The Big Lunch - Street Party

What a wonderful event we had on Sunday with the Big Lunch street party held on Ramsden Road. Not only did the event raise money for charity but it was the perfect opportunity to get to know the neighbours.
Shame about the rain but it didn't stop people coming out to enjoy some delicious home cooking and splashing around in the puddles.

Reduce, reuse and recycle...

...the mantra of an eco person.

I am doing my bit by ebaying all my old kitchen appliances, windows, furniture and even vintage wallpaper left behind in the house. I am making money and feeling good knowing that someone else is making use of something that otherwise could have gone into land fill. Everyone should try this, you will be surprised at what you will find for sale on ebay.

The tiler takes over

Gerrardo the Italian tiler was not happy with the state of the floor when he came this morning. It is not level and does not level up with the new door that has been fitted. The concrete will have to be shaved off to rectify this situation - back to Kevin and his men then.

Breaking into the dining room

One minute we have a window into the dining room and the next - it's gone!

Ed the plasterer moves in

Ed the plasterer has always looked a bit off colour to me, he has a ghostly palour of powdery off white about him. I am assured this is not a physical condition but a thick coating of plaster dust! Poor man.



The back bedroom with 60mm of Gyproc Super insulation boards.

Doors continued...

The door company was very apologetic, they had ordered an express door because I had asked for a quick turn around unfortunately, no one informed me that this would be at the expense of the door I really wanted. They are now changing the door and ordering the one I wanted. It would take another 6-7 weeks - oh god! never mind, bear the pain for a bit longer. At least we will be able to keep the existing doors in situ until the new doors arrive.

Sliding doors

The sliding doors arrived early this morning along with my kitchen units! This is not what I was expecting as delivery was not confirmed and the floor is still to be finished, it is most inconvenient for the builders. As a result, an unfortunate person from the kitchen suppliers had to listen to an earful of my unhappiness.


The worst was yet to come - it was only after the doors were fitted we realise that they had in fact delivered the wrong door! Could this be a case of being duped by a double glazing company with a cheaper door? I don't know and I was not able to find out until the following week as they had all gone home for the weekend.

What fine specimens!

The men in all their glory stopping to pose for a snap with the bewildered home owner.

Come on lads - there's a lot to be done by tomorrow, the doors are arriving and there is a lot of screed and concrete to be laid.

Nearly there lads - put that shirt back on Vlad what will the neighbours say!

Spaghetti of underfloor heating pipes

Vlad the builder clipping together the heating pipes.

Floor insulation

Julien the electrician on top of the floor insulation. There is over 120mm of Celotex there, it should keep my feet warm in the winter months!

Things are taking shape

After a very stressful week and a half in which I was in no mood to post a blog, we are now finally seeing things take shape and feeling a lot better for it.

It took us a whole week to decide on the type of window to have at the back and what to do about the rendering. Instead of the super duper triple glazed, low maintenance all glass Svarre windows we liked we have now opted for the traditional double glazed sash from Solberg in Denmark. It's easier to fit and less costly.

It's taken an age to work out the type of insulation to install for the internal walls in the back bedroom. I have now decided on 60mm of Gyproc Super with Gyp Liner Universal. As space is an issue for us in this room, we are using a lower thickness than that recommended by specifiers. At least British Gypsum offered me advice unlike the hard to get hold of people at Knauf Insulation who are not good at returning phone calls.

Stress and worries

The stress is now getting to us.

With no windows on the top floor and no sign of us being able to make a decision on what to do here, we are getting more and more frustrated about the whole situation.

Big mistake!

If you are doing a whole house refurb, never start from the bottom and work your way up – do it the logical way and start from the top and go down.

We are now in a situation where we have the builders working on the top floor of our house and they have had to take out two windows! What a mistake. The lead time for windows is between 7-8 weeks and we are struggling to decide on the windows to buy. Do we go for the triple glazed modern option for the back of the house or do we stay with the traditional sash look. It's all a balancing act between the type of window and how much work is involved in making it look good once installed.

Ohh we have a new roof!

The new roof is un-veiled behind all the orange plastic.

The kitchen floor is getting a make over...
The pipes are laid...

We have no bathroom!

You could say we were asking for it when we asked the builders to start work on re configuring the bathroom upstairs whilst we went away for a 10 day break. We came home to this...

The bath, sink and loo from the main bathroom have gone. The walls have been knocked out and put back together and windows have been bricked up and one has been expanded. We now have the basic plan for what will eventually be the back bedroom and guest bathroom - and it's looking good despite this picture.

RSJ is moved into place

They use a winch to lift half ton of steel into position.

The walls have come down

After a day of banging and drilling the side walls of the kitchen are finally down.


The house is now held up by four wobbly metal poles - eek!

The ingenious drainage construction that serves the bathroom sink and shower.

We are now waiting for the steel beam to be put in its placed....

The kitchen is now a building site.

The washing machine and sink have been moved into the dining room and the cooker is in the skip. It's beginning to take shape and we can see how it's eventually going to look once it's all over. This picture doesn't show it but trust me, I can see it.

In the next few days they will be putting the roof on and already they have erected the wooden joists for the side pitched roof.
The sliding doors and kitchen units have now been ordered, it's just tiles I have to decide on. It's coming together faster than I expected although the neighbours might not agree with me here. I think we might have to make up to them after it's all over.

Men at Work

Today two 20 feet long steel beams weighing over half a ton each came through our front door!

We also had 7 men to help with the tricky task of moving these two heavy weights into the kitchen.

These will eventually support the house when we take the two existing sides of the kitchen down.


Vlad, the main man on site had bad news for us today - the timber joists running along the bathroom roof needs replacing as they were looking pretty rotten. Oh dear - that's the contingency budget depleting.

The kitchen is dismantled!

I didn't think I would ever feel sorry about this old kitchen coming down and I'm right. I am glad it's finally had it's day.


The boys have taken a sledge hammer to it today and it's coming down, or part of it at least. They are putting in a steel beam across the back to support the floor upstairs and by next week, you will not be able to recognise the place.

The walls are going up

Finally, we are building!

The old bathroom has come down and the new Celcon Solar block walls are going up. We've had issues with drains like most of our neighbours but that seems to be the norm around here. Hopefully, Kevin will sort things out and divert them away from the house. The last thing I want is a man hole in a new kitchen extension and any problems that could arise from that.

Wrong building materials!

Ooops - stop right there! That is not what I ordered!

Just in the nick of time I've realised that they have delivered the wrong type of building material and it all has to go back. I wanted Thermalite Turbo and they have supplied Thermailte Shield. It was all agreed and confirmed with Kevin our man and the supplier only yesterday. Not a lot of difference in the U value but enough to make a difference and it's what the architect suggested we use in order to achieve a better insulated wall.

I think it's important to get this bit right don't you?

Foundations are dug

One week to the day since the work started and the foundations are dug deep ready for the concrete. As the builder pointed out, due to current building regulations " over time the main house may move but this extension ain't going anywhere".

The work has started!

The work has begun, we managed to sort out our worries and it's all full steam ahead. We are now looking at a massive hole in the back of our house where the old bathroom once stood...

The Builders have arrived!

After an almost sleepless night we wake up to an early morning knock on the front door. The builders have arrived! Oh God it's all about to kick off and we've got the jitters. What if they don't do a good job? What if we get stung for loads of extras we didn't calculate for and have we chosen the right builder? Questions to make anyone nervous.

Watch this space...

Eco Build 2011

With less than two weeks to go for this years Eco Build 2011, I am gearing up for a fascinating day out to this years event taking place at Excel from 1-3 March.

If you are interested in learning about energy efficiency in buildings, understanding the benefits of the Feed in Tariff, seeing live demonstrations on solid wall refurbishment, modern glazing solutions, existing loft insulation and finding out about the latest technology in harnessing solar energy, energy efficient lighting, urban planting, bee keeping plus much much more, then sign up for your FREE pass at.
http://www.ecobuild.co.uk/index.html

Personally, I am looking forward to seeing the seminar on Freecycling and a complete interior makeover for £0.00 This could give me some useful ideas for my Victorian refurb.