It is worth checking with your electricity carrier – not the supplier (e.g. E.on, EDF, etc), but the carrier – in our case, Northern Power Grid.
Via the Northern Power Grid website (http://www.northernpowergrid.com/) it is possible to get the MPAN number for a property together with the current supplier.
This can get pretty frustrating and is something that is often overlooked when planning a renovation.
Are you going to need a new connection? Or moving an existing meter? Or require a new service? Then you had better plan it in and make sure that you investigate any costs involved. Some activities have no charge (e.g. removing or relocating some types of meters), however, others (e.g. new water connection) come with a significant cost.
First step is to work out who you should be talking to! For gas and electricity, the carriers (e.g. Northern Power Grid, Northern Gas Networks) are different from the suppliers (e.g. British Gas, Eon). While the carriers install the pipes and wires to the property, it is the suppliers who provide (and move) the meters.
We had to move the electricity meter as well as changing it to a three phase meter. Bizarrely, British Gas provide the electricity (and not the gas as we had it disconnected) to the property and I had to arrange for them to move the meter. The electricity supply to the property was organised via Northern Power Grid.
The main problem with dealing with the utilities is getting through to the right department. Once you have done this, the rest is usually a breeze and, contrary to public opinion, I have always found the individuals who I deal with as being nothing but very helpful.
Rather than dialling the main number for the Utility (in the case of British Gas 0800 048 0202), search on their website for what you are looking for (e.g. “move a meter”) and see if you can find another number. Today, the main number said there was a 25 minute wait to talk to the next available operator. A quick search online revealed another number 0800 691 1701 that got me through to the correct department. It was answered almost immediately.
Do make sure that you have all of your details to hand. The MPAN number is critical in identifying which electricity meter is being discussed and which supplier is currently responsible for it. Most of the suppliers have access to a national database and can look this up for you, if you don’t already have it. Alternatively, you can contact the carrier for your area and they will be able to supply it (here is the list of the contact numbers for all of the UK carriers).
Progress has been made today on putting the roof on the new extension. Although only partly felted, at least the rear and part of the front of the extension is now covered. We need to sort out the kitchen roof before this can be felted, but that will happen in the next day or two.
This is the view as you come up the road and you can now see the roof going on the new extension. It will be a couple of days before the stone slates go on.
The roofing felt has been installed on the rear of the extension today. This should keep the worst of the weather out. Shame about the mud!
The extension roof has been felted to keep the worst of the weather out. The mud is even deeper here.
One of the walls in the kitchen has been built using stone that we reclaimed elsewhere on the property. Some of the stone had white wash, paint or mortar on them. This wall was sandblasted at the weekend to remove all of this. It has come up remarkably well and now is a good match for the ashlar string course (the course at the bottom).
We need to get this done before the roof goes on later this week.
The internal kitchen wall (which is built using reclaimed stone from internal walls that we demolished in the existing cottages) was sandblasted at the weekend. The sandblasted stone is a good match for the ashlar string course.
Our extension water connection comes across a field and under the road. The water meter is 200m away and we are responsible for the pipework from the water meter until it enters our property. The reason for the remote location of the meter is that the water main only came this far up the road when the water was installed in the early 1980’s. Now the water main runs right past the house.
A new connection cost us around £800, but Yorkshire Water wanted £1,000 to remove the old meter. The solution was to turn the stop tap off to the old meter and carrying on pay a reduced monthly charge.
It only took a couple of hours to connect it all up. We had dug the trenches and installed the water pipes into the property. We are now a two tap family – one next to the polytunnel and one hanging out of the Utility room window!
The new water connection was installed yesterday. This means that we can capped off the old water main that runs across a neighbour’s field! Apparently, it will be a couple of days before they return to replace the tarmac.
We have installed a temporary tap on the end of the new water supply. This means that the builders don’t have to tramp in the house to get water.
All of the major beams are now in place and so are most of the spars. The spars in the kitchen roof are still to be done, but this will be done this week as the roofers are due in the next couple of days.
You can see the roof in the previous photos, but here are some close-ups taken from the scaffold.
The roof spars on the front of the extension are now ready to be felted. However, the spars are still to be installed on the kitchen roof (seen in the distance).
There are large rooflights in the kitchen – one front and one back. There are 3m wide – 5 panels, each 600mm. Two on each side are openers (electrically operated). This means that the middle panel and the two end panels in each set are fixed.
There is a lot of wood here even with the openings. There is no difference between the white and yellow wood, just different suppliers.
Although all the main beams have been put in the kitchen roof, the spars are still to go on. This should happen this week. We still need to brick up around the openings that were made to carry the new beams on the older property.
Over the past 2-3 weeks, we have made significant progress on the extension.
The main roof beams are in, as are most of the roof spars. Almost all of the ashlar stone surrounds are in place – particularly the really large pieces. Most of the block work is up and the external stone work is catching up. The roof will start to go on next week. Exciting times.
Although the scaffolding obscures much of the new extension at the front, you can we the progress that has been made in the last couple of weeks.
Most of the roof spars are now in place. There are a number of rooflight on this elevation and you can see where the gaps have been left in the roof timbers.
There is still quite a bit of stone work to go up on the end gable of the extension. The roof beams sit on the inner blockwork and this is where we have concentrated our efforts.
The new doors have been installed in the existing cottages and the roof timbers are largely ready for the roof to go on (hopefully, next week).
This is the elevation faces into the sunken garden. There are two sets of bifolding doors separated by a large square oak window.
There is some good news and some bad news……
The new basin for the upstairs bathroom has arrived, but…….it is damaged.
It is a Stonekast sink made of limestone resin. However, despite being well packed (in a cardboard box that was in a wooden create), it still arrived damaged. Ho hum.
It is a great looking sink (I just love the shape and texture) and we have ordered a bath to match (this is due to arrive later in the month), but we are just going to have to wait for another one to be dispatched.
We have had a couple of fine days already this week and that means that most of the roof spars have been installed. This is a bit of a slow job since there are so many rooflights – standard patent glazing in the lounge and kitchen (together with electric openers) and pairs of Veluxes elsewhere. There are a total of 6 pairs of Velux windows to be installed throughout the extension.
More of the roof joists have been installed. There is still quite a bit of work to do around the rooflights – you can see the gap in the roof spars about the lounge roof.
We are trying to sort out the arrangement of the hearth in the lounge. We need to settle on an arrangement fairly quickly as the roof starts to go on next and we need to know where the flue is going to go.
The challenge here is that this end wall is very tall.
We are considering internal windows from the lounge into the master bedroom – high up so privacy isn’t an issue, but it does connect the master bedroom with the other spaces.
We are also looking at corner log stoves (although not shown in these pictures).
While this arrangement isn’t exactly right yet, we are starting to get there (I think!).
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