nearly all of the first floor is now done.

Oh, and good news; I've found a new plumber, he starts today, he can hit my deadlines so they'll be no delay AND he's cheaper than Jamie was going to be. If he can get his head around the heat pump and get it all working then that's definitely a result!

   

Day 192 - Floor and Kitchen Kick-off

What a difference a day makes!

I was on site this morning at 7am to meet the kitchen fitters. A lovely chap and his dad make up the two man team who have really cracked on today. We have kitchen units!

The flooring guys were back for day two today and laid the floor in the master bedroom. It looks amazing! The guys are really pleased with the floor and want to use it in their brochure. They may also want a web site doing shortly, so I may be able to pay them in trade!

I also met up with the new plumber today who turned out to be a nice chap also. Very go ahead and keen to get stuck in straight away. At last!

Full steam ahead!

        

Day 191 - Plumber Implosion!

Slight problem last week - my plumber Jamie disappeared from site on Thursday with all his tools, leaving his keys behind. After much chasing in vain I finally got an email from him saying that he was unable to continue for health reasons.

I think I may have invented some whole new swear words that day!

So I'm in the process of sourcing a new plumber to complete the work and get the all important heat pump up and running for me, together with the bathrooms, harvester and water pipes. I'll let you know how I get on.

In other news I've had a packed bank holiday weekend fitting all of the plug sockets and finishing all of the stone floor and grouting in the house. The electric meter is now in and the power is on, but due to a slight miscalculation on behalf of the electrician, we're running on a temporary fuse board until this Thursday. I have one live plug eight feet in the air!

The kitchen and utility cupboards and appliances are all here now too. The installer was due to start this morning at 7am but phoned in sick, should be on tomorrow. You just can't get the staff!

The floor installers are on site from today putting down the beautiful hardwood floor. Starting up stairs they will be moving down stairs later in the week and finally completing the staircase next week. I am really excited about this as it will be one of the best features of the house. I can't wait to check it out tonight!

        

Day 182 - Stairs and tiles

I've done a few bits and bobs this weekend.

I am still struggling on with the sockets and switches, filling in the gaps around them before I can make good and do the electrics. I have laid some more limestone flooring in the lobby and utility room and complted the carpentry work to finish the firt floor deck around the stairwell.

The bathrooms are almost done now barring the sinks and furniture (which have been delayed by a week) and a bit of grout (which we have run out of - more on its way for Tuesday). Jamie has also run the drain for the washing machine and tumble drier from the utility to the drain in the kitchen.

Next week is a busy one. The kitchen deliveries will start this week with all of the kit arriving ahead of next week's install, as should the bathroom sinks and furniture. EOn will be installing the electric meter on Tuesday and the electricians will be back to start hooking up all the tech in the utility room.