First Fix Finished (Almost!)

We're now approaching the end of the first fix.  The electricians are doing their final sweep through the house, the carpenters only have a few days left and the plumbers have pressure-tested all their pipework.  They carry out two pressure tests - after capping off the pipes, they pump up the pressure of the air inside the pipework and then monitor the pressure to see if it holds.  If it doesn't, they locate the points at which the air is escaping and rectify the leak.  Once they have carried out the air pressure test, they fill all the pipes with water and keep the system on test, checking that it holds for a number of days.  They can then be confident that there are no leaks in the system - hopefully!

Windows to the World

Not such good news to report.  The company that the builders are using, Perform Eco, was supposed to deliver the windows and external doors at the end of January.  This got delayed until 4th February and we are now being told they don't know when they can deliver.  Think we're going to have to ask the builders to put a bit of pressure on the company for a date, as it could put the build behind schedule.  Jon says they'll have to push other activities harder to make back the time.

You have no idea how many windows Paul and I drove past, looking at different styles! We're going for Georgian style sash windows and were keen that there be three rather than four panes across each window.  The height of the windows on the ground floor are typically much taller than those on the first floor and where the number of vertical panes weren't equal, we then had to decide where the bottom edge of the top sash windows would appear.  We opted for more vertical panes showing on the bottom sash windows.

As a general rule, the builders usually plaster from the top floor downwards.  There will sometimes be good reasons to work in a different order, but this is likely to be the way they do it on our build.  Clive and his team of plasterers are eager to start tacking, skimming and plastering the walls and ceilings as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, however, the windows need to be installed first!

Snow Stops Play

We had hoped that the tiles would go on before Christmas, but the chimneys needed to be built first and due to the extremely cold weather, this wasn't possible as the cement wouldn't set.

Octagonal Lantern in Roof

Tarring the Roof

This week, however, the boys have been busy and the chimneys are almost up.  Jon says they're hoping to finish them by the beginning of this coming week.  The work includes the brickwork corbel detail and band of stone at the top.  Once the stonework is finished, they'll be putting the chimney pots on and creating a concrete flaunch above the stone.  They are, of course, heavily dependent on a clear day's weather for this to happen.  Once the scaffolding around the chimneys is struck, they will then be able to start slating the roof.

Steaming Ahead!

Paul and I drove up to Newport Pagnell between Christmas and New Year and met up with Tim Hutchinson, who runs the UK division of V-Zug, a Swiss company that manufactures high quality kitchen appliances.  We met Tim last May at the Grand Designs show in London and were very impressed.  The company has only recently come over to the UK, but I think it's going to be very successful, if the quality of the products is anything to go by.  We wanted to look at their steam ovens and coffee makers.  The ovens range from simple steam to combination and the company's Combi-Steam XSL has a massive 51 litre cooking volume, much larger than the Miele.


I'm waiting for Tim to get back to me with prices, but my only worry is that it may be too deep to fit into the space Jamie's earmarked for the steam oven (it needs a depth of 550mm, whilst the Miele sits in a 350mm niche).  I'm trying to think of alternative locations, without compromising the symmetry and design of the kitchen.