Category: windows (Page 1 of 3)

Shattered rooflight

May 29, 2020 / stephen

The rooflights in the lounge and kitchen were installed in November 2013. http://www.haggleysfarm.co.uk/blog/?p=3398

Today, one of the panes in the lounge rooflights shattered. I only noticed it when I returned home. It can’t have happened long before I got it as it was still making a “tinkling” noise. It was the outer pane of a double glazed unit, so there was no mess inside the house.

We have had some really hot weather for the past couple of days, so I think it must have expanded it the heat.

We’ll have to work out how to get it replaced. But at least it isn’t about to fall inside the house as it is the outer pane that has gone.

These rooflights were supplied by Standard Patent Glazing over in Dewsbury. Someone came out within a couple of days and assessed the damage. It looks like something has hit the glass from the outside, but it is difficult to tell. Unfortunately, it was out of it’s warranty period and it cost us £400 to get it replaced. However, it was done within a couple of weeks and the whole process was pretty painless.

Update on the Belzona 5122

February 29, 2020 / stephen

We applied Belzona 5122 to a couple of areas on the property that were particularly susceptible to wet weather. We have only ever applied it once (in February 2014) and it seems to have done the trick – no more water ingress problems.

So the question is: Six years later, is it still working?

Well, we have had some really wet weather recently and I took the opportunity to rephotograph the areas where we had applied the Belzona. You can’t see it dry days, so you have to wait until it is wet before trying to photograph it. For reference, I have also included a photograph from October 2014 (six months after it was first applied) so that you can see the difference. If you search on Belzona on this blog, you will find the original posts.

So six years on and it is still doing it’s job! In fact, the photographs seem to show that there really hasn’t been that much of a degradation of it’s effect. And there has been no water ingress! The good news is that you can still get it (try www.belzona.co.uk) – you will often see it referred to as “Clear Cadding”. It seemed expensive at the time, but it has more than done it’s job. All in all, pretty impressive!

February 2020 and 5 years later the Belzona 5122 is clearly still doing it’s job!

February 2020 and a close up view of the masonry after it has rained. The Belzona5122 was originally applied in February 2014!

October 2014! Here you can see the impact that the Belzona has had on the way the stonework is absorbing the rain water. I hadn’t really noticed this before as there is no impact on the colour of the stonework when it is dry.

Second set of bi-folding doors fitted

January 14, 2014 / stephen

We have two sets of bi-folding doors and they were met to be fitted before Christmas. The first set were installed fine. The second set unfortunately had been mis-measured and were 300mm too big. There was no alternative, they needed to be re-made. The mistake (fortunately) was down to the supplier and after a brief discussion they agreed to re-make the doors at their cost.

The re-made doors were installed (very successfully) today. It only took a couple of hours and we are really impressed with the results. The front elevation of the new extension certainly looks a lot better!

Here’s the opening in the master bedroom before the bifolding doors are installed. Ignore the fact that the back garden looks like a building site – the views are great.

The builders are finishing off the pointing on this elevation of the extension while the frames for the bi-folding doors are being installed.

The bi-folding doors certainly improve the appearance of the front elevation of the new extension.

Installing the bi-folding doors

December 9, 2013 / stephen

There were two sets of bi-folding doors to be installed at the weekend. One set in the lounge and the other in the master bedroom. Both of them open out onto the sunken garden.

The first set went in without any hitches. However, the second set (the ones in the master bedroom) were 300mm too long. Argh. This is very frustrating as the company supplying the doors came out and measured the openings themselves. But this all happened over the weekend, so there was nothing for it, but to wait and sort it out on Monday morning.

We aren’t quite sure what went wrong here. However, we weren’t set the final measurements from the site survey and we weren’t asked to sign off the measurements. So the supplier has agreed to supply a new set of doors at their cost. The main issue is that this cannot now be completed until after Christmas, but hopefully it isn’t going to hold anything up.

We have boarded up the opening in the master bedroom. Unfortunately, it will be the new year before the second set of bi-folding doors are fitted.

The doors are colour matched to the same colour as the internal patent glazing. It is a toned down version of the green that we have used on the external hardwood windows. For those interested, it is RAL7038.

There will be a set of stone steps outside these doors that will take you into the sunken garden. We are concentrating on getting the house finished first before working on the sunken garden. At the moment, it is a bit of a mess.

Breaking through

December 4, 2013 / stephen

We have started to make the openings between the two properties. This will take a couple of days to complete. The concrete lintels have to go in first before the stone underneath can be removed. However, we already have a couple of holes in the wall that give a glimpse of what it is going to look like!

There are three openings to be made in this wall – a small balcony high up, an internal window that looks a long the edge of the kitchen units and the doorway between the hall and the kitchen.

Kitchen gable

December 2, 2013 / stephen

There is a small gable to the rear of the kitchen and we finally managed to finish off the stone work on the exterior. With any luck, we should get the window installed tomorrow. This will be alot easier to do while the scaffolding is in place.

I don’t often take photos of the house from this angle, but you can start to see the extent of the extension (even with the scaffolding still in place).

The last couple of courses on the kitchen gable were finished off today. With any luck, we will get the window installed tomorrow.

Oak windows

November 30, 2013 / stephen

Yesterday the two custom oak windows were installed. Both are in the kitchen/lounge – this is a tall thin one and a large square one. The smaller one arrived on site fully glazed. The larger one had to come unglazed as it would have weighed too much fully glazed. The oak frame itself is around 80kgs and the glass is around 150kgs. The glass is so heavy because of its size and thickness. There are two panes of glass each 8mm thick. This has too be toughened safety glass as the window runs from floor to ceiling.

The frame itself is a really chunky piece of oak. The glazing beads (the strips of wood that hold the glass in place) are massive when compared to normal beads. While the smaller window would go through the back door in the boot room, the large oak frame had to be carried across the bottom field, into the sunken garden and then through the opening for the bi-folding doors in the lounge.

It is difficult to get a good photo of both of these windows are the moment because of the scaffolding being in the way. However, this will be coming down next week just in time for the bi-folding doors to be fitted.

This is the smaller of the two oak frame windows. This one arrived on site fully glazed. The wide part of the frame sits on the outside of the building.

This is difficult to see at the moment because of all of the scaffolding, but the smaller of the two oak windows has been installed.

This oak frame weighs about 80kgs and will only go in via the large openings for the bi-folding doors. It will be glazed on Monday. The glass is onsite already, but weighs a further 150kgs. Hence the frame and glass have been installed separately.

It is difficult to see clearly becuase the scaffolding is in the way, but this is a very large oak frame. When Huddersfield Joinery brought it on site, it looked more like a piece of furniture than a window!

Windows in the extension

November 28, 2013 / stephen

As well as the rooflights being installed today, the other windows were also installed. Huddersfield Joinery who produced the windows for the renovated part of the property, have also supplied the windows for the extension. There are around 9 new hardwood windows (painted the same green as before) and 2 large custom-built oak windows.

The green hardwood windows went in today. The oak windows will go in tomorrow.

There has been a minor blimp with two of the windows. Both of them in the kitchen. There is a large window that is too big – the architect revised the window schedule and no one told Huddersfield Joinery. I assumed that the architect had sent the revised drawings and the architects had assumed that I had sent them. When you project manage your own build, you need to be very careful over roles and responsibilities. This is a great example of what can go wrong.

The other window was also too large. This time the ashlar schedule didn’t match the window schedule. The stone surround was specified as 600 x 600, but the window was specified as 600 x 650. We should have double checked that the two matched, but unfortunately this didn’t happen. When there are over 40 windows, each with their own stone surround, that is a lot of checking.

The bottom line is that these two windows are going to have to be remade. And at our cost.

Rooflights

November 28, 2013 / stephen

The rooflights were installed today. There are three sets. Two in the lounge and one in the kitchen. Each set is identical. 5 panes 600mm wide. Originally, we were going to install 6 panes 500mm, but this increase the amount of frame in the unit and reduced the amount of glass. 5 panes 600mm wide was about the same price as 6 panes 500mm wide.

Each set has two openers. These are electrically operated. The electrical unit has to be the ugliest thing ever. And the rocker switches that came with it are even worse! I am less worried by the switches as we will use the Loxone system to control the opening and closing of these windows. This means that when we set the alarm, the windows can be closed automatically. The motor units are more of a problem. I thought there were covers to go on them, but alas no – they are meant to look like this!

The installation was very quick – around 2 hours to get all three banks of rooflights installed. The frames and the glass are shipped separately and the team from Standard Patent Glazing assemble them on site. Unfortunately, one of the panes bumped into the scaffold when being brought into the extension. When it comes to glass versus scaffold, the scaffold is always going to win. The broken unit has been fitted temporarily, but a new unit has been ordered and should be installed next week.

There are three sets of rooflights in the extension. Two in the lounge and one set in the kitchen. All have electrically operated opening panes – 2 in each set.

This is the rooflight in the rear of the lounge. You can see the lead underneath the window. More lead will be fitted when the roof is slated – this is due to happen next week.

These are the rooflights in the rear of the lounge. Nick and Dan are working on the stonework in the small gable in the end of the kitchen.

This happened when the panes of glass were being carried in. One of them just caught the edge of a scaffolding pole. A replacement was already on order by the time the installers had left. It will be replaced next week (at their cost).

Getting the new stonework into position

November 12, 2013 / stephen

There is a large square picture window in the new extension. It is big. Very picture. You step up into it to get from the lounge into the master bedroom.

The ashlar blocks (three of them) that form the window will were heavy enough. But the ashlar jambs (the bits that go up the sides) are enormous and weigh in at 640kgs – far too heavy to be lifted by hand. But to use a crane, you have to be able to attach (safely) the stone to the lifting hook. The builders had a metal plate made with an eyelet. This was then bolted and glued to the back of the stone work. This allowed the stone to be attached without leaving any marks on the outside faces.

There were smiles around once these pieces reach their final resting place.

The large pieces of ashlar are on the telehandler lying on their backs. The crane will lift these up one by one using the metal plate that has been fixed to the back of the stone.

A metal plate with an eyelet has been bolted and glued to the back of the stone. This will be left in place as it is behind all the stonework and will not be seen.

Once roughly in position, the column is nudged into it’s final location while most of the weight is still being held by the crane. No one wants this to topple over as they will be no stopping it once it starts to go.

This peices of ashlar weigh in at around 640kgs (according to the crane operator). They are far too heavy to be lifted by hand and they are still a challenge even with a crane to get into exact position.

The head is fairly easy to get into position with a couple of straps around it.