Phase 2 Starts....

[MdB]

Builders have been here for three days now. The house is now looking rather sad.

On the plus side, building control are finally happy with the plans (and found our payment that they had lost) and there have been a few finds:

The thing on the left is a rain hopper of some description. The beer(?) bottle will be added to the collection but the milk bottle will be recycled.

The builders also uncovered the bumper of a car (I would guess Morris Minor as the previous owners were fans). I am just hoping that the rest of the car isn't attached...

 

[Penners]

That car must have been dropped from a hell of a height... :shock:

 

[JohnB]

Apparently I've got a couple of cars buried in my field, along with other things :roll:.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Better check there isnt a medieval king buried alongside it.

 

[JohnB]

Better check there isnt a medieval king buried alongside it.

I wouldn't have thought so. They'd have had something grander than a Morris Minor.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Better check there isnt a medieval king buried alongside it.

I wouldn't have thought so. They'd have had something grander than a Morris Minor.

A Buick Regal perhaps?

Of course, Richard III who they've just dug in a car park in Leicester, was heard to exclaim "A hearse, a hearse, my kingdom for a hearse" as they loaded him into a transit van on the site.

 

[Penners]

Better check there isnt a medieval king buried alongside it.

I wouldn't have thought so. They'd have had something grander than a Morris Minor.

A Buick Regal perhaps?

Or a LANCia?

 

[MdB]

Barney guarding our poo pipe. You will be glad to know it didn't get nicked whilst he was looking after it.

This pipe is temporary and has replaced the pitched fibre pipe which ran almost along the same line. As you can see it runs rather close to the surface and has a fall of 1:200 which is why it needs replacing. The new sewage system will be 1:40 to 1:60.

The extension is making progress with the foundation trenches dug. Hopefully they will be full of concrete shortly.

Unfortunately, the last of the old extension hasn't been demolished as we have structural issues with the old RSJ that is holding up the back of the house. One end is balanced on the end of the stone wall and the stone just isn't strong enough to take that amount of weight. At the moment, the old block work is keeping everything were is should be but there might be a failure if it is removed. The plan - being currently ok'ed by a structural engineer - is to fit a steel box section upright under the dodgy end, however digging the foundations for this may be an issue.

Better progress is being made with the chimney.

The wooden shuttering is shaped for the chimney gathers and to support the first of the flue sections.

From the inside it is a bit easier to see the shape of the gathers - 60 deg slope on the left and 45 deg slope on the right as the centre of the chimney is 60mm off the centre of the fireplace. Shortly - I very much hope - the new lintel will be fitted into the slot I cut into the stone visible on the left. This will reduce the opening size down to that suitable for the size of the chimney liner.

Still lots to do though.

 

[Penners]

Still lots to do though.

I'm glad you clarified that for us, MdB. I thought the place looked virtually finished. :wink:

Barney looks like an excellent deterrent to the pipe thieves. He's clearly a rabid, ferocious man-eater.

 

[MdB]

Concrete delivery today.

 

[Penners]

So that'll be the footings for the ballroom, then?

(And I'd tend to do something about the nasty lean on your walls - even if it's only with Photoshop!)

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Looking at the two pics, I think you'd better check the trench for the small boy. He's gone missing. 8)

 

[MdB]

Once upon a very long time ago - when I still had some hair, we had a room with a beautiful gas fire and back boiler surrounded by wood chip covered dry lining. It was lovely...

(June 2008)

For some strange reason (damp + gas prices) we decided to rip all of this out. Behind it all we found a rather damaged stone wall (another story) which had a lintel made from two old mining drills. This was a rather interesting find and our first indication that the house was originally a mining cottage rather than a farm labour's cottage. Unfortunately the drills would have originally overlapped the stone on either side by about 30mm which isn't a lot and with our stone it was no surprise that the supports had crumbled and had to come out.

(March 2011)

We didn't want to lose such an unusual part of the history of the house so we had the drills attached to a big lump of steel so that they could be refitted and still have something to hold the chimney up.

I cut new slots into the stone to take the new lintel - this was rather easy as the stone is very soft. The new position is about 200mm lower than the original position as this was required to meet building regs for the new flue size.

Once in position I was able to rebuild the wall and fill in the hole.

(it is just begging for a flat screen TV to be mounted in the middle of that wall...)

I left the end of the drill exposed so we can show it off to visitors...

In other news, the final part of the old extension has been demolished and the foundation blocks have been laid outside.

 

[Penners]

Well, MdB, you may have had some hair, back when you posted a thread about finding those drills, but I was as bald then as I am now. I comfort myself by imagining this means that you've aged faster than I have, during those four years (and looking at the work you've had to do, it's hardly surprising)!

But that's a great job. Excellent that you've found a way to preserve those details of the house's history.

 

[MdB]

I comfort myself by imagining this means that you've aged faster than I have, during those four years!

Very likely true...

Also true is that during those 4 years, average life expectancy has increased by a year so effectively you have only aged 3 years during that time! It's a buy three years and get one free offer

 

[Penners]

...but unfortunately only one is allowed per applicant.

 

[MdB]

...but unfortunately only one is allowed per applicant.

Provided "as is", no returns, no refunds, non transferable and is the sole responsibility of the recipient. May incur damages arising through use or misuse. Additional parts sold separately. Your mileage may vary. Terms and conditions apply. Other restrictions apply.

 

[Penners]

Alas... all true.

 

[MdB]

To play around with the foundations for a steel post, we have had to expose our underfloor heating system so I thought I would post a pic.

At the bottom you have a layer of concrete. Next is 100mm of Celotex with the underfloor pipes clipped to it. The pipes are multilayer plastic with a middle layer of aluminium to stop oxygen transfer. Finally there is 75mm of screed.

 

[MdB]

Our garden has taken a bashing over the last couple of weeks.

Before it rained...

and after...

As we are on top of clay, any large amount of rain saturates the ground above the clay layer causing very high local water table levels. This is outside (obviously) but we have seen similar high levels inside the garage.

Fortunately, the builders installed the new sewage treatment system before the rain arrived but unfortunately, it was overwhelmed by the ground water levels.

The plan is to fit an additional ground water drainage pipe underneath / besides the outflow pipe going to the stream. The will hopefully keep the ground water levels below that of the seam in the tank and therefore stop it filling up. I'm going to speak with the manufacturer tomorrow to see if this makes sense.