Floors and Doors

The ground floor has now been beautifully screeded over the underfloor heating pipes and we've received samples of flooring and door finishes and chosen the ones we'd like. Because of 'new build' rules, every home must include a downstairs w.c. that is easily accessible by people with walking difficulties, including wheelchair users. This access rule also applies to the front door. It means minimum widths and flat floor access. We also noticed that, on the plans, the ground floor doors are wider than the doors upstairs. Apparently, approximately 2% of people in Britain are wheelchair users. 

Originally, we were looking to use engineered hardwood throughout the ground floor, which is around 100 square metres. Having looked at prices and compared them with good quality laminate (shown above), we decided to save several hundreds of £££s. Without fitting costs, underlay, etc., the price of hardwood averaged about 4x the price of laminate.

The small sample in the image is the door colour, the dark grey-ish oak will be used throughout the ground floor and we chose a lighter finish for upstairs floors. These are all suitable for bathrooms and kitchens.

The stairs we've ordered are wooden and will be stained to our colour choice. At this moment, what colour this will be is a mystery!

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Other work that has been going on in the house includes: loft insulation, more plumbing and some carpentry. With the plumbing and electrics in place, the plasterboard will be going up and we'll get a real feel for the inside of our future home. The carpenters will be building the framework for built-in wardrobes and cupboards. 

We have only been visiting the site at weekends when there are no work teams there. All instructions we need to give them have been by email. Interesting times... :) 

Link to next instalment...

Outside Brickwork Completed, Further Progress Inside

At the end of June, we almost have a house! Externally, everything on the property is in place except for the slide-and-turn patio doors with ultra-slim aluminium frames which are being manufactured ready for installation in July.

Here is a close-up view of the detail at the top of the chimney.

Internally, lots of background tasks are taking place. In the next photograph, you can see waste plumbing for the upstairs toilets, a mass of electrial stuff (this is where the consumer unit will be located, in the understairs cupboard) plus the pipework for the underfloor heating system.

We are tasked with choosing flooring, bathroom suites/cupboards and a new kitchen. We've been browsing the internet for quite some time but we really need to visit showrooms to see them for real, which is difficult during a controlled pandemic.

For example, how do we know if the floor will clash with the doors? Colours and finishes on computers are a simulation - we are viewing on both a Windows PC and a Mac and they are so different! Anyway, that's where we are at the moment. More news next update!