Pictures

Back of the house with the company colours on the roof :-)
The soffits and fascias have to be painted before they can go up, although they are on the porch already.

Front of house. We are not putting the door in until we've been in and out with everything that needs a wide space. The velux windows have to be put in yet, and the green mat to go on.

windows

As the weather has been blowing a hoolie Iain and Paul decided to start putting windows in. We also have a back door and when the weather improves a picture of the back may be taken! In the meantime I can take pictures from the path of the front.

Snow again!!

Well I hoped that the next blog would be that the sarking was completed but the weather has halted Iain and Paul yet again. We've had strong winds and yesterday we had snow, today it's windy and snowing.
The sarking on the roof is nearly to the top on both sides so a good weather day should see it finished then the membrane can go on.

The wire going in on the side of the porch is the electric cable, there is now electric in the house.

progress

Both dormers are up the sarking has been started, velux window spacing is nearly complete. So roof well on it's way to being finished.
Slates will come later, probably a lot later.

Dormer

The rafters are up, the gable ends are both on and now our first dormer window frame is up. Iain and Paul have been working all the time they can spare to complete the roof. Iain has been taking time out to do his day job and Paul has a boat to build.

As you can see it now looks like a house. There is another dormer to go up and then the insulation and sarking so it will look like the porch roof does.

Of course there is a lot more to do but it's looking good!

roof

Beginning of the roof

Now the trusses are up on the roof, Iain and Paul can begin fixing them into place.

In this picture you can see we have internal walls.

winds

Not much has been happening because we have been away for a few days. Iain has been working on the digger, not with the digger. The starter (the bit the key goes in) has given up so we have a new one on order.
He hasn't been able to work on the roof as the winds have been too strong. Last night part of the gable end came part way down, so Iain and Paul have been up and removed it properly and the nails.
One of the large packs of insulation came out of the croft and hit the caravan so Iain had to go take that to the barn. We have a spare portaloo in case they can't get here to empty ours, and it blew over in the wind.
The caravan is fine and so are we.
Hopefully tomorrow will be fine so the roof building can proceed as scheduled. Sam is due to come down with his telescopic forklift and our scaffold tower arrived yesterday so fingers crossed the weather will be okay.

Porch roof

One gable end is up now, with internal walls and support beams a lot of progress has been made.

The porch roof is progressing well.

Ground floor is up!

So after 1 full day and 2 mornings we have the ground floor panels all up after some jiggling and shimming.
It was probably a little easier than I expected as all the panels are numbered and it is just a case of lifting them into position, levelling them and nailing them down.
However, some of the panels are extremely heavy and without the JCB to lift with we would have needed a crane.
We found today we are missing a part, the lintel across the large windows at the front but a quick phone call to the suppliers and this will be delivered Tuesday along with the missing Velux windows.
One or two bits of information are missing from the drawings but again, always solved by a quick phone call.  maybe it is our inexperience but the questions are always answered quickly and politely...so far:)

Tomorrow we start on the roof!

Progress

We have spent the last 4 days, leveling and filling the foundations with hardcore then compacting it all.
Today Paul came down to help Iain and David start putting the kit up.

It was at first light that they started.

Also still very muddy!

Some of the panels are heavy.

Not sure what they are going to do with it now!!

The first panels are up.

More Progress. Now to nail it all together.

The Unloading

Arrival of the second truck, which had the insulation on.

The orange box in the foreground is a chimney.

All unloaded.

The croft is now full of insulation!

Arrival of the kit

arrival of the roof trusses

The Kit

Our timber frame house kit arrives Friday 14th January. Our neighbour Paul is taking a couple of days off work to help. One of our other neighbours, Sam (he's a blacksmith) has a telescopic forklift 4 wheel drive vehicle and is going to offload the kit. I will be out with the camera so pictures will follow.

Mild weather

We had a brilliant Christmas and New Year in Scarborough, it was good to see family and friends.
Now the work has started again. Iain had dug a trench before we went and put a drainage pipe in but couldn't fill it in as the soil had frozen. He's filling it in now as the weather is very mild today, he's trying to get the water to drain away from the entrance to the site so that the kit can be delivered. The kit is being delivered this month!!!

caravan insulation

It never occured to us that the caravan would have walls that got wet!
We expected the windows to have condensation (they have and it freezes in this weather) and the shower has mould problems. Caravans need ventilation, we've just taped the wall vents up as the wind was blowing the snow through them, we had snowballs on the roof, which then melted and dripped onto whatever was under that vent. Anyway we have thermal linings to all the curtains which keeps us warm and thats the main thing.
We have a cupboard in the main bedroom that we store the suitcases in and the ironing board, washing and anything we can fit in. When we got the suitcase out to go away with we found everything had mould growing on it and the walls of the cupboard (that are external walls) were wet and going mouldy. The wardrobe in that room also has an external wall and that was wet at the bottom.
So we have lined the walls with 2" polystyrene and now we're hoping that works. We've also put the polystyrene under the dog's crate as her bed is damp on the bottom and she's not had an accident!
So if you're going to live in a caravan in the winter, consider the cupboards on external walls, the point that there will be a lot of condensation, there seem to be drafts all over but they are necessary if you tape up all the vents it will be a lot worse.

update third row

The third row of the heavy blocks is finished!
Now there is the outer 3 rows of smaller blocks to do. Also all the filling in, hardcore, damp proof membrane, rebar then concrete. So just a small amount of work before the kit gets here in January!!!!!

third row

Just the porch to do the third layer on and that is the blockwork finished.

Just a little waterlogged now!

muddy site

Rain

I don't know whether to cheer because it is raining or not! On one hand Iain can do blockwork as the temp is well over 4C and on the other hand the site is a quagmire! We have rivers, ponds, streams and mud lots and lots of mud.
So Iain is out in the rain and wind laying blocks, and tomorrow he'll be laying blocks and hopefully that will be the third layer finished. Then the hardcore can be packed into the middle.

Our mortgage company are happy with the valuation and have told us what our first payment will be and it's nearly enough to pay the kit manufacturer, GM Timber Systems. Just have to sign on the dotted line.

We're not in the caravan this week. Our portaloo supplier couldn't get here to empty the portaloo and even if they had it was frozen. Water pipes freezing, being in 2 feet of snow, having to put on more clothes to go to bed, trying to get out of the drive on foot (not a chance of getting the car down the drive), none of that bothered us, but we cannot manage without a toilet, so we've rented a holiday cottage in 'The Seaboard Villages' and are enjoying central heating, baths, washing machine and walks on the beach, inbetween coming up to site every day.
The portaloo supplier is coming on Tuesday so we'll be back in the caravan, but in the meantime I think I'll have another bath.

snow and more snow

The valuation guy has been and taken a picture of the snow!
He will give his valuation to the Mortgage company and they will offer us our first installment based on that. Hopefully it will be enough to pay the kit manufacturer so that can be delivered in January.
Our foundations aren't finished but with the snow there is nothing we can do. There is always the possiblity that the temperature will rise above 4C for a long enough time so we can finish the foundations.
At least we are not the only builders with the same problem, the Valuer has seen quite a few that had planned on getting the kit up before Christmas and the snow has halted everything. Kind of reassuring really.
The temperature dropped to -10 yesterday so we stayed in and kept warm. It's about -2 today and has snowed a bit this morning so looks like Meg gets her walk this afternoon.