On The Plinth

Yesterday we stuck the blue bricks on top of the plinth around the garage.

That was followed by a trip into town on the hunt for an oven for Halfway House as it doesn't have one. We were unsuccessful with the oven, but did get three soil pipes, a sack truck and the three toilets we wanted as they were on a half price offer and we were also given a further 10% off!

New (temporary) Home!

I picked up the keys to Halfway House today. Hooray! One step closer to where we're going to be - just got to jump the wall and we'll be home!

(This is the view from our plot into the garden of Halfway House)

We move in the weekend of the 20th/21st March after some cleaning of the kitchen and bathroom. Apparently professional cleaners leave crumbs in kitchen drawers - and if we make a note of it on our inventory, we can leave crumbs when we leave too. I kid you not.

Slightly disappointed that we're going to have to clean (or maybe my standards are too high?) but other than that it's fine. It will make such a difference to a lot of things when we're just round the corner.

Still Soldering On

It's a month to the day since we last did an update. This hasn't been because we have been slacking off, it's just that what we've been doing has been pretty much the same for the last month - plumbing!

The hot and cold water loops are complete on the bedroom wing which is the most complex as it has the bathroom and ensuite. Now over to the living area and kitchen and cloakroom, and then across to the utility room. It has all gone really well and Darran has done a great job considering he hasn't ever done this kind of thing before.

The soldering of the joints has gone to plan. The real proof will be in the pressure test. No fires with the blow torch either, not even small ones (other than a slight charring of the flux brush)!

In other news, we now have electricity in the house which is a big tick. We have an isolator switch in the garage which is connected to the meter and have laid armoured cable (or ****** armoured cable as it was known pretty soon after we realised how difficult it is to do anything with) across the breezeway and into the lobby area to a consumer unit. We can now get on with the electrics when the plumbing has been completed.

Plumbing And A Halfway House

Too cold for bricking, this weekend saw a big leap ahead with the plumbing. The hot water loop is complete and the cold water loop is almost there.

These pipes are currently cut to size, bent to the correct angle and set in place ready to be clipped to the joists and the joints to be soldered.

After weeks of debate about copper v plastic pipe work (and yes, we mean weeks and weeks), copper was decided. It's going well so far, Darran's 'pipe-benders-face' is now easily recognisable, I think the 22mm pipe is harder to bend than first thought.

In other news, we have found a property to rent where the wall at the end of the little courtyard garden is the same wall that surrounds our plot. It is a perfect location. I have dropped the application form off today, so hopefully we'll be successful and be able to take the tenancy from the 1st March which will give us a few weeks to move in while we still have our Oxfordshire place. We'll be so glad to have moved and being so much closer will make such a difference.

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's Back To Work We Go!

It was back to work for us this weekend after a long Christmas and New Year break. We had intended not to work over Christmas as we both needed a break and to do some research and planning for the next stages. The weather also meant that for a couple of weekends we were stuck due to the snow.

Today we pointed some more brickwork around the garage plinth and took delivery of the copper pipes and fittings to start the plumbing. We also decided where our raised vegetable beds are going to go and will be marking those out tomorrow. I can't wait to get growing!

In other news, we had our defects inspection for the slab and drainage a few weeks ago. A percentage of the total cost of this stage of works was retained until six months after completion of the stage, when another inspection takes place and any mistakes/problems that have crept up are either rectified, or the outstanding balance is reduced accordingly. We have had a problem with the drains, as they are set too close to the slab and we can't get bricks, and sometimes not even the backer panel for the bricks, in behind the drains and the block work. The architects are now contacting the contractor to see whether they want to come and dig up the drains, chop a bit out and reset, or they reduce their balance. Secretly hoping for a bit of both, but I think it will be one or the other!

Having A Rest

It's been quiet on the blog recently. The weather has put the shutters on the work for any length of time because it has been so cold. We have managed to do some more bricking and have finished sticking the bricks around the garage plinth ready for pointing.

Thanks to Gramps who noticed that in our first section of bricking the bond was wrong. The lines of mortar join up on the left hand side of the picture which they shouldn't do. If this was a 'real' brick wall it wouldn't be very structurally sound. So, Dad was the Bad Cop and broke the news last week. Darran took it quite well in the end, realising that he had been thinking about the brick system as a jigsaw puzzle rather than a brick layer building a brick wall. And from then on it has gone a lot better....we hope, unless you've spotted anything else Gramps?!!

We haven't worked on the house physically since Christmas, we decided we needed a break. Darran has been researching the electrics and plumbing and seems to have got on well there.

For now though, wishing everyone a Happy New Year and thanks for your interest this year. Much more to come next year.

It works!

We started bricking last week. And there was a 'Eureka' moment on Friday when it worked. The backer panels stayed on the walls and the bricks stuck to the backer panel and the lime mortar mixed to a good consistency and stayed in the joints. Phew.

We, of course, were totally confident that it would all go together like Lego. Our faith in the system never faltered. Except.....when there was a slight glitch with the damp proofing and how this would work around the plinth and we also had to add in damp proofing at ground level on top of what was there. So after advice from the architect who offered the solution, off we went. And then there was the 'what happens at the corners' moment, but with the help of Dad and some extra info from the Internet, we were sorted.

We're really pleased with how it looks.

We have to admit to being slightly daunted by the task of putting this system together after the delivery arrived a few weeks ago. There were so many bricks, and boxes, and panels, and bags of cement. It's not hard to do when you get into the swing of it so will get easier as we do more. The hardest part now is gong to be working around the weather, or not as the case may be as winter sets in.

Update on the cat mess problem: thanks to Mags who has suggested Lion manure which you can buy in pellets. That should get rid of the little blighters, and if it's not cats it should get rid of whatever else it is that is leaving us presents!