24. "Be Prepared"

24.  "Be Prepared"  Motto of John the Baptist Primary School, Leicester

Intentionally we have had several weeks without building work demanding our attention so that we could cover all the research we needed to do.  The intention being that we are fully conversant with the architect’s drawings; we (I say ‘we’ – you know who I really mean), know how to build the house; what materials are needed; and where we are going to get them all from.  It has been time very well spent and the weather has justified our decision, because it really hasn’t been very good outside.  The slab has just managed to dry out at last.  It looked like a swimming pool in there for the first two weeks, with more recently it representing a rather handy ice rink.   We could well have promoted it as a useful local attraction.

  

In the last week we have made a great leap forward putting all our new knowledge together, making the decisions that we needed to make, assessing all the quotes we have received, and now placing the orders.

This is a typical list of the things we have been able to prepare for, and items we have ordered:

The scaffolding, including its own sheeted roof, arrives on Thursday 28^th.  This will protect the builders from the weather and enable them to ‘keep working’!  

The steel roof beams around the top walls of the studio are being delivered and erected next Thursday.

A quantity of various building materials so that the builders can erect all the timber infill within the steel frame, is to be delivered next Friday. Max has spent hours studying all the architects' drawings, making lists of all the different materials and researching what is available and which is most suitable.  Hours and hours.

He has done the same for all the specialist fixings. So he is familiar with exactly what is needed, depending on what particular materials we are joining, the forces that need to be taken account of, and the right sizes in all applications - a never ending list - he's researched into and whose are best, and where he can get them for the best price.  Amazing work.  His order will be delivered next week.

We have ordered the material to build the two chimneys – with a builder lined up for later in March

All the floor finishes are ready to be ordered this coming week, with the appropriate installers lined up – probably not until later in May, but we don’t want to be worrying about that sort of detail when we are busy building.

The front door is provisionally scheduled for delivery April 22^nd.  It awaits a final decision on the colour.  Four colour samples should arrive early next week.  This is very exciting!  Hopefully we will be able to finally order this by the end of next week. 

The windows are scheduled for delivery mid April.  We visited the fabricators this week and they are making good progress.  They are really First Class.  Fate seems to have gone our way here after all.  They are more used to commercial operations so it all seems very well managed and efficient.  They are also extremely helpful especially in the detail.  They seem to be enjoying a one off house, rather than a school with 376 windows all the same!

All the roofing has been ordered with the specialist installer all lined up. Has to be done prior to the windows going in – so by late March / early April

The bathroom fittings are all specified and ordered.  This is mainly so that we know exactly where the first fix will all be positioned.  We have decided to put a bath in the guest bathroom (no pressure of course – our daughters wouldn’t ever dream of  'suggesting' that we really ought to have one) – now that we have a grandchildren on the way! 

The plumber and electrician are both lined up for the first fixes in April.

The lighting has been selected, not yet finally approved.

All the electrics and lighting have been positioned on the plans, so we know where everything should be positioned and quantities to order.  I’m hoping to finalise this during the next week.

This week, I have completed the door ironmongery specification and hope to get it sent out for a quotation.  Fortunately we don’t seem to have many doors in the house!

Blind details and curtain details are being considered before it’s too late and this is where the window fabricators have been so helpful.  I do like these details to be integral to the system, rather than added on as an afterthought.

External window sills have been specified, I need to decide on the material for internal window sills.  Another job for the next week!

The kitchen was ordered some time ago, the woodburning stove is also ordered.  We've seen it and it's looking good.

The builder is coming to see us at the weekend for him and Max to go over the first week’s schedule and discuss the materials and fixings.  We need to be sure he is happy with what he will be working with and he has all the right tools.  There will still be time to make final changes.

This week we will be checking the order of activities and updating the gantt chart. Planning what to do is one skill, knowing how long it is all going to take is quite another, so the gantt chart will be a guide only!  We will just have to see how we go, but we are trying to be realistic in our estimations.  

One more week to ‘be prepared’.

This was my old school motto – will it work for us this time?

Sorry there are no photos this week - next week there should be some of the scaffolding and the studio steel.  I'll try and get the resolution of the video set right so that it loads onto the blog.  Last time it blew the system!  Lots to learn.

23 Slab done and dusted

23.             Slab done and dusted

Friday saw Stefan and Jake arrive at 8 o’clock, the pump lorry arrive to set up at 8:10am; the neighbour’s concrete arrive at 8:15am just to cause maximum confusion in the lanes, our other helper arrive at 8:30am, last minute taping up of the Red Baron by 8:45am, and everyone standing at the ready with rake in hand by 8:55am the first 6 cubic meters of concrete arrived at about 9:10am.

Stefan took charge with the pump spout and with his expertise was able to place the right amount of concrete in the right place so that minimal amount of moving wet concrete around was needed.  A valuable talent to find one had on site.

The rest is photos showing progress through the morning, with the fourth lorry finishing by 1:30pm.

Finally topping up the retaining wall with the final dregs from the last lorry. No wastage.

The forecast behaved exactly as predicted, with the sun coming out properly as we finished, and a very slight drizzle at about 4pm.

By 6pm we had everything covered to help the curing process and by 6:30pm Max and I were at the neighbours being hosted yet again to a comfortable evening with a home cooked dinner and fire-side relaxation.  Thank you Fred and Hilary.  Can't wait to have you to dinner at our place.

The week went according to plan, and we feel very relieved it is now behind us.  My body is feeling a little bit older with a few aches and pains.  I’ve discovered a few new muscles in this past week.

I have a few video recordings which I will try and load tomorrow so you get the full movie option.

Just had a great afternoon and evening out with Sian and Keith so not enough time to get them loaded in time for the Sunday morning viewing.  Thought I should at least get this latest posting out tonight though.

22. We've overcome him, and laid him down.

22.    We’ve overcome him, and laid him down

Thursday, Friday - grab it whilst it's there.  You don't see this very often now.

We’ve snatched a couple of days that the forecast said would be dry and reasonably warm in order to get the Red Baron down (today) and the concrete poured (tomorrow).

We set to at 8 o’clock this morning and pretty well completed the task by dusk of lining the floors with the red polythene.  All the sheets have been sealed together with double sided bituthene between the overlapping sheets, and then taped over the outer edge with visqueen as double precaution to keep any damp out.

Tackling the drain outlets

The corner codge

Corners, and sealing drain outlets are a nightmare, and very tricky to do.  Polythene sheet isn’t very cooperative so there has been rather a lot of codging, disguised as best we can, with loads of tape.  I’m sure there must be a prescribed way of doing this job, but no-one was able to tell me how, and it certainly didn’t come naturally to our fingers.  It’s one of those jobs one starts off thinking one has to be very particular over, take your time, it’s important to get it right.  Gradually other priorities seem to creep in – get it done, –  just get it done, – just b***** w*** get it done. 

A sea of red - taking shape

The end result looks like a sea of blood flowing through the house, but it wasn’t that bad really, we are still talking, and we are pleased with each other's workmanship in the main.   It will be great once the concrete has been poured and spread into all the corners.  

Having had a good meal and a little toddy I am now awaiting a call from our friendly neighbour who is letting me have a soak in her bath tonight when she gets home. 

I hope she'll move over.

That and a good night’s sleep will set me up for tomorrow, though I don’t expect to do much as we have 4 strong men helping.  I’ll just be recording it on camera.  Someone has to do that.

21. The weather is doing us a favour

21.             The weather is doing us a favour

It is good that the weather is forcing us to have a month’s gap right now.  We have basically got the building out of the ground and many would consider this the worst phase over and the best to have behind us.

This was the period when the unknown could have easily have happened – ground conditions could have been different from what was predicted, problems could have been thrown up out of the underground, and the weather could have caused all sorts of problems and delays.  We have been let off lightly.  In reality it has gone well, and to plan.  What’s more the budget is pretty much on course.  Some things have been over, but the ground works and preliminaries were wonderfully straightforward and so everything has roughly evened out, in spite of the rather protracted foundations.

Max this weekend made an heroic effort and completed all the last niggling bits of blockwork, so he will feel relieved about that.

When the next 2 or 3 days of good weather is predicted, (and we have a very good private and reliable weather station here in Bath), we will get the Red Baron damp proof membrane out and pour the slab over him.  We’re hoping that it will be possible this week, but we don’t mind if it’s not until the next.

The builders are due to start progressing the building upwards at the beginning of March.  You won’t see much, if anything, happening before then. Instead Max and I will be at our desks completing the works schedule, and arranging all the suppliers to be on toe.  Once we start, there will be little time for decision making, so we aim to have all that done during February.  We have our work cut out; we certainly won’t be able to take many days off if we want to be as ready as we need to be.

We have had a slight distraction this weekend in that the drain to the septic tank must have been crushed by the heavy plant that has been working here recently.  So after a fair amount of rodding and digging we will be calling in Stephan to come to the rescue.  I hope there will be better news by next week.  I realise that I’m not really a born camper.   This week I rather longed for completion!

It’s just one of those moments.  It’s all pretty good really.
Sorry no photos this week.