The Self Builder’s blog

Well in ten days actually.

When I did the whole smarter home evaluation I started with all the knobs and whistles.

A wired network in every room, retractable cinema screen and surround sound music pipe-able everywhere.

Investigation of these systems, and a genuine realisation that I won’t really use the benefits, let alone be able to pay for them, has meant that they’ve been firmly shunted from the specification.

Plus it looks like I’ll be able to create a similar experience, through wireless equipment, should I choose to in the future.

But during the investigations, and visits to those sections of the various homebuilding magazines I came across biometric locks.

Now, that is the future.

Misplacing your keys isn’t a problem, well, it only becomes a problem if you also lose your thumb while you’re out.

I thought these things were going to be mega-bucks, but I was pleasantly surprised that I can get one for a little over £200, that’s if you can claim the VAT back.

Then the next problem it seems is actually getting hold of one.

Hence it’s not quite the future today.

I tried two different on-line security/smart homes set ups, both quickly cancelled my order - citing supply issues.

The actual manufacturer is now supplying me the lock, or has promised to supply the lock in ten days.

I’m now a one-off-pro-forma customer, who’s hopeful that he’s going to be able to access his shiny new house in a shiny new way.

I’ve started to think about how I might actually fill this house.  That’s with furniture by the way, I’m not looking for stowaways, yet.

Where better to start than with the Three-Foot-Foreman’s room.  Got to be the easiest to do, he’s smaller than me.

But it is proving more difficult than I imagined.

I’ve created a decent sized scaled drawing of the overall room layout.  Then I’ve cut out, to the same scale, my child’s existing furniture, and some ideas for what else he needs.

Then there is the eye on the future, where possible I don’t want to be buying stuff that is only going to last in the short-medium term. 

Granted, I don’t think his train table will last forever, it may be converted for use as something else.  But things like the wardrobes need to grow with him, and any other furniture needs to be adaptable for a growing man.

This is the first time that Max will really have a his own room, since we lived in our marital home.  And what I mean by that, is a room totally given over to him, or designed and decorated for his sole purpose.  His room.

Over the past, nearly, three years, while I’ve put pictures on his walls and bought rugs that are fitting with a child’s run, I’ve really been fudging it.

I want to get it just right for him.

He’s insisting on it being red and white, but other than that I’ve very little to work with.

I’ve seen a nice lampshade, it’s a planet with rockets attached to it.  I thought I could then put up some glow-in-the-dark stars and things.  His Mom has a star named after her, so I think that will be a great touch.

This should also tidy things up a little, and make bed time reading choice quicker.

I’m sure he’ll love it, after all it’s about three times the size of his current abode, and it has a karsey.

You know the old censored saying - if you can urinate you can paint? 

Well, I might just be able to blow that myth.

I’m not well known for my practical, hands-on skills.  In fact my Manuel Labor joke is one of my favourites.

More patience and less frustration are needed.  I tend to get annoyed that I can’t do things brilliantly straight away, and jobs like painting are boring for most people.

Anyway this week I decided I needed to actually get some paint on the exposed woodwork of the porch.

Since this has been constructed I’ve been umm-ing and arr-ing over whether to paint the non-oak woodwork white, or to stain it a similar colour to the oak beams.

Having seen both types of finishes on properties around this area, I plumped for white paint.

This woodwork has been exposed a while so I thought it was getting necessary to start this process.  And who worse to start it than myself.

So, off I went armed with brush undercoat and steps.  All the woodwork is painted, as well as some of the house and some of the roof felt.

I shall just have to fit some really nice front door furniture on to stop visitors looking up in my porch, and when I say fit, I mean by someone else! 

While the building has been going at a fair rate of knots, the service connections have been meandering along like a broken canal barge in the background.

The builder has had nowt to do with the connections, and predicted they would take as long as it will to build the house from start to finish.

Hopefully they’ll be complete by the end of May, what will be at least a month prior to completion.

But, I suppose, as they were ordered, or at least enquired about, three months before we cut sods.  Then his prediction was bang on.

The latest to go in has been the electric, which I had a minor concern about the position of the box on the house.

I’d had a few minor panic attacks that the powers that be would decide the position was actually on the back of the house, and therefore not allowed.

It’s actually on the side of the house, and will be relatively easy for the reader to access, once they realise where it actually is.

The meter itself no longer looks very substantial.  I think it looks more like a large fuse, than your traditional bricks-wouldn’t-break black metal machine.

Sewer connection is scheduled for early May, and I think that will cause the most disruption.  An absolute necessary evil though.  After that the disruption to all around me should subside somewhat.

The second phase of this project, the ‘inside’, is continuing at a good beat.

My involvement has increased somewhat, I’m having to make decisions and look at sourcing the finishing materials from now on in.

It could have been a lot worse, as I could be liaising between trades, sorting out problems and actually getting people to arrive in the right order and without any gaps.

After due consideration, the only trade I’m directly responsible for is the electrics.  So, therefore I’ve just had to make sure that his work is done for the plasterers and the plaster doesn’t cover over his good work.

We’ve had a slight problem this week with that very practice.  When boarding the kitchen ceiling, the plasterers assumed the electrician had mapped out where the spot lights were and would drill the holes once the plaster was on.

Yet, the electrician expected the plasterers, much as they have done elsewhere, to pull the cables through for the spotlights.

After some quick liaison I worked out that as these spots were in ‘runs’ that the plasterers would only need to physical find a few, and then the other positions could be worked out by measurement.

And I think that this is now sorted, and however brief my worry level was raised for, the overwhelming feeling was relief and reassurance that the correct method for finishing this project was chosen.

We should be water-tight in less than 24 hours.

A huge achievement in my opinion, based on the amount of work done and the time of year it has been carried out.

We seem to be much nearer the end, than we are to the start, which of course, I hope that we actually are.

The windows look really good.  I’m looking forward to seeing my stain glass design in all its glory tomorrow.

This also means that our Gantt chart of works has got no gaps in it again.  Once the plastering is done, the underfloor heating can be put in and the floor screeded, and thus and on and on.

Which means that the kitchen could do with being on order, and I need to get the floor choices on order.

Good timing for the Homebuilding and Renovating Show then.  I’ve been sent tickets from the people I’ve been eyeing up wooden floor from.  They reckon they are the only ones to guarantee their product for use with underfloor heating.

I’ve been sent various samples, but I really want to see a decent chunk of it before deciding if it’s for me, and if so, what derivative.  Fingers crossed they can afford enough floor space at the NEC, or failing that, work out that they could display their stuff vertically.

Or at least the bare bones of one.

It is absolutely fantastic when people can turn my picture from a magazine and vague verbal description, into what I actually wanted.

That’s what the carpenters have done on this job.

It was essential we stuck exactly to the planning permission,  but the materials, construction and finished are not specified in detail in the approved application.

Originally the porch was designed with dwarf walls, which I think would have been great to stow wood against, and outside shoes would have stayed dry even when left outside.

This design was rejected by the planners, so instead we have what you see above.  Two oak uprights supporting a simple pitched roof, with the aid of the wall.  The actual roof should match the cottage style finish of the overall house roof. 

By painting the exposed beams white, I’m hoping to create a nice contrast against the treated oak and granulated roof tiles.

I’ll have to invest in a waterproof box for outside shoes, and I’ll have to have another look for a wood store.  So not perfect, but not a big compromise and still absolutely brilliant.

Exciting stuff.  The upstairs stud walls are erected.

As experienced before, having the beginnings of walls and a roof, gives a great insight into the eventual feel of the upstairs.

The architect was actually concerned, that if we weren’t careful, we would create a house with a marvellous ground floor, but a disappointing, yet still very functional, upstairs.

He was desperately trying to convince me to drop down to three bedrooms and not have a room above the hall at all, thus creating a grand stair case, a landing overlooking the hall and huge space.

While I agreed that would look great, it was too much to sacrifice, so we discussed using some of the space for a galleried landing.

It really works.  It will give the upstairs a nice reception area.  They’ll be a bit of character and personalisation with my own stain glass window design.  Which in itself will bring more light to that area that my original design.

The bathroom suffers a bit.  But it is still big enough for a bath and separate shower.  It will probably only be used by Junior anyway, and he’s only, as ofter mentioned, three-foot anyway. So it will look huge to him.

More trades are back tomorrow, I’m expecting the first fit electrics to start and the plumber won’t be very far behind.

The windows are on order, and should be made next week, for installation the following.  I think the builder is hoping to be in a position to get the plasterer in soon after that point.  To start the mammoth job, that is to put smooth finishes on everything.

It’s been a while since I last reported, but I’ve been busy with all sorts of stuff.

So, a lot has happened.  We have a roof everywhere now.  The builders had started over my room first because I’m the gaffer, but now they’ve been kind enough to put a roof over Daddy’s room, and the rest of the house.

I didn’t recognise the builders today, they must have been new.  Daddy said that they were just here to put the roof tiles on the utility, whatever that is.

I actually took my Dad on a tour of the house, pointing out which room we were in and where everything is going to go.  He didn’t seem to appreciate all I said, I think I’m going to have trouble with him.

Apparently the walls upstairs will be up next week, and I’ll be able to see exactly how big my room will be.

Uncle Ray is going to be helping the builders with the electrics.  I must tell him that he needs to do a good job, just like the builders have done so far.

I don’t know when we’ll move to the house but I’m already excited about it. 

I hope it’s not too long, but I’m sure the house will be fan-tast-tic when it’s finished.

I’m delighted to say, or type, delighted again. 

I’m delighted with the way the house appears, minus the scaffold.

It has been a tad delayed in coming down, due to this week’s high winds.  Not really the best conditions for attaching guttering, and I’m glad that it has been done safely and has thus far stuck on.

The rainwater goods themselves are attached directly to the end of the roof trusses.  A fascia and soffit are discarded and this is regarded as of more a cottage style finish.

Many won’t like this style of finish, and it is quite a rare sight on new builds, I’m led to believe, but I think it looks great.

Painting it may well be a right royal pain in the derrière, but that’s got to be better than bit of ‘L’ shaped plastic jimmied between roof tile and wall.

Now there suddenly seems a lot of questions to answer.  Electricians and plumbers need detail, not vague ideologies.  I’m not great at vague ideologies by the way.

Things like the kitchen design now need to be final, so the first fix electrics can marry to it. 

So I’ve a feel I’m suddenly going to be very busy with site business.

Saying that though, I’d have been a lot, lot,  busier had I not developed a very good relationship with both this builder and my brother-in-law electrician.

I’m hoping that by being busy and involved, it will feel like no time before we are actually in it. 

Then the three-foot-foreman can get on with his own modifications.