Week 17 - 22nd Nov - Screed

8:30am on Monday and a cement mixer load of screed is delivered to the material store that is our front garden. It's then barrowed into the house and laid level. Another load on Tuesday morning and hey presto we have a floor...well almost, the levels were not quite consistent through the house so they used a bot more than anticipated so the porch is still to be finished off with a manual mix of sharp sand and cement, which I've arranged to be delivered on Thursday.

Trell, the ground workers, are also back on site this week and next to dig in the drainage, electrics and water. The soakway design uses Aquasole units (expensive milk crates!) over a 15m squared area to cope with the large roof area (you are not allowed to use rubble any more).

Just as we are speeding along along comes the snow so no screed in the porch this week and the bricklayers will not be back as mortar will not set when it is too cold. Inside is still pushing on and the dryliners have almost finished upstairs and we have taken out the crash desk where the stairs are going to go so they can dry line the walls in this area.

Our 2nd fix joinery is booked in for next week so more material to find a home for!! but we have space inside now the floor is down.

The carpenters have been in this week and cut in the extra window we decided to have in the play room and it now makes this room really light so I think is was the right decision to get this done sooner rather than later.

Been a busy week this week on Friday we have vans backed up way down the drive with Trell on site, the heating company were back to get the pipes for the ground source heat pump into the house and also Evander, the glazers, in to template up the four glass triangles in the front window.

Lets hope the cold snap does not delay things too much but at least the kids are enjoying the snow and we have enough trades people on site for a good snowball fight!!!

Week 16 - 15th Nov - Underfloor Heating

We have the underfloor heating for downstairs being installed this week and the scaffolding is coming down, so we are dead exited about this.

We've tried to minimise the time between the underfloor going down and the screeding of the floor to avoid risking damaging the underfloor heating pipes, but a few sheets of ply provide protection in the meantime. The screed is due next week and we do not have any other trades in this week so should not really be a problem.

The fireplace has become our only inside downstairs storage inside so it is packed with a bath, wash basins, taps and all sorts!

We visited, what seems a long time ago, The Natural Slate Company Ltd in north London and they had some great floor slates (with a 15% discount for Potton clients) at the cheapest prices we have found in the UK. The had a gorgeous Indian Raja natural slate but it's hard to tell when you just look at showroom samples if an entire floor of them will look great and what the consistency is like. Their warehouse is in Bridlington in Yorkshire and it happens that I'm in the area this week so I'm going to go to the warehouse and see some more of them.

The warehouse of the Natural Slate Co is an amazing place stacked from floor to ceiling with crates of slate. The staff were great and somehow knew where to look for a crate of the Indian Raja slate we liked. They flork lifted a couple of crates down so I could look through them. They looked great so I bought 4 600mm x 600mm slates back in the car to show Elise and put them down in the kitchen to have a look at and we've now ordered 60 square meters to cover the kitchen, utility, sun room and porch.

By the end of the week the scaffolding is down, hurahh. We are slowly taking up more and more of the increasingly muddy drive with materials scaffold boards etc etc. Luckily our neighbor is very understanding but I've had to get the scaffolders to promise to pick everything up at the week end as the screen arrives on Monday.

Week 15 - 8th Nov - Drylining

After the insulation trauma of the last few weeks we can hand back over to the professionals now as the dryliners are starting this week. We have managed to source the plasterboard cheaper than the dryliners from Sheffield Insulation and have ordered in 100 sheets of 125mm square edged plaster board to start with.

To add to the internal acoustic insulation we are going to use acoustic (dbCheck) paster board on the internal walls. The guttering is also being installed this week which is the last trade that require the scaffolding so we have booked for the scaffolding to be removed next week, which is exciting as the house will then emerge from it's construction womb to stand on it's own footings and we will be able to see the finishing line move a step closer.

The soil pipes are also being boxed in this week so we have a couple of chippies onsite doing this and adding further noggins for the plasterboard.

We still have to finish the insulation on the floor this week as the underfloor heating is being laid next week. Most of the floor is done but the hallway where the dryliners are working to cut plasterboard will have to wait until the weekend.

We are using 60mm Ecotherm versal for the floor then adding a polythene membrane on top to act as a vapour membrane. The insulation is easy to cut to size with a saw and membrane is also easy to fit have given ourselves the weekend to get this done.

The dryliners have not quite made the progress we have hoped by the weekend and there is loads of mess to tidy up first before the rest of the floor insulation can be laid. There is quite a bit of plasterboard inside so we have had to shift this either back out side or upstairs. I can see why this is quite hard work as the plasterboard sheets weight a tonne and the dbCheck stuff weighs even more.

But with a little hard graft over the weekend we are now ready for the underfloor heating next week.

Week 14 - 1st Nov - More Insulation

Been hard at the insulation all weekend and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have drafted in some help this week to get us finished in time for the dryliners next week so we should be done in time, fingers crossed.

After spending all last week un-rolling the insulation then cutting it up, some bright spark said cut it still rolled up it's much easier, and guess what, it is so we are getting on faster now, although our lungs and eyes are suffering even with masks. It seems that you can only protect either your lungs or your eyes, but not both at the same time with out totally steaming up your glasses and loosing the ability to see!! (Not advisable when balanced up a ladder in the eves)

Elise has been putting up the 25mm acoustic insulation in the internal walls at a great rate of knots with help of the staple gun and this along with the dbcheck plasterboard we are going to use on the internal walls will hopefully provide good sound proofing between the rooms.

Timber construction are back this week to finish off the external weatherboard and to finish off some 1st fix carpentry and the house nearly looks complete now from the outside.  The electrician is also back as are the heating guys who are putting in the wiring for the thermostatic controls so it's packed out inside and with more rain the front of the house is a no go area for cars and vans.

On the recommendation of the electrician, we have photographed the positions of the electrical cables and pipework in the walls so that in the future we can drill the walls and hopefully not hit anything!

It feels like we are making good progress now and lots of sections of the house are coming together so we can look forward to the next phase of the build and start planning the final pieces of the "Self Build Jigsaw".

Week 13 - 25th Oct - Insulation

In order to try and save some money we have decided to have a go at installing the insulation ourselves this week. We had Sheffield Insulations round last week to measure up and provide a quote for the materials as they seemed to have the best prices we could find by scouring the internet. It's half term so we have managed to get both our parents to share looking after the kids so we can get stuck in.

As we have a lot of vaulted areas we have been advised to use Knauf rafter roll 32 to insulate the eves. It is a semi rigid glass fibre product that comes in a roll which you cut to length and push fit into the gaps. It is 85mm thick so we will need two layers on the external eves leaving a 50mm gap between the underside of the roof felt and the insulation to stop moisture transferring from the roof into the insulation.

We also want to have better acoustic insulation internally so we will be insulating the internal walls with a 25mm glass fibre and the downstairs ceiling with 100mm. Add to that the floor insulation and some other board based insulation for the 140mm rafters and you have one heck of a lot of insulation and two rather confused self builders trying to work out what goes where!!!

We've taken all day Monday just to unload the delivery of 82 rolls of rafter roll and get it upstairs and are starting to doubt our wisdom in taking this on!!!

Tuesday - We have started on the landing but it is slow going cutting to size and slotting into place up ladders,. We have masks, gloves and eye protection but it makes your face itch with all the dust and it feels like we have been at the beach all day (Now there is a thought) with the salty wind battering your face. I'm thinking a week is not going to be enough time to get this done.

Wednesday - Elise is by herself today as I've had to visit a client and then get the kids and take them to their next holiday destination of Elise's parents.

Thursday - We've managed to get half of the main bedroom done, yipee. The bits right at the top are nearly impossible to get at and at one point Elise had to pull my legs to get me out of a tight spot! We are both flagging and are still not even halfway yet, maybe this was not such a good idea. To top things off the porta loo people could not get here this week to service the toilet so things are getting wiffee but on the upside there is no need to remove our masks when crossing your legs will just not work any more!!!!

Week 12 - 18th October - Plumbing and Electrics in full flow

The outside is coming on nicely and inside1st fix Electrics and Plumbing will be completed this week. The amount of decisions that are required for the electrics is crazy, so we are lucky to be on site all the time else decisions would be made for us.

Week 11 - 11th Oct - Starting to look like a house

We are starting to feel like a house now. The underfloor heating guys are in this week as well, putting in the upstairs underfloor heating. They attached metal plates to the underside of the floor and drill holes for the pipes to run through. The pipes all run back to a manifold which for the upstairs is in the airing cupboard. Its a time consuming task as there is a lot of drilling so they will be around all week.

Paul the electrician is pulling wires for the electrics and drilling more holes, the joists are quite close together, but he has a special right angled drill that deals with the problem.

We had to get the scaffolders back to do some adjustments so the chimney could be built and some tweaks for the roofers.

The fire place is done and the chimney is up by Wednesday. We are really please with he fireplace it looks great....

We managed to find a reclaimed chimney pot from the local salvage company so we can use the ones we reclaimed from the old house (As they were too short) as planters in the garden.

We have booked Timber Construction to come back on Monday to put up the weather board between the sun room and the house. The roofers have leaded between the sunroom and the house and put a row of the pin tiles on. This will allow Lee and his team to walk up and down the sun room roof whilst there are no tiles on so they can attach the weather board. Then the roofers can finish the sun room roof hopefully towards the end of next week and the whole roof should then be complete.

Week 10 - 4th Oct - Starting on the inside.

We have the roofers, electrician and a team of 6 builders to build the fire place and chimney this week so we should make some good progress this week. The parking is going to get tight but on the up side it's great motivation to get here early and bag a space!

The tiles are going on the roof at a great rate of knots now, once the dorma's and valleys had been done the rest of the roof just flies on. The Velux windows have been slotted into place and the sun room is being battoned for the smaller pin tiles we have decided to have on here and the dorma's. We decided with some advice from the roofers and others that the larger pan tiles would look too big on these smaller roof areas and Sandtoft do a pin tile in the same colour as the pan tiles we are using. It's adding a bit to the cost but should be worth it.

As the dorma windows are already in situ the lead work around the bottom of the windows is harder to get right as normally it would be wrapped under the window then the window placed on top. We will have to find a peiece of timber to put under the window to hide the nails holding the lead up.

Unsurprisingly with six brickies on the job the fireplace is steaming ahead and the bricks look great. We are using white cement with lime to enhance the colour of the bricks and whilst the white cement is more pricey it is again proving worth the additional cost.

Week 9 - 27th Sept - Roof

Finally we are water tight and Elise can stop sweeping water. The felt is finished and tiles are due to be delivered in the next day or two.

Trevor Prior, the chimney and brick work contractor is also weather bound on his current job so will not be with us until next week. At least that give us a bit more time to get the materials for him to site, we are having difficulty finding 50mm thick bricks for the herring bone effect we are after for the fire place.

The site is starting to churn up again now with the arrival of another tele handler for the roofers to move around the tiles, time for the wellies again!

Elise has sourced some 50mm bricks from cumbria and they have been delivered along with the bricks for the chimney and brick plinth and other materials for the fire place, it's getting a bit crowded at the front of the site and with the mud we have stashed materials all over the place

Week 8 20th Sept - Time for the roof.

The Potton frame is now up and timber construction have left for now, until the roof and chimney are complete.

They will then come back and finish the weather board and a couple of other bits of the first fix carpentry.

The roofers have arrived on site and have made a start on felting and battoning the front portion of the roof. Unfortunately my attempt at putting in the noggins (supports) for the valleys are not upto scratch!! The GRP valleys they are using are 12" wide and the noggins have to be out a further 1" either side to allow the battons to be nailed in.  As I only battoned out at five inches, I now need to add another row of battons to reach 7 inches either side of the valley.  Oops.
So I've spent Monday afternoon adding another row of battons on. Just as well I didn't decide to do the house erection myself!!

Trell have been back now to finish the manifold pit for the ground source heat pump. It is essentially two 1.5m wide concrete rings sitting onto of some blocks with all of the pipes coming in from underneath. A concrete lid goes on top which has a man hole in for access.

The pipes have all been connected up and pressure tested with water (no leaks thank goodness) the water will be replaced with a glycol fluid that retains the heat from the ground once it is all hooked up.

Rain Rain go away .....we are battling with the weather and loosing un-surprisingly. It rains, we sweep out the water that is sitting on the upstairs floor then it starts to rain again. A third of the roof is covered but the rain is hampering the progress of the roofers to get it finished.

The roof is almost there by Friday but the roofers did not turn in today so annoyingly we are still not quite water tight and the rain is still coming with more forcast for the week end.....More sweeping!!

We have booked our Electrical Paul Auber (Auber Electrical) to start the 1st fix electrics on 5th October, we are finding that there is generally a 2-4 week lead time for booking in trades so as soon as we have an idea of timing we are booking them in.

Week 7 13th Sept - Frame nearly there.

It's week seven of the project and week four of the frame erection. We are back to 2 guys on site as the majority of the erection is completed, but we are expecting a further guy on Tuesday to assist with the weather boarding. We decided to employ Timber Construction - who erected our frame - to provide the first fix carpentry and to fix the weather board. As first time self builders, we think this was the best option for us as all the trades seem to interact with the other trades at this point (eg roof, weather board,  brick plinth, chimney); getting everyone in at the right time seems to be really important otherwise delays will be suffered.  We were concerned that our lack of knowledge and understanding would have led to delays, all of which will impact upon our eventual moving date.  Timber construction can put on some of the weather board now where it does not require the roof to be up so we ordered the weather board and battons for the corners of the house and for around the windows last week and it has arrived now. The weather board is pre painted but the battons require painting so we have been hard at it all weekend.

The big window frames at the front are in and the dormas are being finished, so the end (of this phase) is in sight.The troublesome sun room trusses are complete although the scaffolding is stopping the trusses be nailed in exactly vertical so will have to remember to do this when we raise the scaffolding this week in preparation for the roofers.
There is quite a bit of space in the roof void above the sun room so we have asked Potton to send us a eaves door so we can access it from the spare bedroom. There is quite a bit of space flooring kicking around so we have gathered it all up and are slotting it together.

We have also decided we would like to add a window in the family room if we can as it feels quite dark so we will have to talk to planning up it should not be an issue.....he says....

The roofing firm has been round to look and have advised what scaffolding changes they need. Also we need to put in noggins (supports) either side of the valley to support the GRP valley. This is not part of the frame erection service so I'm going to give it my best shot....Should be interesting.

Week 6 - 6th Sept 2010 - and Up

The frame is really progressing now, the second floor is being put on. We've set up a time lapse camera which should make interesting viewing once the whole house is up. The big Douglas Fir beams are in position and are sticking out of the frame just waiting for the roof and second floor.

The flooring is down for the first floor and we can start to see the shape of the rooms emerging. Downstairs the only steel is in place, which runs through the kitchen. They just managed to get it into position with the tele-handler from the front of the house. Lee and Ben have been joined by another two chippies, Dave and his apprentice so we should really start motoring (Well after we have had another delivery which is holding them up). There are also two Trell (ground worker) guys on site slogging away with the 750m of piping for our ground source heat pump so the site is  now quite lively with six guys in total and the stereotypical radio blaring out radio two!! .

The hole where the chimney and fire place will go looks massive; it will really be a feature of the living room. We have booked a guy called Trevor Pryor - who is on the Potton list of sub contractors and has done loads of Potton houses, including the show house - to build our chimney so he should know what he is doing.
The scaffolders are also back (asking for tea as usual) and pushing each other over in the mud, that's scaffolders for you!! They are putting in the next lifts for the gable ends and closing off the scaffold, it doesn't take them long to do at all.  We were told that scaffolders have a tendency to be somewhat unreliable but the team we have employed have been great to date.

Finally our sunroom frame has been erected.  We were really excited to see this, and we are chuffed to bit with what we have seen of it so far.  The views across the garden and over the fields are great.  When you are just at the planning stage it is really hard to envisage exactly what a room will look and feel like in real life, but this one has certainly lived up to expectations.

The roof trusses for the sun room are causing a problem and Potton are sending out some timber so they can be made up on site.

The walls of the first floor are up now and the roof trusses are going on. With four guys here it's really flying up. It's amazing now how big it looks, when we stood on the foundations 3 weeks ago we wondered if we should have made it bigger, but now the frame is nearly up you get a true sense of the size and as you come up the drive it looks great.