Thursday 22 March 2012

Self Build Diary - Day 101 - Upstairs

Well its been a week and its been a busy one!

Things have pushed on on site and we now have the beginnings of an upstairs!

Last Friday i got into training, i helped out on site moving blocks upstairs with the builders and labourers, my body hurt in places that i didnt know existed before! however it will soon be time for me to get my hands dirty on most weekends, so ill have to get used to it!

Otherwise this week Ive been busy pricing up things like floorboards, stud walling, plaster board and other first fix work, if nothing else i have planned well as i stare at 2 weekends before it all gets going for my bit.


As you can see the 1st floor is taking shape and the joists are becoming fixed, preparing for me to attack them with a nail gun and a great deal of good hope!

Looking at the schedule everything seems on track, maybe a couple of days behind but nothing that cant be recovered. as the next few weeks kick in there will be other activity from other contractors and of course my work too, that's when we start to get more possibility of time issues, but fingers crossed that the planning and preparation we have done with the other contractors pays off!

Time for bed!

Neil



Tent Counter

Working Days Tented - 24

Days Saved - 6

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Self Build Diary - Day 93 - Joists

Its amazing how the installation of joists makes the property feel like it has rooms, after my 1 day touch line ban I headed to site armed with a camera for your entertainment.


Also the stone work on the property roars up to meet the joists.


Some more decisions for Mrs G and I to make today, well decisions for Mrs G to make and for me to agree with. we need to decide on what type of Wood Burner we would like and also look at some floor coverings, however we may have to wait for the weekend and a trip to various departments of various large stores designed for home improvements and floor coverings.

So a quiet day today but we hope for more  quiet days before big decisions have to be made and hard work put in.

In the meantime we will watch the stonework and block work shoot up and keep planning!

Neil



Tent Counter


Working days Tented - 18


Days Saved - 5.5 (today was depressingly bright and sunshiny)

Monday 12 March 2012

A Self Build Day - day 92 - banned from site....

Today I was banned from site due to the builders installing the joists! The last thing they needed was me getting under their feet whilst they swing and balance joists into place, so I bring you photos from the weekend.......


The walls have shot up and we can start to see the how different rooms will pan out.


The sawn stone for the windows is now giving us a sense of how the property will look from the outside.

This is an unknown downside to the tent is that we can't take a step back and look at things in perspective.

So today we have been looking at some of the details of some of the finishes that we want, ow we want the fireplace to be, what flooring we require!

We need to be super organised so that we can be on top of these million decisions that we need to make and what we have decided!!!

Things like - should we use 18mm chipboard flooring or 22mm. What is 4mm between friends!!??

Early night tonight, all these sleepless nights are not good for house building.

Neil






Sunday 11 March 2012

The Self Build Diary Day 91 - Back to the grind

Well paternity leave is now over and I must get back to it! Things have been progressing nicely on site and I haven't had to be too proactive whilst at home enjoying our new addition to the family.

From here on in though things get busy!

Abode, our building contractors, are on a fixed price contract, with a fixed schedule. They will build the shell of the house and the roof and leave me with bare joists and no windows or doors. I could in theory just turn up on site the day they finish and start on the first and second fix but we need to be in the house ASAP and we also have the fabulous tent which allows us to do first fix work before the roof goes on.

We are now at first floor level with the walls and this week will see the joists go on for the first floor. Over the course of the next couple of weeks the stone work will continue up and starting Easter weekend, when the builders are at mid way through the first floor walls, I will be starting my tight schedule of weekend/evening work to get us to the point where we can take the most squeezed critical path (on paper).

Bearing in mind I haven't done half of these jobs before (not all things will be attempted by my own fair hand as I frankly want a better finish than that could acheive) I will be learning as I go and letting u know where it all goes wrong!!!

So I have to start compiling materials lists, getting quotes on materials and am learning the processes of how to do things!

My jobs are:-

- board the joists to the first floor - prepare insulation to ground floor and readying for Ufh and screed. - stud walling ground floor

The list is a lot longer than this but, one step at a time!!

I would also like to share with you That this blog was listed at number 2 in the top ten home and property blogs In the Telegraph last week, quite proud! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/9116032/Top-10-home-and-property-blogs.html

Will be back tomorrow with a photo special and a material of choice to explain/learn about!

Neil

TENT COUNTER

Working days tented - 16

Days saved - 5.5

Friday 2 March 2012

a Self build Diary - day 82 - update

Well just an update reallY.

As you will notice from my relative silence, I have been busy elsewhere, Mrs G gave birth o a baby boy on monday, so this week has been spent at home and keeping a remote eye on site.

Everyone is doing very well and I now have more determination to b.ring this build in on th budget and timescale expectations.

The builders have been cracking on and we are reaching 1st floor height with the locks and the stonework is flying p behind it. The sawn stone for the window and door jarms is looking good, and the first floor joists arrived today!

It's literally been a very busy week!

I will be back on Monday for a photo special, but for now I will go and spend some time with the family.

Tent counter

Working Days tented - 11

Days saved - 4.5