Tag: self build

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We have underfloor heating pipes…

Things are progressing slowly but steadily now. We now have a flooring membrane throughout the house laid over the insulation sheets and edged with foam strip to allow for the screed expansion.

Exciting times, although the smell of the plastic was overwhelming for a bit!

We had originally thought to use a grid to lay the pipes onto, but as we’re tight for depth to the window base, husband decided to lay them free-form to save a few millimetres extra for the screed.

The cryptic markings which appeared mysteriously overnight apparently direct the traffic for the underfloor pipe layout.

These will be laid throughout the ground floor with the exception of the small room that we plan to use as a pantry, which we want to keep as cool as possible.

With a bit of luck we should be ready for the screed in the next few weeks.

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Flooring in the house

The house ground floor is now fully covered with 100mm thick celotex insulation boards. These are cut and fitted neatly together to form the underfloor on which the screed will be poured.

Insulation boards down and taped

As the concrete subfloor beneath this is not entirely level, we have laid sand to compensate and to ensure that the boards sit as evenly as possible.* readers note – when I say WE I actually mean Husband…

Insulation boards down

The joints between the insulation blocks have then been taped securely to make sure that there isn’t any movement.

Finally a plastic membrane is laid and sealed on top of it all. This is the layer that the underfloor heating pipes will be laid upon prior to the screed being poured.

Membrane down

And I thought it was just popping a few boards down and running pipes over them… I guess this is why people often get surprised at how long seemingly simple jobs take. Like me 😬.

We live and learn.

We crack on.

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House build update

I can hardly believe that we’re in July already, but that seems to be where we find ourselves. The house build progress has been slow, but at last we are through the bulk of the sealing, taping, foiling and re-taping of the house walls and have moved into the next stage. Thank the stars that my husband doesn’t give up easily through what has been a marathon of a process.

Floor insulation slabs

He has been laying the insulation slabs on the internal floors in this past week in preparation for the underfloor heating pipes to go down. Then it will be the screed pouring before finally we have a level, warm floor for the house!

Work in progress

We have the plasterers booked in for September, so we need to complete the floors and basic pipe and wiring installation in the next two months to make sure that we secure their time. I know how quickly eight weeks will go, so it will be another busy time.

Our tinfoil-wrapped sitting room!

In parallel, I’m re-examining all the kitchen and bathroom material choices we made over a year ago. Prices and suppliers have all changed, and we need to get selections finalised and fresh estimates in so that we can secure fittings when we’re ready.

We’ve also sourced an excellent local lady joiner to make us custom built wardrobes and bookcases for the main bedroom, hall and sitting room areas at the end of the year. Hugh could build them, but having done everything else by then I suspect he will be on his knees. And the quality of her finished work looks excellent.

I’m especially excited by the prospect of the extremely high bookcase taking up the whole of the back wall in the sitting room. We’ll need a ladder to gain access to the upper shelves! But it will take a huge quantity of books. Just what we need.

Onward and upwards! We will get there.

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Flying insulation

A friend commented that there had been precious little recently in the way of house build updates. Which is very true. Progress has been slow, and we are still taping and foiling some months into the process.

A number of things have conspired to make what should have been a relatively quick job a complete marathon.

Husband has had to fill and tape all wall, door and window seams throughout the house BEFORE foiling, as well as taping everything again AFTER foiling.

This has turned into a huge, time-consuming undertaking which he felt was necessary because of gaps left by the builders. Gaps that if left open would have compromised our structural water and air tightness.

His faith in the quality of the work by the builders has been severely dented as these are not cosmetic problems that we felt could be covered over, sure to cause us issues some years down the line.

He has been doing this work alone, and other time-critical work has taken weeks away from this process, such as installing the house guttering and the start of work on the croft as Spring approached.

However, the end is in sight. The floor insulation for the next stage has arrived.

It arrived on a thankfully dry day, but a windy one. About 50 huge sheets of insulation which blocked the drive on arrival and which we had to manually carry between us into the house.

These sheets are big, requiring two of us to manoeuvre, but very light in weight, only 10kg each. They exhibited impressive aerodynamic properties as the wind caught them, acting like a sail, taking both our body weights to counter their desire to take off down the croft.

It took a whole afternoon to get them wrestled safely under cover into the house.

They’ve also provided me at least with a bit of a morale boost. They are a nod to the promise of progressing onto the next stage, which is laying these, then the underoor heating pipes, then screed, and us being a few steps closer to this being a house.

We will get there. Courage, mon brave!

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Guttering

We’ve been waiting for a break in the weather in order to fit the guttering on the house. Standing on a ladder in fifty mile an hour winds is no-one’s idea of a good time!

At last. The weather for the last few days on the island has been dry and clear with light winds, and it looks like it will hold for a good few days more.

My job is holder-of-the-ladder and passer-up-of-tools, brackets and gutter lengths. And maker of tea.

Husband is doing all the technical stuff like measuring, drilling, aligning and connecting.

All the easy stuff 😊…

We’ve gone for Lindab galvanised steel guttering.

It goes well aesthetically with the wood cladding, is solidly well made, can cope with the vast amount of rain we have on the island – as it’s extra wide and deep – and isn’t plastic. Not that there’s anything wrong with plastic, but we preferred not to use it.

We have lots still to fit, and are working our way around the house starting with the back. Let’s hope the weather gods smile upon us.

I was standing holding the ladder today, listening to the silence of the afternoon on this exposed island hillside, the only noise occasional birdsong. And I thought to myself, how life has changed.

How lucky I am.

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The barter economy

There’s something very nourishing about an exchange that doesn’t involve money and something very warming about the generosity of a local community.

Here on the island, our neighbours are generous and giving. We’ve received gifts of home made oatcakes, snowdrops, daffodil bulbs, chocolate, locally made candles, wine and other small gifts since we arrived. It’s touching and heartwarming whenever this happens.

Lockdown here can be difficult for people, especially when shopping involves icy roads and long distances, so I often text a few neighbours before we set out for the supermarket to check whether we can pick anything up for them.

On the last occasion we picked up a few low value items for a neighbour and were given a bottle of wine in exchange! Such a lovely gesture.

Today, friends from a few villages away have dropped off (socially distanced) a homemade curry in a huge le crueset pot, a delicious looking Murghi, and as I couldn’t have them leave empty handed, I baked them a lemon drizzle cake.

The ties of community are strong here. Even whist we are all apart, generosity thrives. I love that.

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Slow days

Everything has dipped this week. I’ve noticed both husband and I gradually losing energy and becoming slower and more reluctant to do things.

I don’t know if it’s the short, cold days, the effect of this prolonged lockdown, or a combination of both, but we are drooping a bit.

Problems with the build and trying to find ways to correct the problems (thank you builders), the prospect of further supply delays and scarcity of materials, and costs going up steeply with new import taxes (thank you Brexit) have probably contributed to our general malaise and lack of energy.

We will get through this. It’s just a few slow days.

All I can do is keep morale up as much as I can for both of us.

I know that pear pancakes and lemon drizzle cake with tea later in the day won’t solve anything, but they’re sweet and comforting and do make us feel a little better.

So that’s what we’ve been doing this week. In between jobs we wrap up in blankets, drink tea and eat cake.

My way of getting through the dark days.

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As the sun set

As dusk approached we packed up the last roll of insulating foil and I turned to take a photo of the last shreds of the sunset.

No filters or alterations.

I don’t think that we will ever get bored of looking out of these windows..

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House build progress

It’s been a while since I shared anything on the housebuild itself, so I thought with the onset of the new year that it was time.

There’s been only slow progress on the house over the last few months, due to a number of factors like the move, setting up the caravan, problems with the caravan, supply delays, and to be honest, things that we have discovered need remedying before we can go further with the build.

Whilst we’re in dialogue with the builders to check a number of things, husband has been able to work on improving the air tightness of the construction by sealing every gap and then foil taping all the wall seams to ensure that we can be as draught-free as possible.

That work is slow and painstaking, especially in the 6m high gable end of the house, necessitating internal scaffolding, and has taken a number of weeks. It’s only now that we’re nearly ready to start applying insulating foil to the walls.

We had originally hoped to be ready for underfloor heating and screed by now, so we’re running about a month behind our original estimates, but to be honest with the new Covid lockdown restrictions and Brexit, I’m just happy to be able to be able to make any progress at all.

I’m sure that there will be many more delays to hit us yet. Never was there such a bad time to work on a house build from a building supplies perspective! 🤔

We’re not despondent, though. It can’t be helped and we will do as much as we can within the constraints that we face.

In the meantime, we continue to be awed by the sheer beauty of the landscape around us, and are serenaded by our raven from the old Scots pine as dawn breaks every morning, complaining that it’s time our sorry asses were out of bed.

It really couldn’t be much better.

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Croft Christmas Tree

It’s a blustery, cold winters day here on the island right now.

Whilst husband is working in the house, preparing the walls for foil, I’m keeping busy in the caravan until I can be helpful, cooking, staying warm by the fire and listening to a Ted Hughes audio book.

We have no room in the caravan for a Christmas tree, but I couldn’t contemplate any kind of Christmas without one.

I ordered a very small, rooted tree from a nursery on the island, and it arrived yesterday. It’s now potted up in an old whisky barrel planter just outside the caravan. We can see it from the sitting area window. We can plant it on the croft in the New Year as it’s a native fir.

Conscious that I didn’t want battery lights or to add any more electrical load to the caravan, I’d bought solar tree lights.

This was a bit of a leap of faith, to be honest. We only get approximately six hours daylight at our northern latitude at this, the darkest time of the year. It was always a bit of a lottery as to whether this would be enough to power the tree lights for an evening or whether the whole thing would be a washout.

But it worked. Despite it being a totally grey, overcast day, as soon as the light dimmed at 4pm the solar lights came on. Our wee Croft Christmas tree is twinkling away in the darkness, probably entertaining the deer and definitely adding a bit of festive cheer to the building site.