Wow! What a difference a week makes.......

We took a cheeky winter holiday and got out of the way of the builders for a week and my word they took advantage of that opportunity!

A reminder of what we are aiming for..........

 

List of jobs accomplished while we were away

• All but one of the steel lintels are installed and all bar one of the new openings between rooms created. 
• Kitchen fully opened up and the old chimney removed completely - roof to floor.
• Kitchen floor infilled with concrete ready for the latex self-levelling screed next week.
• New drain dug through the back lobby and storeroom
• First floor remodelled with stud walls and doorways moved to create new store and entrance to master bedroom extension and the spare bedroom - Henry's old room is no more.
• All the insulation is in the walls of the new extension (more on this below) and the external membrane is on and ready for the aluminium/zinc coated cladding (Vieo by Euroclad) which begins to be installed on Monday - more about this next week
• First fix electrical done in the new extension
• Floor screed down in the garden room extension and levelled to meet existing.

 Phew!!!

On the downside we have no central heating at the moment and no kitchen - however, as we are only living in 3 rooms we can keep those warm with the open fire and electric heaters.

We also have to get cracking with final decisions about certain aspects of the lighting, kitchen and bathroom fittings and get them ordered so we are not holding up the build. A weekend of planning ahead of us I think!

The kitchen is looking pretty clear now so here are some before and after (hopefully) pics

The size of the new window can be seen here - it will be lower than the original with  window seat under

Artist's impression looking from the same point as the picture below

 

We have some key dates in the program firmed up and the really good news is that the windows have been fabricated and are ready for installation on the 8th February - that same day we start replacing the old concrete tile roof covering with a new slate one.

The mechanical ventilation and heat recovery kit has been delivered by CVC Direct and is awaiting installation.  Next week we have to agree the routes for all the ducting - this is easy in the new build parts of the house but more of a challenge in the original part.

 

Now for some geeky bits! 

 

The insulation board that we are using is  Xtratherm (on the left of the pic above - really thick) this is being used in the new extension between the timber framing with chipboard and plasterboard over.  To the right here you can see this taking shape in one of the new bedrooms.

We are also using  Kingspan Kooltherm - I think this is for extra layer of insulation where we have existing filled cavity or block walls. We are looking to achieve U values of around 0.2 W/m²k - building regs want 0.3. To give you an idea of the improvement our previous house (Victorian) had an uninsulated solid brick wall with a U-value of around 2.70!! 



No wonder it was cold...and then there were the drafts (especially the sash windows and where the walls and floorboards met) - drafts will be banished here because we are aiming for a pretty airtight construction!

Fabric First - it is all about the envelope!! Hopefully this will lead to some serious savings on our energy bills and a lovely comfortable living environment - once we get the job finished!!