SIPS: The First 3 Days

At last, the SIPS are going up!  We've waited a long time for the SIPS, Monday 13th was the day.  However, it seems like we would have to wait a little longer as no-one turned up.  The scaffolders were really unimpressed that no-one had come to admire, and more importantly approve, their work.  Apparently, due to a crisis somewhere, the SIPS people were running a day late.

On Tuesday the SIPS men did turn up and set about positioning and fix the sole-plates for the SIPS to rest on.  To me and you, they probably look like planks of wood, but we are reliably informed that they are set up with extreme precision (less than 5mm in all dimensions across the site) in order to be able to accurately position the SIPS panels without the use of sledgehammers and chainsaws.

On Wednesday, the first load of panels arrived, and once the crane got itself comfortable in the space where our garage will eventually be built, it unloaded the panels and work began on assembly.

On Thursday, real progress was made with the majority of the ground floor put up.  Today's (Friday) work focuses on securing what has been erected and adding weather protection.

Next week, Monday is all about roof construction off site using SIPS, ready to be delivered on Tuesday with another load of SIPS panels.  The SIPS men are confident that they will be finished by the end of next week, when we will have a house-shaped wooden home.

Then it's over to the brickies who can start to face all the panels with brick.  The plan is that they they start on Wednesday, facing the retaining wall near the canal.  Before moving on to the main house the following week when SIPS work is finished.  Of course, this is only the plan!

At least the timelapse video shows something like a house starting to be built!

View from the lounge window

The Staircase 'window'

Some of the smaller SIPS panels showing the thick insulation

Start of the weatherproofing

The first 3 days of SIPS

Sunshine & Scaffolding

After several weeks of 'there is not a lot to see happening', Wednesday saw the majority of the scaffolding go up.  Most seemed to go up yesterday in the sunshine.  Today there is a 'Scaffolding Incomplete' warning sign, but no-one on site.  Since they have until Friday to finish it, I suppose they are having a lie in!  It did give us a chance to post a timelapse video though!  Hopefully more activity next week when the SIPS arrive and the house is 'built'.

Work in progress from the lane

...and from the towpath

Action on site

The man from Cherwell: he say . . .

You may have noticed that the blog had been quiet for a while.  This is because we have been waiting for aspects of the design to be finalised, but the big one has been the lack of approval of the colour and thickness of the mortar.  In the mean time, the drainage has been added.  Most of the drainage is now buried, but unfortunately, we are still waiting for a date from Thames Water to connect it up (and also connect up our water supply - possibly even at the same time!).

Drainage now mainly underground

You may notice in the photo that we have a digger back, more about this later on!  The previous post referred to the problems we were having getting approval.  Last week the fifth and sixth sample panels were produced by the builders to be assessed by the planner and conservation officer.  No-one liked the fifth sample, and it turned out that despite double checking the colour, the supplier had sent the wrong mortar.  It is difficult to assess the colour of mortar until it is absolutely dry and this can take several days.  After many apologies, the supplier couriered the correct sample and a sixth panel was rapidly constructed in readiness for another visit from the council.  This was scheduled for Monday this week, and we all (builders, architects and clients) assembled on site with some trepidation awaiting the arrival of the 'officials' .  After half-an-hour and several phone-calls, it turned out the one of the officials was off sick and they would not be attending, but no-one had told us!

Sample Panel no. 6

Mortar colour when dry

The planner and conservation officer re-scheduled their visit for today.  Again, we all turned up, waiting nervously.  Just after the allotted time, they arrived, and spent some time examining the panel.  There was some concern that the colour was still too dark.  However, in preparation for this discussion, pieces of the batch of mortar had been lovingly dried on one of our radiators for the last couple of days, and these provided a better representation of the final colour.  The colour of the dried mortar and mortar thickness were finally pronounced 'acceptable'.  This is a major headache removed and definitely a reason to celebrate.  Although the outside of the house cannot be bricked until the SIPS are built, the lower terrace and retaining walls can all now be faced with brick.

The first set of delivered bricks can now be used!

Now, back to the digger: over the last weeks, the design of the Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) have been finalised and the kit of parts is currently being built.  We now have a date for these to be delivered and assembled.  This has been set at Monday 13th November.  The house (excluding the facing bricks) will then be built in just over a week and is the main reason for the time lapse camera currently working quietly on site.

In order to unload the SIPS panels and to lift them into position, a crane is required, and this will require a hard standing.  The very large amount of concrete we have had delivered has found its way into foundations and is now covered with the base of the house.  This means that another part of the site will have to be used.  The most convenient location has very poor ground conditions, and therefore a temporary ramp needs to be built.  Hence the digger.  After the ramp is built, a further 20 tonnes of stone will then be placed to create a 'crane mat'.  After the crane is departed, this stone will find a use under the driveway and garage.

We can't wait for the 13th as the site will very quickly grow something resembling a house!