Author: stephen (Page 22 of 61)

Christmas Eve 2013

December 24, 2013 / stephen

In contrast to last night’s storms, today has been very bright and sunny. But cold – down to 3C.

Here’s a photo that we haven’t seen before. If we ever sell the house, I would put money on the fact that the estate agent will take the photograph from here – it is beatiful rural view with no other properties in the background.

I haven’t taken photographs from this angle before – from the opposite side of the valley. It was a gorgeous day today (Christmas Eve 2013) – cold but sunny – but I only had my Blackberry on me. It will be worth re-visiting with a better camera.

Gutters on the porch

December 22, 2013 / stephen

The exterior of the porch is now finished although it still has to be pointed. The roof on the front elevation – over the kitchen and the porch – has also been finished. This means that we are in a position to get the gutters installed. In keeping with the rest of the house, the gutters are cast iron from the foundry down the road in Holmfirth. We are using pattern 46 gutters – 5×4 on the new extension (as the gutters are lower) and 6×4 on the older part of the property. We have put 6×4 on the porch so that it matches the front elevation of the house.

Once the gutters are in position, they are given a final coat of black paint. There is a sheet of plastic underneath the gutters to stop any black paint getting onto the ashlar underneath.

With the roof over the front of the kitchen and the porch now complete, we can put the gutters up. The gutters on the porch match the gutters on the front of the house – 6×4 cast iron gutters (pattern 46). The gutters come from JJ Longbottoms – the foundry in Holmfirth just a couple of miles away.

Master bedroom canopy

December 19, 2013 / stephen

We have started constructing the canopy on the front elevation of the extension. This runs from the master bedroom and across the top of the large square oak window. It is made of marine ply with a section of wooden gutter inserted towards the front edge. This will then be covered in Sarnafil (an alternative to lead) to make it waterproof. Originally, there wasn’t going to be a gutter in this canopy, howcver, since it is outside the master bedroom, we decided that one was needed to stop water dripping off it during the night. The drain pipe will run down the centre of the pillar and then into a land drain.

Up close, you can see that the pillar that is carrying the end of the oak beam has been pointed (only yesterday). The canopy will continue across and cover the large square oak window.

There is a canopy over the bi-folding doors in the master bedroom. The canopy will be made from plywood with a section of wooden gutter towards the front (the spars have been notched to accomodate the wooden gutter). The canopy will be covered in Sarnafil (a lead alternative).

Pointing in the kitchen

December 19, 2013 / stephen

While we have started pointing the outside of the extension, we have also started on pointing the internal part of the extension. The internal face of one of the walls in the kitchen was built using stone that we reclaimed from demolishing a couple of internal walls in the old part of the property. Since it was raining for much of yesterday, it seemed like a good idea to get on with this internal work. With three people working on it together, it only took a day to get this work finished.

We used the same lime mortar mix (based on Nosterfield River sand and hydraulic lime) as we have used on the outside of the property.

This internal wall has been built using stone from a couple of walls that we knocked down in the existing cottages. We are using the same lime mortar that we are using to point the outside of the building. The chalk marks on the wall are where the electric cables are placed – H + E = Hob and Extractor.

Installing the ground source heat pump

December 18, 2013 / stephen

The ground source heat pump was delivered on Monday and we have spent the last couple of days getting it installed. Most of the pipework is now installed, however, there is probably another day’s worth of pipework to go. The electrician is due in tomorrow to start wiring it up.

We hope that the system will be up and running (although in a limited capacity) by the end of the week. This will mean that we should have heat in the building over the festive period. Because we have laid new concrete floors these need to be dried out – and slowly otherwise we risk them cracking. We also want to dry out all the wood (particularly the oak) very slowly – otherwise there is a risk that this will crack too.

As you can see from the photograph below, this kit takes up a lot of space. We have done the best job we can of reducing the amount of space it occupies (including installing a couple of steel beams to hold the tanks), but even so the utility room does look more like a plant room at the moment!

If you are planning on installing this kind of kit, it would be wise to ensure that you have enough space for it. Our house isn’t small and we are struggling to provide enough space. It needs significant planning well ahead of installation time. This isn’t an issue that the providers make particularly clear when selling the kit (surprise, surprise!).

The ground source heat pump (the unit that looks like a fridge/freezer) is a Nibe 1145. There is probably another day’s worth of pipework still to go in. These systems are complex and take up significant space – this is starting to look like a plant room!

A busy day

December 18, 2013 / stephen

We have 14 workmen onsite today – 2 plumbers, 3 builders, 2 heating engineers, 2 plasterers, 3 electricians, 1 joiner and 1 roofer. And me.

Trying to make sure that everyone has enough space to work is the main problem, but everyone seems to be getting along (just). The car (or van) parking situation is causing a little bit of a problem, but with the wet weather recently, it is jsut to muddy to get vehicles into the back field.

However, it does mean that we are making a lot of progress.

Only the ridge tiles to go on the kitchen roof and some lead flashings, then the roof is all done. Even as it is, it is water-tight.

Progress

December 17, 2013 / stephen

We have made quite a bit of progress this week:

The ground source heat pump arrived on Monday and, fingers crossed, we hope to have it up and running by the end of the week. It will be good to get some heat in the house to start drying out the walls and floors;
The plasterers are back. We need to get the old part of the building finished off so that the decorators can start after Christmas;
We have started pointing the stonework. We are going to have to pick the days carefully as this can only be done in dry weather (otherwise, the rain will wash the pointing out);
We have almost finished the upstairs bathroom. It will be good to get this one put to bed before Christmas. If the ground source heat pump is turned on at the end of the week, we may have some hot and cold water in the old house.

The roof is nearing completion and by the end of the day, there is only two courses of slates plus the ridge tiles left to do. We should have this all sorted before the end of the week.

Now the stonework has been sandblasted, we can start on the pointing. This is a slow process. We are using a lime based render. It will probably take a couple of weeks to get all the pointing done.

New bath

December 14, 2013 / stephen

Although there is still some way to go to finish off the upstairs bathroom, the bath is finally in position. It arrived about 10 days ago and has been downstairs waiting for the tiling to be ready. It is a StoneKast bath that is made from limestone resin. It is heavy – very heavy – 170kgs. It took 5 plumbers to get it into its final resting place. There were smiles all round once it was in position.

The bath is finally in place in the upstairs bathroom. It weighs over 170kgs and it took 5 plumbers to get it up the stairs and into position. I think there was a lot of relief all round once this was in position and still in one place.

Sandblasting the new extension

December 14, 2013 / stephen

Now the scaffolding has been removed, we can sandblast the stonework on the new extension. We tend to do the sandblasting at the weekend because it is so noisy and messy. It just makes it to difficult to work on the site while the sandblasting is going on.

The next stage will be to point the stonework. We will be using the same lime and Nosterfield River sand mortar that we used on the original part of the property.

All of this stone has been brought in from offsite and is the closest match the we could find. The one exception are the quoins (the large corner stones) on the porch. These originally form part of the barn that was where the kitchen is now.

This is the back of the porch. The small window is for the downstairs cloakroom.

Although the roof is still to go on, serious progress has been made on the porch this week. The canopy is built using oak similar to the internal roof trusses.

The stonework on the new extension and porch were sandblasted today. This effectively removes a loose dirt or paint from the surface of the stone. By the time that it is pointed, it will be close match to the existing cottages. The roof of the porch and kitchen will be finished off next week.

The rear of the extension has also been sandblasted. Even the small gable end in the kitchen has been cleaned. The white box next to the utility window houses the new (three phase) electricity meter. I do wish they came in colours other than white!

Yup. This is the compressor that is used to clean the stone. It is a pretty noisy and sandy business. Definitely not for the faint hearted!

All of the exterior stonework on the extension has been sandblasted so that it matches the existing cottages. There is a lot of stonework here, but it is easily cleaned in a day. The hessian cloth on the ridge of the roof is to prevent the mortar being washed away on the new ridge tiles.

There isn’t much stonework on this elevation, however, the small areas that are here have been sandblasted so that it matches the rest of the property. Unfortunately, we are going to have to wait until the new year for the bi-folding doors to be fitted in the master bedroom. You can see the strip of hessian placed on the ridge tiles to protect the mortar from the wet weather.

Progress on the extension

December 12, 2013 / stephen

We have started to remove the scaffolding from the extension. There is still some work to be completed on the porch, but most of the external building work is drawing to a close.

Taking the scaffolding down has made a tremendous difference to the overall appearance of the property – it is starting to feel like a real house now!

Zep on the hunt for a cornish pasty. None here. In the background is the half truss that will form part of the canopy for the porch. The new kitchen wall is revealed now the scafffolding is down.

The sunken garden has becoming a bit of a dumping ground for scaffolding and other items. The stones wrapped in cling film are the coping stones for the garden wall. I haven’t got around to sorting them out yet!

Not such a nice day today as it was yesterday. Today, it was warm and wet. Very little sun, but mild for this time of the year.

Now the front elevation of the extension roof is nearing completion, you can see how well it matches the existing stone slate roof. It is a shame that the bi-folding doors in the master bedroom were the wrong size, however, these should be fitted early in the new year. There is an oak beam and canopy to be built over the master bedroom.

Well, if you have reclaimed stone slates on the roof, it seems only right that the ridge tiles should also be reclaimed. This ridge tiles are hacked out of solid pieces of stone and probably (at least) a couple of hundred years old.