All Wrapped Up

Yesterday was our first visit to the plot since the roof had been finished and we are so pleased with it. It looks like a proper house now, settled into the plot.

We also put the breathable membrane (builders paper) around the house. This protects the timber frame and absorbs the woods 'sweat' and allows it to breathe. We have the garage to do next Saturday and to fit the electric meter box ready for the electric connection within the next few weeks.

The Eurobrick panel is now on site and ready for inspection by the Council tomorrow so they can finally finally finally give the final OK and we can contact Eurobrick and place an order.

We also have to have a clear up! Not impressed with the amount of rubbish that has appeared on site, some of which is the roofers' (the majority of which they're coming back to take away this week), some of which has probably been dumped there by those around us due to the fact there is so much rubbish on there at the moment anyway, including a shoe, a bottle of tomato sauce and a roof rack!

More Walls

Yesterday Darran and I spent the morning starting to put up the rest of the internal walls. We have decided that we will do it over the next two Saturdays. We can only work until 1pm so it's just right at the end of a week at work.

Here is what we did; this is the bedroom wing showing the bathroom and en-suite walls.

We've got the sitting room / kitchen dividing wall to do next Saturday and to finish putting a few studs in and the noggins.

When this is complete it means that both the architect and the structural warranty inspector can finally sign off the timber frame stage.

Here are some pictures of the slating in progress.

Not too much had happened as one of the chaps had been 'off sick' apparently. I know we shouldn't be so suspicious of people but you do wonder sometimes! Anyway, they are back on it in full swing this week and the main chap knows we're back up next weekend so we hope to see a big difference.

Finished! Phew!

The roof is finished (with a little help from our friends!). Darran worked so hard to get it done in a week, and what a week it was! Here are some pictures of it complete and ready for slates.

Darran spoke to the roofing contractor yesterday and they were hoping to start on Thursday. Some of the slates had been delivered yesterday but there had been a mix up with the hire of a fork lift and one hadn't arrived which meant the slates spent the night roughing it on the pavement! Mum and Dad drove by this morning to see more being delivered so we hope the fork lift is sorted out!

Next on the list for us is to sort out the windows and doors and place the order, and to finish putting up in the internal walls in order to get the timber frame stage signed off. We also need to erect the sample from our brick slip supplier so the Council can give the final nod of approval. We will probably do this at weekends for a while to get back to some normality at home for a while!

Roofing (with Mother In Law!)

Site took on a different atmosphere today; Darran not only had me as a helper (well, more of a sitter and supervisor today), but Mum too. It was apparent that a 'mummy' was on site as a pot of Carex hand wash and hand towel appeared at the stand pipe.

Mum was up on the scaffold with Darran painting the rafter feet (the ends) in Weathershield paint. She was soon promoted to helping to stand the trusses which was a great help.

(Getting instructions - above!)

They got on really well, and we now have a roof that is almost finished.

(The black bits you can see here are the rafter feet that Mum painted.)

It's hard to get the true feel of it as all the scaffolding is still in place. There are still the hip-ends to finish (where the roof slopes down to the end wall) and ply to put around the bottom of the trusses to aid the roofers, who should start next week.

All Trussed Up

Now Darran and I are in the same part of the world, we can post the latest photos of the roof that Darran has been working on this week. And wow, we now have part of a real roof!

It's been a slow start but there is a system going now so it should start to flow. Darran is still hopeful to have it done by Sunday; tomorrow is judgement day on whether he will or not. Mum is helping tomorrow and we're painting the rafter feet and some ply wood to go around the bottom.

Raising the Roof

This morning Darran went up to the plot to start to stand the roof trusses. I spoke to him at lunch time and it was all going well and the trusses were coming in batches which made them easier to manage. Unfortunately the van driver was a bit of a wimp and although the manufacturers had told us they could get the van up there, the van driver decided he couldn't. So, this meant Darran had to carry them up to the plot (with the help of a chap who was working on the house at the front).

The scaffolders hadn't quite finished so were also on site doing the garage.

The house seems to have faired pretty well in all the wet weather, although there is water stood on the slab. The sooner we get the roof on and covered over the better.

I go up on Thursday for a long weekend, I'm not sure what I've been marked down for, painting was mentioned yesterday so perhaps that.

In other news, gossip from site is that the Council received a complaint from one of the neighbours that the house was too big. A planner was on site last week measuring, but we assume everything was fine as we weren't contacted.

PS - the photo is a bit of a long shot as I was struggling for something appropriate, hopefully we won't have pigeons on our roof.

Quick Update

Things have been quiet on the self-build blog for a few days now. Just to reassure you we're still busy in the background sorting out scaffolding, delivery of roof trusses and roofing contractors, as well as getting in quotes for windows and doors, floor insulation and screed, so things are still ticking along.

Darran will be standing the roof trusses week commencing 3rd August and I will be going up to join him on the Thursday of that week to give moral support for the final few days.

We also need to get our thinking caps on for a house name so we can register the address properly. Any suggestions gratefully received as we're struggling a bit!

Timber Frame. Done.

We've done it.

We have finished the timber frame, including some internal bracing walls. We have done what we wanted to in the time we had, and here I am drinking tea in the middle of the afternoon too!

Yesterday was unbearably hot, but we managed to get the Thunderbolts (bolts that tie the frame to the block work) into the base plate on the external walls and managed to do some internal walls before we just couldn't do anymore because of the heat.

Today it has been much cooler and we managed to finish the internal walls and Thunderbolt the internal walls and garage.



This is the sitting room wall dividing the sitting room from the hall and bedrooms.




Above is the start of the walls dividing the bedrooms.

We have certainly had highs and lows over the last two weeks, and there were times when we didn't think we'd make it. But we did. And we're very proud of ourselves, and very tired! Home tomorrow and then back to 'proper' work on Monday.

Beaming Marvelous!

Today we put up the beams and posts in the garage and out the back of the dining room, and the two beams across the breeze way between the lobby and garage.






The posts and beams outside the dining room window were a bit tricky (well, that's what I can publish, I'm probably not allowed to say out loud what we really thought of them!) They took so much time to set out and level and then the bolts had moved in setting over night which meant the supports wouldn't sit straight down over them, then there was a bit of banging with a hammer involved, then a bit of angle grinding, and then they fitted. Hooray!

It has been so HOT today. The hottest yet I think. How we kept going I don't know, but all big jobs are now done and we've got a few odds and ends to tie up tomorrow before doing the internal walls.

We're now aiming for Friday afternoon off.

Time Plys When You're Having Fun!

The last two days have been spent putting the ply board on the outside of the frame. This will brace the frame adding structure and also allows a flat surface to fix the exterior finish and the interior insulation etc.

The plying didn't go quite as well today as the nail gun gave up just over half way round the garage. We thought it had just got too hot, but then Darran thought perhaps it was a bit clogged up so had it to pieces on the back of the truck and cleaned it out with an antibacterial hand wipe (one of their many uses!) and it worked for about 2 minutes then wouldn't fire at all. We got home and Dad cleaned it out with the paraffin sprayer and it is working again now (good old Dad!).

This is Darran's Nail Firer's Finger - not a good look and quite sore, but not much more to do!

Today we also drilled the holes for the post supports. Two post supports outside the dining room for the covered terrace area and two post supports in the garage to carry the roof. We have set the two in the garage but realised we didn't have enough threaded bolt rod for the ones at the back so will do them tomorrow.

A slow day today and with the nail gun packing in it felt like the world was against us by about 11 o'clock. But, we did get quite a lot done, and tomorrow should be a slightly easier day too as we should be able to finish off things that we have started but have been waiting for materials to be delivered.

May even have Friday off. We'll keep you posted!

Lakeside

When we got to site yesterday, the house at filled up with water from all the rain we'd had over night, there was over an inch on the slab.



The garage slab also had a good sized puddle which needed clearing before we could stand the garage frame. Darran made a good sweep and you'll see I managed to get a bow wave at one point!



We stood the garage frame and the beams across the tops of the doors in our noisy time yesterday, the council has restricted construction time on site to between 8am and 1pm on a Saturday.








We then measured the outside of the house for the plywood which we're cutting today and will fit tomorrow.

Hitting A (not-brick-but-timber) Wall

Today we learnt that: -

1. Our block work around the garage was wrong.
2. Katie can't read a tape measure (well, not consistently anyway).
3. When it rains hard, the slab fills up with water to create our own indoor swimming pool in the sitting room (this is normal though, there is nothing wrong with the slab).
4. Hardcore is really really really hard to dig a hole in.
5. The cat over the wall is attracted to the sound of Darran's nail gun firing.

So not such a productive day really.

It didn't start that well as by 8am we found that the block work around the garage that the frame sits on ranged between 30mm and 50mm too narrow. We called the architect who came down and agreed and then we had to wait all day for a solution. We managed to build the frame but just not stand it so the time wasn't wasted but it was so frustrating. The architect called back late this afternoon and said that our Contractors had only been sent a part sectional drawing of the garage showing the block in front of the metal post, and had assumed that the 125mm blocks went all around the garage and not just in front of this post. Anyway, not wishing to get into who said what to who about the blocks, our architect came up with a solution to pack out the bit of block missing under each stud with a packer. This will work and we will be compensated by the architect for his lack of scrutiny when signing off the groundworks. All the frame is now cut and ready to stand tomorrow.

So, when Darran eventually found his carpenter's mojo again after the morning frustrations, I was set the task of measuring for the noggins (the horizontal bits between each stud that keeps them straight). I had the worst tape measure in the world that was rusty and a lot of the millimeter lines weren't there, but I persevered and diligently wrote everything down, only to find when Darran cut them that some were way out. I kept taking them back having to own up to the fact they didn't fit, and it was raining and about 5 o'clock so not helped by being at the end of a long day!

The more it rained the more the slab filled up and up so we were splashing about it in by the end of the afternoon, adding to the enjoyment of cutting bits of wood in the rain!

I was also given the job of digging two holes outside the dining room patio doors down through the hardcore to find the concrete pad to set the supporting beams on. I found it, but the hole is more conical than square, but it's a good start!

On brighter notes, we have a little black and white cat who lives over the wall and seems to be attracted to us by the sound of Darran firing his nail gun. This seems really odd as you would think that sound would be quite scary for a cat. It hasn't actually come to say hello properly yet, but it won't be long. We also have a site office, already moved a few things in, fire extinguisher, site manual, safety equipment, picnic chairs, it's also really good when it rains!

Tomorrow we're back on site and can make a noise until 1pm so will stand the garage and finish the noggins and studs in the house. We will then do some measuring on the external frames to fit ply board to. We had 75 sheets delivered today, and all need to be cut to size for Monday.

No rest for the self-builder!

The Right Wing

Today we completed the right wing of the house all bar the noggins and a couple of extra studs but we ran out of timber. We had a lot of visitors to site today so we're lucky to have finished. Our first visitor was the architect at 8am, followed by Building Control at 10am, then our foundations contractor's Site Manager stopped for a chat a couple of times throughout the day, then one of the groundworkers wanted to tell me all about his dog's trip to the vets, then the contractor's Site Director turned up and wanted to chat, and then our representative from Buildstore's Trade Card arrived at 4.30pm. So I think we did quite well really!

We're framing the two sitting room walls of the house tomorrow after the arrival of more timber and framing the garage. The weather is still on our side so we're hopeful we may even get a day off at the end of next week before we go back to 'real' work.

On our way out of the development tonight our truck got stuck down a man hole! The contractors that had been doing our foundations had damaged one of the man holes in the communal area so had replaced it tonight before they left. On our way out we heard a crack and thought Darran had hit the cottage which is one side of the access way. I got out and had a look and couldn't see anything and then there was a massive crack and the front wheel of the truck sunk and got stuck down the man hole. Oh. Now what do we do. As luck would have it, the Site Director had given Darran a card today for possible work in the future, and on it was his mobile number so we called that and he dispatched two vehicles and four men to come and replace the cover and pull us out! About half an hour later they arrived and managed to free the front tyre and pull the truck around too. They have put a temporary plate over it tonight and will come back in the morning to replace the cover.

It turned out that the (little) van that left our site today broke the first one when he ran over it, so swapped it with one on our soak away and would be back tomorrow to sort it out. Our truck is about twice the size of his van so how he thought we were going to get I don't know.

So that was fun and games at the end of a very hot day! We're warned tomorrow and have a spare piece of plywood to place over the man hole now in case it looks a bit dodgy.

The Left Wing

Today was our first proper day on site, and we completed the external frame around the left wing of the house, so the entrance lobby, kitchen and dining room are done. It went together really well and all that cutting over the last few days made all the difference. You'll see the photos show our progress.

Tomorrow's plan is the right wing and then Friday is the garage and sitting room.

The plywood for the external bracing and backing is being delivered on Friday so we should hopefully get it all cut over the weekend ready to fit on Monday, then we'll start on the internal walls next week.

It is fairly safe to say we're shattered, but it's such good fun that it doesn't seem to matter. We're building our house! For over a year we have wanted to do this and finally we are. It's a very good feeling.

A Post About A Post

Today was the first day of our two weeks off building the frame. As you'll see from the photos the contractors are still on site finishing the drainage and block work around the perimeter of the slabs. We can work along side them so it won't hold us back, progress will just be a bit slower over the first few days.

We went over to pick up the steel post on Saturday that will support the beam over the garage doors, and with the help of the contractors, managed to stand it today. Quite relieved that a digger and sling were available as well as a couple of men to help out as not sure how we would have done it otherwise. The post was about 130 kilos and I don't count as manpower for anything over about 30 kilos at the moment!

We have cut all the studs for the garage and about a quarter of the studs for the house. We will be standing the house studs tomorrow as the block work is still to be laid around the garage.