>>>>>Happy Christmas from Brookvale<<<<<

The view from Brookvale to the south west

And then it snowed...

The week started slowly as the groundworkers removed the root of the pine tree that Jan and I had chopped down last Sunday, and then dug a trench for the kerb edging round the left hand side of the bend (just visible behind the plastic fence). This has given us about 3 feet more width on the bend and will make life a lot easier for everyone as two cars will be now able to pass at this point.

As the rain of the earlier part of the week turned to snow on Thursday, so all the groundwork stopped. By Friday, we had about 6 inches of snow and quite a bit of drifting, as can be seen from the picture above. I doubt that any more work will be done on the driveway until the New Year.

Inside the house was a different story though as Matt and Bob made short work of fixing the remaining plasterboard in the bedroom. We now need just a few more pieces of oak capping to finish off the bay window. Once again though we're being held up by A J Joinery whose full order book is an obvious joy to them but a bit of a pain for us!

A J Joinery were due to deliver the front door frame and utility door frame on Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday, and lastly Thursday. In the end Roy collected them on Friday! Bob had hoped to fit these and their respective doors during the week, but that will have to be left until next week now. Talking of doors, our oak front door arrived with the timber merchant on Wednesday and they phoned me up to let me know. When I asked if they could deliver, they agreed for the next day. I gave the full address and clear instructions so that the driver could find Brookvale without trouble. Next thing I hear is that Roy has been told they haven't got transport and that he would need to collect the door. "C'est la vie" I thought, "as long as the door gets there". Three hours later and the timber merchant's driver was on the 'phone telling me that he didn't want to leave the door at an unattended site. Wondering firstly how they magically found a lorry, and secondly why there was nobody at Brookvale, I asked what address he was at - "6 Hillside Road" he said! No wonder - he was 1/4 mile away. So much for detailed delivery instructions.

As the roads in Bedfordshire were littered with dead cars and lorries on Friday, no work was done as none of the trades could get there, but the plasterboard and adhesive has arrived for "dot and dab man". I can still find no-one who can tell me what "dot" and "dab" refers to though. Steve Baldock, our dot and dab man arrives Monday to fix the plasterboard to the walls. Everyone tells us that this will make the biggest difference, particularly to the levels of light in the rooms. Can't wait.

Oh, nearly forgot. Our missing alarm man Michael materialised on Thursday and has fitted his cabling so that we have movement sensors in each room with an external door, and a sensor on the front door. We've decided that we'll also alarm the garage so the control unit can be tucked away in the garage, and the siren mounted on the garage gable end. Hopefully this will deter our nocturnal visitors.

Apart from a little clearing up there wasn't much to do today, but I will spend some time tomorrow staining the door frames and front door. Hope its warmer than the minus 7 of today. I did go to the timber merchants this morning as the door manufacturer had delivered an example of an internal door that we liked. How's this for coincidence - the door designs we liked, one with glass panels and one without are called Virgo and Pisces, the respective birth signs for Jan and me. (not that I believe in astrology)

The Clifton snowpeople

A bit of whimsy....

Now we're somewhat experienced in the art of building a house, a few pieces of advice to any budding self builder :

• However big your wallet, you’ll need a bigger one
• Planning officers are rigid about rules, but each planner interprets them differently
• “Planning officer” and “logic” cannot be used in the same sentence
• "Planning officer" and "common sense" cannot be used in the same sentence
• The most secure site will be broken into and stuff stolen
• Your insurance company will find a way to avoid paying out against any claim
• If you’ve got the best top soil in the area, your builder will still, magically, find a way to make it vanish under sub soil and rubble
• A builder can turn a dry, arid, wasteland of a garden into a quagmire within days
• Don’t expect service from the people that provide the main services
• Your architect will find a way to justify giving you a bill you weren’t expecting
• There are special “trade” prices for self builders – they’re called retail plus
• New builds are zero rated for VAT. You can claim VAT back after the house is finished when you really needed the money to help finish the house
• A tidy roofer is one who throws broken tiles in your garden rather than your neighbour’s garden
• A tidy builder is one who clears up when he can’t get into the room he wants to work in
• A clean builder is one who has only 2 kilos of mud on each of his boots
• All building material will be stored in the most vulnerable place and be damaged before use
• Everything will be over-ordered but your builder will kindly offer to take the surplus “off your hands” at 20% of the buy price
• You will be expected to make instant decisions on very important matters
• By attempting to be “Green” and help save the planet, you will be a pauper for the rest of your life
• All electricians must have one leg shorter that the other as they cannot fit a truly level socket or light switch
• All plumbers are virtual – they don’t really exist at all (we've never seen ours but pipes appear as if by magic)
• Painters can work through high wind and torrential rain, as well as in very dusty conditions, and still get a better finish than you
• Most suppliers will treat a self-builder as a moron, at least I assume that’s why they grunt at you
• Plant hire companies are more despised than estate agents and bankers
• Promises of deliveries on specific dates should be treated with more scepticism than Tony Blair's assertion that Saddam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction
• You are deemed too stupid to understand a detailed bill
• A builder's toilet is more deadly than anthrax!

Jan & Rog

Now its a turf war!

It was quiet amusing to see the games being played at Brookvale between two building firms. Roy our project manager has his own building company PJR Bacon, and its his chippy and groundworkers that we have been using for the last 6 weeks or so. However, Sue at number 3 Brookvale is having some pretty extensive work done on her house - loft conversion and ground floor extension. Sue's work is being done by Keith Donovan Builders and his sign was displayed on Hillside Road for all to see. Now, because the work Keith's doing cannot be seen from the road, its a fair guess that people will think he's building our house as wee house can be seen from the road! I assume that's why Roy turned up with his own sign last week and put it up in front of our house. Meanwhile, Keith's sign has disappeared from Hillside Road, and I noticed yesterday that Roy has produced another sign. Far be it for me to suggest that Roy has anything to do with Keith's missing sign, but I bet Roy's second sign will be put up on Hillside Road very shortly!

Its been a busy week at Brookvale. As I had annual leave to use up I took last week off and did a few jobs around the (new) house - staining wood for the ceiling of the porch and bay window, as well as being a gopher for hinges, locks and handles. The ironmongery is necessary because we'll have our front door next week and then the building will be made secure. I'm still a bit concerned about nocturnal visits so perhaps becoming a little paranoid about security now. With this in mind I arranged to meet at site on Friday our electrician's mate Michael who installs alarm systems. Sadly he didn't show, and I've had no word from him. With planning of the plumbing now reaching the point where a boiler and copper tubing are to be installed within a few weeks I don't want to risk either being ripped out one dark night so I'll have to find someone else.

Bob the chippy has nearly completed the bay window with just some finishing strips of oak to cover up the steels supports to be put in place. He's also fitted some of the oak windows "boards" which you and I would call sills. During the coming week Bob and Matt should finish off the insulation of the bay window roof and then put in the plasterboard for the ceiling. Talking of plasterboard, Roy met Steve Baldock the "dot and dab" man today to discuss the fitting of the plasterboard to the walls. Apparently the term dot and dab comes from the method of fixing the plasterboard which revolves round the use of dollops of strong adhesive applied to the block work, followed by sticking the plasterboard to it. Not sure which is "dot" and which is "dab" though.

Gary, Matt, and Ian have finished laying the bricks that form the path round the house so are now free to carry on with the kerb edges to the driveway, and the widening of the entrance to Brookvale which the planners have insisted we increase from about 2.5 metres to 4.2 metres so that two cars can pass. This will involve the use of another mini digger which I have insisted Roy hires and cross charges me. Taking of diggers, our claim is now with the loss adjusters - lots of paper, little action!

I met British Telecom's new house build man at site on Friday to discuss the provision of a telephone line to wee house. As I had been told that they would just run a cable in the ground I was a little surprised to be told that they wanted a 2 inch conduit to be laid 600mm down in the ground, into which the cable would run. As we had dug the service trench and then covered it up again, this was not what I wanted to hear. And then it seemed to get worse as it was explained that the telegraph pole part way down the drive could only be used if we could obtain permission from the owner of the drive to run the cable under the driveway. Now call me a sceptic, but I don't really think that I would get that permission from the man who has been so obstructive from day one. Option two then was to take a telephone line from a pole to the south in Hillside Road and run the line under the verge to the top of the drive, where we would connect up to it. However, it was option three that out BT man seemed to like best and that involved installing a new slave telegraph pole on the verge at the top of the drive, and then running an overhead cable from the nearest main pole to this new one. From there it would be run into the ground at the base of the pole to connect to our line running in the service trench. Being concerned that there was a rather high cost associated with all this civil engineering, and also being conscious of the silly prices that EDF and British Gas had charged, I asked about the cost. It appears that BT are obliged to provide service to new buildings and that they allocate £3400 per house towards the cost. My BT man thought that we would be well within that cost so is getting his pole (as in telegraph) man to check the proposed siting tomorrow. Now why can't EDF and British gas do that?

Did the usual clearing up yesterday, including retrieving the used tea bags from the wall cavity in the utility room door opening. We do wonder what they have against the black bin bag we've left just two feet away from where they throw these things. I'm now worried I'm getting a bit anal about this. If I'm not careful I'll be arranging all the cutlery in line in the drawer soon!

And so to today - Jan and I went of to a reclamation yard near Cambridge and bought some floor tiles (apparently correctly called pamments) for the porch floor. They are a sort of salmon / beige colour and look to tone in well with the red and cream bricks used for the house. We managed to get them in the boot of Jan's car and left them in the garage at Brookvale. Might even have a go at laying them myself.......

Jan & Rog

The path to nowhere, a complete bay, and a bill for £15,000

At long last the remaining window for the bay arrived on Monday, so following a couple of coats of stain, the installation was started on Wednesday by Bob the chippy. As you can see, by the end of the week he had all the windows and the bay doors fitted, together with the window cill which Bob had cut and shaped to fit the angles of the bay. We've still got a gap above the windows which will be filled with tongued and grooved boarding which I will be staining on Monday as I have a week's leave (end of year rush to use all all remaining leave). The second photograph shows the view from inside the house and if you look through the window where the sun is glinting you'll see the gap in the hedgerow where the thieves who stole the excavator pushed down a tree to make off across the field.

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Which leads us nicely on to the saga of the stolen digger. An invoice arrived on Monday from the hire firm. In between items for charges for the chemical loo, scaffold tower and so on, was an invoice for nearly £15,000 for the digger and associated shovel. I've not yet had confirmation that a valid hire contract is in place, but I do now know that the digger in question was not new but a 2006 model. The fact that I'm expected to replace a secondhand digger with a new one seems a tad cheeky, to say the least, but it appears that this may be a starting point for negotiation. I've now placed the whole matter in the hands of my insurance company who advise that a loss adjuster will probably want to visit site to see what happened. We discovered too that on the same night the digger was stolen, there was a break-in at a farm nearby and rolls of copper wire were stolen from a factory storage unit. Busy boys that night weren't they?

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And so to progress elsewhere. Gary and Matt have been busy laying the bricks for the path round the house, the edging for which you can see in the photo of the bay window. I would expect them to finish the path in the week ahead, depending on the amount of rain we have! Matt has also built the little pier around the porch support post which can be seen in the second photo above.

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Murphys were back on Thursday to connect the gas in the road at the top of the drive. We've also gained a not exactly pretty brown box on the front wall of the house which will contain the gas meter. This unpleasant little receptacle has a hinged lid which is opened by a special triangle section key. Where do you suppose the key was left? Why, in the box which can only be accessed with a triangle shaped key of course!

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Lee the painter has been busy applying a final coat of Sadolin to the windows and doors, and despite a less than dry week has got on well. We're really pleased with the look and colour of the windows, especially the bay, as they are exactly as we imagined they would be.

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Jan and I have been deliberating over doors all week. The external doors have to meet building regulations Part L compliance in respect of heat loss, and one door to the property has to meet part M compliance for (wheelchair) access - a clear opening of at least 750 mm. Now that's all well and good if you're fitting UPVC as there are endless options, but when it comes to oak doors, the choice is very limited. The door must have a "U" value of 2 or less, which is much more easily achieved with double or triple glazed doors than one made predominantly of wood. The other problem is that the oak door manufacturers advise that their doors do not like full sunlight and rain, so should ideally be protected by a porch. That's fine for the front door which is well sheltered, but what about the utility room which faces south east? We may have to buy a door made of a more durable hard wood - meranti - in a style that matches the front door. The only trouble is that meranti is rather pink. Not sure how much the light oak stain we're using will tone it down.

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Our plasterer, neighbour, and good friend Tony Holland (league of nations round here you know) met Roy at site on Monday to discuss when he could start plastering as nearly all of the plaster boarding for the upper floor has been finished. Tony hopes to start in a week or two, possibly working evenings and weekends. After that its second fix woodwork - skirting and internal doors.

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This morning I met Roy and his tarmac man - JJ at Brookvale to discuss the re-surfacing of the driveway. Coincidentally I had seen JJs men finishing a drive in Shefford on Friday, and did wonder if it would be the same firm. Small world isn't it? Anyway, inevitably JJ and Roy had known each other since there were dinosaurs on the planet and they joked and ribbed each other

as JJ wandered around in carpet slippers with his little measuring wheel (JJ suffers from gout it appears - hence the slippers). I should get JJ to talk to the council planners as he said that the driveway would support the heaviest of vehicles without any upgrading. JJ said that it needed a depth of 25 mm of tarmac to create an excellent finish so has gone off to calculate the cost. I have no real idea of the likely cost to resurface over 100 metres of drive. Doubtless I will find out quite soon.

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Jan & Rog

What some people get up to on a windy night....

And there it was - gone!

As we had a 5 hour power cut at work on Monday, I decided that now we had power at Brookvale I could collect the generator I had bought and use it as an emergency supply for work. On arriving at Brookvale early Tuesday morning there were lots of people on telephones and a general lack of action. Gary, one of the groundworkers, explained that some "bast***s" had nicked the digger during the night. It appears that "they" managed to start the digger without keys, drove it round to the back of the house, demolished a tree to create a gap in the hedgerow, and then at the less than rapid pace of 1 mph (the digger's top speed), set off on a 3/4 mile trip across fields (the tracks clearly visible) until they reached a driveway, where, presumably, they put it on a low loader and roared off into the night. No-one at Brookvale heard a thing!

"Still" said Gary "they won't get far. Its got a Tracker fitted". After my return to work I conjured up the image of the police chasing the digger at 1 mph; the Tracker beeping away furiously and the villains being arrested. My thoughts then turned to insurance. Who was responsible? Would it be us? At £5000 for an 8 year old digger, it would be a lot of money. Suppose the insurance company wouldn't pay out? The 'phone rang - it was Roy, the project manager. He had spoken to the police and they just weren't interested. Worse still, when the Tracker was switched on - zilch, zero, nothing at all. Either it was faulty of it had been found and smashed. Goodbye mini digger.

The annoying thing was that we had almost finished with the digger - just one more day's work!

Jan & Rog

Leaps and bounds

Well, the week seems to have flown past but we seem to be moving at a great pace now.

As I looked at the weather forecast for the week last Sunday night, it seemed that we had a "window" of 3 days fair weather to put the windows in. I eagerly made my way to site on Monday to find no windows installed, and no Bob the chippy. Once I located Roy he told me that Bob had a bad back and that he would be back on Tuesday. Now I'm not a doctor, but it seemed to me that Bob would be most unlikely to be back on Tuesday with a magically healed back. Keen not to miss the drier weather, I asked Roy if he knew anyone else that could fit the windows. If Bob wasn't back on Tuesday, Roy said he had two other carpenters to call on. Needless to say, Bob was not back on Tuesday, and the two other guys did not appear. Fortunately, Bob returned on Wednesday and made rapid progress as can be seen from today's photos. All the windows (except the bay) have been installed, as have the french doors in the lounge (first picture). Due to what the trade call an order fulfillment issue (cock up), one of the bay windows had not been made. We've got to wait until Tuesday next week before A J Joinery will be able to get that to us.


And so to the saga of Gary Gutter. Gary was due to fit the guttering on Wednesday 4th November, but failed to appear. He then promised to be on site on Wednesday 11th November, but again failed to appear. However, he promised that he would definitely fit the guttering on Wednesday this week. (Does he only work one day each week?) And so we wondered if he would appear this week as the absence of guttering was having a rather damping effect on the walls. Well true to form, Gary didn't arrive on Wednesday, but turned up unannounced on Tuesday when the site was not really ready for him. Bless the building trade - if just one of them actually turned up on the day they promised.... Well regardless of Gary's diary misalignments, the guttering looks really great. Its very odd to see a single 7 metre length of straight guttering appear from the back of a Transit van that's only 3 metres long! But of course the aluminium is on a roll and is formed in a machine in the van.

The other major progress this week has been the groundwork. Gary and Ian (still talking as there has been no conflicting football match to come between them) have now levelled the ground between the house and garage, laid and rolled type 1 aggregate, and laid edging stone to the drive. We've also discovered that we own 1 metre more land than we thought as the excavations have shown the boundary between us and number 4 Brookvale is not in a line along the far wall of the garage, but another metre beyond that. This came to light as the gravel was removed in front of the garage and the edging uncovered. Once this was found, it was relatively easy to trace a line back to the cottages and see that in fact the boundary was further south than our drawings showed. With aggregate now in place all around most of the house, and the edging stones heading towards the "Fools gateway" to delineate the driveway from our garden, the whole house is assuming a much more orderly look.

At last too, we now have ELECTRICITY! EDF connected the supply up on Wednesday, and the meter was fitted Friday. The builders will now be able to make tea using the mains rather than the generator - not the best use of petrol.

Despite threatening to connect our water supply on Friday, Anglian Water once again failed to appear. Still, with a supply of electricity we can start the rainwater harvesting pump and use some of the 3500 litres in the tank. Quite what has happened with the gas connection we're not entirely sure. It appears that they had to wait a period of time before they could dig up the road, (something to do with Council rules - which probably doesn't surprise you) but as we're not desperate for the gas connection, it isn't a problem at the moment.

Two more jobs in hand for me are to organise the making and supply of the front door and utility door and frames, as well as the internal door frames. I'm also waiting to hear from the locksmiths about some suitable door furniture - must chase them as they've gone rather quiet on me.

We've been touring the bathroom stores this afternoon and now have a good idea of what we want, even down to specific models from specific suppliers

We've have one other little problem too - Clive from 4 Brookvale is having his 26 foot yacht brought on a low loader so that he can refit it over the next two years. Unfortunately, the Fools Gateway, and various trees and shrubs are in the way so it looks like some drastic pruning of Gillian Walton's garden (5 Brookvale) is going to be necessary, and probably allowing the yacht-carrying vehicle to drive on our garden. That's fine now, but what will happen in two years time when we have a hedge alongside the driveway is another problem.

Jan & Rog

The fools gateway

Consider if you will our self-righteous parish councillor Stewart Rat(aj) and his fellow councillors complaining that our proposed house would despoil the countryside and then take a look at the gates that he has hung on the posts fitted last week. It must have taken a long time, and a lot of digging, to find such a knackered pair of rusty old eyesores as those. But of course, it has been done deliberately, out of spite, because he has effectively lost his futile battle to stop us building. This was all he had left and there's little we can do as neither the gates nor the fence are subject to any form of planning regulations (I've checked). Pathetic.

And so to progress on Wee House.

Following Roy's surprise at the need to have the water pipe chlorinated, he checked and found that this hasn't been the case for some years on a pipe as small a diameter as ours. When he queried this with Anglian Water they responded with the fact that he was the third person to 'phone that week with the same query all caused by the same inspector. One hopes said inspector has now had a "pipe appreciation lesson" and understands that there are different requirements for different diameter pipes.

Lee the painter turned up on Monday and, together with his anonymous mate, set about staining the window and door frames. By Tuesday lunchtime he had finished the required two coats and will return when the windows and doors are fitted to give a final exterior coat.

In the meantime, Bob the chippy, had been getting greyer and greyer (dust from cutting the board) as he fitted first the remaining insulation, and then the plasterboard to the ceiling in what I shall from now on call the guest room, rather than the mezzanine. Due to the fiddly nature of this Bob didn't get a chance to start installing the windows but will start that job on Monday 16th.

Darren the plumber was called to site on Wednesday to connect the rainwater harvesting system control system and mains water feed which runs from the house to the garage (where the control unit is sited) and then to the rainwater tank. A quick test using the generator showed the pump was working so Darren's work is done for the moment.

Andrew the electrician was also on site on Wednesday to connect the tails of the mains electricity feed to the consumer unit. At one point it appeared as though there might be a duel (wrenchs at dawn?) as Darren and Andrew argued about the positioning of their respective equipment : boiler - Darren; consumer unit - Andrew. Both apparently wanted exactly the same bit of the utility room wall! Andrew won because he got in first and installed the consumer unit. Darren will find somewhere else for the boiler!

Meanwhile Gary and Ian were beavering away on the drains, albeit in silence on Monday, because Ian's soccer team Arsenal, had beaten Gary's team Man U at the weekend. The emotions generated by football are somewhat of a mystery to me. By Thursday the drains were complete and the building inspector was summoned to carry out our "dry inspection". This entails checking the fall is satisfactory, which apparently it was, so passed. There's also a "wet inspection". Quite what that entails I shudder to think but will ensure that I am NOT on site on the day he calls for this dubious-sounding process.

For reasons that are not entirely clear Gary Gutter did not arrive again this week, but is now scheduled to appear next week. I'm getting a bit fed up with him. If he doesn't show this week I'll look elsewhere as the walls are getting soaked because the roof presently drains directly onto them. Worse still, the water is splashing into the clay at the base of the walls and a milky spray is in turn being splashed onto the lower red bricks. Looks like a pressure washer is needed.

And finally, to Friday when Gary and Ian, now bosom buddies again (because there's no league football this weekend to fall out over) have been concreting the drains, fitting inspection points and backfilling. This means that the rainwater harvesting tank has now almost disappeared with just its neck showing, and the ground beside the house is reasonably level - bloody boggy, but reasonably level!

Jan and I had our usual weekend clean up on today (Sunday) but really only had a bit of sweeping to do. Hopefully, the windows will be in by next weekend and so stop the debris getting into the house. Mind you, it won't stop the builders being their usual messy selves!

Jan & Rog

You couldn't invent this!

On Wednesday I received an unexpected call from Roy Bacon, the project manager. Although what he was saying was largely unintelligible due to a poor signal on his mobile, I knew he was trying to tell me something was wrong. Call it a premonition, but I had a feeling that our old "friend" the Rat was going to re-appear. We had received an official letter from Central Beds Council on Monday this week telling us that their Ethics and Standards Tribunal had made a judgement in relation to the complaints that we and Gillian Walton (number 5 Brookvale) had made about Stuart Rat(aj). In his guise as a parish councillor (co-opted of course - no-one would vote him in!) he did not declare his personal interest in our plot of land (due to his connection with Mr Hyde and the fact that he tried to buy the plot several years ago) when the parish council debated our revised plans last year and voted strongly against them. Although the clerk to the parish council had not recorded any declared interest from the Rat, nor his abstention from voting, the tribunal decided that the Rat was completely innocent of any wrong doing. The clerk was praised by the tribunal for his accuracy in recording the minutes of the meeting, but several of the other councillors now disputed the clerk's recorded version saying that they distinctly remembered the Rat declaring an interest at the Parish Council meeting that debated our planning application, and also that he abstained from voting. Although the minutes did not support this, and local government being what it is, they all stuck together and the Rat was let off the hook. I said to Jan that I thought he would emerge once more now that he was cleared. Sure enough, when Roy called back he explained that there was a small gang of men putting in posts between our land and the cartway. I rushed off down to Brookvale to see one post already installed and another hole being drilled. The "posts" were a telegraph pole that had been cut into three - very ugly things they are too, with very thick multi-strand wire pinned to each. For some reason, the hedgerow to the right has been massacred and the base dug out so that it looks like a cart track now.

To cut a long story short, after some discussion it appeared that there was documentary evidence to support the existence of a 14 foot track based on copies of plans attached to old deeds from 1953 that were shown to me. However, it wasn't all bad news as it appears following legal advice this week that case law, determined in 2006, means that we have an absolute right to access the plot and that we can upgrade the driveway in any way we like to ensure that it complies with District Council standards, and the needs of modern society. So the fact that it is described as a cart track is academic and we can use it for motor vehicles - contrary to the solicitor's letter from Mr Hyde earlier in the year.

This spiteful response was made within 24 hours of the Rat's "acquittal" and appears to be a final gesture as everything else has failed. The position of the first post now makes it difficult for larger vehicles to turn at the bend in the drive. Its very possible that a lorry may accidentally knock it over one day. How unfortunate that would be. All very pathetic really - pure spite - but once we grow our hawthorn hedge, this will be covered up.

And so to the events of the rest of the week. Amazingly, we have now had the water, gas and electricity pipes all laid in the service trench and approved by their respective suppliers. Good job too as the digger cost more to hire in 2 weeks than a BMW costs for a month on contract hire! But of course, there had to be a hitch. And on Thursday the hitch appeared in the form of the Anglian Water inspector. "Yup, the position of the water pipe in the trench is fine as it meets our standard. All I now need is the chlorination certificate and I can connect you" he said. Roy, who has been a builder for nearly 50 years, had never heard of a chlorination certificate so asked where he could get one. "From the people that you arranged the water supply with" said the inspector. "What, you mean Anglian Water, the company you work for" said Roy. "Yes that's right" he said. "Well why can't this be organised between you" enquired Roy. "Different department mate!" was the response. In the immortal words of Richard Wilson "I don't believe it!" Having suggested to Roy that this was another money making wheeze I wasn't surprised to hear that the cost of obtaining this certificate is £260 plus VAT. Quite why flushing the pipe with clean water is insufficient, goodness only knows. Notwithstanding this, with luck we should have the water, gas and electricity fully connected by the end of the month.

By the end of the week, the service trench had been backfilled, just leaving the turf to be re-laid. Only the foul waste to sort out now and connect the house to the main sewer - another digging job across the road.

Thursday saw the oak windows and doors arrive and very nice they look too. I took a day's leave on Friday and applied stain to the tops and sides to help the painter, Lee Hayes, who is arriving on Monday to do the rest of the staining prior to fitting (due to start Wednesday). Trouble is I keep forgetting that I am an old man and struggled to lift the frames. Help was readily provided by Roy's men working on site, but it doesn't do much for the ego when a frame you've struggled to lift with someone else's help is picked up under one arm and moved with apparent ease! I went back Saturday morning to remove the handles and other furniture from the frames to make it easier for the painters, but found I couldn't get to them. To avoid them being spirited away by, well, you know who does these things, all the frames had been tucked up in the en-suite bathroom by Roy's men and a large piece of plywood screwed to the door frame. I decided to sweep the floor instead!

Wednesday also sees Gary Gutter back to fit the guttering and downpipes, so by the end of the week after next we should have a secure house with rainwater being collected in our harvesting tank. I must admit I shall be very pleased to reach that point as the mess created by all the groundworks, and the water running off the roof, has now reached the point where it is impossible to go anywhere near the site without getting very messy indeed.

As a footnote to the issue with the new fence posts, I had a visit from Clive (4 Brookvale) when I was tidying up at Brookvale this morning. He is having the area between our garage and his neighbours garage cleared and a hardcore/gravel surface put down so he can put his boat there(26 foot sailing variety) for refurbishment. Clive wanted to make sure we both agreed the delineation of the boundary between us (pleasant change, eh?) but was also concerned that the first of Mr Hyde's new fence posts would make it very difficult, if not impossible for the lorry delivering the hardcore to get to the area in question. I wouldn't be at all surprised if said post suffers an accident soon - it does seem to have stirred up people! Of course it would seem like poetic justice if we could get the District Council to insist on its removal because a fire engine couldn't get round the driveway! Hmmm, might do some stirring next week.

Jan & Rog

'Twas on a Tuesday evening when the gas man came to call.....

Our own little bit of trench warfare

After an entirely fruitless business trip to Reading on Tuesday I received a call when I was about ½ mile from Brookvale. “You’d better get to site quick then” said Roy the project manager after I explained how close I was. As I rounded the corner to the drive I could see two men and an idle digger peering at a bright yellow pipe with an 18 inch piece missing. The smell of gas was inescapable. Yes – we had found an unknown gas supply that did not appear on any plans held by the gas infrastructure companies. Gary the digger driver taped up the live end of the broken pipe and waited for the emergency gas man to do his stuff. No more digging that day! Just for good measure, one of the neighbours suggested that there were more service pipes further down the drive and directly in our proposed line. Two more days of digging for about 90 metres have failed to find these fortunately, and the trench has now arrived near the house. Its amazing how this has happened when the depth that the gas pipe should be laid is proscribed, and the material in which it must be laid. The pipe that was broken was no more than 8-9 inches in the ground when it should have been 24". The fact that its presence was unknown was even more surprising. Still, its all in a report that Roy was obliged to fill out although I suspect that absolutely nothing will happen as a result.

To our surprise, Murphy & Sons, the company who will connect the gas service, appeared on Thursday and are happy to put the gas pipe in the trench temporarily. However, we have to put the water pipe in first and cover it, but then we can then simply relay the gas pipe at the required depth once the water pipe has been approved by Anglia Water. The live gas feed will be connected at a later stage. Then all we need is EDF, or as my colleague calls them, Extremely Dear Fuel. EDF inevitably have procedures - each with their own timescales. The words “quick” and “soon” do not appear in their vocabulary, whilst terms like 30, 60 and 90 days seem to appear for the most trivial of activities! I suppose we could always build a water-powered generator once we get water to site. Would that be a “green” initiative? Probably not. At least we have the petrol generator.

All the pipes that will take water from the roof to the rainwater harvesting system have now been finished and Gary McGutter is due any day now with his natty one-piece guttering system. Progress has been made inside too with Adrian (sparks) finishing off all the first fix. Bob the chippy has built the framework for the stud partitions for the shower room/utility room and en-suite bathroom. Bob has also been busy putting in the insulation in between the roof timbers. Roy reckons that we won’t need heating, and possibly even no clothes with all the insulation being fitted. I think it unlikely that any form of naturism will be the norm if it does get too hot in the England household – not sure the world is ready for that.

I am looking forward to the windows arriving – apparently due early next week. That will make a difference.

We've got two days off this weekend as we’re off to visit someone else’s building work – Jan’s cousin Carol and husband Paul in Kent who have recently finished an extension. We can swap experiences perhaps?

The Clifton gassers

It ain't cheap being green!

Welcome to the pit. All we want now is Quatermass!

It is proving to be rather expensive, this "green" initiative. The cost of the tank to house the collected rainwater wasn't too bad as it came complete with a very powerful pump, and an electronic control system to monitor the tank's water level and the usage of water. In dry spells, the system will refill the tank to its minimum level from the mains when there's insufficient rainwater from the roof. All clever stuff. Trouble is, nobody tells you that to excavate the hole for the tank and all the drainage channels for each of five guttering downpipes around the house, and the deep soakway, is going to require a very expensive digger, and an army of hangers-on to lay pipes, and argue about whether the correct angle has been achieved for the pipes to ensure reasonable flow to the tank. This all adds up to molto dinaro. I reckon the payback will be many, many years, and long after I join the tank in the hole, which, incidentally, is 4.5 metres deep and 3.5 metres square. One side effect of this dam "hole" is that the majority of the spoil is a very light grey clay, all crumbly when its dry but it turns into a sticky paste as soon as it rains. We have this stuff liberally scattered around the garden now.

We've canned the idea of solar panels now too, as after research it appears that the likely payback is at least 50 years. I sort of figured that by the time I'm 115 I wouldn't really care about the price of electricity anyway.

Last weekend we entertained my family - Jenny & Stewart, Julie & Mark, Gabrielle & Crystal, Denize & Tim - and had a little topping out ceremony. Gill and Peter from 5 Brookvale joined us too, and brought the yew branch (essential in Bedfordshire folklore and which has to be fixed to the highest point of the house) together with a large plate of hot sausage rolls, and most importantly, a bottle of champagne. That made three bottles as we had already been given two bottles by Jenny! A tour of the house and site was followed by a glass or two of bubbly, and then off to the pub for Sunday lunch - very convivial it was too.

And so to the saga of our "hole". Firstly it was dug too deep, but by the time this was realised, the tank had been dropped in and about 1000 litres of water added. The solution was of course simple - call the supplier and order an extension for the neck of the tank as this would bring it to the right height. Extension piece duly arrives and was fitted - eh voila - it was now too tall! No problem, we'll just cut it in half to make it the right length. So lets analysis this brilliant solution :

• take too much out of the hole and charge me for the labour to do so.


• order an extra piece that wasn't really needed and present me with the bill.


• cut the newly ordered bit (that I am expected to pay for) in half and throw half away.


• drive the digger into one section of the (hired by me) Hares fence and leave it as a useless mangled bit of metal.


• drive the digger into the portable toilet causing a 4" split in the side, scratches across the door, all resulting in the door now failing to close.


• don't tell me about these things that I will potentially be charged for - let me find out when I visit at the weekend.

Its not been a good week for matters relating to water and waste as it has now been discovered that the estimated depth of the soil pipe laid to the site by the previous owner is not as deep as specified. This means that we cannot run the soil pipe from the house to the mains as things are because the fall is too slight. Yes, you guessed, the solution is to make us spend more by cutting out two more (higher) courses of brickwork where the soil pipe enters the house so that the correct fall can be created. The only other alternative was to jack up the whole house by 6 inches, which after careful consideration, was relegated to plan B.

On the positive side, we now have lots of insulation between the roof timbers, and the first stud partition has been built at the end of the mezzanine floor. This will give as a very useful storage space for all those things that are used once every 20 years, but which are so valuable they cannot be thrown away.

Due to the magnitude of the task of digging the "hole", Roy didn't get round to digging the service trench, but this will be started next Monday once the man from EDF has been to check out the route that the electricity supply will take. Apparently, the single trench will have the water pipe in the bottom, be covered with gravel, and then the electricity cable goes next -covered by gravel, and lastly, the gas. Given the cost of the supply of the gas and electricity we fully expect a solid gold cable/pipe, wrapped in a platinum casing, suitably engraved with the signature of Monsieur Hulot, or whoever is the CEO of EDF these days.

Monday should see Tony McGutter arrive with his aluminum sheet, magic gutter producing machine, and the installation of the rather necessary link in the water recycling chain.

Jan and I have spent this morning filling up another skip with rubbish, almost to the point where there's no more to find. I was rather amused when I was asked by one of the builders if he could bring some cardboard packaging to Brookvale to put in the skip - no problem says I, and so it duly arrived. By this morning, the aforesaid (Hoover) box was the sole occupant of the skip, whilst almost every other bit of the site, and the house, had various bits of detritus that should have been put in the skip, but there seems to be a mindset that says "drop it on the floor and leave it there". Builders - don't you just love 'em?

We're hopeful that A J Joinery will be delivering and fitting the windows soon as this will make the house secure, and watertight. We've opted to have makeshift front and utility room doors for the time being as the constant flow of tradesmen, in and out,

The Clifton achers

Wee house emerges.....

...from the scaffolding. At last, we can see what our house looks like. Mind you, it still seems a bit "soulless" without its windows, gutters and downpipes, but it won't be long now before they are fitted.

The first picture was taken from the top of the hill and shows how well the house blends into the landscape. (If you didn't know, clicking on the picture enlarges it, and reverts to normal size by clicking the back arrow).

Little has been done during the last week, but we did "entertain" our dear friends Jenny (number one fan of the blog) & David last weekend. Still some way to go before their room is ready to be occupied though! Patience please Jenny.

I almost forgot - the sprinkler lads were back on Monday - scrambling hither and thither, and we now have all their plumbing done for the whole house. All it needs to finish it off is connection to the water supply and the neat little heads that can be fitted once the plasterboard is installed.

We've run into another slight problem, this time with the staircase to the mezzanine floor. It seems that once again we have some discrepancies between the drawing and the actual dimensions of the finished walls. I'm sure its nothing too serious, we'll just have to modify our ideas a little. What we want is a steel backbone to form the basis of the staircase, and then wooden treads fitted onto the steel. The balustrades will be acrylic rather than wood. This should give more of a feeling a spaciousness. I now need to get the stress engineer to do the calculations and then get Malcom and Graham from the steel fabricator's to make the structure.

Its surprising what you have to do now to conform to building regulations. The entrance to the house has to be level to allow for wheelchair access, and the entrance door opening has to provide 775 mm clear opening. This means that the choice of doors is quite restricted because few companies make a 36" wide door in oak. We've found a door we like, but can't find a matching sidelight so we'll probably have to have one made specially - ah well, its only money!

I did meet Tony the "Guttering Man" on Tuesday. Tony's company supplies and fits aluminium guttering. We agreed where all the downpipes will go and he should start on Monday 27th after Roy has installed all the drainage to take the roof rainwater to the harvesting tank. Roy starts the excavations next Monday - digging the service trench, and the rather large hole for the harvesting tank so lots of activity with diggers and dumper trucks. He's also got to find the end of the soil pipe that has already been laid to the site. No-one seems to know exactly where it is!

There was little to do this weekend apart from a bit of clearing up as we're having a "topping out" ceremony on Sunday with my family coming to join in. Pity the windows aren't in yet as the winds blowing through the house. Still, it should keep the bubbly chilled.

Jan & Rog

The messy tilers have finished

As delighted as we are with the finished roof, it seems tilers have the deserved reputation of being messy beggars! From tile dust all over the roof, to cement slurry carelessly thrown on the ground, and more bits of broken tiles in a 30 foot radius than I would have thought possible, they take the biscuit. Still, we were very fortunate with the weather, which with the exception of a shower on Friday, has been very kind to us, or perhaps I should say, to the tilers.

Never mind, the roof looks great and now that the rather vivid blue of the felt has been covered up, the house seems to have mellowed into the background and fits ideally into the surroundings. I can see now why the planners didn't want a house that was any higher - it would have spoilt the view. (That's the only concession to planners I'll ever give).

Another milestone next Tuesday - the (miserable) scaffolders come to take down the scaffolding - be glad to see the back of them and their poles and planks. I've managed to hit my head five times on the protruding scaffold poles - the reason being they are too long for where they are fitted because the scaffolders couldn't be bothered to use shorter ones. (We'll ignore the fact that I wasn't looking where I was going). With the scaffold down, we'll be able to see the house much better, so quite a day to look forward to.

Apart from the roof, more progress has been made inside the house. Bob (one of Roy's men) has been sealing the cavities where the windows and doors will be fitted, and Ian (another of Roy's men who has 72 Chelsea shirts and wears them in turn each day) has been putting fibreglass into the nooks and crannies prior to the fitting of the pukka insulation - Celotex -next week. This arrives as sheets of polystyrene-like material that is cut to fit between the roof timbers. We also had Lee from AJ Joinery come back to double check the window and door sizes. Hopefully, the oak windows will be ready within a couple of weeks - then we can make the house secure.

In order that insulation could start next week we put pressure on the sprinkler systems guys to fit their pipework in the upper part of the house on Friday. After ringing me to say they couldn't find Brookvale, this gaggle of lads scrambled all over the place like a rash, fitted their bright orange pipes, and were gone in no time.

During the week we've also paid very large sums of money for the electricity and gas to be supplied to site (gulp!) and Roy now has the bit between his teeth to start digging the service trench. While we've got the digger on site we'll also dig the very large hole for the rainwater harvesting tank (nearly 8 foot deep) and the trenches needed to run the rainwater from the 5 roof downpipes to the tank. Talking of downpipes, we've decided to fit aluminium guttering and downpipes. This is apparently made on site - a large drum of flat aluminium sheet feeds into a machine with the tool that makes the profile you want - simples! You can even have it in different colours, but ours will be black (Henry Ford would have approved).

Spent a very tiring day today clearing out the garage, demolishing the shed (well, it actually fell apart on its own really), and getting rid of about 50% of the accumulated rubbish that had amassed behind the toilet.

By four this afternoon we had one large builders skip, full to overflowing. Amazingly too, we had the obligatory mattress. Its amazing, your never seem to see a skip without a mattress, do you?

We seem to be going full pelt at the moment - wouldn't mind slowing down a bit, its all rather tiring!

Jan & Rog

We're on the tiles!

The roofers have made steady progress this week, with the front and one side of the roof now tiled. Our hand-made British clay tiles (manufactured in Turkey apparently) are very uneven and give the desired effect of an old roof. The different colours of tile also give a nice mottled effect too. I'm glad that we asked for the bonnet tiles that form the edge of the hips as these look really good. Once the roofers finish this coming week, the scaffolding will be removed to give us a much better view of the house.

Andrew, the electrician, has been adding lots more wiring, and asking very sensible questions about things we haven't thought about, so a number of amendments have been made to lighting, points, etc.

As we are using rainwater harvesting for the washing machine supply, and the toilet cisterns, we've managed to tie this in with the fire sprinkler system. This will mean that the large reservoir tank (captures rainwater from the roof) that needs to be submerged in the garden will have a larger capacity pump that will operate the sprinkler system too. The other option was to have two pumps - one for the rainwater harvesting and the other for the sprinkler. However, if the sprinkler system pump isn't used for years (and hopefully, it will never be used!) then when we came to need it, the pump may not be working. By combining the two we'll be using the common pump all the time so will know its OK.

We've a meeting arranged with the window man Jesse (I don't know how to pronounce his name correctly - should it be Jess with a silent "e", or Jessy as in a big Jessy?). We need to re-measure the windows now that all the openings are finished so that the correct sizes are made. We have to ensure that the glass is Pilkington "K" glass apparently - with 16mm gap between pains and with argon in the gap - to meet building regulations. This glass lets heat in from the outside, but stops the internal heat escaping - clever eh?

The other development is the news that both the gas and electricity infrastructure suppliers have now decided that we can't have our connection at the top of the drive as previously agreed; both have to be run right down to the house. Now despite the fact that we have to dig the trench for the supply pipe/cable to fit in, its going to cost an additional £1000 for each service (mutters rude words to self). However, Gillian (who sold us the plot), has agreed that we can run the service trench by a more direct route across her garden which will make it easier (avoids lots of shrubs and their root systems), so Roy will be getting on with that in a few days - man and mini digger to the fore. At the same time he will dig the hole for the rainwater harvesting reservoir tank - 8 feet deep. As Jan said, deep enough to bury two people (not surprisingly we were easily able to nominate two candidates!)

I've been down and had a clear up today - removing all the broken tiles a tile pieces from the scaffold - just to make life a little safer for the roofers.

One final little snippet - I noticed today that a cast iron bracket, that had been attached to the garage wall by the front doors, was now lying on the ground. I must assume that our nocturnal visitors last weekend are responsible. It therefore seems likely that in the dark, one of the potential thieves walked into this bracket (it was fixed at about the right height). I wonder if its done some facial damage - I do hope so!

Jan & Rog

We've got a blue roof!

It was quite a surprise to see the very blue roof as we rounded the corner by Stondon Church. The colour is due to the plastic (?) insulating film that covers the roof before the tiles are fixed. With the battens almost complete I would expect the tiler to start laying tiles on Tuesday. (The tiles can be seen in foreground - wrapped up in plastic)

Pete and Lee (the chippies) have now finished the bay after Malcolm and Graham made and delivered the metal supports for the roof in the bay. The strengthening bars have also been fitted in the lounge roof - a vertical rod drops from the ridge and is connected to a horizontal bar that is attached to the roof timbers just above the walls at either side on the room. Jan has decided that she doesn't like this (I have some sympathy with this view too) so we'll be looking to clad it in wood and make a feature of it.

In addition to the progress on the roof, the electrician - Andrew - has made good progress too. We now have cables here, there, and everywhere. The other development during the week is the fixing of the flooring in the roof space. Now that the floor is down, the size of this room can be more accurately seen - it measures 21 foot by 12 foot at its widest, reduced to some degree by the sloping roof timbers. Nevertheless, it will make an excellent study/guest bedroom when the roof windows are fitted.

When we arrived at site yesterday afternoon we found the hasp and lock on the garage door had been butchered. I assumed that it was one of the new builders to the site but a call from Roy advised that the electrician had turned up at site on Saturday morning to find the garage doors wide open. Obviously there had been a break-in during Friday night/Saturday morning, but nothing appears to be missing from the garage. Fortunately there wasn't much of value there anyway - a petrol strimmer, Black & Decker workmate, a pair of aluminum step ladders, and a lot of old toot. Nevertheless its an annoyance and will require some thought as to how the garage can be made secure. This type of break-in is quite common in the area - several of our neighbours have suffered garage break-ins. However, it appears that the sought after items are power tools - and we had none in the garage. I would quite like to have seen the look on their faces when they finally got into the garage to find nothing there. Mind you, I'd also like to stick them head first down the portable toilet! I guess it wouldn't be "politically correct" to suggest who is most likely to be responsible for these garage crimes. Incidentally, did I mention that I'm opposed to more travellers sites.

I've spent today clearing up again - builders are messy buggers - even when it makes life more difficult to do their job, they still don't seem to want to clear up. The scaffold was littered with bricks - whole and half, assorted bits of timber, nails, et al - quite an obstacle course to get round. No wonder there are so many building site accidents. Still, its all tidy for now - until work gets under way tomorrow of course.

Jan & Rog

Somewhere for the jackdaws? No chance!

Not a particularly productive week - some steps forward and a few back unfortunately. Due to the sensible decision to use steel supports in the bay, we had a delay because Malcolm and Graham (steel fabricators) were very busy and couldn't fit our work in. This resulted in Pete and Lee (the chippies) running out of work by Tuesday night once the fascia boards had been fitted, and then going off site with the bay roof unfinished. Nevertheless, Dean the brickie and his team descended on the site on Wednesday and finished off nearly everything, including our chimney - and grand it looks too complete with red ornamental bricks at the top. We added a jackdaw cowl (not in the picture above) because the other cottages at Brookvale seem to have been a particular attraction to these chattering birds who do seem to enjoy perching on the chimney pot and pooping down the flue!

On a more positive note, the building inspector has been along and passed the roof timbers so next week will see the roofer arrive and start tiling. The steels for the bay will be with us on Tuesday and then Pete and Lee will return to finish off the bay roof timbers. Jan and I have spent a couple of days staining the fascia boards in Light Oak Sadolin - ready for the guttering.

We're now looking to start getting the services laid on so its back to the frustrations of dealing with EDF and British Gas - costly and slow seems to be a fair summary. We did have a slight scare when Roy (project manager) investigated the foul waste connection and was a little concerned that there would not be enough "fall" in the pipe from our house to the connection with the existing sewer by number 5 Brookvale. However, we discovered that the foul waste is about 1.5 metres below ground level at that point so no problem for us to get the correct fall (1 in 40) from about 20 metres away. However, we have to dig to find the end of the connection that has already been laid to our site for two reasons - firstly because no-one knows exactly where it is, and secondly because it was not installed correctly and has to be re-done with additional strengthening where if passes under the driveway (it needs a little concrete hat for that bit!).

The electrician (Andrew) has been instructed on first fix and will start his work on Monday 28th September - basically laying in trunking, etc.

So with the weather still apparently holding we should have a roof by the end of September.

Jan & Rog

So, its open eaves then

Another week of good weather and excellent progress.

Pete Brooks (chippy) went of to Majorca last Sunday but his son, Lee spent the first part of the week finishing off the remaining roof timbers. Roy told me that Dean the brickie would return on Wednesday but when I popped to site in the early evening I was rather disappointed to see the external walls hadn't grown at all so I assumed Dean had been unable to make it. However, as I drove past the opening where the front door will be I noticed new blockwork - sure enough Dean had nearly finished the internal walls in just one day! By Thursday night the internal walls were finished, and the window sills had been laid.

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On Thursday evening Roy had arranged for Ian of Manor Roofing to meet us to discuss the roofing. "Hello Dean" says Ian - it seems they all know each other and work well together. Ian told us that he would start the tiling next Wednesday (16th) and this meant that we needed the roof structure and details to be finished, so Pete and Lee will be back Monday to do this. However, first of all Dean needed to infill between the roof timbers so on Friday he set about this. Needless to say by 4 p.m. he had finished - and lovely it looks too (second picture). Dean has also built up another 8 courses of the chimney, but needs the roofer to detail around the chimney before he can complete this.

Jan and I have spent the day staining the fascia boards and tails of the roof timbers in light oak stain, and we'll be back tomorrow to apply a second coat so that everything is ready for the chippy on Monday.

Next on Roy's list is getting the main services to site, and playing the games that companies such as EDF seem unable to avoid. Having told us that we could have a meter at the top of the drive (to save a considerable sum of money) they are now saying that the meter and the consumer unit have to be within 6 feet of each other. This means that the meter will have to be at the house so Roy has a cunning plan......

The other slight delay at the moment is with the steels that are needed for strengthening the roof. Our structural engineer has said that we need a rod that joins the main roof truss at ceiling height, and another that drops down from the ridge timber to join the lateral steel. These are being made by Malcolm and Graham at Chapel Farm about 1 mile from Brookvale but due to pressure of work they are a tad delayed. We hope to get these steels and the ones required for the bay on Monday. Needless to say, everyone knows Malcolm and Graham!

Next on the list are the windows and doors, and for this we're using another local firm A J Joinery who will make oak frames with double glazed units. Another minefield here - current insulation standards demand that the windows and doors meet a U value of less than 2. Quite how we will know this on our bespoke build, no-one seems to know. However, another cunning plan has been devised to meet the building regs.

Jan & Rog

All trussed up - It looks almost like a house at last!

As you can see, our chippy - Pete Brooks - and his son Lee have made really good progress on the roof trusses. The crane duly arrived on Tuesday but at one stage we thought the wind would be too strong. Current health and safety rules have to be enforced by the crane driver and if he thinks it would be dangerous to lift the trusses because of the strength of the wind, then they don't get lifted. Fortunately the wind stayed at a level just below that "dangerous" point but the odd gust caused the trusses to swing about rather more than desirable. All the pre-made trusses were fitted by Wednesday, and then the remaining timbers were hand cut to fit. We do seem to have one problem by the rear bay in that the wooden pillar supports are not sufficient to carry the weight of the bay roof. So its back to the drawing board and the need (probably) for some steel inserts from the bay wall to the roof.

Now that the roof timbers are in place we can see the effect that the full height ceiling in the lounge will create - it really does give a very airy feel to the whole room. (Well it would, wouldn't it, with no roof on!!) We're pleased too just how big the area in the roof now appears, for even though the walls are sloping, there's plenty of space for our study come guest room.

It seems we have another little bit of confusion regarding finishing off the eaves. We had wanted as much roof overhang as we could get and after hearing that it was fiddly to have open eaves, decided that we would have a soffit board. However, the wall height and the pre-cut roof timbers are not compatible for fitting a soffit board and having a decent roof overhang. We have therefore opted to have open eaves that will allow us the degree of roof overhang we want. The down side is that we will have to get Dean and his bricklaying team to build up the walls in between the roof timbers - a bit of a time-consuming job. Once again we have issues with the drawings not matching our requirements and I've also discovered that we will need some more soft red bricks too. It seems such a waste as we've all sorts of other bricks coming out of our ears - engineering reds, cream facing bricks, plus left-overs from the garage build (before we bought the land). However. Roy our project manager is absolutely right - anything other than the soft reds wouldn't look right.

Pete Brooks is away on holiday next week but his son Lee will continue on Monday / Tuesday to complete all he can. Seems like we'll need a tiler quite soon now.

I've got a site meeting on Monday with Steve building surveyor and Roy. Hopefully we can sort out the remaining little niggles and keep the momentum of the build going.

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Well, that's another month gone - I know because another invoice for the chemical toilet has just arrived!

Jan & Rog

External walls finished, but we smell a Rat....

Its been a busy week. Dean and his team have now finished the external brickwork, nicely finished off with the alternating red half bricks in a sort of inverted castellated design. Roy had his chippy come down to site on Friday when he fitted the wall plates - basically, planks of wood that are clamped to the top of the inner block wall and to which the roof trusses are fixed. As you can see to the right, the roof trusses arrived (on Thursday) and they are due to be fitted by crane on Tuesday by Pete Brooks and his team.

So we steam on, but there have been a couple of developments that were unwanted. Firstly, when I went to site on Thursday, two of the temporary pegs, sited to delineate the boundary of our land, had been knocked over. As they were the ones nearest to the driveway I didn't bother with them. However, it appears that someone working on our build committed a heinous crime - they parked on Mr Hyde's grass! Worse, they were seen. I therefore had a visit from Mr Hyde's representative, Peter Philips, who had put two more posts in the ground to replace those that had been removed. According to Peter, Mr Hyde was a very unhappy man due to the trespass on his land and had supposedly said "Not showing me much goodwill, is he" (referring to me of course). Although I thought it pathetic in the extreme I imagined it was the rant of a rather sad old man and agreed to make sure that no-one dared to park there again. So today I have put that bright red plastic fencing right the way along the boundary and put a couple of long bits of wood across the end of Mr Hyde's access track to stop our guys parking there. (There is a danger of course that I will be accused of trespass in so doing!).

Anyway, the second development is that the same Peter Philips now appears to be working for Aidan who lived at No 1 Brookvale. He still owns the house but lets his workers use it rather than pay hotel charges. Peter is trying to get planning permission to build two houses in Aidan's garden. One of these is only viable if access can be achieved along the existing driveway and this would require each of the owners of the cottages at Brookvale, including us, to agree to the owner of this house using those parts of the driveway that we each own. Given the opposition to our build this ain't gonna happen! The same Peter Philips has also written to the owners of 2 - 4 Brookvale and suggested that they, and Gillian Walton at number 5, together with ourselves should each pay Mr Hyde £2000 to purchase the drive from him. Whilst the letters have been received by numbers 2, 3, and 4, Gillian Walton and we have yet to hear from him. As you might imagine, no-one can really understand the logic of paying £12,000 in total to acquire joint ownership of a liability, (the drive) which all of us have a right to use anyway. It does seem odd that these two things are being handled by the same person at the same time. So, given that Peter Philips used to be in business with our old friend, we all smell a rather large Rat(aj). Could it be that Mr Hyde is still the innocent in all this and that the two old business partners are trying to work a flanker?

As yet there is still no sign of the title deeds that show that Mr Hyde owns the drive, despite my solicitor being on the trail with Land Registry. The plot thickens.....

Jan & Rog