June 19th - STABLES,CONSERVATORY and GRASS NEWS

It's me again writing the blog, I’ve been asked to fill you all in with the progress since my last post. We now have movement on the stables, it was a concrete block with a few blue brick on, and now it’s a massive building of wood and nails (from a new nail gun (I think Kieran will need one of these soon!)) The amount of nails that has had to go into this part of the building is immense. We have been helping quite a lot on the building of this part of the project at weekends. I say 'helping' I’m sure Richard would say this too! The photos are great and it should be moving on again later on this week. I will post more images when i have something different to report.
As for the house, we now have walls for the conservatory, Andy has worked hard in the sunshine (whilst we've had it) and has got the lower brick work up in double quick time! He’s hoping to start to get some of the plastic work up and fingers crossed getting it finished by the weekend. I’m sure we will be able to help again when we can at the weekend. Whilst the weather was poop he has plastered the kitchen and the dining room, if you know anything about plastering (we didn’t) you have to finish the wall or ceiling that you start as if you don’t you'll have breaks in the plaster! Little did we know when we asked Andy to do the ceiling that he'd be working late into the night after starting the big job at about 2pm. I don’t think he finished until about 9pm! eekkk up and down the ladder and back up and down again as he’s not got the longest legs in the world. Saying that Kieran with longer legs would have been up and down as much!
Under floor heating pipes should be going in and the work should be starting for that early next week, we have made the call and this is when they say they can start the next phase!
The well has had a bit of transformation, its had 2x1mtr sewer pipes rested on top of it to bring it back up through to ground level (you’ll see from one of the pictures what i mean!) its now all uncovered but had a wire mesh to stop unsuspecting’s falling down it if they should climb on top of the sewer pipes! We just need to decide do we clad around the pipes with wood or bricks and what kind of top we should put on top. I’m thinking about one you read about in children’s story books with a double pitched roof and a bucket on a winder! 
Just had to leave the laptop for a minute was called outside and there was a flyover by a military helicopter! oohhh it was just over the garden! 
GRASS NEWS - It’s all coming along well, there are a few hand sewn patches that might need a bit more seed, but overall it’s all looking greener and lusher (is that really a word?)
HAY NEWS - We are waiting for a bit longer to make our first batch of hay, it won’t be too much longer as we've been told that the grass has to die down at the root a bit and then we can get it cut. I however have to get all (most) of the doc leaves out of the field before it gets cut as they will sees and spread, so each night after work i take myself down the field and collect up about 50 doc leaf plants and return them to the pile, it’s getting better, but the walk to the bottom of the field is getting harder in the long grass! Never mind, just get on and finish it then it won't be such a massive task when it gets cut next time! 

(just re done my spelling / grammar mistakes so should read a bit better now!)

Over and out for now

Back again tomorrow for the latest pictures and info!

Hi to our new readers, hope you’re enjoying the blog!

Tuesday 15th May 2012

So its my turn to write the blog again! Ive been looking through a few of the photos tht weve taken over the past couple of days (i say we've and i obviously mean Kieran's taken!) As you can see from the photos somewhere in this blog there are 4 new photos, one is of the roof to the utility room, liiking good with the new / reclaimed tiles that we spent a fortune on all the way from Shavington! The next picture is of the roof lining and plasterboard of the front spare bedroom, its all boarded out now and has a lovely feeling of space to it now, it did before feel a bit airy as you could see the actual roof, but now its all celing height and looking and feeling good! The next image (this is if they are all going on in order, is the outside of the house, the patio doors lookng into the dining room / kitchen are all finished now, the eagle eyed amongst you will see that the fillets and all the trimings are all finished around the windows now, they just need to be siliconed in! The last picture is of the the stable block, all of the concrete is now down and the bricks are now being laid where the partition walls are going to be and its all looking and feeling very exciting. The stables are under water a lot at the moment, mostly because of the rain and most of it seems to stay on top and doesnt run away, ive spent countless minutes brushing off what seems like Niagra Falls! Ive been assured that it can be rectified so im not too worried, the only reason im brushing it off is that Andy can't lay more bricks as he cant lay in water!
Overall the whole project is coming on well, we have indoor jobs to be doing when its pouring down and outdoor jobs when the sunshining (not all that often at the moment!) The electrician is coming in later on in the week to run and guide more cables for the kitchen and the out building so more to report later on in the week, Also the plumber boys are coming in (again at the end of the week!) and are doing something, (not quite sure what yet but radiators and pipes were mentioned!
Going now to watch TV and walk the puppy!
Over!

Latest Blog Post

Where shall i start, it looks like a good place to start, where we left off. As you can see below the last blog post was written on the 15th January. That seems like forever ago, and well it was, a lot has happened since then and the pictures look loads better!
What happened after the scaffold lift, well, the building went up another storey and then the scaffolding went up again (a bit!) and then a roof went on, got tiled then the scaffolding came down again! We felt that Andy got a bit attached to the scaffolding as he kept saying that it would have gone soon, and then again and again but it eventually got taken down about 4 weeks ago! So the major changes to the built have been that we are now water tight, the roof is on and looks excellent. If you don't know, we bought some reclaimed tiles from Blackham Reclaimation yard in Tattenhall. We thought that they would look good on the roof, but i don't suppose you know until you have them all on and they are matched up with the old ones! But even though i say so myself, they look amazing. Windows and sill bricks are all done now, they even look good, we have re-used as many sill bricks as we could salvage from the old windows and have bought a few more from various reclamation yards. They took a bit of finding and piecing together but they finished the windows off well too!
Andy has now started to plaster board and fit the stud walling in the extension so we can now see the shapes and layouts of the new rooms. Even Dave the plumber and tiler has been and pulled a bit of weight and made a start on the family bathroom. (hes not finished yet but fingers crossed this will be soon!) The sizes of the rooms in the extension are starting to look good, When Andy has finished off the plaster boarding it will look better and we can wait for the plaster.
Ive planned 2 kitchens online and I think i know what layout we want. I am waiting for a man with a pencil to come back to me with a price for one that he's designed!
MENAGE NEWS - I'm not sure how many pictures of the menage and the preparation of the space have made it online but i think I'm about to rectify this (or I'll try!) The fencing around all of the field is all now finished and now the menage is too, its got all of the finishing rubber topping on with the sand mix. Richard says it will take time (its been about 3 weeks so far!) and it should start to settle. If you walk in the corners now you might stand to loose a shoe / foot! The concrete slab for the stables went down towards the back end of last week and its taken a couple of days, but Andy's been working on laying the 2 courses of bricks before Richard will come back on site to erect the wooden frame for the stables! v.v exciting! The electric fencing is now all ready for animals in the field, we are awaiting Arthur and his cows to arrive any day now, its been about 3 weeks since he said he was coming!
If you didn't know we are now homeless (technically!) (We aren't living in our own home!) We have moved out of the house in Coppenhall and are now invading the living space of Auntie Sylvia, we are pushing Andy to get on and get the house finished but might still be here for a bit longer!
Noting much else to say, I'm conscious that you have read enough of my brain splurge for now, and I'll write again soon!
Over, Sue
(I'm going to try and upload this info now, and get some pictures up, in a sort of order that will mean something for you!) I know Kieran hates this bit!

Scaffolding lift

And as the view of the house changes loads when the scaffolding is lifted it overnight looks like its twice the height. !!

A few pics of the new height, the doorway from the landing thats been made, the arch over the old window (to the right of the door opening) has all been removed and bricked up, the other 2 views are views from the front room (the hotel room for them from overseas) you can just see the bricks in the bottom corners so these are the views that will be from the windows other than the scaffolding wont be there. The view from the side window over the garage is nice and clear over to Mow Cop and surrounding areas.

enjoy

 

 

BLOG !!

Wow be impressed people, you the people of the www internet online world thing have had the pleasure of 2 blogs posts to read in one day !!

Good news, the council have registered our latest planning application, naturally as Sue was so keen to push this forward she would already know this amazing news on Christmas eve, then again as she is the financial backing behind the project and im the skivvy I have found out first . !!

Check it out:

http://planning.cheshireeast.gov.uk/swiftlg/apas/run/WPHAPPDETAIL.DisplayUrl?theApnID=11/4509N&theTabNo=1&backURL=<a href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=1027376>Search Criteria</a> > <a href='wphappsearchres.displayResultsURL?ResultID=1308123%26StartIndex=1%26SortOrder=apnkey:desc%26DispResultsAs=WPHAPPSEARCHRES%26BackURL=<a href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=1027376>Search Criteria</a>'>Search Results</a>

Some of that may get you there. !!

What amazing news for us to have over Christmas, it'll be better if they grant us permission but we will just have to wait for that. !!

Out,

Kieran

Christmas eve !

Went upto site earlier, the electric is now re-connected and hidden underground (just need the sparky in Jan to put a socket we can use in place) Andy was working away laying bricks until lunch time (see not all Builders are useless, ours is amazing) as the weather has been pretty bad for a few days to he's trying to catch up a bit and get back on course. He's back in Jan now and is hoping to get some weekends done then too to catch up.  Other than that not a lot to report really other than leaks, we discovered a few in the old part of the house that we have not caused so they must be inherited leaks (perhaps we can claim the cost of repair back !!) one in the new bathroom coming in where the lead flashing isnt there, 2 in the bedroom, one on the chimney breast no doubt lead flashing problem on the chimney and one in the corner of the bedroom window past the frame.... all contributions to these problems would be greatly received as a roll of lead is about £50, we have bought 2 already but will need another 1 or 2 and they are all for repairs..

Over and out, have a good Christmas folks ! KKS

Electric

Well after a week of communication with Scotish Power we will be having a new pole, it will be in the field and we wont be paying for it, so we were fairly happy to dig the trench for the cable if it saved us about 3.5 grand which it has because they are paying for it all to be done. Amazing as it is, this only took 3 of us about 3 hours to do which is pretty good considering the drive is thick hardcore as you can see.

 

Tiles

Although Im loving all these reclamation programs on sky at the moment im actually buying things that will be used, these tiles although slightly different to whats going on the roof should be perfect for the low roof over the back door and perhaps a log store if we have one one day. Approx 300 (going to get them over the weekend) and will need 50 per mt sq, a snip at £20 for the lot. Im just glad we can make use of someone elses cast offs and save a few quid at the same time.

Im back

Is it me or are the days even shorter now ? I know the clocks have changed but I feel like they cut down to 12 hours too. Short and sweet post here for you folks just to show you the amazing quality of brickwork Andy does for us, these are the arches above the lounge window and the other above the toilet window, both amazing.

 

Thorn in my side !

Are you familiar with having a something that really gets on your wick, like a thorn in your side that you just cant get rid of, ive got one. Being the Amateur Property Developer that I am, im finding the development of number 2 a challenge learning all the time but enjoying it too, we are going over to the house after work each day to discuss things and visualise things, anyway more of that later but to be honest I could to with having a few months off work to manage the build. Needs must and thats that really, but as if that not enough I have this nagging pain that wont go away, it emails me and then facebooks me asking for blog updates, I have 2 thorns, one is in the UK and knows who he is and in fairness only asks every now and then and I like the interest but the other, well he must be retired, have all the time in the world to wake up, brush his teeth and then decide what he’s not going to do that day and all in sunny France. !! Yep we all know him as Steve, well Steve this blog update is just for you.

The bricks are upto the tops of window height just about now and scaffolding will be next then arches over the windows will come, the weather in sunny Bridgemere hasn’t been so sunny of recent so we have been doing what we can when we can, nearly all the bedroom is plastered, all the pipe work and electrical stuff is in, Sue and I have even run network cables everywhere, hdmi cable through the ceiling and speaker cable too ready for it all to be hidden with plasterboard. The ceiling has had a load of wooden chocks put in between the wood to true things up and take out some of the movement in the floor upstairs. En-suite is ready for fitting out now, towel radiator is marked out and all pipes are in position, we will collect all the wall tiles on Thursday hopefully then Dave can come and get tiling at some point. The Garage side door has been removed and had a sheet of 3mm galvanised sheet secured to it so that looks hard as nails which gives a little more of a secure feeling. Sue has spent ages this week trying to sort out the requirements of the chimney breast for a log burner and has got there, we now need to open out the fire place to a good size then that will be ready for finishing at a later stage. Lastly we have spend a fair chunk of time drawing (Sue using Visio) stables and horsey things, I really want to push that forward and get a planning application in for a Menage and Stables ASAP. We have a meeting with Mr Marshall Jnr tomorrow night at his house that is not and has never been opposite Dingle lane to discuss sizes of the buildings and so he can get quoting us happy. The well is still a well, we have not opened it for a couple of weeks but we know there will be a fair amount of water in there anyway. Too many jobs and too little time, think yourselves lucky you got a blog update, you getting no pictures but we have had no dinner either & I bet you all have.

Over & out

KKS

Window

The first window has been fitted, to the old house. Gone is the nasty frosted wooden framed thing that was in the bathroom and now as the bathroom is the en-suite it has a nice new window and as we are lucky enough to have a great view its a nice clear window that we will be able to see out of from the shower (this has all been planned so we can see the view.) The first pour of concrete was done today for the extension, the 1st 4 inches so when thats nice and hard bricks will start, Monday weather permitting. Spoken to Scottish Power today and the re-connection pack for the new underground power supply is all ready for us to collect too, I plan a few days off next week and get that collected and hole for it all ready too. Things are taking shape now and its getting really exciting. Plumbers in on Monday or Tuesday to put pipes in for rads in bedroom and bathrooms along with checking, finishing and insulating heating pipes near the control room. Bedroom nearly plastered, the majority is done so its full steam ahead.

Trenches

Yep we have trenches, so we are nearly a geothermal ground source heating house. we have 600mt of pipe underground in the field now, this trencher made us a perfect 1.2mt trench that was about 15cm wide, the 40mm bore pipe was then put in and as much sand as possible put back in the trench. The equipment was amazing, all done in one day by the Welsh chaps enjoy the pics as they are nearly as impressive as the workers of the day, Sue site manager of the day, Andy, Alan, Jess the trencher driver and  the lorry come mini digger driver. I was working and unable to get time off so had to attend at lunch to see them sailing along and over half done.