9.  Food Processor - Spare Parts        October 18 - 28th 2012

The last two weeks feel as if we have been concentrating on the closing down of the bungalow and the opening up of the caravan.  However, this hasn’t stopped the architects from producing reams of drawings and ideas.  We have had exciting meetings discussing their progress with a feeling that the house is becoming more of a piece of architecture by the day as their involvement is becoming simultaneously more and more intense.  One of the key elements has been discussing how the timber cladding is detailed at the corners and in particular how it meets the windows and roof line.  So often these are the details that make or break a building – so our hopes are that whilst they are important to us all – their beauty in the end will probably be that they are in fact unnoticed.  

The other intense activity is by the structural engineers.  We are not too happy as they bring their work to a conclusion because the tonnage of steel has crept up. We had a ‘Grand Design’ moment, in other words the drama that comes before one of the many breaks in the programme, – will Max and Diana cope, or will they throw the towel in?

The steel prices had suddenly jumped by half as much again, and we were not happy bunnies.  A restless night worrying about the budget, followed by a hastily arranged meeting with the engineers to find out what they were doing – why the need for so much more steel, when it was meant to be a timber framed building.

Well it all gradually resolved itself with cross examination of the steel drawings and the quotes.  The two didn’t marry up, so it was up to me to phone the steel fabricators to relook at their quotes.  All is well – the price is as we expected after all, and we are back on an even keel again. 

We have chosen all the pre-Christmas contractors and got them lined up with dates in their diaries.  So we are hopeful that we will ‘start’ on schedule.

You will see in the photos all the machinery that is now on site ready for D-Day.  The mud you can see is here with us already.  Why is it that as soon as a bulldozer comes near a site – the rain has to join in?  Why can’t the rain go and play in its own back yard.

Mud

When the digger was here at the beginning of last week it had to find the mains water pipe.  Oh yes it found it – but only by suddenly realising there was a lot of water around!

Oh dear Mr Aiken, I think I've cut it.

So, just as I was preparing to go to a Speeding Workshop (35 in a 30mph limit) I was given the instruction to buy the essential replacement fitting from the builders’ merchants en route. This was a problem – speeding really wasn’t an option, but time was short.

Another moment of stress – do I drive fast to get the part and to the workshop on time, or do I wait until after the workshop and then have the stress that it might be too late for the suppliers to still be open.  In spite of much slowness at the counter I managed the former without speeding (I think).  I am now a completely reformed driver – at least in the forwards direction.

Just to let Duncan know.  Since then – I managed to reverse into our wall !!!!!!!!! which did nothing to the wall, but completely destroyed my ‘go-faster spoiler’.  They must have forgotten to tell me that speeding isn’t only when one is driving forwards.

There must be a moral somewhere there.  Perhaps it is just that I’m a slow learner... 

So this weekend we went through all the boxes that we have had in store in the bungalow.  Against all my better judgement, all of them had been invaded (by us) at some time or other over the year so they needed checking and some repacking.  Whenever I pack up a house I always remember the box that Grandma took with her marked ‘String to short too use’.  To my mind we have many that are equally dubious in their relevance to our lives. 

The one I found this time that gave me the most amusement was a substantially large box with just one item listed on the outside ‘Diana’s Teeth’ in big black typographic letters.  How could they take up so much room?  Well I can tell you, the day my dentist finished about 17 months work on my mouth with moulds, casts, spare sets, dummy sets, moulds of final sets he presented me with a collection of polythene bags with them all in.  ‘Don’t lose them’ he said ‘and remember where you’ve put them just in case I have to make adjustments!  So they stay with me chattering away in that box keeping each other company.  Possibly I should have spared those poor guys who were moving all these boxes the embarrassment.  I should have coded them something like ‘Food Processor – spare parts’.  I must be more thoughtful in future.

Food Processor - spare parts

Last supper by the fire in the bungalow
Always work to do at the table!!

So the next night was our first night in the caravan.  Mixed emotions.  Exciting because it is a major step in the right direction, but suddenly we are in effect houseless.  With it comes a considerable amount of difficulty in trying to continue to live a life of established routines and procedures.  Instead it is punctuated by repeated changing of shoes from wellies to indoor shoes, increasing amounts of mud, decreasing numbers of clean pairs of trousers in much shorter timespans.  Less clothes available anyway because of the space constraints...  The rule was 7 sets of clothing so that we could in principle have a week’s worth of working clothes, and one or two smart sets for when we go out.  Well I kept my side of the bargain – but when it came to putting Max’s clothes in the cupboard he had 7 smart outfits as well as his working gear – bow ties even!!.  How is that fair?!!  He’s been a good boy and put some into store having seen that he has only 2 drawers.

It’s now later in the week.  We have got the awning arranged outside the caravan which gives us more room and more shelves for food storage and shoe storage.  Max has done a great job, and it is all beginning to feel like an organised home.  The only difficulty is the water pressure – which is low.  Barely a dribble for a shower – so that is a concern.  Many friends have invited us to use their bathrooms if we need to, and it seems likely that we will have to take up everyone’s offer.  Maybe even some sort of rota would be in order.  They don’t know what they could have let themselves in for. I couldn’t really do that to them.  We will have to see what we can do to solve this latest problem.

Max is gradually dismantling the house this week, as we need to get the boiler and radiators out, the glass all out, and the roof timbers out   The boiler we plan to re-use as it was new a year before we moved in, and the timbers are excellent, and will be useful for the building of a workshop / store for the building site.

Starting to get the tiles off

And a few more

With these materials out the way, the demolition will proceed with the house walls being knocked down, gathered up, crushed on site and used as a hard standing for all the ready-mixed concrete lorries, cranes, and heavy vehicles that will come during construction.   

We have our hard hats, high-viz jackets
and yes, you may even see the Health and Safety notice!

The site office is basically finished, complete with desk, shelves, computers, printer, tool store, washing machine, sink and kettle point (so that I can provide tea and buns for the workers) as well as a heater.  Just in case you were wondering about where Max’s tobacco might be.  Well surprise, surprise, they too are moving into the site office to dry.  I can’t get away from them.

This is the office (the 'smart' end)

The Kitchen corner
Disregard the workbench, that will go!, and all the clutter above the fridge.

Then of course there is the workshop in the other half
but we try to ignore that.

Yes, this is coming to the 'workshop' tomorrow - not for long - just whilst it  gets nicely dried.
I am  assured.

Just one more week of preparation before we really start on site, but Max and I really do need this week to be certain that we really are ready for the onslaught of all the excitement of actually doing the building.  Once we start there will be very little time to do anything but manage the decisions that have already been taken.  Can we pull it off . . . . . . . . . 

8.  A week of decisions

First a little starter:

Max suggested our architect talked rather a lot!

So I asked Max if he thought he himself talked a lot.

He didn’t think so.

I suggested he asked one or two people – ask Spencer (the architect), ask Ruth (the structural engineer), ask Fred, ask the girls, ask the boys, ask Jules, ask . . . . . .

Then I thought I should ask him if he thought I talked a lot.

He thought for a bit

‘Yes’, he said –‘if you’re allowed to!’

Enough said,  wouldn't you think?  

Main course - the taste of things to come

Sunday afternoon - Doors

You will hear a lot about 'Fred' in the coming months – he’s the local Mr Fixit and a really useful guy to know. Apart from anything else he came and levelled the caravan with us which , not being caravaners, is obviously an art that is learnt by years of practice. 

We mentioned to Fred that we were renovating our garage into our site office, and were wanting to upgrade the rather battered door to make it more secure. After all it will be holding some important possessions – computers, files, tools etc.

‘Let me know when you're ready, I’ve got some really good solid wooden doors, and you're free to come and take your pick - they're not needed for anything else.’

Last Sunday (now over a week ago) – we were ready, so I called Fred.  He met us in the village and took us to his store.  Actually not ‘his’ store at all – but a store of his friend who had had them in her garage cluttering the place up for far too long.

So you see – Fred is the key figure in the village – if anybody has a problem they go to Fred and he sorts it out.  Village life is great in that respect.

We just wanted one door.  That's all we needed.  We chose it, were just about to leave when Fred suggested we could have more if we needed them.  ‘Well I could do with one more’  I heard, from someone who doesn’t talk very much. 

Not a long period passed before that person who 'doesn't talk very much' suddenly found his voice again, ‘Actually, I’ll take the lot'.  So we've got 5 doors.  Why five?  Five doors when we only need one.

Oh heavens! – what will it be like in a year’s time – at this rate we will have so much junk.  Please don’t go anywhere Fred, we will need you again - in reverse.

So we now have 5 doors - not very beautiful, but I'm hoping they will at least earn their keep.  One is half way there to being my site office front door – looking unusually smart.  

Pretty good compared to the one that has obviously been replaced.
I've just got to paint its title on it, one fine day soon.

The second has become the ‘welfare’ door with the original bathroom lock still in place.  One could say that this temporary fit out (if one uses some imagination)  is becoming almost sophisticated.  The other 3 doors, I have been promised, will be essential back stops for sand and gravel so that the JCB will be able to scoop the sand up without any problem as there will be a buffer to push against.  As long as they have a purpose who can complain. 

  

Monday - Floors

We are getting close now to choosing the floor finishes for the living room and the kitchen /  dining room. Far too much choice out there!  It has taken us many visits and many months to come to a conclusion.

It looks like we will be having a matt finish oak floor for the living room and a Papyrus limestone floor for the kitchen and dining room.  

The bathroom tiles have also been chosen and I am even setting out the tiling layouts.  I don't like unaligned grouting lines.  They upset me.

Tuesday - Kitchens

We are about to finalise our choice of kitchen between an Alno kitchen and a very similar John Lewis range.  The attraction of the former is the colour, and to be honest the overall quality; the attraction of the latter is the price.  However I did put the Alno rep to the test today and have managed to get a substantial reduction so that the price is within striking distance of the JL kitchen.  I’ve already been told by the JL rep that they don’t ‘do discounts’.  So it looks like I may have got onto a winner with Alno.  I need to confirm it by November to secure the deal.

As I indicated in the last post the plan of the kitchen has changed in that we have taken away the store and made the whole area as the kitchen.  A better size to work in and plenty of room for all the items one collects. 

This is the most recent plan showing the changes to the kitchen and also the fireplace in the living room which I explain next

Wednesday - Woodburning stoves

We have visited a whole range of wood burning stove showrooms over the last few weeks to try and find a couple of suitable ones – one for the living room and one for the snug.  The task is to find a fire with not too much output.  We want the stove frame to be very minimal. It must have a glass front, and the glass should be able to be raised so that the fire behaves like an open fire rather than looking like a stove.  The Belgians make the best stoves (for ‘best’ read the ‘most minimal’ in terms of design), and on Tuesday we finally found a great one. 

We feel that we can’t live in the country, and not have an open fire – it’s all part of the lifestyle – on a cold winter’s evening with friends one wants to be able to sit around the fire and feel cosy – nothing really to do with ‘heat’ just a feeling of warmth in the soul. 

However, nowadays stoves are designed to be extra efficient.  No wasted heat, they are designed to ‘perform’.  So for us this is a problem, the house won’t actually need much heat as it will be so well insulated.  We’ve found the one that fits our rather eccentric requirements.  It is a fireplace that has two glass sides to it, so that it creates a corner.  It is controllable so that we can keep the heat down, but it will look and feel fantastic.   I’m really excited about it - you can probably gather that.

Photos from the manufacturer's brochure of the corner stove that we hope to install in the living room

The architect sent us these drawings of his proposals for the chimneys plus the plan I showed you above that shows how the corner of the stove faces into the living room.

The architect's section drawing showing how the flues will work and at the same time meet the constraints of the building regs.

The snug fireplace will be designed with a chimney that could take a stove, if in the future we feel we need one, but to start with we will probably just have a small grate and have a traditional open fireplace.  The most inefficient that you can create.  Building Control may not allow it, but if they don’t we will buy the smallest stove possible.  We’ve seen the one we would have.  Inefficient new houses are just no longer allowed to be built, and stove installers are not allowed to install any stoves without meeting very stringent rules.

Committing ourselves

This is what you all really want to know about - when are things really going to start happening? - when do we think we are going to move in?!!

Well here is the plan 'til Christmas and into the New Year.  I am allowing you to put us to the test and see how well we do by posting you this gantt chart.  Will I regret having laid ourselves open to mockery and teasing?  I expect so.

Actually the family are already starting up a sweep-stake so if you want to find out the rules and join in email any of the three girls and place your bet.  

"Ceri Aiken" <CeriA@caffenero.com>
"Sian Aiken" <Sian.Aiken@pepsico.com> 
"Ffion Beagley" <FfionB@caffenero.com> 

You should really align these horizontally but this programme won't allow me to do it I'm afraid, but you will be able to work out how we hope to get from October 22nd (which is approaching all too rapidly) through to February 2013 by which time the windows should be on site . . . .   But who will pick the right date?  which is when I choose to finally move in.  We all know Max will be ready to move in as soon as it's watertight, but I am a little more circumspect and want the place 'finished' properly so that we can move into a 'NEW HOUSE'  Place your bets - not with me, but with one of the girls, because I mustn't know !  

That's all for this week.  Lots more being done, but will save it for another day.