Half plastered...

...almost.
Most of the downstairs is finished although, rather disappointingly, one wall that needs to be done before the staircase maker can measure is not done.
The slabbing out of upstairs is finished and the roof is probably less than a day's work away from being complete.
Here is a couple of views taken from the living room and looking into the (remodelled) first floor of the original house. This will be the kitchen/dining area. Can't see us cooking Xmas dinner here this year.

The gap on the left is where the stairs will rise. The kitchen units will be on the back wall and on the left, just beyond the stub of a wall and running up to where there are wooden planks leaning on the wall

The window on the right, nearest the viewer, is roughly where we will put the table on we get it from storage. The whole space has a rather odd geometry and will probably take while to get used to.

Getting plastered

stairwell

More steps forward, the work of plastering and such like began on Wednesday (October 9). By the end of the week most of downstairs masonry/block walls were covered in the base coat and the plasterboard ceilings had been skimmed. Oddly the only area of blockwork not given its base coat is where the stairway rises.

This needs to get done so that the chap making the staircase can come along and measure in advance of scheduling its manufacture.

Upstairs just about all the walls have been "slabbed", just one to go but it is proving very fiddly. The unfinished section is part of the original structure and includes the part of the roof we broke into in order to resite the windows.

Below is a photo of the area at an earlier stage of the build/rebuild. It runs out that all the old walls lean in by about 50mm and so the plasterboard has to be set so as to correct this. This requires a lot of the adhesive/bonding material to pack the gap and is proving time-consuming.  They need to get finished so the plasterers can move upstairs.

wonky wall

We were told the plastering will take until October 25th, but at the rate they are working it might be sooner. If only the slabbers don't hold them up.

The roof still not finished and there is no excuse the builder can come up with - the last piece was delivered last Saturday and he has chosen not to progress the work.

Hopefully, the progress next week will be a bit more photogenic.

Hopefully here is the downstairs video

Looks like the video did not go out in the email

so you should click on the link to the blog. Also, I think I just uploaded a video of upstairs?

A good week but..

Plenty of activity all week with the most obvious work being the installation of the plasterboard, - slabbing out, as they call it. But there have been a couple of key tings not achieved namely, not getting the electricity reconnected and not getting the roof finished.
We have not given up on electricity front as we want to get the underfloor heating working to speed up the drying out of the floor screed and subsequently the plastering.
This video should give you an idea of the progress of the slabbing on the ground floor.

I

It begins at the front door with a view along the hall. First right is the guest bedroom. The space with the ladder is where the staircase will go. Past that is the third bedroom and beyond that the main bedroom.

My sense is that we are quickly slipping to being two weeks behind the schedule.

September 20th update

The week finishes on a positive note. The site meeting seems to have resolved all the outstanding issues and cleared away all potential barriers to progress. This required a bit of compromise all round and I am still anxious about the builder's acceptance of the architect inspired plan for channelling the rainwater off the pitch of the original structure that fronts to Slea Head Drive.

This is the roof in question

The roof has three dormer windows and so has two small roof areas on either side of the middle window. The builder wants to put gutter along each of them with a fall pipe running down to the ground for each of them. We (including the architect) are resisting this and the architect has specified an alternative that the builder considers new-fangled and unnecessary. I interpret this to mean it involves more work for him. The section of the roof in the photo is the only part of the roof(s) not fully tiled.

One thing is sure, the builder is keen to get rid of the scaffolding, as are we.

Next week could see the electricity reconnected and we can then move to get the heating system installed and commissioned. With the heat on we can hope for the floor screed and plaster to dry out that bit quicker. And with just ten weeks to go to the end of November any help in this direction would be handy. As observed yesterday, I reckon it has to be a least a week later than that, but we can live with that.

Three weeks of progress

Underfloor heating manifold downstairs

Lots of activity since the last post, much of it hard to capture with a photograph.

The first fix plumbing is complete, including the underfloor heating pipework. The screed for the floor was poured and there is an ongoing discussion about how long it will take to dry sufficiently for tiling to take place.

The remaining external walls of the original structure has been wrapped in 100mm of insulation and sprayed with its acrylic finish. This is supposed to have a permanent colour that will not need repainting, just cleaning. I will believe that when I see it.

The same company is "blowing in" insulation to the cavity walls of the new build extension. This is 200mm of insulation. Combining this with triple glazed windows we should be quite cosy in the wild winters that are no doubt to come.

Kitchen dining area with insulation

Internal insulation is being inserted in the rafters of the roofs (rooves) and is nearly complete. They started this about two weeks ago and I am amazed at how long it is taking to complete. They tell me it is the fiddly bits that take the time.

Last Monday the kitchen company were able to survey the site to get precise measurements to prepare the technical drawings and put the kitchen into production. If things go to plan they will begin the installation on November 11th.

As I may have mentioned before, the height of the vertical walls, in the kitchen dining area, is lower than expected and this has meant a couple of modifications to the kitchen plan and the lighting plan. Still waiting to see the final estimate/sales order from the kitchen company to see if has made any difference to the expected cost.

Position for the consumer board

First fix electrics are all but complete but we need to get things to the position where the electricity can be reconnected so that when the heating system can be finished and commissioned - but then we need the plastering to be done before anything like second fix gets on the way - and the floor tiles need to go down...

So many opportunities for this to grind to a halt.

A glimpse of the "demand control ventilation system"

An unexpected appearance in the utility/plant room is the "demand control ventilation" system venting tubes. This has been much talked about but the reality of it has not been clear until now. There are six pipes, one in the utility room, one in the kitchen, one in the upstairs toilet and, one to each of the three shower rooms. All arrive to a box that is hidden in the space to the left where the blue tubes disappear into the roof void. From the box is a 20cm exhaust that can be seen running across the top of the aperture that will be the door into the upstairs loo. 

Three-way site meeting at 2.30pm today (Thursday 19th September) to resolve an argument about gutters and drainpipes and to try and nail the critical path sequence to get everything lined up to complete by the end of November. I reckon the progress is a week behind but if we can hold it to that I will be happy.

Saturday Update

The flat roof guys were back today and so I am hoping they will be finished. Inside the sub-floor insulation is laid on the first floor and in about a third of the ground floor. This needs to be finished so that the underfloor heating pipes can go down.

All getting very tight.







Here's a video compilation of the progress of the last couple of weeks.

August 23rd - first fixes

Today sees the completion of another two weeks of continuous work on the site. That is seven weeks so far.
Significant work has been made on the roofs (rooves?) but a couple of days heavy rain has prevented the completion of the flat roof which, in turn, has held up work on getting the slates on the main pitched roof areas. Three of the pitches drain on to the flat roof so it has to be finished before they start putting on the roof tiles.

The roof-lights are in the flat roof and that completes the building's fenestration.

A good portion of the electrical fist-fix is done and the heating and hot & cold water first fix is also done.

The heat pump location is by the back wall of the garage. The "Aquapump" is located in the garage. This requires a couple of buried insulated pipes bringing the hot and the cold water into the house. They has completed the work and filled in the trench before I got a chance to photograph it. 

This array of pipes, mostly for the underfloor heating, will be hidden under the flooring on the ground floor. The area in the photograph will be the coat cupboard near the staircase.

Today - Friday, August 21st promises to be dry and so fingers crossed that the flat roof guys get over and finish the job.

August 9th

Another five days of work on the site, that makes five since the resumption. Work continued of the roof(s) and, very key, the windows and front door were delivered and installed. This was completed by Thursday evening and so we set off for Westport on Friday morning - having checked that the workers were on the site that morning.

We won't be back in Ballyferrier until next Monday so we only can hope that work continues without us being there to chivvy them along. According to our understanding of the schedule, this week should see the first fix for the plumbing and more work on the roof.
Cheers

Fingers crossed

Frontage of the original house

New door in the wall of the extension, creating a new location for the "front door" 

Living room windows looking over Smerwick Harbour and Mount Brandon

The three "new" windows in the upstairs of the original structure. The old house had three windows of (more or less) this size but the were positioned about 60cm lower so you had to stoop to look out if standing. Moving the apertures through the roofline was the main cause of contention with the builder that caused close to a three-month delay.