Category: Uncategorized (Page 4 of 10)

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.

We are now starting to put the spars on the roof.   If the weather is kind to us this week, we should be able to get going on the roof next week.  It will be good to get this part of the building watertight as the inside is like a paddling pool!  And that is not to mention the mud!

Tomorrow we have a crane arriving to help position some of the larger pieces of ashlar.  It will be good to see these in position.

All of the main roof beams are in and we are now putting in the spars. This will enable us to start to get the roof on next week.

Both pairs of rear doors have now been installed.  They are big and let a lot of light into the building.  It is good to have the temporary boarding removed.  It gives a much better impression of what these rooms will be like when finished.

They are 2 locks on each door, so a total of 8 across all of the doors.  The joinery arranged for the locks to be “suited” so the same key is used on all 8 locks. It just makes life a lot easier!

The second pair of rear doors were installed yesterday. The doors on the left are into the snug and the doors on the right are into the hall.

This is the view from inside the hall. There is now a lot light inside the hall.

The steel post between the two doors will be covered in plasterboard and then plastered.

We have been struggled with the colour scheme in the house for a while, but hopefully we have now cracked it.  We have been using our “prototype window” to test out different colour combinations.

We want to use the same colour scheme throughout the house, so it needs to be relatively neutral as well as working with the existing elements (the green window frames, natural stone and oak beams).

Our natural starting point was the inside of the window reveals.  Since the window frames are already a green colour, we thought a pale green would work.  It does.  However, the large expanses of window reveals mean that there will be a lot of green in every room.  The colour needs to be light as it bounces the light into the room as it comes through the window.

We also thought that magnolia might be the right colour for the walls. 

However, the colour scheme just wasn’t subtle enough.  We have ended up using jasmine white rather than magnolia.  This is a lot lighter and more subtle.  We have also swapped out the pale green for a light taupe colour.  This produces a much subtle colour scheme.  Over time, I am sure that we will change this scheme but for now it seems like a good starting point.

Magnolia on the walls and light green on the inside of the windows. with the amount of window reveals, this has produce quite large expanses of green (even if it is light).

Magnolia on the wall, light green on the inside of the windows and a sort of “khaki” colour on the skirting boards.

Having decided that the light green on the inside of the window reveals wasn’t right. And also that khaki wasn’t the right colour for skirtings! We have tried a couple of natural taupe colours – a light one and a darker one. You can see the test patches here on the skirting, the left-hand window revela and on one of the mullion covers. You can also see the difference between magnolia and jasmine white on the wall to camera left.

Light green on the inside of the windows, plus two test patches of natural taupe 2 (the darker one) and natural taupe 3 (the lighter one).

Jasmine white on the walls and natural taupe 3 on the inside of the windows and the skirting boards. The architrave and skirting boards are plain MDF for the sake of this experiment.

Despite some poor (wet) weather this week, we have made some good progress on the stone work on the extension.  The stones are big so each course really makes a difference. Each course starts at the lowest point (the porch) and goes right around the extension.

We are coming up to window level so some of the window cills have been installed. The door cills have already been installed.

If we get some good weather in the next week, then we are going to make some great progress on the stone work.  However, it is October!

This is the front wall of the extension. The window cill has gone in. We will start building the interior wall of the kitchen shortly.

We have been competing with the wet weather this week, but significant progress has been made this week. As the stone is so large, each course makes a real difference. Two of the window cills and one of the door cills have gone in.

The porch is the lowest part of the new work that we are undertaking as part of the extension.  The exterior stone work starts here and eventually the courses of stone will start to go right around the building.  Once at that level, a single course will go right around the porch and then follow on around the new extension.

The reclaimed stone that we are using is fairly large so each of the courses makes a big difference.  This is going up much faster than I was expecting.

We have made good progress on the stone work on the porch. When sandblasted this will fit in with the rest of the house.

With the hessian removed, the stone work is revealed! This will be sandblasted and pointed when finished to fit in with the rest of the house.

We have panelled the inside of the windows – in a very similar way to how they may have been done origninally, albeit in waterproof MDF.  The window frames are the same colour inside and out.  We thought that the best colour for the internal window reveals would be a very pale green.  The walls will be an off white colour.  The architraves around the doors and windows will be painted MDF, as will the architrave around the windows.  Not sure of the colour yet.  However, we are sure that the colour needs to be light – there seems to be a lot more little in the room once the reveals were painted white – even if it was just undercoat!

At first sight, painting the internal window reveals a pale green has produced some large areas of green.  However, we are going to paint the wall around the window (once the plaster dries out) before making any final decisions.  This will also give us an opportunity to get some “prototype” architrave and skirtings fitted and painted.

The inside of the window reveals have been primed and have a coat of white undercoat. Tomorrow, we will paint them a pale green to match the window frame colour.

The internal window reveals have been painted a very pale green – a colour out of the Dulux trade Heritage range. I suspect that it creates too much green in this room, but we will paint the walls off white being making the final decision. Notice that the plaster is much drier in this photo than the one above.

I lifted one of the manholes to the septic tank yesterday.  I wish I hadn’t!

The drain to the tank was blocked and the content backed up the drain. I filled a dustbin with water using a hose and put that down the manhole in the hope that it would flush out the blockage.  No luck.

There was nothing else for it other than to use a set of drain rods to clean the blockage.  Not  a nice job.  I will save you the pictures, but it is safe to say the problem is now resolved.  It took a while for the back log (no pun intended) to completely clean as it had backed up a long way.

Although it doesn’t look like the septic tank is full, we don’t know when it was last emptied.  I have arranged for it to be emptied on Friday and then at least if we get more problems it will not be because the tank is full.  Ho hum.

I will save you from the photos of the inside, but the blockage has now been removed. Phew! Notice that this now has proper manhole covers rather than the homemade covers.