Renovation
Sorting out Sheepfold
Tuesday 18 January, 2011
It's been a lovely day here - colder than yesterday - but sunny so I've been poo-picking in Sheepfold.
Sheepfold is our two acre field; it's essentially triangular, with a wall on the short, West side and fence and ditch on the north and south sides, coming to a point at the east end. The ponies are in there most of the time, in their Paddock Paradise. We tidied up the south side fence in the autumn and had some hard standing put in at the gate.
The ponies went into the five acre field at the start of January and I'm planning to move them back to Sheepfold at the start of April. I'm also planning to put my newly lambed ewes in there because it has good shelter and a nice mixed sward that should have come on by then, weather permitting.
Water on tap
Wednesday 5 January, 2011
Tony, ably assisted by his apprentice (and wife) Rebecca, got all the new pipe and taps into the West Range today. It's great!
No more hauling water to the calves or to the feed store. We've got an old kitchen sink, salvaged from the house, that we might put into the feed store for added luxury.
Tony's lagged all the pipes so hopefully they will continue running unless the weather is very severe, in whih case it's back to the blowtorch. We decided against the electric tape on grounds of cost really - and Tony says his lagging is first class. I just hope we don't have it tested too often.
New taps
Tuesday 4 January, 2011
Our friend, Tony, is a plumber. It's our good luck that he gets bored on holiday, so this week he's putting in a new water supply to the West Range. Currently, the supply comes in to the workshop, but he's going to drop supplies into the looseboxes, the byre and the feedstore.
I've just called my cousin, who's an electrician, to find a source of heating wire that can be wrapped around the pipes to stop them freezing.
Meantime, I'm going to move some stuff around in the feed store. It's really dismal here today, so I'd better do something constructive.
The joiners are finished!
Sunday 12 December, 2010
Well, apart from any snagging, the joiners are now finished. The kitchen is in but not quite finished, because the tiler has still to do the splashback, the painter still has the pantry to paint out and the granite worktop will be here next week (hopefully).
The floors in the dining room and living room are in, as is the fire surround, although it's still to be stained. We've actually got the furniture in the two rooms now and we're moving by stealth into the kitchen. The electrician should be here tomorrow to finish his bits; the plumber is finished. The tiles for the hall are being delivered on Friday morning and the tiler will be here next weekend; painter here this week. So, all things being equal and weather permitting, we should be pretty much finished this time next week.
We're generaing electricity!
Thursday 18 November, 2010
Our PV installation is complete and working! It took three days - one cold and sunny, one windy (!) and one wet - to get the eightenn panels on to the barn roof but it's done. And just as Tom finished, the sun came out briefly.
I'm hoping for some bright sunny days now - but looking at the weather forecast, I think I will be disappointed for the foreseeable.
Dan now needs to complete the paperwork for the feed-in tariff and the loan.
We're in!
Sunday 7 November, 2010
Woohoo! We're in the house - not all of it, just the upstairs. The bathroom is more or less working and we've got the two bedrooms and the office inhabitable. I reckon downstairs will be another four weeks - but I'm hoping less.
I had such a good sleep last night and it was great to get into clothes that didn't feel slightly damp this morning. We've spent to day setting up the office, moving stuff round from the caravan and unpacking more stuff from Longcarse. I am going to have a clear out of T shirts - where do they all come from?
Moving by stealth
Sunday 31 October, 2010
For the last two nights, we've eaten dinner in the house. The woodburner is installed in the livingroom and Dan has been lighting it every day to help dry out the floors and walls. Since it was nice and warm, and there was plenty room for us all, we've had dinner there. Now this means moving the food from the caravans to the room, but it's been lovely.
The room is bigger than expected, by me at least. The outside lanterns and the double door are very smart and I find myself planning Christmas decorations. I suppose it's only eight weeks away.
The end is in sight!!
Thursday 28 October, 2010
Maybe, if everything over the next ten days goes according to plan, we'll have access to the first floor of our house by Guy Fawkes night!
The underfloor heating is now working, albeit off the electricity not the coil - don't ask. The woodburning stove was installed on Monday. The joiner has been here all week putting on skirtings, door frames and windowsills. The painter should be here from Monday and the plumber on Thursday to put on the radiators and install the sanitaryware. If we get our finger out, we'll choose and order carpet for Lorna's room tomorrow, for delivery on the 5th. If all this comes to pass, we could be sleeping and showering (!) in our new house a week tomorrow, or more likely, a week on Saturday!!
Building progress report
Sunday 17 October, 2010
The coil for the heat pump is now in, and we have a lovely canvas for the vegetable garden, so two birds with one stone. There was a bit of a glitch with the heating system - breakdown in communication between the plumber and the heating engineers, but I think / hope it's sorted out now. Worst bit was the water leaking on to the kitchen floor - we've been really trying to get it dried out, since the debacle with the non-setting screed knocked us back a fortnight. So we're not sure when the heating will be on now, so that's a bit of a pest.
Building progress report
Tuesday 12 October, 2010
The ground works for the heat pump coil started yesterday. By this afternoon, 200m of the 300m coil were laid, which is pretty good I think. We didn't have the best start. As predicted, the water pipe into the house was broken early on, so we had no water for a while. But the plumber was there quickly and a new pipe installed. In fact, it has turned out to be a good thing, because the existing pipe was only 15mm, so it has been replaced with a 25mm one, so the flow should be better.
The water table is about 4ft down so it looks like we have a bit of a swimming pool; this isn't a huge problem and actually helps the system work better. A bigger problem was the sandy soil that kept falling back into the trench as it was dug. However, a solution was found and they are off and running. The plumber filled the pipes today so the system isn't far away from being commissioned.
