Category: house build

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Building rubbish

A building site is not a pretty place.

Our builders wanted to bury the rubbish they left, as was normal for them. They usually dig a pit and throw everything in there to clear up.

We couldn’t countenance them digging leftover plaster, plastics, insulation and chemicals into our croft soil so asked them to leave their rubbish for us to dispose of. Can you image the pollution that this would have caused if we’d let them do it? There is no AWAY. Just because it’s covered over by a thin layer of soil doesn’t mean it’s not still leaching toxicity into the ground and harming wildlife.

As such, over the last three years the piles of building rubbish have steadily built up around the house as trades have come and gone. Pallets, broken slates, empty tubs of adhesive, sodden plasterboard, bits of wood, plastic wrapping, tile offcuts.. you name it, we have it.

We’ve often been peering at the view through a mountain of building rubbish. Its really caused me anxiety at times but until now there’s been no easy or cost effective way of disposing of it.

But today the first skip arrived, dragged bumping noisily up our steep croft track, and we started the mammoth job of sorting the building rubble through and clearing up. We are going to need a few skips to complete this job as our efforts this afternoon with only a few hours work have already half filled this first one. And we’re only a small way through .

We’re keeping anything that can be sensibly reused. All wood offcuts and old pallets are being segregated for croft repurposing or firewood. Broken slates are kept for plant labels or plant bed or pot drainage. Rotten plasterboard, plastic wrapping, empty adhesive tubs, old irn bru tins and building rubble are being thrown away.

I’m holding fast to that vision of a stone terrace with some comfy outdoor seats on it, heathers and sea buckthorn planting and a clear view to the horizon. But for now, it’s heavy labour, aching backs and rolled-up sleeves.

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Snow and seedlings

We’ve had a second bout of very cold weather over the last week, with a good few inches of snowfall, and blizzard conditions.

Friends living in a caravan a few miles away whilst they self-build their house have found their water tank and pipes frozen over these last few days.

Between the snow flurries

It takes me right back to our caravan days in the last really cold snap a few years ago with husband heading out into the snow in his dressing gown and wellies, clutching my hairdryer to try and thaw out our frozen water pipes. Unsuccessfully.

It makes me doubly grateful that we are warm and dry in the house in comfort now. In the evenings we fire up the woodburner and enjoy the sound of it crackling away cosily in the corner.

Some of my seeds have started to germinate. The cucumbers raced up, and we have a few chillies, lettuce, tomatoes and beans starting to show.

I think that they’re all a bit perplexed at the moment though. Bright sunshine through those big windows, lots of solar gain and warmth, but snow flurries just a few feet away!

Confused cucumber seedlings

Winter still has us in its grip. Cottage pies, warming breakfasts and slower days.

Cottage pies

It has to be done. We don’t take any of this for granted.

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Cupboardage and loaned animals

Things are moving in the right direction with the build. We’re gradually making cupboards, wardrobes and shelves so that we can utilise the storage spaces in the house. And get some of our boxes unpacked. Husband wants his shed back!

This is the wardrobe in one of the bedrooms under construction. It will hide the remaining exposed ducting and provide good amounts of storage.

Internals being built
With the doors on

This one below is the boot room cupboard. As soon as the doors have been osmo-oiled for protection and we’ve attached handles we can start to fill it.

With the doors on …

We’ve got a loaned dog staying with us right now who delights in rolling in the puddles on our drive, and this space is proving very useful to dry him off in before he plasters mud over the rest of the house.

Great practice for when we have our own dogs again.

We’ve also started the process of building the huge bookcase in the living area. Progress has been temporarily halted whilst we await the arrival of some batons (isn’t something small but essential always missing?) but the base storage unit is built.

We are still wiring sockets and lights, have another bathroom to build and have only unpacked the most basic of our things awaiting completion of these elements, but it’s comfortable, dry and warm. And so good to be in.

It’s feeling like home.

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Snow, sills and orange cake

We have snow on the tops at last. I always compare the weather at this time of the year with when we arrived on the island two years ago in the teeth of a storm, and both subsequent years have been warmer. I was beginning to wonder if we’d see any snow at all, but temperatures plummeted a few days ago and we now have a glorious white dusting on the high peaks.

Dusting of snow on the hills

The MVHR and the heating are operating well in the house. It’s already significantly warmer and more stable in temperature than the caravan.

As we shiver and dress in the damp cold of 5°C mornings I hold onto the fact that we’ll be in the house in a few weeks time. No more icy mornings playing the duvet game trying to dress without exposing any bare flesh to the elements.

After a wait of several weeks the wood for the sills arrived this afternoon, cheerfully delivered by our local sawmill guy. In the end he decided that the pews would be rather wasted if we were to refinish them for sills, and that he would prefer to preserve the original patina, so declined to sell them to us and found us suitable 4m lengths of local Douglas fir instead.

4m Douglas fir planks

I can’t say that I blame him, although I was quite taken by the idea of old wood having a second life in our new home. But at least that patina, burnished by the bottoms of the righteous as it was, will be protected.

Husband has been fitting sockets, switches and lights like a demon and will move onto one of the bathrooms next week. Once we are electrickified and have a working toilet and shower, we’re in!

The fact that the house is still stuffed to the rafters with building materials, tools, equipment, wood and boxes of everything that you can think of is another hurdle to get over. Once everything is connected up…

In the meantime I have tried a new recipe in my sloping caravan mini oven. This may be one of the very last cakes I bake in here, isn’t that such a strange thought. My new ovens await, sitting there, smugly level, shiny and pristine.

This is Nigel Slaters orange and poppy seed cake, sticky with a fresh orange and marmalade glaze which I hope won’t taste any less good for it’s signature 45° slope.

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Autumn fare

This will be our third autumn in the caravan, although we should be in the house at last before winter sets in and so it will be our last.

The tiny caravan kitchen space and mini oven have certainly been a challenge, but it’s amazing what you can do with a bit of ingenuity and a single cake and roasting tin. If I’d thought we’d be here so long I would have packed more.

As the season turns and the evenings get colder, my thoughts for food turn to more autumnal fare. Sausages, roasted squash, chestnuts, warming soups.. and wherever possible recipes adapted to work in a small space with the minimum of fuss and need for utensils.

One of my favourite ways to cook at this time of the year is a tray bake. Last nights supper was sausage, butternut squash and apple roasted up with onions and garlic and finished with honey and mustard for the last ten minutes in the oven.

If I’d picked blackberries I would have added those in too. Next time.

A supper like this is a meal in itself, both warming and filling, not expensive to produce, and most importantly, leaving very little washing up.

Birthday cake for a friend

September is also the month in which many local friends have their birthdays (as well as my own), so for the last year my one square cake tin will get pressed into action.

Next year my baking tins will be unpacked and I will have a proper oven, and I’ll hardly know myself! But for now my offerings are slightly lopsided, as the caravan is not entirely level, and always the same shape.

I hope that they’re well received regardless, baked as they are with love.

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Autumn comes with a worktop

We awoke to a bright but cold morning on the island. There was a heavy dew on the grass, a sea haar clinging to the Sound, and a definite touch of autumn in the air.

Cold, sunny and clear

The butter was cold and hard in its dish in the caravan kitchen.

We clutched our mugs of hot coffee at breakfast for comfort and put the fire on to take the chill off the air. The season is on the turn as we move into September, and I feel a new sense of urgency to be in the house.

Breakfast coffee and all-bran (and yes it’s nearly time for porridge)

The installers arrived this morning to fit the Dekton worktops in the kitchen. They bumped up the track in a rusty old van which looked as if it was struggling to make it, and were unloaded into the house and working away within minutes.

I have worktops! Worktops that won’t melt if I put a hot pan down on them by mistake! I’m stupidly excited by the prospect of that. This pattern of Dekton is called Fossil, and I spent a good ten minute looking for ammonites bedded into the material, but without success. And I still love it.

PS. that long mark that looks like a crack is meant to be there – all part of it looking like fissured stone, apparently..

Now that the worktops are in, we can go ahead and fit the drawers and doors into the kitchen carcasses.

Then start to build the appliance wall. The hob, sink, dishwasher and freezer are here already in boxes waiting to be fitted, and the rest will be on order shortly.

It’s a constant juggle for space. The light at the end of the tunnel is that the barn is going up next week and for the first time since the build began we will have storage space.

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Doors and turquoise seas

It’s been a busy and successful day. I managed to drive the car for the first time since my recent operation, and drove to lunch at a local community cafe with a friend. It felt so good to just get up and go, and not to have any pain. I almost felt normal again!

Ha. As if I’ve ever been normal..

Our local community cafe, An Crubh

We had a great coffee, sandwich and catch-up, in the way that only two women can, and on the way out I remembered that I had a loaf of Mallaig Bakery Sourdough waiting for me at the community shop.

Driving back along the empty road on the way to pick it up I watched the sun break through the heavy clouds over the mainland and illuminate the Sound, turning the water a glorious, luminescent turquoise.

Gloriously turquoise seas

I pulled over and just had to snap a few pictures. The iPhone can only capture a fraction of the magic of the moment, so fleeting and so transient as it is.

The Sound

It’s at times like these that I hug myself in disbelief that we live here, and that we have this stunning natural beauty on our doorstep.

However, back to earth and home again after the bread collection I was pleased to see that we had the start of the oak doors going up in the house. They still need architraves, skirting boards and a couple of protective coats of Osmo oil, but it suddenly seemed like a proper house. Doors!

It doesn’t take much 😊

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Floors ‘n Doors

The floorboard installation is now complete. I’m loving the natural finish and colour now that it’s down, and it’s completely transformed the rooms.

I’m almost daring to imagine furniture in here! Something I haven’t done so far. It’s felt too much like a building site.

The internal doors have also now been delivered, and they’ll start to be installed next week.

We’ve gone for oak panelled doors, some with glazed panels for where extra daylight is needed, such as between the internal hall and the boot room.

Then it’s architraves, skirtings, window sills, the build out of the kitchen, utility and bathrooms, installation of lights and sockets, and completion of the painting… still lots to do.

My main concern is getting in before the bad winter weather hits. Despite all the delays, and recognising that all this may not be finished in time, we are still hoping for October.

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More flooring progress

The floorboards are definitely progressing well now. In a short break in the rain today I sneaked into the house to take some photos of progress with some sunlight as a backdrop.

Looking towards where the staircase will be

I was initially worried that the colour of the boards would be too dark, but now that I’ve seen more of them laid, I think it’s looking good.

Looking back into the lounge area

As you can see, our grand plan of painting everything first before the floorboards were laid didn’t quite work out. My operation got in the way, other stuff took longer than planned and dates didn’t align. But it’s ok, that’s the joy of self building. We’ll be able to protect the floors whilst we continue the painting.

The kitchen recess

Every now and then I get a small frisson of excitement that it’s really real, that we’ll be in soon. Today was one of those days.

As I stood in the living room, the air filled with the smell of freshly cut oak and sawdust and with the light bouncing off the building rubble, I honestly thought “not long now”.

Not long now
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House progress -floorboards!

The floorboards arrived several weeks ago after a protracted negotiation to have them delivered to the island.

I’m always perplexed when companies say they won’t deliver here – we have a land bridge to the mainland so it’s no more difficult to get a lorry here than it is to Glasgow. But you’d be amazed how many companies simply refuse to deliver to anything other than a mainland address. It’s infuriating.

They arrived in driving rain (of course) so husband and I worked like fury to get them indoors and stacked before the rain soaked through their protective wrappings. This was before my recent operation, thank goodness.

Stacked floorboards

They’ve been stacked in one of the bedrooms for some weeks now acclimatising to the humidity levels in the house, which will hopefully ensure that there’s no warping when we put them down.

We now have them laid in the living and dining room areas and hope to complete the installation in the remaining ground floor areas next week.

In progress

These are engineered oak boards from Russwood, a local Scottish company, finished in Osmo oil. They’re designed to be compatible with the underfloor heating that we’ve installed.

We really wanted natural flooring and there are so many options these days with bamboo, stone, porcelain, cork, lino, rubber etc. that it took us a while to sift through the alternatives. I’m hoping that these will prove classic and easy to live with.

The price of wood has gone through the roof over the last twelve months and if we’d waited another year I’m not sure we could have afforded these, but taking the long term view we figured we’d be living with them for a long time, so we should buy the best we could afford.

I’m so glad that we did.

We’ve just ordered the wooden staircase and we’ll be onto the interior doors and skirting boards next.