First Fix

Massive milestone. The sparkies are on site. Here's pics to prove it..

It's all getting very real now.

In other news, Paul has been fixing more of the chapel walls

This last one shows two boarded up windows - the boards will eventually be removed, when the Sunday school has been made more presentable. However we won't be glazing them, as they look onto an outdoors area, which will form part of Phase 2.

"Phase 2?" I hear you exclaim?

Yes, after we move in we will think about what to do with the rest of the site, and how to pay for it...

In other other news, work on "The Last Meadow" has continued, dodgy back notwithstanding. I think it's 3/4 dug now. We must have pulled two tons of stones and half a ton of litter out of this place, trying to make it suitable for a wildflower meadow with mown paths. Hoping to have it seeded in the next week or so.

This pic shows we've finally put "Elizabeth" in her rightful place. She's the small headstone on the right, close to the hoardings. The stone was found lying flat amongst the detritus when we first arrived and we've always intended to put it back in its rightful place, according to the grave plan we have. This feels like another milestone.

More soon

Still Digging

Still have that last meadow to dig. It's putting up a right old fight and my body is not coping well.

Roughly a third is turned ready for seeding. We're still pulling out stones, rubbish - even a steel sprung mattress - from the time when it was just a dumping ground for the people who were housed in the Chapel.

I am getting help from the grandchildren though...

The MVHR (ventilation) tubes have been installed. These are meant to supply fresh air from outside, while retaining the warmth from the extracted stale air. For this to work properly, the house has to be airtight, and that's why there's blue tape over all the joins in the panels. The house will be pressure tested as soon as the windows and doors are in, which is set to begin at the end of this month. Can't wait to see what they look like.

We've taken to spending time there of an evening around a fire pit with a beer or two, dreaming of actually living in this special place. It's only weeks away now and for once I want the summer to pass quickly. Here's Lyn's foot on one such evening..

More soon.

Warming up

We've been thinking about how to heat the house for a while now. It's built with great insulation and triple glazing so our energy needs will be fairly low. 

Our solution is underfloor heating downstairs, a couple of radiators in bathrooms, and an electric boiler and cylinder to do the floor and supply hot water. 

Originally we'd looked at air source heat pumps, but were told that with such low energy usage the smallest unit would be only fractionally used, and constantly switching on and off, meaning it would be many years until we recouped the installation cost through lower energy bills.
We will have solar panels on the roof, which will push us nearer to the sustainable model, if not all the way there.

On the subject of floors, our new favourite thing is polished concrete. Originally dismissed in favour of liquid screed for cost reasons, since we're only doing this once, we've decided to take the hit. The example pictures we've been shown are stunning, we're hoping for similar.

The roof is now insulated and waterproofed, and awaits the solar panels. I took a pic:

Not much use in spending future summer days up here as the parapet is so high you'd be basically sitting in a bitumen-lined cell. We will have a perfectly serviceable garden to sit in, and no it won't be the graveyard.

In other news, we've now changed our plans on cladding the house, cancelled the professionally installed cement board panels, and await quotes for simple rendering, with sections of burnt larch to echo (celebrate?) the site's history. Those panels will be black and will stand out against the render, which will be light in colour to sit well with the lime-mortared stonework around it. Again, the rendering is a much cheaper solution and helps to pay for the polished concrete floor.

It was a bit surreal yesterday, when we actually had a conversation about bathroom fittings, flooring and décor. After these past two and a half years it really does seem like a dream.

Pinch me someone :-)

More later