Ground floor glass

Patio doors are in, with a lot of heaving, grunting and groaning. Lyn had to stand outside the chapel and photograph through one of the arches, to fit them in one shot.

Also check out the upstairs bedroom window, with reflection of the three arches it faces. Also the view right through the ground floor to the kitchen, and the building work beyond.

I managed to re-position my video camera to catch the installation of the patio doors, will post it here soon.

They are due to finish the windows tomorrow, and fit the front and back doors. 

Onward.

Still, still digging

Windows and doors are ongoing, but does work stop on the garden? No, never. Our team of spade, rake, barrow and mattock wielders never tires, never flags, never wonders if the job will ever end, never gets fed up and sits drinking tea and taking in the view. Never.

I can announce that the infamous North Meadow is now ready for sowing. It will be a combination of grass and wildflowers, in a design which enables strolling and allows viewing of the remaining headstones.

The North Meadow:

Seen here alongside its prettier sibling, the South Meadow:

Yes we know, it's a graveyard. Doesn't mean it can't have beauty.

More later. Today we think the ground floor windows will be installed, and the doors. Maybe even the patio door? Who knows. Exciting times.

First Floor Windows

Windows are going in. They started on the first floor, and it will take three days. Can't wait to see them manhandle the big patio door into place, it's 4.8 metres long and triple glazed, must weight 300 kg at least.

The pics are not flattering, and they show white frames (it's protective tape, they are black) in a black building (it will be rendered a light grey colour), so you get a sort of photographic negative effect...

We've had a sneaky peek under the protective tape both inside and out, and we're pleased with our choices. The oak frames and brushed steel fittings on the inside are really nice.

Hard to believe that in a few weeks we'll be actually living there.

More soon

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

Cubism

Well, the house is still a black cube. Both my timelapse cameras might as well have the last week's pics deleted as they will show no change.

That doesn't mean there's been no change though. Inside, Lyn has sealed all the joins in the panels, by a combination of airtight tape, purple paint (yes that's a thing) and spray filler. This is because at a certain point, which will obviously be after we fit windows and doors and finish the roof, the house will be tested for leaks.

Take that, Victorian brick house ventilation types.

If it (the house) does leak, we'll do what all good cyclists do in puncture situations, and blow it up. No we won't, that was a joke.

Outside, the drains are nearly finished, work has continued on digging and planting the gardens, and today this:

Paul is rebuilding the front doorway arch. It's needed doing for a long time and it will allow that whole wall to be pointed in the same way as the North and South walls, which Lyn and Andy have made such a lovely job of.

We've also taken delivery of a huge amount of insulation material, which will make this the warmest house in the world. It's being fitted as we speak.

We're still on target to move in late August. Can't believe it's come round so fast after the trials we went through.

More soon.