New House update
One of the striking things about having a new house built is that it is not a linear process. Rather than following an even curve. slowly growing week by week, it moves in leaps and bounds followed by periods of inactivity. We seem to be having a leaps and bounds period right now so I thought it would be a good time to record where we are up to.
The whole structure is up now, with the roof on, but with no windows. There has been a bit of a delay with the windows but we hope to have them installed by mid November. This will make an amazing difference to the house, both from the point of view of making it watertight and of giving it some soul. If the eyes are the windows to the soul in a person, the windows are a huge part of what gives a house character and personality. I can't wait to see them.
Inside the stud work is up for the walls. Ian is standing here in what will be our bedroom looking down across the landing, which runs like a bridge across the double height hall, towards the other bedrooms and bathroom. Seeing the shape of the rooms emerging is making it feel more and more like a house and less and less like a building site. We notice we have without conscious thought slipped from calling our visits "going over to the plot" to "going to see the house".
Over the last couple of weeks the electrician has been doing the first fit electrics. That is really the first time that the detail of living there has become real. How many sockets in the living room? What is the design of the kitchen? How will we light the hall? Where do we want light switches when we come into the house on a winter's evening or leave the kitchen for an evening by the fire? It is all very real suddenly.
We have chosen all the sanitary ware for the bathrooms, planned and chosen a kitchen and spent yesterday looking at tiles. Ian has been writing a very detailed blog here which records the process in all its nitty gritty complexity.
The garage is going up now and next week the preparations for the air source heat pump will move forward. We had intended to have ground source heating but have had to abandon that because of the possibility of hitting water in the drilling process. There is still a huge amount to do inside the house and rendering and cladding to do outside, never mind the landscaping and garden creation which will follow. We are not expecting to be moving in any time soon but now for the first time I am thinking about paint colours and looking at the spaces as rooms, thinking about how they will work. There are two more skylights to go in, one in the dining room and one in the porch together with some rooflights for the garage which will be Ian's workshop. We have chosen worktops and appliances for the kitchen, even though they are not yet ordered. It is all very real.
There are no stairs yet so going upstairs still requires a precarious (for me) journey up a ladder. But you are rewarded by looking, through the scaffolding, through our bedroom window, up to the hills. I love it already. Good thing really when you look at all the time and money and energy that is pouring into it!
I have been musing about how it feels to be doing this on my other blog here if you are interested.
So glad you'll still be able to see the hills :) And how exciting for you and Ian. It's interesting to see how your house is being built compared to the one going up behind us, which seems stuck in the detail at the ground floor level instead of them creating the entire shell so it can be relatively watertight over the winter.
ReplyDeleteThat is very interesting about the new house build! Ours certainly seems to have taken the approach of going for a watertight shell although progress has been going on inside even though the windows aren't in. I was quite surprised to find first fix electrics didn't have to wait for the windows so there is clearly much that I simply don't understand!!
DeleteA good read Elizabeth as always. Good to see the roof's on as winter approaches.
ReplyDeleteI always found planning the electrics to be the best bit.
Yes planning the electrics was surprisingly good fun! It really made us imagine how we would live and move about the place in a very detailed way!
DeleteIt is really coming on. When I looked at the first photo I wondered whether it will be clad in brick or rendered but see you mention both rendering and cladding. I love the look of the house and the view. I will have a look at Ian's blog later.
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan. It will be white rendered with larch cladding in some places. We're hoping it will be a modern take on the traditional architecture of this area!
DeleteI know exactly what you mean about the non linear progress of a building project, I'm currently sat in the extension that we had built in the first lockdown, which was interesting... So exciting to start to be able to walk through the spaces and imagine sockets and switches etc, and most of all to be able to start to get a feel for the views. Roll on the windows.
ReplyDeleteWindows are hugely important! The process of choosing is really interesting isn't it!
DeleteI love reading your blogs - I feel as if I'm right there with you, looking out the window-to-be onto the beautiful view. But he thought of having to make all those decisions about electrics, light switches, kitchen appliances, tile, baths, taps and on and on makes me feel a little anxious - too many years spent dealing with rental properties, I think. Really looking forward to seeing it one of these days.
ReplyDeleteWell if you can get over here next year for the reunion we might even be in!!
DeleteFascinating. We're in the process of building a cafe at the City Farm we're both involved with - a much simpler build but with so many decisions to be made along the way. Fortunately this is exactly the kind of thing Malcolm did for a living, as part of Building Schools for the Future. Would love to be able to build our own home, but unlikely to happen (though you never know). Your views will be amazing
ReplyDeleteThe views are one of the main reasons we bought the plot! Particularly upstairs they should be very special!
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