Still Pointing In The Right Direction

A quick update.....we're still pointing!

Currently we are up to the dining room return wall back into the sitting room. Although I'm not actually the one wielding the mortar gun, it's going quicker, and better, than we first thought.

The weather is also on our side and we've had pretty good weekends at it so far.

PS - I also have my first pumpkin growing! This, for many reasons, is a very exciting discovery.

All Bricked Up

We did it.

Thursday 26th August marked the day the last brick was stuck on our house.

We're so pleased to have reached such a huge milestone in the build, if absolutely shattered and with aching legs!

Now the pointing begins, and there is a lot of pointing to do. But, we'll get there.

We also had a huge clear up on Friday and the house is now spotless (or as spotless as a building site can be!) and actually looks like a house again.

Electrics and plumbing will now also be completed ready for the next sign off.

Back to the day jobs on Tuesday!

Today

Started on the plot at 7.30am.

Decided that was it for the day at 6.30pm.

Four and a half walls bricked.

Now drinking wine.

Enough said.

The Photos So Far

Here they are, long awaited photos of our progress so far.

We have about a quarter of the house left to stick bricks on, and then half the house needs to be pointed.

On Friday we discovered that we were 14m of metal base plate short. The is something that Eurobrick supplies as part of the system, so a quick call to them and we will get more delivered tomorrow. This shouldn't hold us up and we're glad we discovered this now rather than next weekend!

Yesterday was spent cutting more bricks to complete the house. 32 bricks from the end, the brick cutter broke (again!) so another one is also being delivered tomorrow.

We have discovered a new European mountain this week, the newly-formed 'Twin Peaks of Polystyrene'. These are all the empties that the bricks have come in. We're getting rid of them next week so will have a garage again.

Right, mustn't get cold, back to it!

On Holiday! (Well - ish)

No, this isn't a real photo of where we are!

We now have two weeks off work to concentrate on finishing the bricking and have a jolly good tidy up! Please keep your fingers crossed that the weather is dry, or we could be back to our 'day jobs' by Wednesday! We also want to try and get the windows and doors stained both inside and out.

I think this is only our third or fouth stretch of holiday we have taken since we started just over a year ago so we've not done bad really have we?

If we can get the bricking done, or almost done, then we'll be on to inside work finishing the plumbing and electrics and then it's our next inspection which is pre-plasterboard.

Photos of progress will follow.

Catching Up

It's been a while since we updated the blog and a lot has happened. We have now moved into Halfway House and have settled in. It only took a week to unpack the boxes and put our things out around us. We haven’t unpacked everything as a) I don’t think there would be room and b) with moving again in a (hopefully fairly) short space of time we didn’t see the point, so a lot is still packed and in boxes in the spare room. We can see The Garden House from the back windows so it keeps us motivated!

Darran has been off the last couple of weeks and has made great progress. The plumbing is now completed (just the shower valves to fit) and he has also fitted the manifold to the under floor heating pipes so we no longer have spaghetti to contend with. We have tested the hot and cold water pipes and no leaks!

We now have the raised vegetable beds in, filled and planted.

The main objective continues to be the bricking. Hopefully as we’re now moving into the nicer weather we will be able to get on with it in the evenings. Darran has done some over the last couple of days as the weather has been so nice. He has done the back of the garage and around under the breezeway, ready to point.

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!

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!

Brick By Brick

Our Eurobrick system was delivered yesterday and what fun and games that was! We joked in the morning that Darran should wear his high-vis coat in case he needed to direct traffic and we weren't wrong!

The lorry arrived at about ten to eight with half the load on, and another lorry would be arriving about two hours later with the rest. When we say 'load' we mean (in total) :-

• 18,421 brick slips in various forms
• 86 8ftx4ft backer panels
• 7 rolls of jointing tape
• 4000 black washers (part of the fixings that secure the panel to the house)
• 4000 screws
• 300 600ml sachets of adhesive
• 80 bags of lime based mortar
• 6 pointing bags
• 6 pointing bag tips
• 3 adhesive guns
• 10 adhesive gun nozzles

The first lorry had a folk lift to move the pallets from the lorry out on the road to the plot. This worked fine, but would have been much better had there not been a dim-wit on the controls who was scared to do anything other than leave them outside the garage. This didn't please us as we wanted all the brick pallets in the garage, and now we were going to have to unpack and move the bricks. He was also unloading his lorry traffic side so was blocking one lane with the lorry and one lane with the forklift when he was getting off the next pallet, hence traffic duties for Darran! I don't think you could say where we are really has a 'rush hour' but traffic was stacking up!

The second consignment arrived and this driver was much better and lifted 4 of the larger pallets into the garage left by the other delivery which meant we only had the smaller ones to move.

The backer panels went into the house as these need to be kept away from the elements as do the mortar and glue.

So now all that is left is to fix 86 backer panels and stick 18,421 bricks. If anyone out there didn't gain their Brownie/Scout badge for brick-sticking now could be your time to shine! Register your interest here!

Talking of badges, I have nearly got my Wood Staining Badge! I'm about half way round the windows and doors. They are coming up really well and the stain is adding a nice depth to them.

Today is calmer. We have been to the plot and measured for the plinth around the house which we need to erect before we can brick. We have also measured for the garage doors and have discovered the utility room wall may need to move if we want 8ft doors. Now we're thinking about the plumbing so we can either brick if it's nice weather and if not get on with the plumbing inside.

Off to the garden centre this afternoon to get some cat deterrent crystals - I know they go against the grain with me being a cat lover, but the amount of cat mess isn't funny anymore!

How Many Bricks Make a House?

The outside skin of the house will be brick, but not just any old brick! We will be using Eurobrick which is a brick slip system. The bricks are still 'real' but are about the third of the width of a normal brick, and therefore about a third of the weight also.

We needed to construct a sample panel for the Council to give the final OK. They have agreed the system and the brick type, but as they're not familiar with appearance of brick slips wanted to see a section made.

We are really pleased with the way it looked, and that it was fairly easy to construct. I think we have about 14,000 of the brick slips to stick and then mortar in to complete the house so we'll be well practiced by the end!