Back to (wood)work

We went looking at internal doors at the weekend and have pretty much decided on what we're after, except none of the showrooms had them on display. I think we might need to make an appointment to see them before we place our order. We also discovered, to our unending joy, that the sort of radiators we want are stocked by one of the big DIY chains, which should make things much easier and cheaper when the time comes.

When the time comes will depend on the reappearance of the Amazing Disappearing Plumbing Contractor. We should have an update on that following the meeting tomorrow morning when we hope to get the window situation finalised with the builder, leaving it clear for him to order them. I mentioned previously that we might have been able to get a quote for the whole window contract from the other supplier who tendered, but it turns out that they only quoted for supply, not supply and fit, and it's not worth getting them to redo the quote at this stage.

So it looks like we will be sticking with the original supplier, ordering custom ironmongery and removing the front door from the whole order to seek one ourselves elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the builders came back today and shuttered the foundation area:

It doesn't look like much, but this evening I walked around in the space and for the first time really got a feeling for what it will be like when it's built on.

I also took some measurements, which I'm a little concerned at. The distance the extension comes back from the building line should be 4m, and it's only short by about 8cm, which is fine. The width, however, is over by about 20-30cm,which means the side passage width is reduced. I really want the side passage to be at least 1m in width and that's not how it's looking now. I should find out tomorrow if it's gone wrong and if it's too late to have it changed.

Window shopping

On Friday we trekked up to the window place to look at their wares. There were a few issues relating to the windows themselves. They are supplied with built-in vents which strikes us as a potential source of noise. There's appropriate venting in most of the rooms already, and in those without we'd prefer to pick where it goes rather than it being stuck to the windows. Thankfully they can be supplied without.

The ironmongery was a bigger problem: the handles are supplied coated in a matt grey plastic, which the supplier describes as "chrome" against all reason. The only alternative is brass, to which we both have an aversion. So on Tuesday Dara went to an ironmonger and found that we are not the first to have a problem with the handles from this particular windowmaker, and they have a line specifically designed to fit their windows. Replacement handles will likely cost a grand or so. We may compromise on the internal doors to save money for this.

The front door from this window company proved to be an even bigger problem. It seems that doors which don't have a handle on the outside are something of a rarity these days, and Dara won't have anything else. The side-lights and top-light were also a problem as these have their own independent frames instead of sharing a frame with the door. This legolike approach, leaving a double-thick frame around the door, would be a particular problem for the top-light where it would wind up taking as much space as the glass itself.

It looks like the least-nuclear option is to drop the front door from the order and get one elsewhere. There was another quote from a different supplier provided to the engineer in response to our tender. An alternative might be to go with that, though we haven't been able to get the document from the engineer yet. It's quite possible that they'll be just as unsatisfactory.

The builder wanted to order the windows yesterday. Funnily enough, that didn't happen.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday the tiles and bathroom suite were delivered and, what with the floors from last week, our front hall is increasingly coming to resemble a builder's yard:



Building work resumes on Monday with the next phase of foundations.

End of term meeting

Yesterday was the last day of work before the Easter holiday. It started with a meeting between ourselves, the project manager, the site manager and the foreman. The chief item on the agenda was windows. The builders are keen to get the order for our windows placed, and had been given a detailed specification for our house by the window company.

So we went through the elevation plans window by window, approving or correcting what they had intended to give us. The only big serious sticking point was the front door: the one they had chosen was very different from what we want.

Today, then, we will be visiting the window supplier's showroom to pick ironmongery, discuss glass specifications, look at options for obscuring the bathroom windows, find out what sort of paint job they'll deliver with, and decide on a front door. There's one on their web site that we like and will probably go for.

The site manager said that a revised schedule for the whole project would be issued some time yesterday but I've not seen that. From what he said, it sounds like they have yet to decide when they want to rip the kitchen apart, or what facilities they're going to give us when this happens. Part of the problem seems to be that the plumbing contractor has been unreachable. He should have our heating system options drawn up by now as well. The project manager and builder will both be chasing him.

Digging work on the foundations continued as normal during the day.


I think they're about ready to lay the wood and pour the concrete, but now that won't happen until Monday week.

More of the same

Today: more smashing, more digging, more bits of orange string.


It's starting to look quite archaeological out there:


Meanwhile, these wooden structures arrived.

I take it they're part of the shuttering arrangement for the foundations.

Arrgh! Surprise flooring!

I came home today to find the living room like this:


That would be the flooring we bought back in January which I had arranged to be delivered next Tuesday. I still have no idea how they got it in here as the builders only have access to the side and back doors, neither of which are at all convenient. And those boxes are seriously heavy -- something I know from having moved them all into assorted nooks and crannies around the house this evening.

The digging of foundations continued today and some steel mesh arrived.


It seems that work each day begins with the breaking-up of the patches of spare concrete which spilled when the piles were poured...


...leaving neat stacks of it for disposal.


They are then digging a trench which links up all the piles, which will be lined with timber and filled with concrete.


At the current rate of going I really can't see it being done by the end of the week.

Surprise me, lads. Just not with flooring, OK?

End of week four

According to the original schedule, we are now one-sixth of the way through the entire project, but it doesn't look that way to me. More excavation took place yesterday, though the shuttered trenches into which the foundations will be poured have not yet materialised:


The purpose of the mysterious wooden structures has finally become apparent: supports for low-hanging washing lines, of course.

Got piles: feels great

First off, an update on that worrying piletop from yesterday which looked like it was supporting nothing more than the side passage: a morning inspection revealed that it wasn't a pile but a couple of inches of tube sitting on top of the ground, so only four piles went in yesterday.

Lots more tubes arrived at 8am this morning. Each pile is made up of six of them stacked on top of each other. They are inserted using a technique called "bottom driving" (who makes these terms up?) , and the foreman says they have been sliding into the soil very easily, so poor is the integrity of the surrounding ground. A machine on-site monitors for movement in the original house at all times, but none has been detected so far -- again because the earth is so soft here.

Today the final six piles went in and were filled with concrete and reinforcing steel rods.


Once the concrete has set, the piles will be joined up on the surface by a framework to form a ring-beam foundation. The extension goes on top of that.

Going underground

Today, work began on driving the hollow steel tubes into the ground. A total of five have been buried so far:

I'm assuming that the concrete gets poured into these. Work on these is still scheduled to finish on Friday, allowing the break to be used as setting time. Highly efficient.

Here's a closer look at three of the pipe-tops:

I'm a bit concerned by the fact that the one furthest back here, beyond the yellow buckets, will be supporting the side passage rather than any of your actual walls. Still, I'm sure that they know what they're doing, and I know they have insurance.

The original specification had been for eight metres deep, but we learned today that this has been changed to twelve metres. Thankfully the extra cost is minimal.

I don't know if this is the full twelve, but it's further than my camera flash goes.

Piece pipes

Work recommenced bright and early this morning. By close of business there wasn't much to see -- just some marker stakes and about thirty metal tubes strewn about the site:


I take it from this that measuring and calculations were the chief activity today. The foreman says it'll be done by the end of the week, though the cynic in me reckons that has more to do with the upcoming Easter break than any principle of construction management.

Site summit

As I said yesterday, the project manager, builder and piling contractor met at the site today. Work is now scheduled to commence on Friday when the builders will come back and do some preparatory work. On Monday at 9, then, the heavy machinery will arrive and work on the foundations will begin properly.

Mostly quiet

The only site-related activity today was the appearance of a man to empty the portaloo in the front garden. An important part of the construction process, of course, but not especially productive in and of itself.

The project manager and builder have retained the services of a piling contractor but it looks like it'll be next week before they're ready to start work. Tomorrow all three parties will be meeting at the site to discuss how it will work and, importantly, how long it will take. We've been told to expect delays, but we don't know how much or what it might cost us yet.