Progress on the Roof and Underground

The sun has shone, the site is drying out and terrific progress today.

Moving on from the extraordinarily lucky discovery of a sewer inspection cover at the first scoop of the digger bucket the sewer, water supply and electricity cable trench was quickly dug and populated with those services.   Water will be connected to the mains in the morning and the trench can then be back-filled.

One enormous pipe that we knew must exist somewhere down there was the tank's overflow pipe - probably of cast iron.  Well today it came to light:

That's it lying east-west at the top of the frame.   It was quite low down in today's trench and we have re-buried it decently below the new pipes and wires.

This is the view uphill towards where the dog-leg outside staircase will be

 and downhill to the newly exhumed sewer drain connection via a new, square, inspection chamber which will be in the entrance driveway:

Meanwhile, up on the roof, the plywood deck which will form the base for the roofing membranes was being installed on top of 150mm of insulation panels:

picture taken from the water tank shows the existing annex roof, temporarily storing Gordon the Gondola, wall exterior cladding panels and plywood awaiting laying.

Sewer Serendipity

Jim the digger has been setting about digging and finding the sewer pipe which connects the tower to a known manhole in The Sidings.  A speculative dig on the supposed sewer line came across this piece of exceptional good luck in just the right place below our Sidings entrance:

An existing sewer manhole with a spare inlet just waiting to be used in just the right direction!  The blue spray-paint line shows that direction,   Full marks for anticipation to our original builders Kilburn and Johnson.   Not only had they put the inspection chamber just there, they had protected it with heavy steel tread-plate, here seen set to one side to the right.   The water meter access flap is between my feet.

We are pretty confident of finding the water main within inches.  The above picture shows the blue direction line on perfect alignment with the big boulder beyond the digger where an orange sewer pipe awaits.   So too the mains water pipe.

The sun is shining too.  Happy days.

A Famous Architectural Visitor

Well, not perhaps famous in the normal sense but a man who, in his field of architecture is one of the best.  His name is Tim Lucas and he is a partner in London firm of architects Price and Myers.

You may have seen him on Grand Designs when his amazing house in Kew, London appeared as the RIBA House of the Year 2015.   Modestly named Kew House, here it is:

https://www.piercyandco.com/projects/view/kew-house

Our architect Stuart Green had called upon Tim Lucas for advice when it came to the steelwork on which our extension sits.   Tim likes a challenge and he rose to this one!

Meet Tim:

He is exploring Settle and area with his wife and young daughters at Stuart's invitation and our extension was his very first port of call to see how things were working out.

See https://www.pricemyers.com/profile/partners/tim-lucas/ for Tim's write up on his firm's website.  Geometrics are his thing and he revels in "structurally and geometrically challenging projects".

Stuart and Tim both worked on the massive sculpture 'Slipstream' in Heathrow'sTerminal 2:

This huge sculpture as 78m long and weighs 77 tonnes.  It must indeed have been 'structurally and geometrically challenging' for  Tim and Stuart's firm Commercial Systems International in Hull who actually made it.

Good to know that we had such talent and experience working on the tricky bits of our comparatively humble extension.  Also good to have such an expert site visit at this stage when the bare bones of the structure could be seen and scrutinised.   We passed.

Very Proud Grandparents - Again

Wayback when, we were able to announce that our fist grandson James had passed his 11 plus examination and had secured a place at the Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham.

That then left us with a long wait to see if #2 grandson Ben would likewise pass his 11 plus (never in any real doubt).  Our week of building progress was crowned at 5pm today with a Face Time call from Ben to tell us that he too had passed!

I am not at all sure about the etiquette of grandparents bragging about such things on their Blogs but hey, I don't care either - so proud am I.   It remains to see if he too will get a place at Dr Challoner's but naturally we hope so.   Filial preference applies so fingers crossed on that.

Absolute credit and acknowledgement must go to Gerrards Cross C of E Primary School for giving both boys a respectful, caring and learning environment

It's in the genes too, of course.

Here is a family favourite picture of me, James and Ben a few years ago, granted:

click to enlarge

A Dry Spell in Prospect?

Heavy overnight rain meant that a lot of water accumulated on the temporary roof and on the floor below, despite the layers of Visqueen protecting them.   That, combined with a promising forecast of a dry spell made progress with the roof's firings and insulation a priority today.  Hopefully this will enable the permanent roof to be done next week.   This is the state of play at lunch time today:

Meanwhile the diggers have been making good progress with the main drains, rainwater drains and the incoming water supply.  Below we see a new manhole which connects to the existing rainwater harvester pipes.   Also see in the centre is the top an enormous boulder, usefully placed where it is by the Ribble Valley Glacier as the start for our bottom row of boulders forming the base of the rockery.   Its sheer size will add stability and reassurance about the embankment above:

Below is the rainwater drain from the extension roof and the black-wrapped land drain from the back of the building.   Water from that source will go to the sewers.   Also seen is THAT boulder again and the bright blue incoming water main, sheathed with grey insulation.

 

And here is our rockery (bouldery?) heap waiting to be distributed pleasingly and securely onto the embankment:

Aire Valley Glass have drawn up a revised final order for windows for final checking before possible manufacture starting next week.

Window and door sizes have also been crucial on other fronts, not least a Juliet Balcony to span the sliding patio style doors to bedroom 1.   With the splendid help, advice and patience of Ben Green of Iron Octopus Ltd at Baildon who specialise in these balconies we have been been able to order that today.

https://www.ironoctopus.co.uk

Progress on Several Fronts

Satisfying progress on several fronts today.
1. We got an even bigger digger on site to cope with the final positioning of massive boulders onto the banking
2. We got rid of the huge pile of topsoil from The Sidings driveway.  Part went onto the top of the embankment by the summer house and the remainder went off site temporarily by lorry to return as infill for the boulder rockery.

3. We dug almost down to bedrock to enable us to get the levels right for laying three important pipes - incoming water, sewage and harvested rainwater.

4. Gordon Beresford of Beresfords of Skipton visited and assessed the roof along with Hopley's Steve Lawson and were able to agree that Hopleys would get the roof ready for Beresfords forthwith.  We could therefore get a finished roof next week, weather being kind to us of course.

5.  Inside, the impressive stud walls were being finalised.

6.  Bob the Building Inspector visited and lo, he was pleased.  He was able to offer sound advice on heating.  We had already decided that it would be all electric but we had been thinking about a three phase water heater capable of heating and filling a bath in quick time.   A sort of 400 volt electric equivalent of a gas combi-boiler.   The more I had read online about these the more doubtful I had become on grounds of cost, reliability and actual functionality.  Few houses have three phase electricity but Bob the BI had experience of these devices.   He agreed with my conclusion.   We shall have a standard unvented insulated immersion heated water tank.   We shall also have standard oil-filled low powered room radiators with thermostats and timers, running from ordinary 13 amp sockets.   Keep it simple.

7.  Pat and I went to The Talbot for a splendid birthday (for me) lunch.

This project has been running for about as long as Brexit, one way and another.   Big difference seems to be that we could have a watertight result by 31st October.

Internal Stud Walls Completed

Some impressively quick joinery work sees all the internal walls and door openings completed which really does enable us to get a feel for the size and shape of the rooms.   Below is the wall which divides bedroom 2 from the lounge area.  Joiner Jamie* is having a rest from the nail gun, having sprained his wrist because of its recoil - hence the bandage.

Below is part of the kitchen area.  The 47mm square uprights screwed to the walls are spaced to coincide with the edges of standard plasterboard sheets and to create space enough for 40mm deep electrical socket boxes.

A fine paved walkway at the back is also done so access around the outside is becoming easier.

First fix electrics should be done next week.  Hopefully we shall have drains and mains water connected tomorrow.

Today our roof insulation arrived!

* Further news on Jamie's arm.  Next day it was in plaster.  He has hairline fractures of radius and ulna - not just a sprained wrist.  The pain was so great he went to Airedale.  I met him next day and sympathised.  He told me it was the first time in his life he had broken any bones.  Hopefully the last too.   He thinks that the nail gun may have hit a knot in the timber and recoiled severely.  Anyway, we wish Jamie a speedy recovery.


Nothing particularly photogenic so here are some pictures of Flying Scotsman during a brief stop at nearby Hellifield Station on the 13th.   No publicity, no crowds, just a delightful spectacle to savour.  The driver was even able to enjoy a demonstration of his disco dancing skills.

Click any pic to enlarge

Talk about big boys' toys!