Delays and a Few Snags :(

In-house Progress

The kitchen and utility units are being fitted by Bill and Daren. This is going very well so far - hooray! The same guys will also be creating a unit to conceal the wc cistern and a built-in wardrobe in a very tricky place - where two roofs come together in an eaves bedroom. 

Today, the kitchen appliances have been delivered: ovens, hob and 'fridge. The sinks and taps are on order - fingers crossed that there is no further delay because:

1. the taps need to be fitted first;
2. then the sinks;
3. then the template for the worktop can be finalised;
4. then the hob can be inserted.

Other good news is that the internal doors and frame kits have been delivered (even though we don't seem to have the handles and locks - only the hinges). The doors are a very nice colour, a sort of grey-oak veneer.

Snags

The Stairs! When the fitters came to install the stairs, they discovered that the main electric consumer unit had been placed on the wall where the under-side of the stairs needed to run. A few days were lost while the unit was moved and then the fitters returned.

Having installed the top half of the stairs and the mid-way platform, they put the lower half of the staircase where it needed to be - only to discover that it protruded too far into a corridor. Measurements had not been taken accurately. The staircase has to be completely re-constucted! Luckily, the company are treating this as a high priority and expect the new one to be ready in 2-3 weeks.

A couple of items seem to be wrong or missing from the kitchen delivery, mainly doors, but they are local so we do not anticipate major delays.

The flooring company are scheduled to lay the boards as soon as the stairs, kitchen/utility units and shower trays (see 'Delays') are in place. 

Delays

Well, it may be a coincidence but the "second wave" of Covid seems to have had a negative effect on supplies. Some ordered items have had their delivery date pushed back and some items that have yet to be ordered are projecting a long lead-time.

For example, several suppliers of wooden plantation shutters are quoting 12 weeks instead of 2-4 as most sustainable wood is imported and in short supply - could this be because climate change (and stupidity, in some cases) caused several forest fires, creating demand for timber? I don't know, just wondering... so, for the time being, we will order some roller blinds for most of the windows.

Other timber-based items are also in short supply, as are other building materials. We've also found that some retail items (probably imports) are becoming scarce, such as taps and shower trays.

Pictures!

The utility room almost looks like this illustration:

The kitchen: the first image below is from the wall where the sink will be, looking towards the dining room. The second image is an illustration of the kitchen units to the left of the patio doors and the drinks station to the right, in the dining area.

More to report soon! Feel free to view our 2020 progress.

Interior Designs

I saw an elephant crashing through an understairs cupboard and I really love it but, sadly, we don't have the room :(  

Meanwhile, we've been designing the kitchen/diner and utility room. After research and meeting with suppliers' designers, we have chosen Howden's. We don't yet know how they will work out but the initial meeting was encouraging. Other similarly priced companies want to install their kitchen units and leave gaps where they don't fit. Howdens, being primarily a joinery company, will ensure that the cupboards fit our kitchen, with infills where necessary.

The designer knew her stuff too - and we shared similar tastes, which always helps when trying to explain what's in your head.

We decided to install a Quooker system so that we can save precious worktop space by not having a kettle. We also want a couple of tambour doors to hide away other small kitchen appliances. Howden's doesn't supply these but we've found a couple of companies on-line who will supply kits to fit the space we have. Not cheap but not too expensive at under £300.

The water supply to the house, like the whole of Hertfordshire, is very hard water which shortens the life of everything, including shower heads, toilet cisterns, etc., therefore we are planning to install a water softener system.

We're looking forward (with everything crossed!) to seeing the kitchen design and hopeful that it will be within budget. 

Link to next post...

Ultra Slim Aluminum Framed Patio Doors have been installed!

The SunSeeker UltraSlim doors are IN! They look fantastic - better than bi-folds - such a shame that they are unlikely to get much use this year as everything else is being delayed. The electricity supplier and internal doors company, having agreed to August dates, want to delay to September and October, respectively.

We prefer the sleek, low maintenance aluminium frames to the comparatively clumsy wooden frames around the windows but we are trying to keep within our budget so compromises are inevitable.

 

The granite hearth has also been installed, ready for the log-burner.

The kitchen will be at least a month or so before installation can start but, to be fair, that's our fault. We have not been particularly happy with kitchen companies that offer fitted kitchens which then turn out not to meet our requirements (despite claims on their websites). We will try another company this week - some include a remote design service, which might speed up the process. We are trying to avoid bespoke as they are likely to take even longer and cost much more. If you know differently, please let us know in the comments, bearing in mind that the property is in Hertfordshire.

We shall also need fitted bathroom units. It would be great if the same company could do the kitchen and bathroom.

More news as it happens... 

Plasterboarding & Gas Works

We have finalised our choice of floors and received the quotaion. We have also confirmed the doors and their openings, including the mid-stairs and under-stairs cupboards and we've chosen the handles and locks. The stairs will be delivered 'unfinished' to be stained and lacquered when in place. 

Internally, the ceilings and walls are now fully covered with appropriate plasterboard.

Much of the work now has to be put on hold for a couple of weeks while the Gas supply is brought from the mains to the property. 

On the one hand, this is annoying because it will delay us moving in but, on the other hand, we'll have more time to choose units for the kitchen and bathrooms. We are having trouble buying off-the-shelf units for the small en-suite and are considering some bespoke work. However, we've spent more than we anticipated on a few things so we need to budget carefully. We knew this would happen, of course, we've been there before - twice.

We usually justify the overspend in our minds by relating the additional cost over the next ten years to the enjoyment of living with the results! If you love where you live, going away for holidays is not quite so important, so that cost can be off-set, too.

I don't suppose there will be much progress to report over the next couple of weeks so look out for the next update around the middle of August.

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!

---

 

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!

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!