Going....Going....but not gone

We now have a complete staircase, and access to upstairs is now significantly easier.  However, to gain access to the roof, it was still necessary to climb up to the first floor scaffolding and then up a further ladder to the scaffolding at roof level.

Two levels of the scaffolding

Whilst the brickies were busy bricking the walls, the chimney has been completed on the north roof.  On the south roof, the solar panels have been fitted and all the slate completed.  Before the scaffolding comes down, we took the opportunity to view the roof from the second level.

Finishing touches to the velux windows above the kitchen

The completed south roof, with one of the owners. . .

 

. . . and the other!

Today, a significant portion of the scaffolding has been taken down.  The north and west sides of the house are now clear of scaffolding.  The scaffolding on the south side will come down in a couple of days.  The scaffolding on the east (canal) side will remain as this is needed to install the large and complicated windows in our bedroom.  So although a lot of the scaffolding is going, it will not yet all be gone.

The west side, free from scaffolding

Scaffolding remains to access the complicated windows

All the window openings have been measured and the drawings signed off.  Not surprisingly there will be a delay whilst the windows are made before they can be fitted.  This is reckoned to be around 4 weeks, and since the house will not be secure until the windows and doors are fitted, it is not possible to start the second fix works for another month.  So the focus will now switch to work outside.  Specifically, completing the terrace walls down to the 'canal level', and starting work on the foundations for the garage.
Since all the walls are now plastered, the kitchen fitters are coming tomorrow to take the final measurements before the kitchen is ordered and built.  We can expect the bathrooms to be fitted in mid June, and the kitchen at the end of June. 
The builders still claim that they are on course for a moving in date at the end of July.  We really hope they're right!

One step at a time

When the SIPS panels were initially constructed, a temporary staircase was put in to allow access to the upstairs.  

A reminder of the days when we had a very steep, but functional temporary staircase

However, to allow internal plaster-boarding, skimming and an initial coat of paint to be applied, that staircase had been removed.  This meant getting to upstairs was slightly more of a challenge with the route something like:

- Go into the lounge-diner, through the hallway, and out of the front door;

- Climb the scaffolding ladder to the first level of scaffolding (we had 3 levels at one point!);

- Go around the house to the opening for the bedroom window overlooking the canal;

- Climb the 4 steps and enter the bedroom using the window opening.

The last 4 steps

As you can imagine, this was a tad inconvenient with the near vertical ladder climb to the scaffolding making it difficult to carry anything.  So we have been looking forward to the day when our proper staircase could be fitted. On Monday, the kit of parts arrived, taking pride of place in the centre of the lounge-diner!

Part of the Staircase Jigsaw

...and the other part!

On Thursday and Friday, a specialist fitter was engaged to convert the many apparently random pieces of wood into something that could be used to safely traverse from one floor to another.

This was nearly completed by the end of Friday, although a gap still remains between the top of the stairs and the landing.  We expect a complete, usable staircase on Tuesday.

Clues for construction are also provided

Stairway to nowhere

Getting there

Nearly, but not quite

The post holding up the final quarter-landing is temporary.  On Tuesday, this landing should be fixed and suspended from the floor upstairs, and allowing the final two steps to be added.  This will mean that the Juliet balcony we currently have upstairs will cease to exist and will become a proper landing!

Apart from completing the staircase, the priority next week is the finishing of the external brickwork and the final measurements for the windows so that manufacturer of them can begin.  It will be a further 3 or 4 weeks until they are installed though.

What happened to Spring?

Our long holiday in Asia with warm/hot and dry weather is over.  We had a great time and hoped that building work would continue apace, but on our return it seems that the UK had not shared in the good weather and it has been decidedly unspringlike.  On the positive side though, it appears that our return has heralded the start of warmer drier weather so although things did not progress well whilst we were away, the builders have really made a difference in the last couple of weeks.

Before we went away, the roofers had started on our Welsh Slates.  When we returned nearly all the roof had been slated, except for the part over the dormer and the location around the chimney.  The section of the dormer cannot be completed until the final solar panels are in place.  The final solar panels cannot be fitted until the dormer window has had its zinc coating.  The zinc man has gone AWOL.  This seems to happen a lot in building!  Anyway, we do think that the slate does look good, but wish that it didn't cost 4 times as much as other good quality slate!

The main roof ridge

The kitchen roof (with inlet and outlet for ventilation & heat recovery system

As soon as we got back, work started on the chimney.  One of our neighbours advised us that jackdaws have a habit of trying to nest in chimneys in the village, so a suitable cage was bought and fitted on top.

  

Finished chimney, awaiting the last few slates

Work has finally started on the external brick wall of the house.  Each morning large tubs of pre-mixed mortar arrive in sufficient quantities to support a day's-worth of bricking.  This is necessary as the colour of the mortar has been specifically agreed with the planning and conservation officers.  The mortar company can supply mortar to a specific colour whereas if it were mixed on site there would be some variations in colour.  Currently nearly all the brickwork for the ground floor has been completed and the scaffolding has been moved further back to allow the brickies to work on the first floor.

Corner of the lounge-diner and the terrace wall

The ground floor wall facing the canal is complete

Internally, all the rooms have had their plasterboard fitted.  Who knew that plasterboard came in different colours?  As well as the usual grey plasterboard, we have pink heat-resistant plasterboard around the wood stove, and green water-resistant plasterboard in the bathrooms.

Pink plasterboard on the left with a smiling 'Jack' 

We currently have 6 plasterers on site, and by the end of today, it is hoped that all the plaster skimming will be completed.

Mixing plaster by the bucket-load

Our bedroom plaster is nearly dry

One corner of the lounge-diner completely dry.

As well as trying to pin down our missing Zinc-man, the next job is to put a 'mist coat' of white paint on all the internal walls.  This is a mix of white emulsion and water.  Following this, the painters get to work and paint most of the walls white.  One or two walls will have 'accent' colours for a bit of variety.
Also, with all the plastering complete, final measurements for the staircase, internal doors and all the windows can now be made and these items put on order.

Since the weather was so good last week, we took the boat out for a few days and met some friends on their boats near Braunston in Northamptonshire.  Before we left, we had to change the gearbox oil as is recommended after 25 hours cruising.  This was a first for us and was a somewhat messy job, but it was successful.  Once we met up near Braunston, a pub became the venue for the reunion.  Leaving the pub in the dark we watched a spectacular lightning show, and just made it back to the boats in time before the thunderstorms hit.  This is the first time we have stayed overnight on 'Charlie Mo' and we found it very comfortable.
Charlie Mo has now done 72 miles on the canals as well as 80 locks.  Not much more cruising will be done until the engine has had its first service which is booked for 10th May.  Since the interval for subsequent services is much longer, later in the summer we are planning to take 'her' further afield.

Leaving Cropredy,

Tranquil Oxford Canal

Land-locked Narrowboat

Lesley honing her driving skills...

...whilst I worked the locks

Since we have no long holidays planned for a while and things are moving a little quicker now, we will endeavour to update the blog slightly more frequently! 

The wait for Welsh Slate

.....is over!
The slates have been lovingly hewn from the edge of Snowdonia, gently put on to palettes , carefully driven 200 miles to Oxfordshire, and finally expertly unloaded on to our plot!

Definitely not Spanish Slate! 

They do look good, but at 4 times the price of the best Spanish slate, they should do!

There do seem to be a lot of them!

 

Work in progress

A finished section

The slates on the south side of the roof seem to be going on quickly, but gaps have been left for the solar panels to be fitted.  These will be flush with the slates when fitted.  Meanwhile, on the north-facing side, the renewables 'team' are busy finishing off the ventilation system by fitting the intake and outlet vents to the roof.

One vent fitted and waiting for slates

Fresh air and the Beast from the East

Before the 'Beast from the East' hit us, the plumber managed to finish all the first fix plumbing, but last week, the weather was so cold that all work on the house had to stop and it was not possible to take the boat for another run.  It also meant that our Welsh slates were further delayed as apparently the staff and lorries could not get to the slate quarry, so our chance of the slates arriving this week diminished rapidly.  The canal froze over and was covered in snow.  Although the canal does freeze in the winter, since we are near a lock there is always some water flowing which usually prevents our part of the canal from freezing solid.

Frozen canal, before the snow

4 x 4's only

Even when the canal thawed, we still had snow

Still no work on site

After the thaw at the weekend, the focus moved to one aspect of the 'renewables', namely the Mechanical Ventilation & Heat Recover System (MVHR).  Since the house will be so well sealed it is a requirement to have a ventilation system to make sure that we can get enough air to breath.  In summer, it is easy just to open windows, but in winter opening windows is a really efficient way of losing all the heat.  The MVHR solves this by bringing in fresh air from a vent on the roof and exhausting 'stale' air through another vent.  Normally, the stale air would also take the heat from the house with it, but the 'Heat Recovery' part of the MVHR uses a heat exchanger to transfer the heat from the outgoing air to the incoming air.  This clever bit of kit also takes warmer and more damp air from the bathrooms and the kitchen, dries it, and distributes it to the other rooms.
It does of course mean that a sizeable unit about half the size of a fridge and looking like an oversized lego brick has to be positioned in the void above the downstairs cloakroom, and ducting needs to be fed to all the rooms hidden in the walls and ceilings but avoiding all the newly installed plumbing and cabling, before the plasterboard is fitted.  Currently our bedroom is being used as a storeroom for a significant amount of the ducting and associated materials.

Giant Lego Brick

The bedroom 'Ducting Store'

Hard to believe that all of this will be hidden in the walls and ceilings

Progress is being made, and most of the downstairs has its ducting in place.  Work has now moved on the the more complicated sloping ceilings upstairs.

Ceiling vent in the Study

We have just heard that the slates are on their way and should be at the builder's yard tomorrow.  This is great news as it means that the roofers who were booked for next week can start on Monday.  Their first job will be to batten out the roof and put the felt on it.  This could not be done in advance as the precise size of the slates and the required overlap must be measured when the slates arrive.  Hopefully, the first slates will go on the roof on Tuesday.  Time to set the time-lapse camera up then!

Although we are very pleased with the boat, we have had the boatbuilders down this week to address some of the snags we have come across.  They are making good progress, but there are still a few areas to be looked at.  We have had two sets of friends come to visit this week.  We thought that they wanted to come and see us, but in fact they were only really interested in seeing the boat and possibly the house!

View of the red roof of our boat from the master bedroom.  

I wonder how long we can keep the boat's engine bay this clean?

Maiden Voyage

Yesterday's blog covered the delivery and launching of 'Charlie Mo'  We returned to Aynho Wharf this morning to find our boat still tied up where we had left it, and most importantly still afloat with no water where it shouldn't be!  We unpacked some of our 'stuff' and an hour later we set off northwards towards Cropredy.  It is easier to access both sides of the boat from a lock, so we stopped for a short while at a lock to put all the roof furniture in place.  With a further short stop in Banbury, the voyage 'home' took around 6 hours, The drive to the wharf in the morning took about 30 minutes and that was during the Banbury rush hour.   The Oxford Canal is the second busiest canal in the country, only being beaten by the Llangollen Canal.  Throughout the entire voyage we only saw 3 boats on the move, largely due to the fact that it is February, but also locks are closed for maintenance north of Cropredy and south on the Thames.
The log book now has its first entry:  total miles: 10.85, total locks: 8
The ubiquitous time-lapse is at the end.

Aynho Wharf just before setting off

Underway

The first lock

Roof furniture and cratch cover fitted

One of the proud owners

Another lock filling

Celebratory Tesco sandwich and a glass (small for the driver) bubbly

 Timelapse: 10.85 miles and 8 locks in a little under 3 minutes