The Self Build Diary - Day 134 - A different house!

Well Ive started to call it a house, not a site........ the place has changed so much in the space of 9 days! last time i updated you i had finished Insulating the ground floor ready for the underfloor heating guys to come in. last Monday they came in and installed all the pipe work for the system on the ground floor.

The manifolds will terminate neatly under the stairs, when there are in fact stairs!

The sea of pipes was quite a sight to behold! we have left gaps for some of the architectural fixings like the kitchen island the stairs, toilets. At this point i thought it would be prudent to photograph exactly where all the pipes are so that i cannot have the excuse in the future that i didn't know, when drilling or moving things. This proved one of the most useful exercises when i came to install the stud walls on the ground floor this weekend.

I realised last week that i hadn't introduced the team of builders from Abode, our building contractors. Left to right we have Speedy Tom, French Kenny and Clever Luke. these guys are on site all of the time at the moment with cameos from their colleagues and other trades, they are very tolerant of my inexperience and are very helpful and supportive of my weekend efforts!

Tuesday last week saw the screed team come on site and screed the ground floor, this made a huge difference, it set the ground floor at its proper height and really finished it off from an aesthetic level:-

The finish looks great, it is a fast curing compound which meant that it takes 2 days to dry enough for foot traffic and is fully cured and ready to take a floor finish in 7 days! we didn't need this speed but the curing times of a normal 65mm screed could be up to 2/3 months based on the atmosphere, so for the small extra cost we opted for the fast drying option.

So last weekend, it was my first attempt at stud partition walls! using Speed line galvanised steel studs, i aimed to get the ground floor studded last weekend and i made it!

We are using double skinned walls, which will be plaster boarded on either side, there will be mineral wool through the middle and this will drastically reduce sound transfer between rooms. It will also create stronger thermal properties as there will be two independent unconnected walls.

This section was the most complicated, here we have what will be the office and on the right a cloakroom and media hub.

its been a busy week on site too! the guys have brought the block work up to form the second floor and by the end of the week most of the blocks will be up to head height of the windows, allowing me to board the second floor on the weekend..

The summit of the tent is being reached and the trusses are on order! talking of the tent, i have made some big underestimates with the tent calculator. Last post showed 45 days tented and 14 saved. the actual number of days tented was 50 and according to the site diary, which the builders keep the actual number of days was 29, due to a mixture of temperature and conditions. this last 2 weeks, the tent has been justified, we wouldn't have got anything done in the last 2 weeks due to the rain so i take great pleasure in correcting and updating the tent calculator as follows:-

No of working days tented (this includes weekends I'm down there too) - 59

No of days saved to weather - 38

No of days done ahead of untended schedule - 7

Chipboad floor onto the top floor this weekend! ill let you know how we get on!

Neil

The Self Build Diary - Day 126 - A busy week of insulation

Following the Easter break we have had a very busy site, the builders were back on Tuesday and have got the property up to Second floor joist height, these were positioned today. This week will see the stone catching up and getting to the same level.

My weekend duties were to board out the ground floor on top of the slab and the damp proof membrane with Kingspan insulation boards. I thought this would be a relatively easy task.......i was wrong!!

It was tough to get it into position and tough to get the boards in nice and tight, the cuts had to be inch perfect and it took loads longer thank i thought it would! My naivety nearly got the better of me with this one but i persevered and we ended up with a good result. A long day on Saturday (finished with a fabulous takeaway from the cinnamon lounge on Flockton moor!) was followed by some of Sunday to finish it off.

Ground floor studwork this weekend, i am not taking this lightly!

So today, the Underfloor heating contractors (Velta UK) came to install the pipework downstairs ready for it to be screeded tomorrow. again these are all things we couldn't do yet without the tent (See counter below). Once the screed is down, the stud walls (which there are not many of downstairs), the ground floor is ready to be first fixed by the plumber and the electrician. my efforts then follow the builders up as they go above 2nd floor joist height for Me to board out that floor and work below on the studs for the second floor, if i haven't already thrown the studding towel in by then!!

We are using the metal speedline studs as they are straighter, quicker and cheaper than wood, I'm doing two 50mm walls 25mm apart to create A 150mm thick stud wall which should have very good acoustic properties with some rockwool down the middle. the fact that the walls are separate should stop sound transfer between rooms.

ill be back tomorrow with underfloor heating photos.

Neil

Tent counter



No of working days tented – 45


Days saved for weather – 14


Days work done ahead of untented schedule – 5

The Self Build Diary - Day 119 - A first floor and a few aches and pains!

Its been a while! one thing i have tried to do is only put a blog Post on when i have got something worthwhile to say....... some of you may disagree, Mrs G disagrees!

Well since the last post things have pressed on on site, the walls to the first floor continue up, in fact the block work is nearly up to the second floor joists, and the stonework is mid window.

the last fortnight has been about mentally and physically preparing myself for getting involved in the project in a more hands on way! Good Friday way my first part of the project which was to install the flooring to the 1st floor joists. A luxury that we can afford due to the tented scaffold we have (See the added dimension to the "Tent Counter" below. Normally this would take place when the roof is on and the job is water tight.

So planning for the future weeks has been tough, there is lots for me to learn and i have been bending the ears of all of those contact i have access to and potential suppliers. I have come to the conclusion that i don't need to develop long term relationships with suppliers as i am only doing this once, being shrewd and asking for discounts and pushing the boundaries of the pricing and terms offered is essential in controlling the budget, whilst that doesn't stop you being honest with suppliers and getting on with them, the project comes first. If your in the same position as us, please don't accept the first price you get offered on anything.

so my schedule for the coming weeks:-

• This weekend - Boarding first floor
• Next Weekend - Kingspan ground floor (preparing for UFH installers
• Then - Ground floor Stud work.

So how did the boarding go? take a look:-

The biggest thing that i missed was that i needed to factor in the time to get prepared. When I arrived, all of the tresseling and temporary boards needed moving somewhere before i could start, then i needed to get 90+ pieces of 22mm chipboard up onto the joists and then i had to put everything back on top when i had finished, I think there was about 5 or 6 hours this weekend on moving things never mind doing the flooring.

Things i have learnt.

1) we went for 22mm flooring, rather than the 18mm, there is a small price differential but there is a lot less movement in the boards, hopefully meaning a more stable floor overall. I think the increase in quality is well worth the small amount of extra cost (about 40p per board).

2) always send the boards the opposite way if you are flooring a different section of the house, this way you can use the offcuts on the other side, I made this mistake and nearly ran out of boards, this makes total sense to everyone, if only i had thought about it!!

Anyway I'm pleased with my first efforts, there is room for improvement when we do the 2nd floor but a good job has been done and only a few achy muscles as collateral damage!

Back to work tomorrow, so ill keep you informed of progress this week.

Neil