tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72738116631560201422024-03-05T15:39:10.025+00:00future simple passivebuilding a contemporary, low energy, sustainable family hometarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-42190562829743321732016-10-04T13:06:00.000+01:002016-10-04T13:06:20.441+01:00Stroud Eco Open Homes<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As usual I need to preface my blog with apologies for the lack of updates! I always mean to do some posts and then life just seems to get in the way... </span><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;">Hopefully I'll get around to posting some recent shots of the house and interiors. I'm definitely planning to share my forays into building a sustainable garden. Bet you can't wait?! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">For those who live nearby you might be interested in coming along next Saturday to see the house for yourselves, as we are participating in <b>Stroud Eco Open Homes</b>. This is event is part of the <a href="http://www.stroudvalleysshowcase.org.uk/" target="_blank">Stroud Valleys Showcase</a> - A wonderful week of interesting events showcasing sustainable projects and practices in our area.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> We'll be opening the house to the public from 11am-3pm, it is free of charge however donations to <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TransitionStroud/" target="_blank">Transition Stroud</a>, </i>the organising body,<i> </i>will be very much appreciated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-22794174310335292052016-01-31T20:24:00.000+00:002016-01-31T20:26:06.542+00:00Cash Flow Nightmare<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">It's been a while since I last posted. Hope everyone is well! It's strange to realise that although I've not had this blog at the forefront of my mind it still has it's own life and I impressed by how many views we continue to get. Many thanks to all of you out there - I hope you have found it interesting and helpful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We recently chatted to the very lovely Ben of <a href="http://www.houseplanninghelp.com/">HousePlanningHelp.com</a> and recorded a podcast with him all about budgets and finance. </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I've got lots of updates to do and this seemed like a good time to put on an archived draft post all about our finances during the build. I neglected to mention a lot of this in the podcast, I think my mind has tried to block a lot of this out (apologies to Ben)! As I say in the podcast the build was do-able but without a doubt the financial side of the project was the hardest part of our build. If you would like to listen to the podcast you can find it here - <a href="http://www.houseplanninghelp.com/hph113-budgeting-for-our-eco-home-with-tara-murphy-and-dimitri-daras/">Budgeting for our Eco Home</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I wrote the post below as a form of catharsis but Dimitri asked me not to post it during the build in case of any repercussions as nothing was in our hands and we didn't want to upset the lenders.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Aaarrrgghhhh! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The whole mortgage & cash flow issue raised it head once again. I think this is the hardest and most stressful part of the whole project. This keeps me awake at night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">If you remember, see <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/a-fortnight.html">here</a>, early in the project the groundworks overspend blew through our contingency money and much more. We knew that we wouldn't have enough money to finish the build. But we spoke to the bank and they agreed in principle that they would be prepared to lend us more money. However, due to their procedures they could not authorise further funds until we had drawn down in full on the previously agreed amount. Well we reached that point in early June.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">To be fair, the previous two draw-downs were relatively straight-forward. When we reached a completion of a stage (ours were foundations, building the walls to the roof level, and then when we became watertight with windows and a roof), we would inform the building society, they then would instruct a surveyor to inspect the build, he would submit a new valuation and they would release some more money. It took about 10 days to 2 weeks each time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">So, at the last valuation in early June, our property had increased in value by 100K. The building society only released 30K. This was because we had reached the limit of the agreed loan amount and they do not release the final £20K until the building completion certificate is signed. We immediately asked to start proceedings to increase our loan amount. It took about a week but Dimitri was asked to do a phone interview with a Loan Administrator. She informed us that this loan would be a separate and additional product but have similar conditions regarding the release of funds i.e. they can only lend 75% of the property valuation. After crunching the numbers they gave us fantastic news that we could potentially borrow more than we were asking for, this would enable us to finish the house properly and potentially build the carport also. They sent out paperwork and a request for the usual supporting documents. We increased the loan amount request, completed the paperwork and returned it. We were confident to proceed with the work on-site knowing that the loan would be forthcoming.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">We didn't hear anything from them for a few days so gave them a call and it turned out the person who was dealing with us was absent. They passed it to a junior colleague but as they were expecting her to return soon it wasn't 'progressed' much. However, as is our recurring bad luck with all bank related matters in this project, this continued for a week or more and eventually someone else did look at it but due to the absence of the original Loan Clark another telephone interview had to arranged, and again it was another couple of days. Fast forward a couple of weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This proceeded much like the previous interview and we were told that the paperwork would now be passed to the underwriters. But in a classic Kafka-esque manner, the underwriter has refused to accept what his own loan managers have suggested and has come back with a figure lower than what we originally asked for! He has reasoned that we can't afford the larger amount but they won't back up that decision with any figures (because they can't?). The only info they will give us is that lending conditions have changed between them offering the extended loan amount and the underwriters approving it. The </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">monthly mortgage payment even with the additional higher loan amount, if it ever comes (i'm starting to believe that we are on our own now) will still be less that the monthly rental payments that we made for 3 years in Richmond, when we had a lower household income! There is no objective evidence for this conclusion but they refuse to have any dialogue and will not share their figures with us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The result for us was that we have invoices coming in for work completed and at this stage of the build we are paying for things in advance, such as kitchen, flooring, bathroom items. So this is a terrible time for cash flow issues to present themselves. A few weeks ago</span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> I had £35K worth of invoices outstanding and only £13K left in the bank. Who gets paid and who doesn't? This is people's livelihoods and everyone needs and is entitled to be paid promptly! I barely slept for nights on end. </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Luckily we were helped out with a loan from a family member. And then a few weeks later we had to borrow from another family member. </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Again, we are so grateful. We have now borrowed £55K (!) from family in order to keep cash flowing and work continuing. It's pretty distressing stuff. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The building society then informed us that the reason they are lowering the amount of money they are willing to lend to us is that they won't repay family loans. They agree we are on budget and not letting the project get out of control we have been aware of this future need for cash for a long time and they gave it outline consent. The only reason we have borrowed from family is not due to overspend but because they have been terrible at supporting cashflow! It's outrageous. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">I'm so frustrated and angry with the Building Society. We are following their procedures and it is them who are letting us down. We tried to get them to do this back in November last year, they wouldn't. They will only process loan increases once you have reached the limit of your current loan. So we needed them to process this as quickly as possible and there was just no sense of urgency. They seem to be oblivious of just how slow they are and the impact their delay of nearly 3 months, has had on us and our contractors. They are behind desks in an office but I don't think I'm being unreasonable to think that they should have a better understanding of the self-build process and the financial demands and timetables (or any building process to be frank)? There is no one who I can even appeal or complain to. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Maybe it's not bad luck. Maybe this is the same experience that everyone has relating to self-build mortgages? I have to say, that this really is the one area that government could have an impact on to facilitate self-build. Someone needs to sort out a straightforward pathway to lending and sensible and helpful specialists and managers to facilitate cash-flow. The whole process has been opaque, no one has helped us understand the criteria, the stages and the issues. We've had to figure it all out ourselves whilst constantly having to deal with the ridiculous nature of the banking system which seems to be completely divorced from reality. I've always heard people complain about the bureaucracy of the civil service, but they are nothing compared to our experience of a building society! They have the gall to tell us in almost every conversation that they are doing their best to help us whilst continuing to not do anything. It seems to be the worst type of box ticking and paper-chasing exercise, the computer says no.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Our fixed term mortgage term comes to an end in January and we will be re-mortgaging as soon as we possibly can. Not least because we need to repay our debts to family. They have mentioned that once the build is complete then they are happy to reconsider the loan amounts, but I'm afraid it will all be too late by then! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH. </span>
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tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-43155957626053126022015-06-05T11:07:00.000+01:002015-06-07T11:43:45.324+01:00Kitchen Island love<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">WOW! Our kitchen </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">continues to draw attention, featuring on </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://thekitchn.com/">thekitchn.com</a> </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">(for more of my posts see <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-sustainable-kitchen.html">A sustainable kitchen</a>, <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/kitchen-progression.html">kitchen progression</a>, <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/kitchen-installation.html">kitchen installation</a>, <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/kitchen-reveal.html">kitchen reveal</a>)</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. I</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">t's the moveable island that is the star of the show <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/this-kitchen-island-was-designed-especially-for-vegetables-dreamy-kitchens-220218">today</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Once Sam, from <a href="http://sustainablekitchens.co.uk/">Sustainable Kitchens</a>, and I </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">had the initial design and layout sorted out, I was able to start thinking about the details of 'what and where'. I imagined using the kitchen and where I would ideally like to store things and how I would use the space. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The island quickly got identified as the 'prep' area. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> So all mixing bowls, sieves, weighing scales, measuring jugs, lemon juicer, etc. would be stored here. Sam pointed out that we would be able to have storage on both sides of the island. I had been very keen on the idea of a breakfast cupboard, where all breakfast foodstuffs, cereals & jams/marmite/honey could be stored conveniently </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">close to the dining table (mornings are busy enough!). This meant that I could use the other cupboard for vegetable storage. I wanted it to be dark but also ventilated so Sam suggested cutting vents into the doors- the design of these was left until as late as possible so that we could relate it to other design choices in the rest of the house. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We looked at baskets and got a little sidetracked by metal/wire industrial style trays, but in the end I really liked Sam's idea of just making the slatted drawers from ply like the rest of the carcass of the kitchen. This was the first time Sustainable Kitchens had been asked to make this feature and they made two drawers with dividers to give me 4 different areas. This has been really was useful esp in the autumn/winter when we have squash, celeriac, beetroot, jerusalem artichokes and so on.</span><br />
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<br />tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-35386833938339802012015-05-05T19:10:00.000+01:002015-05-05T19:10:36.599+01:00Our cotswold dry stone wall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: left;">Our poor neglected entrance...We had inherited a very dilapidated cotswold dry-stone wall. It was falling down, and had a huge hole in the upper part where the services had been trenched onto site.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We had very mixed feelings about the wall. Cotswold stone is very pretty but is not an ideal building materia, with frosts it cracks and every winter loads of walls simply fall down. Also building a new wall was going to cost a small fortune, and the money was all gone... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Luckily <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/contractors-suppliers.html">Jason</a> came to the rescue. T</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">he stone from our old wall was weathered already and the creamier colour was much nicer than the newer bright yellow stone. We decided on a much lower height as I would also be planting a yew hedge behind which will eventually screen us from the road (oh, I daydream about my cloud-pruned yew hedge!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Jason first cleared the earth bank which was behind the wall, it revealed that the original wall was pretty deep. Then the stone was sorted and up we went again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I love the weathered colour and shapes. God bless Jason, he worked miracles with stone that others had declared useless. It was not an easy job but he persevered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We designed a name sign which had rods attached to the rear that we could fix into the wall. We contacted <a href="http://www.emsea-laser.com/">Emsea</a>, a local laser cutting firm in Tewkesbury which had been highly recommended by a friend. They made a very nice sign, they were a little unsure about the undressed metal but I assured them that it matched the house - we don't do shiny & polished!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The wall is probably half the height of the original. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We went for a really flat cement top which looks very smart. It l</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ooks fab - we've had loads of compliments on it. It's also less likely to fall down. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The yew is in! What a labour of love- Dad and I spent a week digging out the bed with the use of a crowbar and kango to break out the solid rock. You can see some of the larger stone piled at the back - there was a lot! We've got enough to build another wall now...</span></div>
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<br />tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-24619047364234836562015-05-04T21:20:00.003+01:002015-05-04T21:20:42.017+01:00Blog overload!<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'm soooo sorry for the blog cascade. Why the sudden flood of information? A deadline of course. For those that don't yet know- we are going to be on TV tomorrow, or today if this gets sent out in the morning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Building the dream, More4, 9pm.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Nobody told me my feet were going to be in the shot...elegant crocs!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We will see it for the first time at the same time as everyone else...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">See you on the other side!</span></div>
tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-33240538661655121612015-05-04T21:07:00.001+01:002015-05-04T21:07:39.631+01:00the entrance<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">For a long time we looked liked this...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Then Andrew and Paul built this...(cedar again)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Then we levelled the driveway, yours truly driving the roller...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Next came the gravel...(the horrid paving slabs were begged and borrowed to satisfy Building Control rules and get signed off.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dimitri constructed the raised beds on either side of the entrance...</span></div>
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tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-76087682692065699182015-05-04T20:08:00.001+01:002015-05-04T20:08:12.938+01:00The gabions<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Two of our garden boundaries were in a terrible state. Our site had been left untouched for a number of years and the plants had taken over to create a Cotswold jungle along the edges! Not only that, our hilltop position meant that the ground fell away steeply in both directions. With the landslips of the previous winter (read more <i><u><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/week-3-soakaway-hub-more-rocks.html">here</a></u></i>), and potential water run-offs, it was vital that we stablised the ground and protected our lower-sited neighbours. Gabions were the obvious solution and <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/contractors-suppliers.html">Ali</a>, our friendly local groundworker was back on site to get them sorted. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Clearing the jungle</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Clear and level</span> </td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQ_5wxqs4IENmN9IyJP77UZtB_4iYjln11_oLfxcfT7nGhI7AW0Sp6v0HfLtgBfhzaqjR37az4z0eSdkKb_csmldV60RjgmyvYpWUS-v_esvTJKfiuajeSI62YjEbIQfNcSgXMCIa_g/s1600/IMG_5730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQ_5wxqs4IENmN9IyJP77UZtB_4iYjln11_oLfxcfT7nGhI7AW0Sp6v0HfLtgBfhzaqjR37az4z0eSdkKb_csmldV60RjgmyvYpWUS-v_esvTJKfiuajeSI62YjEbIQfNcSgXMCIa_g/s640/IMG_5730.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I love gabions! I love how they look and they are super sustainable too -</span></div>
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<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">they
are constructed of locally sourced materials minimising transport
emissions and costs
</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">they
have a lower environmental cost than concrete and other construction
materials
</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">they
are permeable to water and don't allow a build up of hydrostatic
pressure behind them</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">the
baskets are flexible and the structure can adapt flexibly to forces
occurring as a result of soil movements occurring after the
construction of the gabion wall</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">winter
freeze and thaw conditions have minimal impact to the structure</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">they
can be easily colonised by plants leading to a 'green wall' and very
naturalistic aesthetic</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">the stone can be reused if a repair is needed unlike a normal concrete solution</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUyjeVRbYXWRuWOOOJNBZF_ILucgerkGg6p43zXenVDjhng8D9PHqnCtToeLUcAgeTPYw_yoNYNUQrg-shkmHQhw6FGsX3OXzDtYtwK13IaaNhhTsrhmvDZqinpDKPt8ya8I2x22R_GQ/s1600/IMG_5772.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUyjeVRbYXWRuWOOOJNBZF_ILucgerkGg6p43zXenVDjhng8D9PHqnCtToeLUcAgeTPYw_yoNYNUQrg-shkmHQhw6FGsX3OXzDtYtwK13IaaNhhTsrhmvDZqinpDKPt8ya8I2x22R_GQ/s640/IMG_5772.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWa4I7ikVpy-sW0PmaQLRF6NWrgvLbA1Px8_FX4-XLLo2aWfj779WJuLSxigLoAUN0UkT28joR79n-sj1t2DvtPnLHUeSpZYeyUw6hdxLmxRqfkJuoJ0QBEEPY2DgfnDrAJhuKiwG-g/s1600/IMG_5805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWa4I7ikVpy-sW0PmaQLRF6NWrgvLbA1Px8_FX4-XLLo2aWfj779WJuLSxigLoAUN0UkT28joR79n-sj1t2DvtPnLHUeSpZYeyUw6hdxLmxRqfkJuoJ0QBEEPY2DgfnDrAJhuKiwG-g/s640/IMG_5805.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The central gully is to allow extra planting space above.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Topsoil spread and levelled with the rest of the 'garden'.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">That was the relatively easy gabion wall done. Now for the more extensive and expensive one...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The gabions were the reason our finances became so tight at the end of the project. We had verbal agreement from our lender of further funds, so we went ahead with the work. Our lender later changed their mind, and so money allocated to other work had to be re-distributed. It was very challenging at the time, but when we look back we had no choice, this work had to be done. They were a huge unforeseen cost of about £30K in total. The shortfall of funds has meant that the house hasn't yet been completely finished. Things will come gradually now over the next few years - it's teaching me patience!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Everyone is delighted with the gabions. There have been a lot of gabions appearing in this area recently and I have to say ours are definitely the best looking - Ali knows how to make a nice, neat gabion. Retrospective planning permission was granted with no issues at all (we had had someone call planning enforcement...!). Just a shame I don't get to see them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-20918812674524709032015-05-04T20:08:00.000+01:002015-05-04T20:08:06.090+01:00Finishing the Stairs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">To finish the stairs there were a number of elements. We wanted a glazing balustrade at the top of the stairs, to span the width of the stair return. Obviously we wanted as clean and simple a look as possible, ideally floating and frameless. <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/designerarchitect.html">Charlie</a> forwarded me a gorgeous photo example but it came with a £1000 price tag! No chance, all the money had gone! But Charlie regrouped and came up tops when he found local firm <a href="http://www.aluminox.co.uk/">Aluminox</a>. Steve of Aluminox recommended his side-fixing frameless channel system. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Once the channel and glass were installed we clad the exterior in more <a href="http://dinesen.com/">Dinesen</a> Douglas Fir for a seamless look. We've also hidden an LED strip to downlight the threshold of the stairs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I eventually found the time to lye and oil the <a href="http://dinesen.com/">Dinesen</a> Douglas staircase (see <i><u><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/what-beautiful-floor.html">What a beautiful floor</a></u></i>). The lye lightens the floor and prevents the orange colour developing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As a handrail is a Building Control requirement I quickly had to come up with a design. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Done!</span></div>
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tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-76139302385603211362015-05-04T18:21:00.003+01:002015-05-04T18:21:55.671+01:00The sliding doors<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The sliding doors were made in the workshop, like the majority of the birch ply joinery and then transported assembled to site (see <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/internal-joinery.html">Internal joinery</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Lovely simple, clean lines. Unfortunately none of us had taken account of the fact that we had created a finger guillotine. So retrospective action was taken to make a cut out, so that everyone can keep their all their digits.</span></div>
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<br />tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-82549509070775041812015-05-04T18:02:00.000+01:002015-05-04T18:02:10.138+01:00Cedar Cladding- fully dressed now!<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The slates were on, the scaffolding gone, we were on to the timber cladding. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I'd got a great price from <a href="http://www.hillbarnsawmills.co.uk/">Hillbarn Sawmills</a>, based in Snowshill further north in the Cotswolds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/builder.html">Andrew</a> and Paul got on with putting on the </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Tyvek UV façade. It’s a vapour permeable water proof membrane. </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The cladding design is a rain screen and has spaces between the planks, so the membrane will be visible which is why it has to be UV stable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The house looks super-cool with a black skirt, we all had a moment of wondering whether black would be the way to go...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Andrew insisted on less easily available red treated battens which he swears will last forever, the standard green battens are a lesser grade of timber. Yours truly stained them black -now that I was living on site Andrew put me to use where ever possible!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Charlie's original concept was that we could have the planks cut from cross sections of trees, and we could minimise any cutting waste by having all different sizes of planks. Lovely idea, and I really liked the fact that the planks would all be different widths. Reality was different though, saw-mills told me that that is just not how it works, they rarely process a whole tree like that and given than the timber needs to be dried it wasn't going to be realistic option. They just wanted to know what dimensions I wanted and the quantities of each.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Looking at the random width layout</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Andrew begins the fixing using the more pricey stainless steel screws and cups, necessary as cedar sap corrodes anything else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It was Paul that did the layout and fixing and he'd found his calling, he'd got a really good eye for it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Beautiful! Over the next couple of years the cedar will silver. The planks are 50mm thick, really solid and I'm told will outlive me.</span><br />
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tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-79313760908408374362015-05-04T17:53:00.001+01:002015-05-04T17:53:09.641+01:00Goodbye scaffolding<br />
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<br />tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-70160276320304767192015-05-04T17:53:00.000+01:002015-05-04T17:53:00.729+01:00Parapet capping and watergoods<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The vertically-hung slates were on, so the parapet needed capping before we dropped the scaffold. I had got numerous quotes for folded zinc capping and the prices were eye-wateringly high mostly around the £4K mark. There was no allowance in the budget for this. Andrew came to rescue by suggesting I contact <a href="http://www.cladco.co.uk/">Cladco</a> in Devon, who supply agricultural and industrial roofing. The price difference was amazing we had dropped from quotes of £4000 excl VAT to under £700. They could fold sheets of galvanised steel to the dimensions required in 3m lengths, and were happy to cut the off-cuts to size so that they could be used as flashing on the building too! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It had been designed to have a minimal, barely noticeable appearance, capping the depth of the roof upstand. For more info about the roof read <i><u><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/building-up-roof.html">Building up the roof</a></u></i> and <i><u><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-roofing-membrane-is-laid-we-are-now.html">The roofing membrane is laid</a></u></i>. Andrew and I both felt very smug about the cost-cutting achieved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It was also Cladco that I asked to provide the folded window metal reveals for the family bathroom as that would be less than £60! </span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Then we had a over a week's delay whilst we waited on failed deliveries of our Lindab hoppers. Poor Andrew drove all the way up from Somerset solely to take receipt of and fix the hoppers (we were desperate to get rid of the scaffolding and the extra costs) but had a wasted journey, they hadn't yet arrived at the distribution depot, which was actually in Somerset anyway. It eventually turned up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Done! Quick call the scaffolders, take the scaffold away...</span>tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-9832091946284768432015-05-04T17:50:00.001+01:002015-05-04T17:50:35.265+01:00Slates go up, we are no longer naked<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As some of the cowls had been fitted, but not all as we were waiting for the corrected pieces to come back, the slaters were finally able to begin on the entrance side of the house. Their schedule had been pushed back again and again as the cowl palaver (see <u><i><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-cowls.html">The Cowls</a></i></u>) dragged on. It was now September (they had originally been booked in for March).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I probably spoke to over 15 different roofers in my attempt to find the right guy. This turned out to be <a href="http://www.allardbuilders.co.uk/home/3283163">Pete Allard</a> of P.L. Allard Builders from nearby Painswick. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Pete taking delivery of the reclaimed welsh slates.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">For a good slate rant check out my earlier post <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/more-belgian-inspiration-slates.html" style="font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline;">More Belgian Inspiration - Slates</a>. As my supplier had fallen through Pete heroically sourced the required slates from a local reclamation yard in Gloucester, at a better price than I had anticipated - HOORAY, something is going well at last. The slates arrived, we were all a little bemused by the fact that the slates had been crated and stored flat, slates should be side on for obvious reasons, but hey ho, forward action.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Lots of lovely weathering</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">First the battens had to be fixed.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Notice the bit of cowl on the scaffolding waiting to be fixed - the usual story of everything having to be done around each other.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Then the slating began...!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The slate clips looking great. This will hold the slates more securely and also allow easy replacement of broken slates. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There was a week or so delay in the middle as schedules clashed when the cowls were further delayed. When they finally arrived Andrew and Paul fixed them in place (see <i><u><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-cowls.html">The Cowls</a></u></i>) but by then the slaters were off on another job and we just had to wait for breaks in their work to allow them to come back and complete it all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Look how gorgeous though.</span><br />
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tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-62180860677633936482015-05-04T17:45:00.000+01:002015-05-04T17:45:29.575+01:00First impressions<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Joolz from <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/designerarchitect.html">CLD</a>, reminded me to note down my first impressions of the house when we moved in. Here they are...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The light, the light, the light! </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The light is amazing. The light from the big window, the light which travels through the centre of the house and then the light from the roof-lights which pours in from above. The ever-changing views have become part of our daily life as we watch the weather and light change the valleys and hills around us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The house is exceeding all our expectations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It is much more generously proportioned then we knew. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The bedrooms are more spacious than we thought they would be, especially our master bedroom. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The ensuite doesn't feel cramped and the shower is positively luxurious- the hinged shower screen was the right solution.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The paint colours are lovely, I really love the 'Tusk' upstairs- so gentle and calming.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The kitchen is amazing, even better than I hoped for and a pleasure to cook in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I am so pleased.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-88942761066404652562015-05-04T17:43:00.001+01:002015-05-04T17:44:41.756+01:00Final week - Moving in<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I have compared building your own home in the past to having a baby, the two processes have many things in common. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">No more so than the final couple of weeks before you move in. It's like being overdue by a couple of weeks. You expected that baby to be out 14 days ago and now you are thoroughly fed up. You are exhausted, uncomfortable, emotional and stressed. All you want is to get that baby (or house) out and get on with the rest of your life!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We had hoped to move the final week of August but in the end that was put back to early September which meant that in the meantime the children had a lengthy commute to their new school.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My demeanour utterly changed. My tolerance was zero, my goodwill disappeared. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It ended up being a ridiculously tight schedule of work with zero tolerance for any mistakes/delays. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The cowls were nowhere to be seen so work was focussed internally. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The painters arrived and spent a week painting the house, including the weekend. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As finances were getting ever tighter a number of jobs now fell at my feet. Seal the concrete floors, finish the Dinesen window boards & staircase, and stain and varnish all the birch ply joinery. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The bathrooms and bedrooms were pretty ready. The kitchen was installed. What more did we need? Come on already...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The scaffolding around the door was moved to allow the removal guys to get into the building.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This picture was taken a few weeks after we moved in, there were no slates when we moved in, but you get the idea - scaffolding everywhere, a ply sheet for an entrance!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">In we came.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">At last we were living in our new home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-90764846782302560322015-05-04T17:43:00.000+01:002015-05-04T17:43:38.106+01:00Curtains and Blinds<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Or a long story of changing my mind. Originally I wanted curtains. Then I changed my mind to roman blinds. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In the original design brief I had asked for recessed curtain tracks for inconspicuous design. However by the time we had got to the plastering stage I thought we were putting Roman blinds everywhere, also things were a bit rushed on site so there was no time to discuss fitting the tracks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As moving in became nearer decisions had to made. Our windows are huge, both wide and tall, and it became apparent that I would need at least 3 huge blinds just for the large window. I had wanted to sew the roman blinds myself but I quickly realised that there would be no way I was going to have enough time to do them, even for the just the bedrooms. New EU regulations have come in regarding Roman Blinds and their cord lengths (the aim is to prevent child strangulation) which means the cords hang quite high up and so the whole thing was becoming difficult. I also realised that more clean lines wasn't really what i wanted, I needed to soften the visual lines.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I undertook my usual programme of weeks of research looking at all the options and found the </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.silentgliss.co.uk/go/Products/Hand+Operated+Curtain+Track+Systems/Medium-weight+application/1200"><span class="il" style="color: #222222;">Silent</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: #222222;"> </span><span class="il" style="color: #222222;">Gliss</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: #222222;"> </span></a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.silentgliss.co.uk/go/Products/Hand+Operated+Curtain+Track+Systems/Medium-weight+application/1200">1200</a>. It's simple and elegant with a minimal aesthetic, and, on top of all that, excellent value for money. The 1200 could be used in all the bedrooms (6 floor to ceiling windows and doors). I really liked the fact that the curtains will glide silently and smoothly rather than being persuaded along the pole! It's the little things that bother you in daily life</span></span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> so it was important to me that the tracks are built to work well and last - no false economies. Silent Gliss have an reassuringly outstanding reputation.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Emma, the </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">regional <a href="http://www.silentgliss.co.uk/go/Products/Hand+Operated+Curtain+Track+Systems">Silent Gliss</a> rep, was brillant and offered to come to site. We discussed the suitability of the my preferred options, looked at colour samples and discussed stacking space, we measured up and finalised the order as all the tracks would be cut to fit exactly. <a href="http://www.silentgliss.co.uk/go/Products/Hand+Operated+Curtain+Track+Systems/Medium-weight+application/1200">Silent Gliss 1200</a> in the lovely warm gold colour in all the bedrooms.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Upstairs I needed a solution for the HUGE window. Unfortunately nothing can be fixed within the reveals as the top part is non-structural and couldn't support the weight. Also, as I had previously anticipated blinds, we'd designed the kitchen to extend almost to the window, leaving very little stacking space. We decided to use a ceiling mounted Wave system</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="color: #222222;">, the</span><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.silentgliss.co.uk/go/Products/Hand+Operated+Curtain+Track+Systems/Medium-weight+application/3840W">3840W</a>. It's pretty minimal and unobtrusive. The Wave system also allows my stacking area to be reduced as the fabric stacks evenly in front and behind the track reducing bulk.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The curtain choice turned out to be relatively straightforward. Ikea's linen ready-made curtains, AINA, are fantastic value for money. They were in the middle of changing their range but I was able to buy up their remaining stocks of white and light grey linen curtains (this involved an unplanned dash from the Bristol to Cardiff Ikea!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The plan is to dip dye the curtains in indigo if we start to find them too plain. Right now the simplicity of the single colour is working really well.</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> </span>tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-27284494900583720522015-05-04T17:32:00.000+01:002015-05-04T17:32:44.717+01:00Concrete floor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Once the plasterwork had been finished (see <i><u><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/render-and-plaster.html">Render and plaster</a></u></i>) we were able to sweep away the protective sand covering and get a good look at the concrete floor. If you remember this is, in fact, our power-floated foundation slab (see <i style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/finishing-slab.html">Finishing the slab</a></i>) which, in the end, didn't get power-floated quite enough</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. To protect our finished floor during the blockwork and plastering we decided to use sand as a breathable protective covering (see <i><u><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/up-we-go.html">Up we go</a></u></i>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It was looking good, the colour varied from greys through yellows and greens to browns, it looked quite organic and stone like in places. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Around the edges it was a little rough but nothing a bit of sanding couldn't fix.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Paul tidied up the edges with a sander and then I hired a rotary sander (hand-held one) and over a couple of days went over the whole floor until it was pretty smooth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The place where the concrete was roughest was in our ensuite bathroom area. Andrew had a go with a monster, heavy duty sanding machine with diamond-studded disc, but the results were disappointing - it had taken away the grey colour and left scratch marks everywhere</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">. Back to the drawing board.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Sealing the floor was a disaster. I used <a href="http://www.ecosorganicpaints.co.uk/store/speciality-products/concrete-sealer/cat_61.html">ECOS Organic Paints Concrete Sealer</a>. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The first coat was applied thinly using a roller, as directed, and left to dry for more than 24 hrs but after this time was still tacky. The coverage was very poor, uneven and mottled looking, despite a fastidious and careful application. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So after 48hrs another coat was applied this time using a lambswool applicator. This appeared to go on much more evenly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">But again the tackiness was</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> a problem. We thought that perhaps if we just used the floor as normal, everyday dust would eventually bring it down to a dry finish. However the floor remained sticky. Anything left on the floor stuck to it- stools, carpets, paper, etc. Also</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> when water spilt on to it the coating seemed to dissolve back to the unfinished concrete.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I asked politely for some customer support from ECOS but was disappointed. I was told after numerous emails, including being told that my application of the product looked like a joke (!), that they had never received a complaint about the product before so there must be an issue with my concrete...won't shop there again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We have gradually scrubbed down most of the floor to remove the coating, there are still a few stubborn sticky patches in difficult to reach spots under beds. We haven't yet experimented with anything else, but the floor doesn't seem to be suffering for it. We walked barefoot on it throughout the winter and it was a lovely ambient temperature due to the rarely used underfloor heating and the fact that it's a large thermal mass with super-insulation underneath, so it holds the heat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It worked out fine in the end.</span>tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-84645748189352862982015-05-02T14:51:00.001+01:002015-05-02T14:51:28.289+01:00Floor tiles<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">If you look at the floorplan for the Upstairs, to the rear of our open plan area we have a series of smaller spaces which are all about utility - the bootroom, the pantry, WC. I decided to use a more robust flooring material than the <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/what-beautiful-floor.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Dinesen Douglas</a> which covered the main living areas. To keep the palate of materials tight, slate tiles seemed like the obvious choice.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, FreeMono, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, FreeMono, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">As always the aim was to get the best I could for a minimal budget. <a href="http://www.mandarinstone.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Mandarin stone</a> do a rectangular <a href="http://www.mandarinstone.com/product/_/308/gris-riven-slate-tile/?cid=19#.VUTO33lVhBc" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">grey riven slate tile</a> for £22/m2 which is amazing value. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">Luckily the month I needed to order, it was Stone of the Month and so I got an additional 25% discount!!!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, FreeMono, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">The slate is 600 x 100, which wasn't quite the look I wanted so we cut the slates in half and continued with more herringbone... poor <a href="http://www.swcflooring.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Stewart</a> (see <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/bathroom-installation.html" style="color: #888888; font-style: italic;">Bathroom installation</a> for more herringbone tiling). </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">As usual, contrary to most peoples mistake I have ended up with loads of extra tiles again, which I'm struggling to find a use for! </span>tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-30580905988264592672015-05-02T12:48:00.000+01:002015-05-02T12:48:12.290+01:00internal joinery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">With the decision made to minimise further delays (see <u><i>T<a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-cowls.html">he Cowls</a></i></u><i>)</i> it was all about the inside joinery. We wanted to move in at the end of August so that the children could start the new academic year at their new schools. Originally I had thought that we wouldn't make it in until later in the year, but impatience got the better of me. Time to apply the pressure and get everyone moving! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We had designed the house so that upstairs, our living area, walls are floor to ceiling joinery to provide all the storage a family of 5 needs. We were using birch ply for everything due to the fact that it is inexpensive and stable. <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/designerarchitect.html">Charlie</a> had recommended a way of finishing it with a chalk stain and varnish which softened the colour and looked elegant. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The stairs were installed. Originally we had wanted to have this manufactured for us, this would have saved time on site. In the end Andrew decided that he would make them. Charlie had designed the staircase to sit within shelving, our library, which was to be constructed like all the other joinery out of birch ply. The treads however are Dinesen, to provide continuity with the flooring.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The treads are open at the top to allow light down into the hallway below.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The LED strip lighting was fitted into shelves with a small projection, it is very beautiful and gentle washes the treads with light.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The gorgeous layers of ply end-grain</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">To keep all the detailing simple and modern like the shadow gaps (see <u><i><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/render-and-plaster.html">Render and Plaster</a></i></u> ), <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/designerarchitect.html">Charlie</a> had asked that the window boards not be installed in the normal way, i.e. before the render and plaster which then comes down on top of the board. This would give a cleaner line, without the window boards projecting into the wall. As Andrew says "sounds simple, but is anything but simple!". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The </span><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/what-beautiful-floor.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dinesen</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> boards </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">were glued together and cut to size. Being</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> an exact fit, the snugness meant there was a bit of banging and shoving to get them in. We had some plaster casualties along the way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The rhythm of site changed a little during this period as Andrew and Paul stayed in Somerset to produce the large joinery in their workshop and then transported it to site a couple of weeks later.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My Command Centre, a huge piece of joinery.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Downstairs there was less joinery. There were only a few things that 'needed' doing, the budgets wouldn't allow for 'wish list' items to be done at this stage...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Both bathrooms needed a simple ply box made to allow installation of the sink and toilet.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There is one joinery wall downstairs, the wardrobe in the master bedroom partitions off the en-suite.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">No slacking please!</span><br />
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<br />tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-36457794807684241332015-05-02T11:42:00.001+01:002015-05-02T11:42:46.095+01:00The Cowls<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The cowls, the cowls, the cowls! What a palaver. This became the black hole of time and energy for the project. We worked on this part of the build for months!!! Had we known then what we know now, work on this should have begun months earlier - the beauty of hindsight!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Dimitri's favourite part of the <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/the-design.html">original design</a> were the metal window cowls. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Early on in the design process we reviewed the designs with and without them and they gave the building such character.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Not only do they look fantastic but they play a functional role in solar shading during the summer months when the sun is high. It is critically important to prevent overheating in our highly insulated and airtight home. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Easy, we all thought, we'll make them from inexpensive Galvanised Steel sheet, fix them to the walls and then slate on top. We were SO wrong!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As soon as the metal manufacturers were drafted in to consult on designs the issues became all too clear. Galvanising is done normally by hot dipping steel in a zinc bath. The zinc coating then protects the steel from rust, and even if the zinc coating is scratched then the remaining zinc will still prevent rusting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The design of the cowls meant that sheets of metal would be the most straightforward thing to use, and cost effective. However sheet metal is the worst material to hot-dip. It has a high surface area to mass ratio and the heat related expansion during hot-dips results in</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> warps, twists and buckles. Oh no!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But luckily we discovered that it is possible to galvanise using another method where the zinc is sprayed on after the metal has been fabricated to the shape required. There are obviously considerably higher costs associated with this - as always! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Steel is very heavy, so aluminium was also considered as it is 1/3 of the density. But aluminium is more expensive. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Believe me when I say this has not been easy and it wasn't inexpensive at all. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It took weeks and weeks to get through all the decisions and get the final drawing package produced as all the windows had to be surveyed on site, checked, and checked again. Then when we finally had the package we sent them out for prices and it took at least another month before we were finally in a position to be able to place the order. The fabricators also had their own drawings to produce which then had to be checked by <a href="http://www.charlieluxton.com/Charlie_Luxton/home.html">Team Luxton</a>. A complete headache for everyone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I was promised a 3 week fabrication time and unfortunately 4 weeks later the company had still not obtained the raw sheet metal. It would be another few weeks before we took delivery and then it was found that a couple of items were incorrect and so we had to wait for these to be collected and then re-fabricated...are you starting to feel the pain yet? Drivers were ill, people were on holiday, workshops were busy, etc., etc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This created a real traffic jam</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">-</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> without the cowls the slates couldn't go on</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- the scaffolding couldn't be taken down until the slates were on</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- all rainwater goods, hoppers and downpipes couldn't be fixed until the slates were on</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">- the parapet cover couldn't be installed until the slating was completed</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It also almost left us homeless as we had given notice to our old home to move out in the last weeks of August, but with scaffolding surrounding the house we wouldn't be able to get the removals firm to enter the building! </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In the end <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/builder.html">Andrew</a> and I made a strategic decision to adjust the scaffolding and focus attention internally so that we could move in regardless, they would move o</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">utside at a later date when we knew everything needed would be on site. Enough with the delays!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We decided to leave the metal work raw and undressed, including the weld marks. I love the honesty and character - very Wabi-Sabi!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Our scaffolding costs went through the roof as it had to be hired for another 6 months being no use in the meantime. Had we known the extent of the delays it would have been cheaper to take the scaffolding down and re-erect at a later date. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Once the metal work was mounted around the windows we had planned to get a welder to come and weld the separate pieces together. Another new trade about which I know nothing. My builder, </span><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/builder.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Andrew</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, and my </span><a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/p/contractors-suppliers.html" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Structural Engineer, Charles,</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> both expressed concerns about the wisdom of welding so close to our beautiful and expensive triple glazed windows. These are powder coated aluminium and we don't want their coating to run off nor the glass to melt. Another week or two of investigation and we solved the issue by only welding the outer edges. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">God bless my ever patient slaters, </span><a href="http://www.allardbuilders.co.uk/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">P.L. Allard</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">, they had originally been organised for March, then delayed to May, then told that they would be able to start mid-August and finally got on site in September!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What can I say? Condensed like this it seems like a small hiccup but it ground everyone down and had negative consequences for the relationships and morale of everyone involved. We got there in the end though! </span><br />
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<br />tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-24473957438131594752015-04-28T21:36:00.000+01:002015-04-28T21:36:44.716+01:00Kitchen Reveal<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We are the <a href="http://www.houzz.co.uk/ideabooks/47370424/list/kitchen-of-the-week-an-ecofriendly-plywood-kitchen-in-the-cotswolds">"Kit</a></span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.houzz.co.uk/ideabooks/47370424/list/kitchen-of-the-week-an-ecofriendly-plywood-kitchen-in-the-cotswolds">chen of the Week" in Houzz</a> this week, so click through to see lots of lovely pictures of our kitchen. Sam and </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Nicky from <a href="http://sustainablekitchens.co.uk/">Sustainable Kitchens</a> </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">came along with their photographer Brett to do a photoshoot of the kitchen and got these amazing shots. There are loads more on their website</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span><a href="http://sustainablekitchens.co.uk/contemporary-eco-kitchen/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sustainable Kitchens</a>- <span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Contemporary Eco Kitchen</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> so do have a look.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The kitchen is simply stunning and more than I could have hoped for. All credit goes to Sam, Charlie and their team at <a href="http://sustainablekitchens.co.uk/">Sustainable Kitchens</a>. There is a delicious daily pleasure from using this beautiful hand-crafted kitchen. Everything has solidity and weight and will last a lifetime. I always show visitors the beautiful dovetailed joints within the kitchen drawers (I'm not sure they are always as enthused as I am!) The whole design process was an absolute pleasure and no detail was too small, we worked and re-worked the design until we got a design that made me tingle with excitement. They are good, good people at Sustainable Kitchens with good hearts and a thoughtful and considered approach to business. Thank you.</span><br />
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tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-50068689568549934622015-03-18T11:04:00.000+00:002015-05-02T14:37:24.190+01:00Bathroom installation<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">With 2nd fix now fully underway we had moved from the 'fabric' part of the build into the decorative part of the build and I was now in charge of subcontracting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I approached four</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> different tilers for a quotation. The prices varied by quite a considerable degree and in the end I choose Stewart who is <a href="http://www.swcflooring.com/">SWC Flooring</a>. He came in with a competitive price, had provided two good references for me to speak to and could </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">start within the timeframe allocated (not a lot, as schedules were out the window and <a href="http://www.dodden.co.uk/Page%207.htm">Andrew</a> never gave me much notice!) and seemed a friendly and helpful bloke.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It was herringbone pattern all the way, and Stewart reported dreaming about herringbone whilst on our job!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">First was the bathroom tiles (for more info see <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/bathroom-tiles-sourcing.html">Bathroom tiles - sourcing</a>). </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Stuart was brilliant about drawing up a template first so that we could check the position of the tiles around th</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">e corners and when they met edges, this gave us a cleaner final look. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In the main bathroom we have a window above the bath which lets in loads of light but needed consideration for water protection. Tiling around the corners would spoil the look and make it too fussy so we decided to tile up to the edge and then line the window walls with metal sheet instead. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I also decided that I didn't want the tiles to go up to the ceiling - water was never going to get up there. I preferred the more restrained and simple look of just keeping in line with top of the window- all these tiny details!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Andrew and Stuart made sure that my attention was drawn to the edge of the tiles. Our <a href="http://www.firedearth.com/tiles/range/forecast/cromarty">Fired Earth Forecast tiles</a> are quite thick and made of terracota this left quite a visible raw edge. They wisely advised me to use an angle at the edge and we found a nice non-shiny brushed steel profile. It was a good call, and one aspect I had totally missed, and makes the whole thing look more finished and elegant.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.simpsons-enclosures.co.uk/product/ten-bath-screens/ten-hinged-bath-screen/">Simpson's Ten Hinged Bath Screen</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Once the tiles were in place our plumbers, <a href="http://www.cotswoldgreenenergy.co.uk/">Cotswold Green Energy</a> could install all the <a href="http://www.crosswater.co.uk/category/crosswater-taps-and-mixers/">Crosswater</a> brassware - beautiful! </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Simple lines - <a href="http://www.crosswater.co.uk/category/shower-valve-collections-central/">Crosswater Central Shower valve</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The grout colour chosen was a gentle grey, a tone or two lighter than the tiles. Too dark a grey looked like public toilets and a cream colour just looked too cottage-like. Detail, detail, detail.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.crosswater.co.uk/product/standard-shower-kits/central-shower-kit-sk984c/">Crosswater's Central Shower Kit</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I've got plenty of extra tiles left over - perhaps too many, but one at least came in handy when the drill cracked the tile during the installation of the shower screen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">For more info about the bathroom fittings we chose see <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/bathroom-love.html">Bathroom love</a>.</span><br />
<br />tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-27535027057130835062015-03-09T21:12:00.002+00:002015-03-11T15:33:12.725+00:00painting<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The painters/decorators arrived. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We had chosen <a href="http://www.littlegreene.com/paint/finish">Little Greene paints</a> - see my earlier post <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/choosing-paint.html">Choosing Paint</a>. So all paint colours mentioned below are from their range.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I was so excited to see the colours go on - they were absolutely beautiful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A '<a href="http://www.littlegreene.com/juniper-ash" style="text-align: center;">Juniper Ash</a>'<span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">colour block in the sitting room on a elegantly soft and warm '</span><a href="http://www.littlegreene.com/tusk-237" style="text-align: center;">Tusk</a>'<span style="text-align: center;"> </span><span style="text-align: center;">wall wash.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">More '<a href="http://www.littlegreene.com/juniper-ash">Juniper Ash</a>' in the downstairs hallway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I was so pleased to see how a last minute colour choice worked out so perfectly. '<a href="http://www.littlegreene.com/gentle-sky">Gentle sky</a>' ceiling and colour panel on a '<a href="http://www.littlegreene.com/limestone-238">limestone</a>' wall wash. The 'gentle sky' colour goes up all the way to the top of the skylight to meet the sky.</span></div>
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tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-61487268852820303732015-03-09T20:12:00.001+00:002015-03-11T15:33:27.198+00:00Kitchen installation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.sustainablekitchens.co.uk/">Sustainable Kitchens</a> were ready and waiting to install the kitchen. <a href="http://www.sustainablekitchens.co.uk/materials/">Charlie O'B</a> (so identified due to the extraordinary amount of Charlies we have had on this project!) arrived and set to work. The units had all been made in the workshop but the countertop had to be measured and templated onsite. Only then would we have the exact dimensions needed to fabricate the stainless steel countertop.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: left;">Charlie was supposed to have had the place to himself but with </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; text-align: left;">the plumbers and electricians busy with other jobs and trying to squeeze us in where they could, it meant that everyone was on site at once. It was very noisy and busy and meant that everyone had to do a little more jiggling and juggling to not be other's way. NOT ideal, but there was a lot of jolly camaraderie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It took only three days to install the units and then it was immediately covered in board to protect it while all the other trades continued. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">By now we were in the first week of August, and had been planning to move in at the end of this month!!! Doubts were beginning to seed... </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">My pre</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">sence on site was really limited due to the fact that we were full swing in the middle of school summer holidays and site was really not safe to bring the children to visit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A few weeks later the steel was ready and Joseph came along with Charlie to install. This was far from a straightforward task. But <a href="http://www.sustainablekitchens.co.uk/">Sustainable Kitchens</a> handled it with a cool and professional head. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Steel, unlike wood, is an unforgiving material. Wood can be planed and eased to fit like a glove. I had also asked for an experimental aspect which concerned the edge detailing- normally the steel wraps around the ply base so that you see a metal edge (we have since discovered why, as it hides a multitude of sins). I had asked for the edge to be exposed so that the steel just looked like another layer in the ply. I wanted the lighter feel that this would give to the metal countertop. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">This meant that the front edges had align perfectly or be cut/sanded so that they would be. It also meant that the bonding of the metal to the ply base had to be perfect as the edge would expose any gaps in adhesion. This aspect would normally be disguised by the wrapped edge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">A bit of head-scratching but Charlie figured it out calmly and with a smile, always up for a challenge with my experimental kitchen design! The wires you can see in the wall are the for the LED lights which have been recessed into the <a href="http://dinesen.com/product-douglas-dinesen/">Dinesen Douglas</a> shelf which wraps around the kitchen. The moveable island was finished in the <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/kitchen-progression.html">workshop</a> and wrapped in the wobble-sanded steel. It was kept out of the way and delivered the day we moved in. It is so beautiful. I'll share finished photos soon.</span><br />
<br />tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00198759218152533994noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7273811663156020142.post-89020021711380382842015-02-12T22:22:00.001+00:002015-02-12T22:22:41.532+00:002nd Fix<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">With the floor installed and then protected with a floor covering re-cycled from another site, it meant that 2nd fix could begin in earnest! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">2nd fix is when all the final finishes are installed, everything above the plaster layer; switches and light fittings, sanitary ware, flooring, paint, tiling etc. etc. It's busy, busy, busy and seems to go on forever!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The house was filled with trades - plumbers, electricians, tiler and kitchen fitter. Andrew and Paul focused on making all the internal joinery. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">There is a lot of internal joinery as most walls are actually bookcases.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">I had designed these door handles so we experimented with where to position them.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Interestingly rather than taking turns to be on site everyone seemed to prefer to be there while the other trades were there too. There was a LOT of banter - all good, so good in fact neighbouring builders were known to pop-in for lunch. Not sure how to feel about that, I'm choosing to believe it's because we've got such great group of people who are working hard in a really productive and creative atmosphere and who wouldn't want to be part of that group...!? </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The basin and sink are from <a href="http://www.bathstore.com/">Bathstore</a>, the tap and waste from <a href="http://www.crosswater.co.uk/product/crosswater-taps-and-mixers-basin-taps-and-mixers/svelte-basin-monobloc-se110dnc/">Crosswater</a>. For bathroom info see <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/bathroom-love.html">here</a>. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The elegant <a href="http://www.bauhaus-bathrooms.co.uk/category/bauhaus-towel-rails-edge/">Bauhaus Edge Towel Rail in Anthracite</a>.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.simpsons-enclosures.co.uk/product/ten-bath-screens/ten-hinged-bath-screen/">Simpsons Frameless Ten Bath Screen</a> and <a href="http://www.crosswater.co.uk/product/standard-shower-kits/central-shower-kit-sk984c/">Crosswater Shower</a> is installed. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">It goes without saying that it has not been all plain sailing. But mostly it has been fine. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This has also meant that I have needed to get to site a lot more often as lots of decisions still have to made and things checked. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Mistakes have been made and most people are on day rates so ultimately those mistakes hit my pocket! It becomes a case of coming to terms to living with the mistakes, because to redo would cost too much and take too much time. Must remember to channel Wabi-Sabi (the Japanese philosophy of embracing imperfection) and remember that everyone is human and everyone makes mistakes, including myself! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">The plant room comes to life! Our gas boiler is installed. As we have minimal space heating demands it doesn't make sense for us to go for a more eco alternative here as the payback would take exponentially longer for us. Our largest demand will be hot water and the plan is to eventually install photovoltaic panels to address this demand.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">We have a boiler!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Charlie, the <a href="http://www.cotswoldgreenenergy.co.uk/">plumber</a>, was bemused by my excitement at unwrapping the <a href="http://www.crosswater.co.uk/category/svelte/">taps</a> - it was like Christmas!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This is the point in the project where it was always going to be an issue about being a mother to 3 young children and building a house at the same time. Dimitri always said that he would go on site at this stage of the build to supervise however it rapidly became clear that interiors and detailing was just not something that he was confident with. So we've done the best we can and hopefully the majority is good and we will soon not notice those small issues...! The problem is that I've very tuned into detail and notice things without even wanting to and so even though no one else notices I do and they BUG me everytime I see them!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Andrew created oak cases to house T5 light fittings, then we figured out how it would work, more on lighting <a href="http://futuresimplepassive.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/lighting-re-re-design.html">here</a>.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">These T5s will be hidden by a false ceiling panel so the lights should just give a glow at the edges.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Just one foot in front of the other...</span></div>
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