House - update
 

Ian and the team (me included:cool:) have been beavering away. Here are a few pix. This is going to be our bedroom, we have gone from this:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...6102010276.jpg

Note the frame for the Velux window. The white wall was inside a built in (or out??) wardrobe that we demolished as it was a waste of space.

to this, all windows in place, all wiring in, now plastered:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...6102010341.jpg

Kitchen still needs a bit of work!!! That's the floor that I planed. Ickkk job:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...6102010344.jpg

Here's Mike the spark, he's fixing the position of the lights in the den. Twig the plumber had put pipes in the way so it was a bit of a headache:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...6102010346.jpg

Sitting room fireplace. There was a hideous 1970s fireplace here with gas fire, completely disgusting. We took it out and drilled out 5 deep of bricks:rolleyes: Idea is to have a woodburner here. The flue has gone as it's too small - the Rayburn I won on ebay is going the other side:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...6102010290.jpg

Back of the house. The yellow rags are the old sitting room curtains, I couldn't stand the sight of them any more so I ripped them out. The work on the dormer extension is nearly there.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...6102010347.jpg

Home sweet home. We live in the caravan, as I type this I'm sat in bed by the large end window. The bike is out as I went and got a haircut today. The boarded bit is where the new front door will be.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...6102010350.jpg

Big job:D

We'll be having a housewarming when it's done. Watch this space:cool:

Re: House - update
 

that last pic makes you look like a proper jipo :D

good work though

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^

He is

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Looking good Ed, will be worth is when is all done :D

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Getting there Ed.

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Looking good Ed, they seem to be doing a top job.
Should add some good value to the house as well.

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Hope you either have a good stove in that caravan or are in the house before the winter sets in Ed.

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Ed,
That looks a Mammoth task but I'm sure you'll be glad you did once you have your stamp on it!

Nice one...

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The CV has blown air central heating, it's mains powered. I always have to open the windows as it gets too hot!!! Currently looking at another month in the CV, it's not uncomfortable, just a general lack of space. Amazing how you can do without so much 'stuff':D For example, we don't iron anything any more, as there is no space for an ironing board:D


Yes, roll on mid November:-D

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Glad the project is moving along steadily Ed.
It's good to see that your enjoying it too.
Maybe a change of direction in your career?
After all, there's not many property developers who can handle the conveyency too :)

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Sorry, I couldn't resist...

Ed's got aspirations, moving up from solicitor to pikey builder. He's already got the caravan and the building site. Don't be surprised if he's looking for a couple of pit bulls and a tattoo by the end of the week.

But seriously, that looks dead good. Worth staying in a caravan for.

Keith.

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Phil, I just wish I'd done something more practical. I'm learning fast but not fast enough. I even tried brickying, wasn't very good:rolleyes:

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Not easy, especially with little house bricks where everything has to be perfect. TRy block laying with more uneven stone first, then move on to brick laying. In a moment I'll stick up some pics of the stuff I did to my house in Scotland.

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Here's a photobucket slideshow of the stuff I did in order to put conservatory and garage into my sloping back garden, extending and rechipping the driveway, relocating existing and installing new drainage, building retaining walls, and laying patios & pathways

http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/d...t=58c4ab7a.pbw

The slideshow starts with the end result and work backwards, but you'll get the drift.

I don't actually have photo's of how much of the driveway I had to rebuild, but what you see of the photo with the SV in the garage, most of that from the front door of the house backwards was destroyed in the process and had to be re-layed.

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Nice work Col, i wouldnt be suprised if that wall moves over time though, frost can make the ground shift something terrible.
With something like that a 6 inch buffer of shingle between the wall and the earth would help with drainage and stop the wet ground freezing and shifting your nice new wall.
A double skin is recommended as well to give it move mass.

Nice work, cheating with them big blocks though ;)

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...and this is what the back garden looked like before I started, taken from the spot where the garage now stands, and looking towards the back door, where the conservatory now stands, so a good 2/3rd of the garden had to be excavated down to the same level as the end of the driveway where the BMW sits. Where I am standing to take this photo the ground was 1.2 metres above this level

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...l/CIMG0859.jpg

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The gap between the excavation and the wall was backfilled with all the large stones from the excavation, then all the original red chips from the driveway, so it's only the top 10cm below the grass, that actually has soil touching the back of the wall. Maybe a 6 inch buffer at the bottom of the wall and a foot buffer at the top.

I couldn't be ar$ed with double skin TBH, so I built pillars into the wall every 6ft to give a bit of extra strength

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So, ignore my last post then ;)

On bigger walls id suggest a weeper with weep holes in the joints every now and then, if you can control the water, the ground wont move as much :)

Re: House - update
 

You can see an example of the pillars I built in on this pic, two half blocks put in sideways on one course, two engineering bricks behind the next course, then two sideways blocks on the next course done after this pic, and so on. Don't know if that will be enough to hold it, time will tell, but Euan is just a wee baby there when I was doing the last patio, to it's held up to three winters so far.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...l/CIMG2782.jpg

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Cant see pic mate, btw im not picking at your work, it looks a top job and you got to play with big toys :)

I can see it now.

Trench blocks are good for a good base, use them on the inner skin, face bricks on the outside.

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Better on costings too ;)

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Money is no object for Col ;)

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Bloody jocks....:rolleyes:

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I used plastic tube every two blocks along the bottom course of the wall as weep holes. You can see a couple of them in this pic either side of the step

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...l/CIMG2785.jpg

When it rained heavy, or when the turf was just laid and I'd had the sprinkler on they didn't so much weep as pour!

Then they poured into the gravel between the wall and patio, seen in the next pic,

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/d...385A_iList.jpg

which is hiding the sections of perforated field drain I was telling you about on the phone. These terminate below the bottom step, into a t'piece that connects to a drain pipe running under the patio and into the rodding point that you see by the tracks of the mini digger. The guttering downpipes off the garage roof also pour into gravel and field drain connected into the same place. This is the bit I kept covered from the buildings inspector!!!

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Don't worry about that, I know I'm not a pro! Lots of head scratching, talking to my aunts and uncles (ex-builders), and inventing my own unproved solutions went on during that project ;)

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Someone read up or got good advice Col, im impressed :)

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I had no idea what to use. I walked into the building section of B&Q Warehouse, looked at the materials available, scratched my head, then filled the boot of the car with engineering brick because it was cheap!

EDIT: In fact I have no idea what a trench block is - what is a trench block?

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Do you think the pillars will hold it, or should I really have gone to the effort of double skin? Not that it matters once this house is sold, just in case I ever decide to do it again.

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Ignore this, I've just realised what it is, they were used in the founds of the house below the stone work.

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Personally, if you are holding back earth of any size then i would do a double skin.
Trench blocks are basically interlocking blocks btw, you use these as a base, put ties into them then when you build your wall it will bond to them really well.
If you want a super strong wall you could use the trench blocks as your inner skin, cos they interlock and they are mortared together, they leave a really strong structure.
Hollow blocks are good as well cos you can back fill these with a lean mix of concrete.

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Looks amazing Ed... I`d love to buy something run down, rip it all out and put my mark on it like you and Anne have. Well done and I can`t wait to see the finished project.

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well done Ed, quite some project to take on. I got builders in a few years ago to do up my kitchen and it was such a stressful time. Had no water downstairs for 6 weeks. They were only taking down a wall. Had live wires dangling. Never again. Look forward to seeing the finished results

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Thats not normal tbh, thats why i try to minimise disruption to the customers when i do work because they will tell their friends etc who may be looking for work to be done but worried about the hassle, if i made it hell while doing the job they would probably be put off and tell their friends the same.

That said, some work will require some disruption, comes with the territory so its best just to inform the client beforehand and discuss any issues so that they are aware, they can then sometimes make arrangements to make things easier.

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The team we have are great, but the plumber is the scarlet pimpernel, turns up when he wants. It can be very annoying. But we don't have live wires dangling down, and we do have water supply in the house.

Today the spark has been to do the kitchen wires, and the glazing bloke has been to put the French doors in the den. I'm painting the new plaster upstairs so that the builders can put the laminate floors down next week:D

At the moment we are looking to be in the house 3rd week of November, slipped from next week because the building inspector was a PIA and insisted on lots of additional work to the roof and partly cos we changed the spec. It's darn cold at night and I can't wait for proper heating:D

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good work going on there Ed :) you be made up when its done :)

my yard will be in the process of a make over soon :) why? because now i can :)

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Bloody plumbers eh! ;-)