Our build thread, renovation and extension
Discussion
The drains are almost done, we have very little fall to play with and annoyingly where one leg enters the house we drilled the hole with the core drill about an inch too low so I think tomorrow will be spent removing a manhole and a few pipes and enlarging the hole upwards.
Cavity wall insulation was installed during the week and seems fine.
I can't remember who I was who was asking about steam cleaning brickwork, well I borrowed a steam cleaner yesterday and had a go on a patch of brick at the back today. Very pleased with it, it's certainly gentle enough on the bricks as the steam doesn't come out with any great force, but it's enough to remove the green tinge all the bricks have. The good thing from my point of view is that whilst it cleans them well, it leaves the odd trace behind so it's not at all obvious they've been cleaned and it still looks old.
Cavity wall insulation was installed during the week and seems fine.
I can't remember who I was who was asking about steam cleaning brickwork, well I borrowed a steam cleaner yesterday and had a go on a patch of brick at the back today. Very pleased with it, it's certainly gentle enough on the bricks as the steam doesn't come out with any great force, but it's enough to remove the green tinge all the bricks have. The good thing from my point of view is that whilst it cleans them well, it leaves the odd trace behind so it's not at all obvious they've been cleaned and it still looks old.
That's the washer I would use if I had to hire one. I think I only went up to 80 degrees, which was 10 degrees off maximum temperature. The HSS one goes to 140 degrees so would be more than enough.
I think that platform is only designed to be used on perfectly flat concrete, I wouldn't want to use it on anything unstable or uneven, or sloping. I'll have the benefit of full scaffolding that would already be up. You need two hands free so I don't think it can be done from a ladder.
I think that platform is only designed to be used on perfectly flat concrete, I wouldn't want to use it on anything unstable or uneven, or sloping. I'll have the benefit of full scaffolding that would already be up. You need two hands free so I don't think it can be done from a ladder.
Alfachick said:
I think the ones on the far left can be ditched and you could just use the other two. Liking the steam cleaner work! Looks so much better! 
I think the one of the left is the best in terms of texture, it just needs a little more variation in colour. Again the problem is the photos online show it as a mixed batch with half darker colours but then the sample arrives it has all the same coloured bricks on it.RC944 said:
do you know what each of them will look like when they have all weathered and aged ie what looks right now might look less right in a few years?
I think that's impossible to say, other than slightly more dirty and less bright. I'm only concerned about satisfying the planners now. Every brick expert has told me we won't get a perfect match anyway so you will always tell they were added later anyway.RC944 said:
i reckon an equal mix of all might be the best bet...
That's what I'm thinking. The one on the left should actually have a few darker variations anyway, so it's about right. The one on the right has some with black ends which will match the existing as well.Not heard from the planners yet so fingers crossed!
Well we're getting there, we expect to have planning approval granted next Thursday hopefully. The planning officer, the conservation advisory panel and the conservation officer are all happy with the scheme. They were convinced they knew of a better brick match, used on another new building recently in the area, however to coin our architects phrase "that'll look a b
d". It's not even close, completely and utterly wrong. So hopefully they will go with the mix I posted above, but I need to get hold of some to mock up a panel before Thursday.
In the meantime the new water connection and cable tv conduit is in, the toilet is about to move yet again. We are also tentatively booking a digger for next weekend to dig the foundations...
d". It's not even close, completely and utterly wrong. So hopefully they will go with the mix I posted above, but I need to get hold of some to mock up a panel before Thursday.In the meantime the new water connection and cable tv conduit is in, the toilet is about to move yet again. We are also tentatively booking a digger for next weekend to dig the foundations...
Well we're almost there but the planners are being difficult, they have said they will grant approval but we are still talking about the brick match :/
Below is the brick match that the council insists is the same brick as used on my house. They adamant it is right and provides a correct match. They are positive that all the bricks on my house are the same colour and that the only difference is some got a bit burnt during manufacture.
So here is the comparison image I sent them below, to which they replied that they still thought they were the same brick and a good match!
Meanwhile, this is the best brick match we have come up with. I've gone through 6 brick match experts to get this close. We are proposing a blend mixed at the factory of 40% the one on the left, 50% the centre one and 10% the one on the right.
We've now completed the grinding out to fit the helibars to stitch together the cracked brickwork internally, they will be bonded in tomorrow. All the socket circuits are done, the toilet has been moved and connected up to the new drain and the external soil stack which went through the roof has been removed by brute force leaving only a relatively small hole in the roof.
A few more pics are here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101518101...
Below is the brick match that the council insists is the same brick as used on my house. They adamant it is right and provides a correct match. They are positive that all the bricks on my house are the same colour and that the only difference is some got a bit burnt during manufacture.
So here is the comparison image I sent them below, to which they replied that they still thought they were the same brick and a good match!
Meanwhile, this is the best brick match we have come up with. I've gone through 6 brick match experts to get this close. We are proposing a blend mixed at the factory of 40% the one on the left, 50% the centre one and 10% the one on the right.
We've now completed the grinding out to fit the helibars to stitch together the cracked brickwork internally, they will be bonded in tomorrow. All the socket circuits are done, the toilet has been moved and connected up to the new drain and the external soil stack which went through the roof has been removed by brute force leaving only a relatively small hole in the roof.
A few more pics are here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101518101...
Well we've had a bit of a change of plan, rather than using spreader plates for the under floor heating downstairs between the joists of the suspended floor, we've decided to rip out all the wooden floors completely. We will paint the concrete base with DPM, layer some sand, celotex on top of that into which the pipes will be pegged and then screeded over the top. Doing that then saves us about £750 on heating components and gives us a net cost of about £400 to do it. However, it puts the back door at a much better level and gives us an extra 7-8 inches of head ceiling height downstairs which should make quite a difference.
Anyway we decided that at 5:30pm yesterday and by 4 today all bar one room was cleared and the joists de-nailed and stacked. It also gives us quite a lot of 4x2 to make stud walls from which saves a fair amount of money in itself. It does feel quite weird as the windows and doors are too high at the moment. The windows were always a little on the low side so the finished floor level will make them feel a bit more normal.
Anyway we decided that at 5:30pm yesterday and by 4 today all bar one room was cleared and the joists de-nailed and stacked. It also gives us quite a lot of 4x2 to make stud walls from which saves a fair amount of money in itself. It does feel quite weird as the windows and doors are too high at the moment. The windows were always a little on the low side so the finished floor level will make them feel a bit more normal.
BigTom85 said:
Good luck with the planners, your proposal for bricks looks spot on to me!
Good decision on the floors too. Will you be reusing or flogging the old timber?
We will re-use all the joists but the floor boards will probably be disposed of or used when the odd bit of timber is required. The floor in the hall was really nice oak but alas the building plans meant it had to go because the wall next to the stairs was coming out and the hall is continuing into where the kitchen was.Good decision on the floors too. Will you be reusing or flogging the old timber?
Talking of re-using the timber, here it is forming the first new wall to the front ensuite 
Currently got a dilemma as to how we will get the waste water from the sink underneath the front window to a soil pipe which is causing a bit of head scratching as the joists are running in the wrong direction.
Would also appreciate any suggestions as to what is the correct way to join the joists over the stairs at right angles.
We need to run triple joints perpendicular to the stairs and double joists parallel to them. Anyone have any suggestions for the correct way to joint the doubles into the triples? They are unsupported below so it needs to be a very tight joint.
Currently got a dilemma as to how we will get the waste water from the sink underneath the front window to a soil pipe which is causing a bit of head scratching as the joists are running in the wrong direction.
Would also appreciate any suggestions as to what is the correct way to join the joists over the stairs at right angles.
We need to run triple joints perpendicular to the stairs and double joists parallel to them. Anyone have any suggestions for the correct way to joint the doubles into the triples? They are unsupported below so it needs to be a very tight joint.
We have planning permission!
Finally came through, on the last possible day they had to make the decision.
We have a couple of conditions, one of which is we have to prepare a square meter of our proposed brick work for their approval and consideration, as they are still pushing for their choice of brick! So we are going to produce a panel of their bricks too, just for comparison next to it at the front of the house to show how ridiculous it looks.
Weather permitting we will be digging the foundations on saturday, getting them inspected on monday and pouring the concrete on tuesday. But the weather is looking ominous at the moment.
Finally came through, on the last possible day they had to make the decision.
We have a couple of conditions, one of which is we have to prepare a square meter of our proposed brick work for their approval and consideration, as they are still pushing for their choice of brick!
So we are going to produce a panel of their bricks too, just for comparison next to it at the front of the house to show how ridiculous it looks.Weather permitting we will be digging the foundations on saturday, getting them inspected on monday and pouring the concrete on tuesday. But the weather is looking ominous at the moment.
So this is where it starts...
Yesterday I laid out foundations for the first time. It's relatively easy to follow the plan, positioning poles to mark the outer corners of the brickwork, requires two tape measures an a bit of Pythagoras. Then follows several checks and slight movements of the poles until we were 100%. I then made some wooden frames which measured marked out the widths of the foundations channels and then strung marking out string from them and spray painted the lines. Later that night once it was completely dark I added "crossbars" to my markings which were at the same height as the finished floor level of the existing house marked out with a laser level. I had drilled through from inside to mark finished floor level and lined it all up with the laser.
Early this morning we started with the digger and dumper truck, filling in the new water trench on the driveway which gave the digger access to the back of the house.
It then took the whole morning to level the site, taking about 50cm of soil off across the back of the house, removing loads of rubble and lots of bricks that we can sell to a reclamation yard. In the afternoon we then got all of the foundations dug to at least 800mm, the soil below 18inches down was just sand which was as we expected. As you can see a considerable volume of soil came out, without the dumper truck it would have been impossible.
It looks completely different now, we can at last start to see the scale of what we are building. Tomorrow I need to alter a bit of the foundations for the chimney and tidy up a few things ready for the footings to be inspected on monday.
A load more photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101518386...
Yesterday I laid out foundations for the first time. It's relatively easy to follow the plan, positioning poles to mark the outer corners of the brickwork, requires two tape measures an a bit of Pythagoras. Then follows several checks and slight movements of the poles until we were 100%. I then made some wooden frames which measured marked out the widths of the foundations channels and then strung marking out string from them and spray painted the lines. Later that night once it was completely dark I added "crossbars" to my markings which were at the same height as the finished floor level of the existing house marked out with a laser level. I had drilled through from inside to mark finished floor level and lined it all up with the laser.
Early this morning we started with the digger and dumper truck, filling in the new water trench on the driveway which gave the digger access to the back of the house.
It then took the whole morning to level the site, taking about 50cm of soil off across the back of the house, removing loads of rubble and lots of bricks that we can sell to a reclamation yard. In the afternoon we then got all of the foundations dug to at least 800mm, the soil below 18inches down was just sand which was as we expected. As you can see a considerable volume of soil came out, without the dumper truck it would have been impossible.
It looks completely different now, we can at last start to see the scale of what we are building. Tomorrow I need to alter a bit of the foundations for the chimney and tidy up a few things ready for the footings to be inspected on monday.
A load more photos are here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101518386...
Edited by Muncher on Saturday 16th June 20:18
Megaflow said:
Looking good. But, as this is PH, some questions:
1) What's with what appears to be a mk3 Golf buried at the bottom of the garden?
2) Where's the garage?
It's my runaround that some bint crashed into in January, I've flogged the engine and am breaking it for bits. I'm being nagged to get rid of it!1) What's with what appears to be a mk3 Golf buried at the bottom of the garden?
2) Where's the garage?
The garage is going where the car is, that's going to follow in a later planning application. It'll be a wide double with a lift. I spent this morning digging on the chimney foundations which was a lot harder work than I thought, I guess about 35 barrow fills that had to be lifted out.
Foundations filled, and hopefully correctly, as that was a lot of hard work!
Concrete truck arrives at 8am and tries to reverse down the drive, despite 2 site inspections in the last couple of days it cracks up the drive and immediately starts to sink, that's one heavy truck!
A quick call to Jewsons and a shiny new dumper truck is delivered just over an hour later.
We quickly start unloading it, 2 trucks worth, 11.3 cubic meters in total, and I had estimated 11.5 so all good. It takes about 40 trips backwards and forwards to get it emptied, me on the dumper and my Dad and brother in law raking it about the trench. It's very hard work and there were a few moments where we thought the levels were looking a long way out with an awful lot of heavy concrete to move about the trench but we got there in the end, with it all tamped down just as it was really starting to set.
To make matters more complicated we also had contractors out connecting our new water connection to replace the lead pipes.
Concrete truck arrives at 8am and tries to reverse down the drive, despite 2 site inspections in the last couple of days it cracks up the drive and immediately starts to sink, that's one heavy truck!
A quick call to Jewsons and a shiny new dumper truck is delivered just over an hour later.
We quickly start unloading it, 2 trucks worth, 11.3 cubic meters in total, and I had estimated 11.5 so all good. It takes about 40 trips backwards and forwards to get it emptied, me on the dumper and my Dad and brother in law raking it about the trench. It's very hard work and there were a few moments where we thought the levels were looking a long way out with an awful lot of heavy concrete to move about the trench but we got there in the end, with it all tamped down just as it was really starting to set.
To make matters more complicated we also had contractors out connecting our new water connection to replace the lead pipes.
costsmonkey said:
Muncher, very exciting project and excellent thread!
Looks like you doing an excellent job and making very good progress.
Must be fun too. Aren't you tempted to give up the day job and do this type of thing full time?
Please continue to keep posting, it's facinating to follow progess.
I've quit my job until I start my new one in September. I love doing this kind I thing but I think it's all about finding the right starting point which isn't easy, maybe I got lucky on this one? I'm sure it would be a lot less fun if you were doing it day in day out to make a living, plus I have the benefit of cheap or free labour to some extent for this, not to mention the fact I have an excellent architect who is charging me peanuts as he is a friend of my Dad. If/when I find another project I would probably go for it but just be a little less hands on myself. I like the project management more than the hands on stuff in truth.Looks like you doing an excellent job and making very good progress.
Must be fun too. Aren't you tempted to give up the day job and do this type of thing full time?
Please continue to keep posting, it's facinating to follow progess.
You have to get the fall levels right, which basically means they have to run downhill. It depends on the how many drain runs you have and the level at which they start and enter the main sewer. The more height difference you have the easier it is. At the end of the day if you can plan them out at the to have a sensible path and can use a spirit level and tell when water is running downhill (I'll give you a clue it won't run uphill!) then you can do it. All the connections are push fit, and thy get inspected by building control anyway.
My builder quoted £5k to do the drains and £7k to do the groundworks. I've completed the drains for £1.2k and the groundworks look to be on schedule to cost about £3k.
My builder quoted £5k to do the drains and £7k to do the groundworks. I've completed the drains for £1.2k and the groundworks look to be on schedule to cost about £3k.
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