Sealing the gaps between the panels

we have mostly been..........

sealing the gaps between the panels 

gap filled between render panel and bricks, between render panel and door frame
and gap not filled  

equipment and tools
compriband, silicone and other bits and pieces needed

All panels now sealed.

Rockwall wall has now been primed and waiting for final coat on Friday (it is going to rain tomorrow says the local weather forecast)

before priming

after priming

Where does the time go to......

........well, it goes on painting floors, which are all done now.  Finished the kitchen floor before going away for a few days so that it had plenty of time to dry and harden.

all finished, washing machine and dishwasher levelled

Whilst away came across The Trident Pottery in Kings Cross selling these rather nice Indian rugs (we were looking for a ceramic butter dish!), so we have sunshine yellow in the hallway, and

 orange, red, cream and purple in the study area.

We also swapped the tables, putting the oval dining table into the study area, and the table that had had the computer on it into the kitchen as a temporary measure.

Here are the fillets for the spaces between the rendered panels - nice bits of oak, cut to specific sizes, cut by Howard. Hopefully we will start to insert them this afternoon. With silicon to hold them in place and then sealed with compriband.  Another job ticked off the list.

Howard is also making us a set of pigeon hole shelving to go over the sink and worktop in the kitchen, almost completed.  Then he will come and fit it and also fit the timber corners against the chimney/window, to finish off the sitting room.  Then curtain track up and I can start the mammoth job of making the curtains.  

Rockwall contractors REA are starting their work on Monday - only a year after they put up the insulation without any DPC and without sealing the joint between the metal and the render, so that it cracked and pulled away.  I am very happy about this, and this time it will be done properly.

So, we are getting on with the exterior as well as finishing off the interior.

More news later on the production of a sign for the house.

Painting the kitchen floor.........

Would have been much easier to have done this right at the start, but, we didn't know we would have to paint the floor.  Anyway, moved the fridge, cooker and the bits from either side of cooker and have just got the undercoat on.  Worked up a sweat during the hour it took.

Should be time to get a top coat on tonight and then another tomorrow morning.  Leave for 24 hours and put machines back, and then move out the washing machine and dishwasher, and all the undersink stuff that has accumulated.

And this is one of the two new spare beds that arrived yesterday.  So we can accommodate, in comfort, more of the family when they come to stay.  More pictures once we have space to unpack them.

NOT MUCH HAPPENING

It has been quite quiet in terms of things actually happening on the building front.  

The roof levelling is all done. We have someone lined up to do some rendering where the roof trim will cover the edge of the render as it is a bit fragile in places. 

The Rockwall wall materials have been ordered, just waiting for a date for a start, once the materials have arrived at REA.

George is coming to have a look at laying a path to the front door over the weekend.

INDOORS

Mark has made a copper soap dish for the bathroom, so the soap no longer flies everywhere. (The shower screens are working very well!)

Last night we converted a huge whisky jar into a lamp base (one of two jars given to us by some very kind friends), just need to find a suitable shade for it!

We have been mulling over the amount of space we have and the possibility of putting another sofa and/or a sofa bed.  Decided not enough space, so we are going to have our wee sofa recovered, and have bought two pop-up beds with good mattresses which can be used in the study/third bedroom area and can be stored when not in use under the beds we already have, so we have plenty of beds for guests.

That's all for the moment.  

Happy Easter

Temporary curtains up in the master bedroom, the ones from our old bedroom, with the hooks put higher up and the hem taken down, just about fit.

The bedroom has all been reinstated with rugs and a mirror and some plants in the window and the big coffee table from the sitting room with some tasteful items upon it!

first bit of curtain track, why does it always take forever when you haven't done something for a long time

track

track equipment

all finished, and looking lovely

Have been painting the sitting room floor, and that is now done, hope to put the furniture back tonight.  We have also been de-mothing, so everything fumed and sprayed.  Here's hoping the rugs will be whole and hole free from now on.

second half of sitting room washed and ready for painting

done, and rug and saddlebag have been moth sprayed.

Just the kitchen floor to do now.  So will start on that over the next couple of days.  We have decided to do the outer edges (by moving the appliances into the middle of the room) and then when everything is back we will attack the central part of the kitchen.  Which, of course, is rather greasy and stained with the past three months wear.  Plenty of elbow grease and white spirit needed for that job.  

We have also been doing some stuff in the garden - have moved all the pots from the back of the garage to near the kitchen door - lots of lovely plants that friends have given us now near enough for me to keep watering them.  The weather is so lovely and the garden gets really hot as it is so sheltered that I need to keep on top of watering.  The fruiting cherry tree (which is in bloom) is now in a huge tub by the back of the garage, where it is warm and sheltered. 

We had a lovely time this afternoon going to Gosford House, which was open to visitors today, strolling around the garden after looking at some splendid furniture and paintings.  Then on to Red House Garden Centre near Drem to buy tree compost, and have a cup of tea.  

Easter is off to a good start..........

And putting up shower screens......

Painted the rest of the hall and our bedroom, now watching the boat race whilst the paint dries.  All the furniture is in the sitting room at moment.  Hope to get sorted tomorrow when the paint has started to harden.

And also put up glass screens in the bathroom and in the en-suite (but I can't take a photo of that at the moment as the floor in the bedroom is still wet) but it is the same as this one.   No more mopping floors and soggy shower curtains, which, when the extractor fan is on, pull in towards you.

This week I have been mostly painting

I have been preparing and painting part of the hall floor and the study/bedroom area of the sitting room, finished this morning

the smudgy bits round the edges are on the masking tape (I hope)

Mark has been shifting most of the three tons of aggregate around the side of the house in preparation for the Rockwall wall to, at long last, be completed, as it should have been, by the contractors (still no start date).

And he has been having a bonfire in the garden......

And Andrew has started to level off the roof edge, (the string has gone so its no longer a musical house) and has just had a delivery of more timber, so he can finish off this part of the work.  Waiting for the next steps.......

You can see the fall in the roof now.  The line you can see is the telephone wire running across the property.

Tuesday 25th March - progress on roofing

Andrew, who is going to finish off the roof for us, has been and set up a line around the building to enable him to make the trim level, as the roof has unevenesses - for example the roof on one side of the chimney is 2 inches lower than the on the other.  

Work starts next weekend..........

An additional treat to having this line is that when the wind blows it starts to hum, so the house is now a music box.

The pictures show the corner points and levels that Andrew has set up.

Tuesday 18th March

Some pictures of the before and afters of the floor painting, just simple stuff, needing a couple of coats for a good finish, on the rather uneven surface.
We are using Farrow and Ball 'green smoke' floor paint.

bathroom floor prepared for painting, waiting on delivery of primer and paint

the en suite repainted

small bedroom cleaned ready for painting

first coat

second coat - think it needs another one as painted over shiny surface!

And the OSB sealing......

Similar work done on all the panels around the house.

Saturday 15th March

Today have been mostly

• sealing the metal work either side of the chimney
• 
  
• painting the exposed OSB with weatherproof sealer 
• 
  
• painting floors

and watching RUGBY.

Wednesday 12th March 2014

Slowly gathering together various people to finish the building....

In the meantime, the curtain track has arrived, so we will be spending the weekend measuring, levelling and getting it up.  Am about to order some soft cream linen fabric to shade the sitting room when it is very sunny (like it has been today).

track, with lots of hooks and tape - ignore my foot! 

Wild and windy March 2014

The saying is that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, or the other way around.  This year it seems to be coming as a lion and we have been battling to keep the tarpaulins attached to the side of the house.  Hopefully not for much longer as at long last some quotes are coming in from the Rockwool people and their contractors, so watch this space, but don't do it whilst holding your breath!!!!!

Some photos of the billowing tarps.  Don't know how many people Christo must have had when he wrapped up his various buildings.  I suppose if we could tie it down round the whole building that would do the trick, then we couldn't get in (or out).

Wednesday, 5th March 2014

No posts recently, not a lot to say.  Still waiting for......... all the bits to be finished.  Moving along very, very slowly.  I give it six weeks to be finished!!!! Ha.

In the meantime, have ordered a blind for the study corner of the sitting room; have been thinking about a table top to go with the legs that I have bought. Have put up some ornaments and acquired two or three art works, for which we won't have wall space!  Need to decide where we will put the rotating picture shelf (the pictures will rotate, not the shelf).

Had a comment, and I don't know how to post a response, other than here, so here goes:

Hi Maggie, we have installed idealcombi windows recently and have noticed that most of the external corners have been 'filed down' to remove sharp edges thus exposing the aluminium beneath the powder coating. Have you experienced this? Ideal say this is 'standard practice' but this is nonsense.... 

Hi Steven,
No, all our corners were complete with powder coating.  No exposed edges anywhere.  I would not expect there to be any un-coated edges anywhere. The only problems we had with the installation was that I was not aware that they had installers in Scotland.  So our windows had to be un-installed (as you will have seen) and then re-installed.  If I had known that on the list of installers Midcon had installers here I would have used them.I would get back on to IdealCombi, I wouldn't it satisfactory.  Certainly no sign of filed edges in their showroom, or on the aluminium samples of colours that we received.  Good luck.
Hope your build has gone better than ours.
Best wishes,
Maggie.

That's all for the moment, folks.  I hope to be giving you some good news, very, very soon.

Tuesday 11th February

Seems to have been a busy couple of weeks, but somethings to show for it......

Today, radiator thermostats fitted to all the radiators

Next, the hall and book cases,

the old bookcase, with boxes of books waiting to be shelved.  This has now been moved into spare room

new, bigger, bookcase

New chest of drawers (for me!) which I am very pleased with, and it is in the bedroom, which is still full of boxes, but not for much longer.

hadn't realised there was so much junk still on it, oops
next time you see it it will be from a better angle and looking tidy!

Then we have being doing stuff with the garage/workshop/study and my studio. The beginnings - a catalogue of befores.....

my studio

my studio and the struts for the book case

my studio and the shelves for the bookcase and some of the books

Mark's space in the garage/workshop, in process

the workshop part of the garage, in process

So, we have been busy, and so not much time to update the blog.  We have family coming for supper tomorrow night (Henry, Susan and Ali) and Mahala coming on Thursday, and then we are off to Mull for the weekend to see Jackie. Tomorrow will be more sorting for me and shopping and cooking, something simple I think.

Oh, almost forgot, had a visit from Rockwool rep and REA rep today, re the wall - they came to measure up for the repair work they need to do.  At last a move in the right direction.

And at the weekend we had Howard (Webster Joinery) come to measure up for the pigeon holes we are having in the kitchen, and the under the sink/worktop shelves/drawers unit.  He is also going to fit the wood to the window frame/chimney breast which is still to be done.  We could do this ourselves, but we worry that it would look like we had done it ourselves, and it would be nice to have a professional finish to the room.

Thats all folks for this week, I think. Come back soon.