Week 45 - Getting the walls up ....

Hi everyone,

This week there has been a few ongoings down't Mill!  Starting outside, the roof of the extension eventually got a special rubber sheeting laid down on it which will actually act as a sound proofing / dampening barrier from the metal roof.  This is about 4 mm thick so this, along with the acoustic insulation in the roof void, should do the business when we have the Scottish heavens opening up and bounce off a massive sheet of profiled metal!  There will be another layer of weatherproof felt laid on top of this before the profile roof is actually fitted.  The frames for the roof windows were also started this week, so hopefully glass will be in and we'll be all water tight within 5-10 days.  Anyone taking bets??!?

Inside, quite a transformation within the Mill.  The builders started fitting plasterboard up in there and it is really taking shape.  The upstairs bedrooms and hallway space now look like proper rooms!  The open hallway looks especially fab, with the stonework looking even more dramatic next to the crisp white plasterboard.  Kids rooms are a really good size too with some great feature windows, Abbey and Sam will hopefully love them.

Another variation this week (yes, I know!) ..... will change to glass balustrades inside the Mill to keep the space all open, should look fab!

That's the main things this week ... until next time :-)

Outer metal frames for roof windows going in ... need glass now.

Kids bedroom 1

Kids bedroom 1

View from kids bedroom 2 to landing

Kids bedroom 2

Kids bedroom 2 ... brilliant low level window (used to be part of the hayloft)

Open hallway ... loving the detail

Waiting on the windows ... amazing light

The full open space drying out!

Week 44 - Slates finished and a cosy bathroom floor!

Hello,

This week has seen the completion of the slating on the old Mill.  The south side was at last finished off and the original roof ridge stones were fixed back into place.  The roof looks really great and we're so glad we managed to reuse the old materials and keep it looking as it was.  Nothing much else has been happening outside other than the galvanised steel beams have arrived for the decking substructure.  The uprights have been installed and the remaining beams are stacked onsite.  Scale was always difficult to judge on this, but yes, the deck is going to be big!

Inside, again, not too much happened but the main job that was progressed was the installation of the underfloor heating in the upstairs family bathroom.  This will be covered with a cement screed, just like the ground floor process, and eventually tiled.  This heats on the same circuit as the rest of the underfloor heating downstairs.  No news on the glazing .... hope it's soon as it was very windy today and the forecast is for conditions to get worse this week!!

Until next time ....

All slating now finished!

Steel legs for decking fixed in place

Underfloor heating going into kids bathroom upstairs

Week 43 - Back to work ... getting the slates on!

Hi folks,

Well the first full working week of 2012 is behind us and I’m pleased to say we’re finally back to work on site!  We ventured down to site this afternoon with the kids, and despite being a little chilly!, it was a really beautiful winter sunny day with amazing light over the hills.  Days like this make us feel so lucky.

Some of the storm damage of the last few weeks has been repaired and we’ve made a start to returning the old Scots slates on the Mill’s south roof.  The old slates again really look the part.  Hopefully the Mill roof will be fully watertight in the next few days.

On the outside walls, the extensions have all been finished/repaired with green weatherproofing sheets and fitted with wooden batons that the larch cladding will finally be fixed too.  I don’t think we’ll be putting the cladding on until the weather improves slightly so that it remains in good nick for when we move in.

This week we need to decide where the biomass boiler will go.  As we changed from an air source to biomass at the last minute (my fault!), this means we have to juggle things around in the store and plant rooms to get everything to fit best.  Self builder 101 – don’t make changes once you start building!  We’re on revision #46 :-) !!


Bye for now!

Slates started on the South facing Mill roof (works bottom - up)

Extensions getting ready for cladding 

This picture looks cold ... because it was cold!!

Abbey hooking up the plumbing!

Light shining into the Mill hallway ... fab, as is the view from landing

Looking along the main extension and down the river

Weeks 40, 41 and 42 ... Happy New Year!

Hello to our family, friends and loyal bloggers,

First off, Happy New Year to whoever may be reading this!  Hope you had a good holiday period and I hope 2012 is a happy and healthy year for you and your family.  We're certainly hoping 2012 will actually be the year we have a finished house to move into!  Is that too much to ask for ?!?! I certainly hope not considering this is the 5th year we've owned the old Mill!  A friend a long time ago joked that we would be in just in time for the London Olympics ... well Jamie, it looks like your schedule may not be that far off after all!!

As to be expected, nothing has progressed at all since our last posting in December.  By the time our builder sorted all the glazing issues for sourcing all our structural glass, it was time to break for the Festive holidays. We have been assured that this current week, i.e. week 43, will see builders onsite finishing the slates on the south roof in readiness for the main extension roofing and glazing to go in shortly afterwards.  We're told around 3 weeks before we're fully water tight and dried out ... watch this space to see if/when that happens!

Over the holidays the weather has been pretty wild with some high winds (>100 knots) and rain pelting the country.  The building has held up well considering but it has proved impossible to keep the water out fully at this incomplete stage.  There has been extensive rain water enter the main extension through the damaged roof tarpaulins (they have been ripped off / damaged a few times) and also through the ridge line of the old Mill where slates have dislodged - nothing drastic that can't be dried out and/or replaced over the next few weeks.  I have attached some photos fyi from a flying site visit at the end of lasty week.  I'm hoping next weeks posting for week 43 will have some progress ... what a novelty that would be!! 

Slates on the North roof loose at the ridge

The south roofs got a good battering over the holidays! 

The tarpaulins ripped .... 

... allowing rain water into the main extension.  Nothing some roof glass and a heater can't fix!

Until then ...