Our build thread, renovation and extension
Discussion
Desiato said:
What did you opt for in the end?
We've gone for the 305 beam but in a location which looks ok and allows us to do something with ceiling heights and fancy lighting. The posijoists need to be hung off the top of a plate on the I beam so anything less than a massive custom beam would give us the same issue of a non flat ceiling and our architect was sceptical whether that would work in any case.
All ready for the first scaffolding lift to go up on monday. Hopefully when the first steel and joists go in there will be more for me to do. Almost every job next on the list is on hold until the extension begins to rise, it's amazing how totally unconnected jobs can't be done until something else is ready. For instance I can't install any of the Cat 6 or TV cables yet, because it's running to under the stairs, which need to come out and I can't do that with cables in the way.
What stage are you at with 'It's too small', 'No, it's massive' conundrum? I keep looking at our pegs and thinking 'We'll never fit everything in there' then going to an actual room the same size and thinking 'We'll be wallowing in space' Must be exciting to see the actual walls!
Can't believe the pace yours is happening at. At least we've finally started - builder came a week, roof's off and the back wall is on its way down!
Can't believe the pace yours is happening at. At least we've finally started - builder came a week, roof's off and the back wall is on its way down!
I think I'd like it bigger, but that it's big enough. The limiting factor for us is the plot size really, it'd be amazing if we can buy the land at the bottom of our garden and get the garage right out of the way, but we are yet to have that discussion. We spent a while trying to work out where to position the windows to leave enough space to position a wall of full height units with the ovens and the full height fridge and full height freezer. When you look at it like that there doesn't seem to be enough room, but then you step back and realise the kitchen will actually be pretty big. It's going to end up at about 220sqm but given the right plot I'm sure I could do something really nice at 450sqm and not have it feel too big. That said, this is my first house so I have to start somewhere!
I think if/when we move on I've probably be looking for a nice plot and spend about £300k on the build and I could come up with something pretty nice around that size.
I think if/when we move on I've probably be looking for a nice plot and spend about £300k on the build and I could come up with something pretty nice around that size.
We have some scaffolding now and the weather has turned, a bit too hot for working outside though!
Around the fire place
This will be the view from the side window of the master bedroom, albeit higher (my side of the bed
)
The view of the house from the side, should sit quite well.
We also ordered our flue liners today, did some more plumbing and arranged visits this week for a design of the posijoisted floor and roof trusses. The bricklayer will be back tomorrow to continue and I'm now off to the house to meet our carpenter!
Around the fire place
This will be the view from the side window of the master bedroom, albeit higher (my side of the bed
)The view of the house from the side, should sit quite well.
We also ordered our flue liners today, did some more plumbing and arranged visits this week for a design of the posijoisted floor and roof trusses. The bricklayer will be back tomorrow to continue and I'm now off to the house to meet our carpenter!
Busy day today, lots of running around and organising and very hot which didn't help.
4x 458mm sunpipes arrived, two of which will be used for the landing to provide natural light. Got these for a bit of a bargain, should be £420 each and I got 4 of them for £300. Rather large though!
After a lot of calling round when I found my flue liner and base plate wouldn't be here for another 4 days, but after finally getting the dimensions we made a frame for the concrete lintel with the right size hole formed in the middle.
and filled it with concrete
The sides have gone up a bit higher just short of first floor joist height.
A big hole punched in near the corner where the I beam is going to slot on friday.
4x 458mm sunpipes arrived, two of which will be used for the landing to provide natural light. Got these for a bit of a bargain, should be £420 each and I got 4 of them for £300. Rather large though!
After a lot of calling round when I found my flue liner and base plate wouldn't be here for another 4 days, but after finally getting the dimensions we made a frame for the concrete lintel with the right size hole formed in the middle.
and filled it with concrete
The sides have gone up a bit higher just short of first floor joist height.
A big hole punched in near the corner where the I beam is going to slot on friday.
An eventful couple of days this week. We've been desperately trying to get hold of a pumice flue starter block, liner blocks and backfill. Nowhere I spoke to could get them to me within 4 days so I eventually spoke to a company based near me who claim to be the UK's "Number 1 flue supplier". They gave me the dimensions for the starter block which meant I could cast a suitable sized raft to fit their Isokern system. So I liaise with Buildbase who suggest I go to them directly and they can sort me out and I can take the bits away there and then. I drive for an hour to get there and they couldn't be more rude, unhelpful and plainly wrong. Their rep gave me the impression that he really didn't want to sell me anything at all, despite me knowing exactly what I needed to order, he just chucked a load of business cards for chimney installers at me and wanted me out of there, total knobber. So I've had to go with a different system from Hanson, the only problem is they say allow a 280mm hole for their adapter to the appliance whereas I have 8 inches of cast concrete with a 235mm hole. I've ordered the bits and will just wait and see whether they were being overly generous with their clearance.
So today the first of our steels arrives, this is the "small" one for the first floor.
Our first pack of reclaimed tiles arrives, almost breaking the tail lift of the delivery truck!
Our cavity lintels arrive ready to go in tomorrow.
The steel is moved inside ready to be lifted tomorrow and engineering brick padstones have been laid. It weighs about 260kg and takes 4 to move it so getting it up there will be a challenge.
Here's all the blockwork now waiting for steels and lintels tomorrow. It's going to be a busy day!
So today the first of our steels arrives, this is the "small" one for the first floor.
Our first pack of reclaimed tiles arrives, almost breaking the tail lift of the delivery truck!
Our cavity lintels arrive ready to go in tomorrow.
The steel is moved inside ready to be lifted tomorrow and engineering brick padstones have been laid. It weighs about 260kg and takes 4 to move it so getting it up there will be a challenge.
Here's all the blockwork now waiting for steels and lintels tomorrow. It's going to be a busy day!
Edited by Muncher on Thursday 26th July 16:42
Today our first steel went up and the brickwork progressed, the ground floor lintels are going in tomorrow.
Steel drilled by the suppliers so we can bolt on 80mm thick timber to support the heels of the joist hangers.
Raised onto tressels
Slotted in
The other half surveying her kitchen
It's a big old beam!
Brickwork ready for the lintels
Steel drilled by the suppliers so we can bolt on 80mm thick timber to support the heels of the joist hangers.
Raised onto tressels
Slotted in
The other half surveying her kitchen
It's a big old beam!
Brickwork ready for the lintels
Edited by Muncher on Friday 27th July 18:29
Some more brickwork done, these are the two small high level windows next to the fireplace.
The kitchen windows with lintels overhead now, the bottom blocks are coming out to make the openings bigger.
Here's the detailing over the windows to match the rest of the house, there will be a little shelf of cement on top of the tiles.
The kitchen windows with lintels overhead now, the bottom blocks are coming out to make the openings bigger.
Here's the detailing over the windows to match the rest of the house, there will be a little shelf of cement on top of the tiles.
Another busy week this week...
Two joists taken out, they both were near the old toilet and had a bit of woodworm. They've been treated along with everywhere else but as they're relatively easy to take out through the rear wall we are replacing them. Just need to be careful not to fall down the hole until the new ones are in!
A cut course of blocks has been added ready for the joists to sit on.
Lintel over the french doors in place. The lounge certainly won't be dark as it will be getting a lot of light from every direction!
Doorway through from the hall cut and lintel put in place. Every brick that came out of there is being cleaned up, cement removed and saved for future use. On the right as you come through from the hall will be a bank of ovens and on the left will be the backs of one of the sofas facing the fireplace.
Some more blockwork on that wall, again waiting for the joists to sit on top. The fireplace had to be blocked up so hopefully we have the right spacing there!
The brickies are back tomorrow to continue with the brickwork above the windows, the replacement joists for the old house should be coming and possibly the joists for the extension, but I suspect wednesday is more likely. There's also another scaffolding lift scheduled for wednesday as well as the delivery of the steel over the bifolds.
Two joists taken out, they both were near the old toilet and had a bit of woodworm. They've been treated along with everywhere else but as they're relatively easy to take out through the rear wall we are replacing them. Just need to be careful not to fall down the hole until the new ones are in!
A cut course of blocks has been added ready for the joists to sit on.
Lintel over the french doors in place. The lounge certainly won't be dark as it will be getting a lot of light from every direction!
Doorway through from the hall cut and lintel put in place. Every brick that came out of there is being cleaned up, cement removed and saved for future use. On the right as you come through from the hall will be a bank of ovens and on the left will be the backs of one of the sofas facing the fireplace.
Some more blockwork on that wall, again waiting for the joists to sit on top. The fireplace had to be blocked up so hopefully we have the right spacing there!
The brickies are back tomorrow to continue with the brickwork above the windows, the replacement joists for the old house should be coming and possibly the joists for the extension, but I suspect wednesday is more likely. There's also another scaffolding lift scheduled for wednesday as well as the delivery of the steel over the bifolds.
Another busy day! While the brickies got on with laying bricks, my Dad and I replaced the two joists over the utlity room, cut to size and mortared in.
Just as we started on something else the positjoists turned up, which we weren't expecting until tomorrow.
They are relatively easy to put up, it's just a case of following the instructions, a little drilling and a lot of lifting! Most of the spacing is 400mm so we spaced them as acturately as we could but will no doubt need to move them again when we put various noggins and straps on tomorrow. There were 2 areas we could not do as there was either no blockwork so support the beams over the bifolds which is waiting for the steel tomorrow, or round the other side close to the existing house where the family bathroom will go as those ones need slots cut into the walls which we haven't done yet.
The wall a bit higher on this side now.
I almost don't want to cover them up!
Just as we started on something else the positjoists turned up, which we weren't expecting until tomorrow.
They are relatively easy to put up, it's just a case of following the instructions, a little drilling and a lot of lifting! Most of the spacing is 400mm so we spaced them as acturately as we could but will no doubt need to move them again when we put various noggins and straps on tomorrow. There were 2 areas we could not do as there was either no blockwork so support the beams over the bifolds which is waiting for the steel tomorrow, or round the other side close to the existing house where the family bathroom will go as those ones need slots cut into the walls which we haven't done yet.
The wall a bit higher on this side now.
I almost don't want to cover them up!
Another busy week and more progress.
Early drama centred around the chimney, the pumice flue liners arrived along with the stainless steel adapter, monday morning starts with frantic angle grinding to ensure we can actually fit the adapter to the starter block as the hole in the 8 inch thick lintel we cast for it was too small.
We then find that the joists over the fire place are too long and protrude into the chimney itself, floor chap has to come back and we come up with a plan to have a longer trimmer taking it away from the chimney altogether and the cutting of about 4 joists to the right length. Here is the hod carrier looking "concerned":
Cavity closers start to go in:
Posijoists:
Brick detailing over the french doors in the lounge complete, ready for the next scaffolding lift which is happening on monday.
Noggins fitted the to the joists and battening to hold them in the right place, lots of fine tuning here which took a while.
The view from the side master bedroom window:
The joists blocked in at the ends:
The new trimmer over the fireplace:
The chimeny starts to taper in now, these slopes will be covered with tiles.
Joists all finished, we have started to mark out the position of the rooms now on the joists, the first marking to the left is the end of the bathroom, the rest is our dressing room/5th bedroom.
The landing, airing cupboard, master bedroom and ensuite marked out.
The brickies want it all boarded out asap with Caberdeck, which is a waterproof flooring, but to do that I need to lay all the underfloor heating first, which is a pain, so a quick trip down the road to U-Heat and this is all the pipe and trays just for the upstairs, very good service and price from them.
The steel over the bifolds arrived today and went straight up, there was some welding of plates and galvanising of that one so not cheap!
That's all the groundfloor steels, and indeed groundfloor complete now
The lounge:
TV is going to sit in the recess above the fire, little windows either side to let in a bit of light and provide ventilation.
The bifolding doors opening for the kitchen:
Detail above the door:
The view from the garden
Tomorrow we will be installing the UFH upstairs and will start to work on the temporary room supports to allow us to knock through and take out a big supporting beam over the stairs. If anyone has a 6m acro prop going spare that would be handy
Monday sees the next scaffolding lift and the steel guy back to drill some more holes to feed ~UFH pipes through and mount stud walls. I also need to locate around 110sqm of Caberdeck asap!
Early drama centred around the chimney, the pumice flue liners arrived along with the stainless steel adapter, monday morning starts with frantic angle grinding to ensure we can actually fit the adapter to the starter block as the hole in the 8 inch thick lintel we cast for it was too small.
We then find that the joists over the fire place are too long and protrude into the chimney itself, floor chap has to come back and we come up with a plan to have a longer trimmer taking it away from the chimney altogether and the cutting of about 4 joists to the right length. Here is the hod carrier looking "concerned":
Cavity closers start to go in:
Posijoists:
Brick detailing over the french doors in the lounge complete, ready for the next scaffolding lift which is happening on monday.
Noggins fitted the to the joists and battening to hold them in the right place, lots of fine tuning here which took a while.
The view from the side master bedroom window:
The joists blocked in at the ends:
The new trimmer over the fireplace:
The chimeny starts to taper in now, these slopes will be covered with tiles.
Joists all finished, we have started to mark out the position of the rooms now on the joists, the first marking to the left is the end of the bathroom, the rest is our dressing room/5th bedroom.
The landing, airing cupboard, master bedroom and ensuite marked out.
The brickies want it all boarded out asap with Caberdeck, which is a waterproof flooring, but to do that I need to lay all the underfloor heating first, which is a pain, so a quick trip down the road to U-Heat and this is all the pipe and trays just for the upstairs, very good service and price from them.
The steel over the bifolds arrived today and went straight up, there was some welding of plates and galvanising of that one so not cheap!
That's all the groundfloor steels, and indeed groundfloor complete now
The lounge:
TV is going to sit in the recess above the fire, little windows either side to let in a bit of light and provide ventilation.
The bifolding doors opening for the kitchen:
Detail above the door:
The view from the garden
Tomorrow we will be installing the UFH upstairs and will start to work on the temporary room supports to allow us to knock through and take out a big supporting beam over the stairs. If anyone has a 6m acro prop going spare that would be handy
Monday sees the next scaffolding lift and the steel guy back to drill some more holes to feed ~UFH pipes through and mount stud walls. I also need to locate around 110sqm of Caberdeck asap!Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff