Ikea it is

Had an interesting trip down to the vast Ikea store in sunny Warrington last night (it was raining hard). The upshot is that I have ordered wardrobe carcasses and a chest of drawers plus various other bits and pieces to fit out the walk in cupboard. Ikea furniture seems to be well built and it looks good, despite its low cost.

Plumbing work continues apace and there will be more 2nd fix electrical & joinery work over the next week to ten days. There will then be a short hiatus while the builder takes a well earned holiday and I wait for the stove, fire place et al to arrive. Hopefully we can use that time to get the decorating largely completed.

"The messiest job yet"

Described by the builder as "the messiest job yet" the pebble-dash render has now been applied to the external walls. This involves, quite literally, throwing a mix of cement and pebbles at the wall and hoping that some of it will stick. Quite a lot of it ends up on the floor and all over the poor sods who have to do the throwing. I kept well out of the way!

Meanwhile, the coving is now completed in all the rooms, including a rather natty bit of work around where the projector screen will be mounted to the ceiling. I was wondering how they would do that...

 

The plumber is back in action (hurrah!) and today the new radiators have been ordered. The oak front door arrives tomorrow and the French windows are ready for glazing. We even have the correct glass at last. Tiling of the en-suite continues amongst all the other activity.

I've ordered the new carpets and, following a meaningful conversation with the joiner boss-man, I've had a complete rethink of how we engineer the fittings in the master bedroom walk-in cupboard. A visit to Ikea (Warrington) looms on the horizon.

Painting and decorating is the next big thing.

One year ago...

It is one year ago to the day that I first started thinking seriously about extending Pennine View and jotted down some rough ideas. What a year it's been!

The original "back of a fag packet" idea (I don't smoke!)

Tiling, skirting & doors

We are starting to put the finishing touches to several areas now. The hallway has been tiled and looks rather splendid. Tiling has also begun in the en-suite. The three new internal doors have been fitted and most of the skirting boards and architraves have been cut and, where possible, fitted. The new internal window cills have also been fitted.

 

 

There have also been a couple of minor setbacks.

• The plumber is unwell and has therefore not been able to finalise radiator fittings and that in turn means that we can't fix many of the skirting boards. 
• We've also concluded after discussions with the painter/decorator that we are going to have to skim the old hallway walls. They are too rough to be painted and where the old hallway joins the new hallway is awkward to wallpaper properly. This is a bit of a nuisance, as it means some finished work will have to be redone.

The carpet supplier has measured up throughout the house, so we are ahead of the game on that at least. Plumbing and, perhaps, fitting the fireplace and stove are the critical path items now.

Coving and tiling are the primary activities for the next few days. Soon we will be starting on the outside so landscaping, patio design and paving are working their way up my priorities.

This and that

The past week has seen progress on several fronts, none of which are particularly photogenic.

We started on 2nd fix electrics, including junction boxes for the numerous LED lights and laying the underfloor heating for the en-suite. The latter comes with a natty controller which seems to be able to do everything except make the early morning tea.

A lot more plastering has been completed. Soon we will have finished the wet trades work and most of the mess will be gone. That will be nice. We're getting ready for 2nd fix carpentry, with the internal doors, skirting boards, architraves and internal window cills all to hand now. A start has been made on emulsion painting the walls and ceilings.

I've had initial skirmishes with carpet suppliers and have designed the walk in cupboard layout. The wood stove and fireplace have also been ordered.

The coming week should see the en-suite tiled and even, perhaps, the 2nd fit plumbing completed. Plastering should be finished too.

Three months into project. I think we're still more or less on schedule to finish (at least sufficiently to take up occupancy) by the end of September. No doubt there will be a long "tail" of minor work beyond that.

Windows fitted and glazed

The new windows for the master bedroom and bedroom 2 have been fitted and glazed (with the correct glass). This finally makes these two rooms fully weatherproof and plastering can now be completed. French windows and the front door should be along soon and then the whole building will be secure.

Plastering is completed in the lounge apart from the fireplace area, which is now becoming an urgent item to be sorted out next week. Progress on the stove and fireplace has been frustrated by the supplier going on holiday for two weeks.

I am starting to think about mundane things like door and window furniture. The choice is bewildering!

Plastering

With the door frames fitted, the new lounge is now almost completely plastered, as is the entrance hall and the master bedroom storage cupboard. In bedroom 2 the wall where the old chimney used to be has been boarded and the ceiling is now boarded and plastered. In the en-suite, the wet room area has been concreted, ready for tiling and the furniture has all been checked out for position and fit.

Meanwhile, the glass for the new windows arrived but the wrong double glazing spacers have been fitted. The windows man was furious! He's fitted the picture window panes temporarily to make the lounge watertight but will have to replace them when the correct glass arrives next week.

I've ordered the LED lights (44 of them!) as we are getting close to 2nd fit on the electrics. In the next few days the other window frames should be fitted ready for glazing next week. Custom skirting boards and architraves to match the rest of the cottage are in production.

Fireplace, hole in a wall & cinema

Progress has been made on various fronts in the past week. The new window for what will be the master bedroom was knocked through and the silly small window to the side was blocked up. This created a large pile of rubble that will be useful as hardcore for the path around the new extension.

 

 

The chimney breast  was built in the new lounge. This needed a surprisingly large number of blocks to complete. It certainly won't be going anywhere!

The ceiling mounting hole for the home cinema projector lift was carefully measured out and cut. A frame was then built to mount the lift onto. This called for accurate measurement, as the alignment with respect to the corner screen must be precise. The lift, which hides the projector in the roof when not in use, is a magnificent piece of (expensive!) engineering.

I did a bit of metal bashing to make a mat well surround for the front hall and this has now been cemented in place, ready for the custom door mat (on order). This area can now be tiled.

All the furniture and tiles for the en-suite have arrived so that'll be a major area of work over the next week or so. We are also ready to start plastering the walls and ceiling in the extension. 2nd fix electrics and plumbing are on the horizon.

More floors 'n' stuff

The top layer of concrete has been laid in all rooms except the en-suite, where there is still some outstanding plumbing work to finish first and the entrance hall. The mat well in the entrance hall will be fitted soon and then concreting can be completed there too.

The finished floor level is now apparent and, in combination with the recently installed wall and ceiling boarding makes the rooms look noticeably bigger.

Tiles and furniture have been ordered for the en-suite and should be with us later this week, so that will be the focus of a major onslaught in the next week or two. More window frames are arriving today and the next few days should see those fitted. I've decided on the stove and fireplace for the new lounge. Tomorrow I shall place the order and preparatory work should start on the chimney breast soon.

Floors, walls & ceilings

We're getting ready to lay the top concrete layer for the floors. Underneath that is a 100mm layer of foam insulation, which these days is a building regs requirement even if underfloor heating is not being fitted. The ceilings and some of the walls have been boarded as well, so it's becoming easier to visualise what the rooms will look like when finished.

Outside, most of the extension has been scratch-coated, ready for the render to be applied. This has thrown up a problem that I hadn't anticipated: there will be a step up in the render line on the east wall. We're not sure how to fix this yet but that can wait until we are landscaping later in the year.

Tomorrow should see the 1st fix plumbing completed and some of the floor concrete laid. We are about half way through the project!

Door & window frames

The large picture window, French window and front door frames have been fitted in the extension. Otherwise, we are taking a short pause this week as the builder is busy with other clients.

 

Scaffolding: gone!

The scaffolding was removed this morning and for the first time it is possible to imagine what the extension will look like when it is completed.

The window and door frames have arrived and will be fitted early next week. I have completed the first fix network and home cinema wiring. And I got the quote for the stove, fireplace and installation, which was every bit as outrageous as I thought it would be!

Progress on numerous fronts

The roof slating is now finished, with soffits, guttering and flashing for the stove flue pipe all installed. We've recently had some particularly heavy rain showers, so it's good to see that everything is good and watertight.

The scaffolding can now come down, making it much easier to work on the rest of the outside and, of course, to get a better idea of the finished appearance.

Meanwhile, the first fix electrical and plumbing work have both been completed, so we can get the floors in soon. The wooden (again!) lintel in the old master bedroom was also replaced with something a bit more robust.

All we need now is the window frames, which should be with us early next week.

Up in the loft, the walls behind the old chimney stacks have been cleaned up and rendered where necessary, the new roof-light surround has been plastered and the old hole blocked up and skimmed to match the existing roof lining.

Meanwhile, I have sorted out the LED lighting and, after a bit of hard bargaining settled on a decent (ish) price. I'll order those before long. All the components for the home cinema are now at PV and can be installed as and when the builder is ready. And I've sorted out the en-suite furniture, wet room design/fittings, hallway tiles and numerous other minor aspects.

The wood stove for the lounge turns out to be a nightmare, with all manner of new building regulations giving both me and the builder serious issues. We think we are almost there now but it's been a right old battle. I'm now waiting for quotes for the stove, flue systems and Hetas installation, the latter of which, by all accounts, is outrageously expensive. We shall see.

At least I shall have plenty of wood for the new stove. There's a growing pile of it next to the summer house!

Stud walls, electrics and yet more slates

The framework for the stud walls was built today. It looks a bit like a wooden Alcatraz and we're not entirely sure whether the aim is to keep me in or them out. The electricians have been busy as well - most of the electrical wiring is in and the structured cabling for my local area network is coming along well.

 

Outside, the slating continues in the unaccustomed heatwave and the rainwater soak-away has been completed.

Plumbing looms on the horizon. The builder reckons we are now ahead of schedule and better than half way through the project.

Slate everywhere!

The roofers have been busy slating the roof. The roof light that had to be moved because it was in the way of the extension roof ridge has been reinstalled. At the current rate of progress the roofing job should be finished very early next week. Then we can get the scaffolding down and will be better able to see the results.

A huge 12 cubic meter hole for the rainwater soak-away was dug, lined and filled with the bricks that were once the two old chimneys.

The old front door has been removed and the opening widened out to the full width of the hallway. New lintels have been installed as close to the ceiling as possible to ease the transition from the old hallway into the new entrance hall. And various bits of wall screed have been applied where the old chimneys once were.

 

Today the electricians started on the initial fit. Wires everywhere!