Mid-May New-Build Update

With most of the scaffolding gone, we now have bricks ready and waiting... 

Can't wait to see the result - below is the illustration of roughly how we expect the house to look.

Internally, some interesting stuff has been going on. We don't like radiators - they take up too much wall space - so we opted for underfloor heating and something referred to as mvhr. It's a mnemonic for Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery, a system which continuously ventilates the property by extracting used, moist air and replaces it with fresh, filtered air. Whilst doing so, it maintains a constant temperature. It also means that we don't need to separately vent the bathrooms or have a cooker hood (horrible, noisy things!).

We've never experienced mvhr but we expect that we may have to top up the heat on cold days with the underfloor heating. On hot days, there are windows to create a cool breeze. We shall see.

The photograph above shows the complex bits and bobs related to mvhr.

Just wait till you see the outside of the house in the next instalment!

Building new walls (part 1)

Starting with the small brick shed beyond the far end of the garage ...
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The shed was demolished to make way for the small extension at the back of the garage, which will become a work area; the rest of the garage will be used for storage plus (if there's any room left) games/pool/teen room.

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Of course, the moment the work area was built, before the screed on the floor had time to dry out properly, the bathroom suites and tiles were stored in there, out of "site" and out of mind for the next few months. We plan to move the existing kitchen window to the back of this area when the kitchen wall is demolished.

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(Hmm, the garden looks a little overgrown, that'll have to wait till later.)

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Having created the temporary storage area, attention was then turned to the outer perimeter of the house itself ...