Bertie's New House

A quick view of what we have been up to

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# posted by Andrew : 5:36 PM

Friday, November 17, 2006

Welcome back home

Sorry if you have missed our posts - we moved back in on the 2nd November but because of a succession of BT mess ups, surpassing all the BT problems we have previously had with this project, we only got our broadband back a few days ago to enable us to upload.

This will be our final post since, although there are lots of things to do, the project is now at an end, and a successful end too, and we have a delightful bunch of flowers from the family to welcome us back in to our new (old) home. Not everything has gone perfectly and with the benefit of hindsight we would have done a few things differently but the great thing is that all those issues are incredibly minor against the totally of the outcome which is very much to our liking.

In the last couple of weeks we have been tweaking a few things - guttering, AV system, curtains but we are pretty much there and we can enjoy improving and changing things at a less frantic pace. On our photostream (top left) you can see the final set of photographs enhanced by the autumn sun that we enjoyed in the days after moving back in.

We hope you have enjoyed following the journey with us

# posted by Andrew : 10:40 AM

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Moving back in two weeks

Yesterday was the last "big day" - final carpet laid, new furniture delivered and beginning of the final touches. There are still lots of flat packs to install but we expect to do most of that over the next week. Photos to follow later

# posted by Andrew : 7:11 AM

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Open day for the neighbours

Sorry about the lack of posts recently but it is hard to take pictures of painting which is what we have been doing throughout most of September. But now, with the radiators, blinds and upstairs carpet installed we felt we were ready to be open for viewing. So today we had open house for the neighbours to thank them for their forbearance of our disturbance to the street and to satisfy their curiosity.

I think everyone enjoyed what the saw and we had some nice comments about what we have been doing. So there are a few loose ends to mop up over the next few weeks to get ready for moving back on 2 November. (In case you are wondering the blue thing in the ceiling is the smoke alarm which still has its dust cap on).

# posted by Andrew : 10:09 PM

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Just the painting now

The builders have gone off for the holiday and the house is pretty much complete internally although there is a quite a long snagging list still to sort. The final part of the staircase was installed on Thursday and Friday. It is really eyecatching although you cannot see it at its best in the pictures because it is yet to be cleaned up and still has the protective cover on the banisters until the furniture is taken upstairs. The design has achieved what we wanted - a modern, open, suspended staircase but safe to use with sturdy but attractive handrails on both sides.

We have now cleared the downstairs area for painting - see picture in photostream which also show some of the lighting - after which the last thing, the radiators, can go in.

There is still restoration and tidying up work to do outside plus a dispute with the supplier of the new garage doors to resolve but we are nearly there. When do we move back in? - that is not certain yet but it depends mainly on the carpets and blinds for which we still await delivery dates - but we hope before the end of September.

# posted by Andrew : 12:29 PM

Sunday, August 20, 2006

And the garden's doing fine(ish)

If you look back to 28th April I showed you the espalier pears in bloom - just to demonstrate that the garden was not being ignored.

Well, to make the same point here they are again with a pretty good crop of fruit coming.

The two varieties generally alternate in giving the best crop but they are both strong this year. Otherwise the garden has done OK but without regular attention and in dry weather some bits have not dome so well. We have just finished cropping french beans, and still have potatoes, courgettes and salad crops and some others to over winter.

# posted by Andrew : 12:02 PM

Friday, August 18, 2006

By popular demand

Having received criticism in the last few days about the lack of updates, I have rushed to remedy the lack of information.

Well we are nearly there but the final tasks seemingly stretch on, not helped by all by the onset of the holiday season. But we cannot complain too much because our bit, the painting, is also lagging.

In the last couple of weeks we have seen the stairs completed, most of the outstanding electrics installed, the ventilation system that circulates air upstairs in now commissioned as is the new shower room. The coming week should see the garage and garden completed, the balustrade to the stairs installed and most of the major snagging issues dealt with. And then we will be virtually there (apart from the cleaning, the painting, the carpet, the blinds, the furniture. . . . . ! )

Best estimate for moving back is latish September but that might be disturbed by events in Andover. Come back next weekend to see more of the interior when contractors clutter has been removed, including the completed stairs with balustrade - which is one of the reasons we started all this!

# posted by Andrew : 8:30 PM

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Sorry no pictures this time

This week has been a very hectic week indeed. Quite a lot has been done and we are closer to completion but what I have not had time to do is get some up to date pictures.

Electrics are mostly done but there are still delays in completing on the lighting. Progress has been made on wiring up the new TV system, we now have oak treads on the stairs (or at least on all bar one of them) and he new garage doors are fitted, although we have to get the suppliers out because of quality problems with them. Also the revised layout of the front garden is virtually complete and the fence which has surrounded the site is now down so at last it is possible to see properly how it will look - or you would be able to if I had taken some pictures.

Chief painter Dilys has made a lot of progress but there is much to do especially downstairs which, because of the open nature of the house, cannot be progressed until we are clear of other work. Upstairs however is much more advanced.

So come back after next weekend to see how it looks during which time we are hoping to get all the various outstanding issues moved on and the works pretty much complete. The two final installation tasks are the balustrade to the stairs and the downstairs radiators. The balustrade is still presenting some issues because of the uneven level of the first floor, especially around the new stair well. The radiators will follow final decoration

# posted by Andrew : 6:08 PM

Friday, July 28, 2006

Nearer but not yet

So today another target passes. Even though we continue to loose time it has been a pretty good week and especially pleasing to see the downstairs flooring laid and working out so well. The tiles and the timber floor abut together perfectly - the colour in the picture is influenced by the early morning light and the wood and tiles look redder than they do in full light.

Next week the AV systems are installed, the garden should be finished and the new garage door, which was delivered today, will also be installed.

# posted by Andrew : 7:24 PM

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Paint a whole house

What a of house to paint! We have taken out quite a few walls but there seems to be plenty of them left to paint and Dilys and I have got a long job on before it is all done. We have concentrated on ceilings - Dilys' speciality (!) and those wall near where vulnerable flooring is about to go down.

The electricians are behind with the final fix but were in over the weekend to partly catch up and we now have the power circuit restored to downstairs. This coming week is going to be largely taken up by flooring downstairs but we also have our new bed arriving. We have settled upon a new layout for the front garden and work will begin on that this week because finishing off in the house cannot continue until the floors are laid and sealed.

We are going to miss our beginning of August target completion - although the work will be substantially complete there will be finishing to do after that - not to mention painting which will take us most of August.

# posted by Andrew : 12:13 PM

Friday, July 14, 2006

18 weeks in

Well, another week has passed, making 18 in total and perhaps we will see most of the job complete, bar the snagging, in another three. The first floor is nearing completion of construction now that the new floor has been laid in the main bedroom and our new wardrobes installed. But there is an awful lot of painting to do.

Downstairs is further behind and there is only a week to go before the new floors go own there. Next week will be finishing of plastering and final fix of electrics - plus for us - a lot of painting.

# posted by Andrew : 7:57 PM

Monday, July 10, 2006

New stairs arrive

Changing the stairs was one of the original design objectives so it has been frustrating to wait such a long time to see this essential element in place. There are three elements to the stairs of which this, the suspended steel framework, is the first. Each step will then have an oak tread to match the oak floor which will be installed below and then there will be a glass and steel balustrade.

And that is not all that happened today. The housing for the main tv was also delivered and installed and the window fitters are back finishing off their installation and also fitting the front door. Meanwhile upstairs the oak flooring to the main bedroom has been installed.

This will be a busy week so come back again to see developments.

# posted by Andrew : 3:01 PM

Thursday, July 06, 2006

4 months have passed

It is four months since we moved out and we are now beyond the original completion date. We now hope that all the internal work will be finished by the end of this month although this will depend upon everything going to plan from now and all the various contractors interlinking as intended. The plasterers have moved downstairs which is beginning to look more like a house and less like a building site, especially now that the floors have been screeded and the work on the ceilings has begun.

Yesterday the direct link between the garage and the kitchen was closed off to make the larger downstairs toilet/cloaks. Next week, according to the plan, the new floor will be laid in our bedroom, the wardrobes and the stair steelwork will be installed and the electricians will be starting the final fix. So come back and see how that has worked out.

# posted by Andrew : 8:07 AM

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Now you can see what was behind the scaffolding

So the scaffolding is down and you can see the design as one for the first time. Hope you like it - we do!

A bit of scaffolding remains so that the rendering across to 2A can be refreshed. When that is done and the new cedar garage doors are in place the font facade will be be virually in its final form.

# posted by Andrew : 2:01 PM

Slow but steady

We continue to progress but the pace is slow and a July end date now looks less likely. The success of the week is the new fireplace feature. We wanted to use the old ripple marked sandy limestone that was such a significant feature of the old living room but no-one was sure that it would work and in particular how the stone would cut. Go to May 14th to see the original blocks which had to be cut to 100mm thick to work in this design. Well, as you can see right, it has been a great success and captures the old feature in a new setting, although it will be better set off when the walls are plastered.

Meanwhile most of the other work is continuing upstairs where plastering is now complete in all but one bedroom and the new shower room is on its way to be fitted out. The new doors for the upsatairs rooms are also now on site. We have work to do to get some painting done upstairs before the final fitting out takes place so we are eager to see the first floor completed.

# posted by Andrew : 7:53 AM

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Nine weeks in and a busy one too

Carpenters, electricians, bricklayers, plasters, tilers, window installers and ventilation installers have all been here this week, sometimes getting in each others way and undoing each others work - it reminds you of the proverbial London buses. Upstairs is now proceeding apace but downstairs is lagging quite a bit behind. Next week the scaffolding will probably be coming down which will make it easier to see what is going on, so before that happened we took the precaution of having the chimneys repointed. The most visible progress is with the tiling and plastering. Tiling upstairs is now virtually complete but with most of the ceilings down and new walls there is a lot of replastering to do. Come back next week and, scaffolders permitting, you will see better how the house is changing.

More internal pictures in the photstream

# posted by Andrew : 7:52 PM

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Pretty good progress

The fine weather this week has brought some rapid progress. The windows arrived on Monday and by the end of the week many of them are now installed. We are very pleased with them, the dark grey powder coating is very striking and will look even better when the cedar cladding is in place, which should now happen next week. There is a mixture of opaque glass (as in the side windows) and clear (as in the sliding garden windows). Meanwhile inside, the pasterboard and insulation have been going in to form the interior walls upstairs. We now have a new programme with expected substantial completion in mid July. But that then leaves the front garden plus all the decorating.

# posted by Andrew : 3:57 PM

Friday, May 26, 2006

We now have a roof

This week has got better as it has gone on. The low point was Monday evening - we had had three days of heavy and sometimes very intense rain. Over the weekend the house had become awash as the tarpaulins over the open roof failed to cope and this got worse on Monday as the rain continued and the roofing team decided they could not cope with the conditions either. Fortunately from Tuesday onwards the weather has been reasonable, and sometimes excellent, and so now the roof work is virtually complete, not only on the main roof which you cannot see in this picture but on the side roofs which characterise this design.

So, so far so good, but this step does not detract from the fact that the project has lost momentum. The contractors we need for carpentry, plastering and window installation, who were all scheduled in on the original plan to have happened by now, have gone off to do other things (including finding the sun in Spain) and the estimate now is that the project will overrun by 5 weeks or 30% which is bad news.

We are off to the IAH 50th anniversary meeting in France tomorrow so we hope to see better progress when we are back. Next report in a weeks time

# posted by Andrew : 10:08 PM

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Probably the only blue sky this weekend

Ready for the new roof and none too soon. The wet weather over the last few days and continuing into the weekend has been too much for the tempoary covers and the house is pretty wet inside.

I took advantage of one of the few bright spells to take an outside (see right) and an inside (see the photostream) view of our bedroom minus roof and front wall.

# posted by Andrew : 7:49 PM

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Not the best time to have the roof off

The structure for the new roof is now being laid over the old dormer prior to the latter being dismantled. This means that right now there are quite a few places open to the elements. So this is not the time we really wanted a spell of wind and rain. But we will have to put up with it for the next few days until the roof proper goes on next week. The structure of the two story bay is taking shape and the cedar cladding has arrived (and it has a great aroma, especially when wet). The cedar look very nice against the grey coating of the steel. Also next week we expect to see the interior walls start to go up and, with a bit of luck even the windows which will really look like progress.

Marian in France chided me for complaining that we were running a few weeks behind. Where she is, she reminds me, that is the norm and to be on time demonstrates an unprofessional overeagerness.

# posted by Andrew : 6:21 PM

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Two months in

Well its nine weeks now since we started and although the project is beginning to move again we have yet to regain the former momentum. We had another "Grand designs" moment last week when Dave, the project manager, had his car burst into flames while he was on the M40. Fortunately he managed to save both himself and our plans but some more time was lost. We hope for lots of action this week .

In the meantime this weekend we sorted the stone from the old fireplace. We intend to repeat something of the same effect in the new fireplace but the area will be smaller and we wanted to be sure we had the best pieces. We don't know how it will work because the stone will need to be cut into thinner slabs and it might not be robust enough to stand it - but I am optimistic. Dilys is working with scraper and toothbrush and removing a couple of decades of blutack from mounting our our Christmas cards every year.

# posted by Andrew : 8:56 PM

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Progress at last

Well maybe it was better to wait the extra day, because the weather today was much kinder for the delicate and exposed operation of lifting the steel frame for the extension into place. Getting the crane into position was an art in itself including missing all the telephone wires and we needed Bruce and Pam's front access to provide working space.

It is all there, looking very dramatic but a bit rickety until it is braced against the existing structure. It took all day lifting the sections, threading them through the scaffolding, supporting them by the crane while they were levelled and bolted into place, some of them through the roof to link up with the internal steel girders already in place. It is the first piece of external construction after so much demolition and now the street can see roughly the shape of things to come. To see more look at the small selection of the many pictures taken today in the photostream.

# posted by Andrew : 6:12 PM

Monday, May 08, 2006

And still nothing happened

Well it was supposed to be today - and everyone was saying it was on Friday, but then the crane hire company pulled out - Grand Designs really mised out on this one! Come back tomorrow when we hope for better news and some action.

# posted by Andrew : 9:22 AM

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

So nothing happened!!

Sorry if you have dropped by expecting to see the promised action, because there has not been any!

The steel fabricators have missed their second (or is it third) delivery date and every one is very unhappy. If this were "Grand Designs" it would be the moment the producer had been waiting for. Client mad with project team for spending his money and not keeping the suppliers up to the mark; other contractors unhappy because their carefully planned schedules and other customers are being messed about and everyone unhappy with the delay by the steel fabricator.

As I post this the best revised date is next Monday but that is not yet assured. So stop by again and see if it is client's anger or new steelwork that is rising.

If you look carefully you will see there has been action of one kind. Dilys and I gave the crab apple a very heavy prune while we had ease of access. I am sure Keith will tell me that it was the wrong time of year and I have done it too heavily, but it is well established and we hope it will survive.

# posted by Andrew : 2:09 PM

Friday, April 28, 2006

It's been a long Easter break

Not much has been happening on the house for the last week or so, but I thought you might like to see the very nice pear blossom in the garden which has not been affected by the cool spring and is looking as good as ever and with a good prospect of a reasonable crop.

As predicted the delay in the delivery of the structural steelwork meant that there was little for anyone other than the electrics team to do over after Easter. They have now done their work and the first fix is now virtually complete.

The next big day will be next Wednesday, 3 May,when the steel constructors will be on site and the front elevation should quickly transform. Your reporter will be there with his camera so take a look at this site soon after to see how things have progressed

# posted by Andrew : 3:07 PM