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Last bits on the stairs

March 21, 2015 / stephen

We are getting there with the stairs and the shelving was installed underneath the stairs on Friday. It requires 2-3 coats of varnish, but this will have to wait until Monday. The two pieces of glass for the balustrade should arrive early next week, so everything should be finished on the stairs by the end of next week.

We now have all of the verticals and horizontals in place that make up the shelving under the stairs. It needs 2-3 coats of varnish and the glass needs to be installed underneath the handrail.

Craig and Jake from Huddersfield Joinery (this is all their handy work!) varnishing the newly installed shelving.

With the shelving now in place, we couldn’t resist putting a few books in it to see what it might look like once it is full.

The dog took to sleeping underneath the stairs when the temporary stairs were in place. We have separate divider where the dog’s bed is situated – if we ever don’t have a dog, the divider can be slid in so that it looks like the rest of the shelving.

More progress on the stairs

March 18, 2015 / stephen

We are starting to build the shelving underneath the stairs.

We have started on the shelving underneath the stairs. These are being fitted into the stairs that we built earlier in the week.

The shelving under the stairs is made of oak veneered MDF. Tomorrow the horizontal shelves will be installed. Once all of the verticals and horizontals are in place, the wood will be varnished so that all the oak matches.

Progress on the stairs

March 16, 2015 / stephen

We have installed the knewl posts and the handrail (albeit temporarily) to allow the templates to be cut for the glass panels. These will be held in place by grooves cut into the knewl posts. Hence the posts (and handrail) will have to be removed to install the glass. The posts and the handrail have not been varnished yet, hence it looks a different colour from the rest of the oak.

The knewl posts and handrail are temporarily put in place allowing us to cut the templates for the glass.

Well, these have only been fitted temporarily allowing us to cut some hardboard for the glass panels that will be installed. There is a 1-2 week lead time on the glass once it is ordered. The plan is to carry on with the shelving underneath the stairs while we are waiting for the glass.

New stairs – End of day 2

March 10, 2015 / stephen

Well, it is the end of day two and we actually have a set of stairs that you can walk up – albeit without a hand rail.

The treads and the risers are made of solid oak. These are glued and screwed to the softwood frame underneath. Here we have half of the treads in place.

Treads and risers being glued into position.

Only the top step is left to install. The space under the stairs will house book shelves.

The treads and risers seem to “float” over the edge of the internal splines. This staircase feels so much more solid that the temporary one we had installed before.

The new stairs without the shelving underneath.

New stairs – End of day 1

March 9, 2015 / stephen

It is going to take a few days to get the new staircase installed. The first part of the job is to remove the temporary staircase and build the skeleton that is going to carry the new treads and risers. The splines had been made in the joiner’s workshop and it is then a case of fitting them on site. Even so, this took a whole day. Tomorrow, the oak treads and risers will be installed.

We bought these as a temporary measure when we were renovating the property.

It didn’t take long – 4 screws and it was gone. 30 minutes later and the chainsaw had done it’s job.

There will be two splines that will carry each of the oak treads in the new staircase. Once the stairs are in place. The shelves and cupboards will be built to suit.

The treads and the risers are going to be fixed to the two splines. You can see the bottom tread and riser in place. The treads and risers are made of solid oak.

The two splines are then joined together with pieces of software. The treads will then be glued to these (and screwed on from underneath).

Utility room

January 27, 2015 / stephen

We are starting to finish off some of the jobs that have been hanging around for a while. One of them is the utility room. We have been using this room for a while, but it has just housed the washing machine and the dryer. Today, we started on installing a couple of cupboards and a work surface. We have bothered with an expensive range of units – this is a utility room after all! But we have picked units and worksurfaces to match the rest of the house.

It has taken us a while to get around to this, but today we started on the utility room. Just a couple of cupboards and a work surface over the washing machine/dryer.

Snow

January 21, 2015 / stephen

We have had some snow already this winter, but this morning we had around 3 inches. This was enough to stop the traffic for a while and it was eerily quiet for a while.

January 2015 and we have around 3 inches of snow on the ground. It was enough to stop any traffic on the road which meant that it was eerily quiet for a while. It was a good day for sitting in front of the fire with a book.

Winter 2014

December 27, 2014 / stephen

We have just had the first dump of snow this winter and the views are amazing. It is the time of year that you are glad of 4×4’s.

We had a fair amount of snow last night and this is what we woke up to this morning! The views across the valley are amazing, now the sun is out.

View across the valley with Holme Moss in the background.

Before and after in the sunken garden

December 1, 2014 / stephen

These photos are courtesy of Paddy Martin who did the work in the garden. These before and after shots just show how much work has gone into sorting out the sunken garden.

Here is the before and after for the sunken garden. All in all, it took about 8 weeks to sort this out.

Another before and after shot. You can also see the impact that the telehandler has had on the grass in the background.

After we moved in, we had an old pallet for a door step. It is great to see that it has been sorted out. It still needs to be pointed, but it is a vast improvement.

Progress in the sunken garden

November 28, 2014 / stephen

At last all of the ashlar is in place and all of the flagstones are down. There is still pointing to do, but that is going to have to wait a bit until the weather improves – it can’t be too wet or too cold when doing the pointing.

Three sets of steps and 160 square meters of flagstones. The pointing is still to be done between the flagstones, but we are going to have to wait for some better weather. The lights are still to be installed (although the holes and wiring have been put in place).

We still have to point the flagstones. This will be done using lime pointing (just like the main house), however, this is going to have to wait for better weather.

The ashlar slabs have been installed outside the master bedroom. We haven’t moved in here yet, but in the summer it will be possible to step out into the sunken garden from the bedroom. The floor inside is the same level as the ashlar slabs outside.

The new steps from the lounge and a step of steps to the upper terrace.

It would have been easy just to have put 1200mm wide steps in here, but it looks so much better with the bottom steps extended outwards. The reclaimed walls could do with being pressure washed to remove some of the old paint and dirt but they contrast with the new stone steps.

Hagg Leys Farm