Self Build In Ireland

Christmas 2009

2010-04-01T12:25:00.000+01:00

Furry visitors/Funeral...

2009-10-05T11:43:00.005+01:00

Well as far as i can tell the lads are all dead and gone... noise free nights for the past week, put down poision in the attic and traps... removed three dead mice, found another so full in the dogs nut bag that he could not move ;) poor devil, no poision has been eaten in the last week either.
So went blocking and sealing all holes around waste pipes into the house with spray foam and mortar,hopefully the house is now vermen proof.
Also we seemed to have lots of spiders appearing were coming in around the pipes of the rads, sealed up all those holes the weekend too, some massively crazy spiders, the wolf spider, hopefully this solves all the problems, the other half has now purchased two gadgets... i dunno if they work or not, but the few flies that were in the house lost all ability to fly after about 5 hours... concidence???

Visitor's in the house...

2009-09-28T13:22:00.002+01:00

Was lying in bed saturday night, and heard scratching in the ceiling above me.... :( Could not sleep for the night, was home alone too had to switch bedrooms to get away from the noise!!! Following morning i put poision in the attic space and a few hours later it was all gone, put down some more and set a few traps nothing got yet, but had a silent scratch free night last night. Just hoping its mice and not the bigger furry variety, must put some poision down around outside too...

Patiently awaiting germination...

2009-09-23T14:00:00.003+01:00

Well the seed to the front lawn was set last wednesday and saturday, should hopefully be seeing signs of growth soon. So how much did it cost, and was there a lot of work involved...??
Compared to the quote of €2,950 from the landscaper, as outlined below in another post. We have spent, €240 for bob cat with soil crumbler and stone raker for the weekend (this leveled the site and made it the cake crumb consistency that you are supposed to have, on hindsight the harrow would have done the same job and saved €240), 3 bags 25kg nr 2 grass seed at €60 each, the lawn was harrowed for free, tracks machine to level the place one saturday 8hrs at €40 an hour, after that it was all free labour and very much appreciated :) Took 5 people nearly 5 days to pick stones rake it, seed it and roll it, the water filled roller cost €32 for the week.

Total cost €772

Mishap with front gate

2009-09-23T13:13:00.003+01:00

The house across the passage from us up on a hill, was gettin footpaths in they had a dumper outside the front door, handbrake gave way and came down towards our place and across the passage through the front gate. Im currently waiting on the builder to fix it up he claims the gate is on order for the past two months...

Finishing up is the worst part .... :(

2009-09-23T12:51:00.003+01:00

Seems like there are people just crawling out of the woodwork lately looking for extra money, or increasing prices that had previously been agreed. Maybe it's to do with the down turn in the economy, but people are getting seriously pushy about it too, i guess we have all come on tough times in the last few months here is hoping the interest rates remain low for another while to come....

Pics for garden plans Ireland...

2009-09-15T15:56:00.000+01:00

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Landscaping progress

2009-09-09T10:37:00.005+01:00

As a follow up to my earlier post where we had prices got from landscapers to do the work, we had agreed with the guy doing it for €2,200 as he was a friend of herself, i had presumed that weedkilling was part of his price when i met him recently he told me he wanted €150 extra for each weed kill he had done, €450 and his price was gone up from €2,200 to €2,500, making it €2,950 in total. Even though the €450 for weedkilling was completely outrageous i paid him and told him to get lost if he thought he was getting more work.
With the way the weather has been lately it was very hard to get any work done, so last weekend i got the tracks machine in and we levelled the whole garden, i raised the level of the septic tank and the AJ box for the percolation, and the lawn is now drying out ready to be rotavated before the end of this week weather permitting.We are tackling the lawn ourselves now, so ill keep an eye on cost and see how it compares to "our friendly" landscaper. Herselfs uncle is going to rotavate it and then we are going to have a stone picking party and my uncle is going to spread the seeds and roll it for us.

Link to a great irish gardening website that i have been using, very helpful there.

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/

Blogger Choice Awards 2009!!!!!!!!!!

2009-08-06T16:43:00.009+01:00

If anybody would like to vote please do ;) You can find it under the education blog section, it works in order of votes, and then alpabetical order, so far i have 1 vote... ill leave the rest to ye ;)
Follow the link in the toolbar
Thanks

Kerbing and Landscaping

2009-08-06T11:17:00.002+01:00

In order to try and make the house look a little more presentable on the outside myself, dad and youngest brother have started at the kerbs 150 0f them in all, cost €4.10 each. We had toyed with the idea of using sleepers but went with the concrete kerb, nearly done with them now, waiting for the lawn to dry up a bit so we can actually work on it. Have two prices from landscapers for it one was €2,950 the other €1,600 both to do the same job rotivate it level it and pick the stones, set the seed.

Stairs with glass

2009-07-30T14:36:00.002+01:00

Stairs

2009-07-30T14:18:00.002+01:00

Stair pics

2009-07-30T13:06:00.004+01:00

The stairs finally going in

2009-07-30T12:24:00.008+01:00

We have been waiting a while for this, been saving up the money to buy it.

http://www.stairscork.com/ got it from this lot as a flat pack for €3,600 incl vat and delivery, carpenter charging €300 to put it in, there is a glass balustrade also included in the price, going in today.

Click on pic to expand the size...

PS...Im not forgetting about my previous post im compiling the figures at the mo.

Costs/Budget/ Overall position!

2009-05-25T15:39:00.001+01:00

This post has been coming for a while and im sure there will be plenty of you very interested is seeing this! It should be up by saturday.Final Draw down of the mortgage is due this week have a few people to pay and will have all the figures together then.

Garage door Installed, Protect the pets!!

2009-05-25T15:33:00.002+01:00

Well we have two new additions to the family that needed a house to live in so we had to buy a roller shutter door for the garage and put up a dog run, the door was 8ft tall 16ft wide fully insulated roller shutter including remote control for €1600 incl vat black in colour from Autoroller kanturk, my job at the weekend is to try and figure out this pet safe job to go around the site! Picture of the two...........

Living room taking shape

2009-05-19T16:25:00.002+01:00

Fish Tank Wall entrance Hall

2009-05-19T16:14:00.004+01:00

The fish tank finally passed its water test this week after much tooing and froing and building the tank, the inital test months ago failed and the tank gave way! We filled it last saturday, got the water tested and the amonia levels were sky high, we treated the water in the tank chemically and tested it last week and it failed again, our local pet shop supplier was at odds to explain it, as we tested the house water and that was fine, but to cut a long story short, we had to empty the tank, 240litres of water out of the office give it a good cleaning and test it again which we did, we now have 5 danios :) living very happily in the tank and we will be adding to this for the next few weeks.

Kitchen up and Running

2009-05-19T15:28:00.009+01:00

Solid Oak doors, with a formica worktop, local kitchen maker supplied and fitted for €8,200. We are very happy with the results. As always click on the pictures to expand the size! From previous posts you will see we had intended on going with kitchen world, but i reapproached the local kitchen fitter about 4 months after initially talking to him, downturn had started to hit, and he matched there price his previous best was €10,400 so it is worth having a go! The bonus of going with the local lad was that he installed it also, kitchen world would only recommend a fitter, plus carltons are well known for their after care service if there is any problems. The lack of granite is one of the lack of funding cuts we had to endure!! :( Granite was working out between €4,200 to €6,800 were the quotes i got for 7 metres 600 deep and an 1100 island with undermounted sink.

Fireplace and Stove living room

2009-05-01T14:43:00.007+01:00

http://www.fpscentre.com/contact.htm we bought both of these here: €2,250 for the fireplace and €1,750 for 12kw nestor martin stove supplied and fitted, has turned out to be fantastic. All companys seem to be the same on prices when it comes to these.
Click on picture to expand size!

Stone cladding and In wall fish tank entrance hall

2009-05-01T14:18:00.006+01:00

Posted about this stone on boards earlier, drove to roscrea for it one day in the company car! Wanted 12sqm thought "ah ill fit that in no hassle" i got there and they asked "what ya drivin" then started laughin "well im taking it after driving down here" the front of the car never touched the road on the way home :) the cladding cost €39.99 from http://www.wesellstone.com/PageProducer.aspx?Page=1. We put it up ourselves using tile adhesive looks great will post pictures of it soon. The fish tank then was a major piece of engineering and design we decided to custom build it between myself and my brother. Its made out of acrylic plastic, all large tanks are these days, and fixed with a solvent cement from america http://www.duboisi.com/diy/BNdiytank/bndiytank.htm we followed this guys instructions. Got the plastic delivered from meath have enough to make another tank still had to buy the full sheet. Put it all together and let it set for a week and filled and tested it, started to leak and then creak. We had to get a steel frame made up for the outside of it for support, stainless steel looks good filled it and tested it for three weeks no sign of anythin!You can now see from the entrance hall into the office through the tank it looks great makes for a good feature. Picture of the tank under construction!

Tiles, tiler and tile Prices

2009-05-01T13:54:00.002+01:00

As we have 5 bathrooms and tiled the kitchen floor and entrance hall there was a considerable quantity and cost of tiles we sourced the tiles from three different shops:-
Kitchen floor tiles, right price tiles €5.99 a yard
Entrance hall tiles and main bathroom marble and limestone €20.99 each from Irwins Castleblaney
All other wall and floor tiles BTW waterford during sale €12.99 - €24.99
Total cost of tiles was €4,950
The tiler priced the job at €22a yard for marble and €14 a yard for ceramics, his total cost was €3,400 although he did try to argue that he had meant to tell me his price was €4,300!!!! There was €1,200 on materials on top of this grout seals and adhesive!
Total cost materials and labour €9,550

Material sourcing for second fix carpentry

2009-05-01T12:22:00.004+01:00

Example of doors skirting and architrave
I am going to compile a list and contact details of all suppliers and contractors i used on this job and add it to the tool bar on the side here, but i thought this aspect deserved special mention as it comes up a lot. The doors engineered oak i sourced from FR Cathcart in enniskillen fermanagh for €53 each i drove up and down a van the same day took them all with me. The skirting door frame and architrave i got from cranwood in newry county down, they delivered to ardmore for €8 and were fantastic value.

http://www.cranwoodindustries.com/
http://www.frcathcartltd.com/

We also went to irwins floor and tiles in castle blaney county monoghan, looking at hardwood floors and although we decided against them the value and range is fantastic hardwood floors from €14.99 a yard, we did end up buying tiles from them marble and limestone slabs, delivery is extra they have a list of recommended drivers cost €150. The laminate floors we got in thos Bryans in Fermoy 2 differnt kinds both €6.99 a yard.

Second Fix carpentry

2009-05-01T12:11:00.002+01:00

Well i got the two lads who did the roof, back to do this for me. They are from down home, but stayed in an old cottage up here during the weeks they were completing the work. They had to put down timber floors in every room upstairs and downstairs with the exception of tiles to the kitchen entrance hall and all bathrooms, we went for mostly laminate as we had spoke to several people about solid or engineered timber and they all spoke about how easily scratehed and damaged it is, so we decided to use laminate and down the line put down solid timber in some of the rooms. The two lads were four weeks at the second fix there was a lot of work there, as they had to batten with 3x2 all the ground floors and ply on top of that and then floor on top of that, all the doors frames skirting architrave shelving to office and four walk in wardrobes, beams in the sitting room and so on it cost me €12,000 which seems to me as maybe a bit expensive it was the finishing of the house that proved the dearest and most time consuming part of it, it was at this stage that the size 4,350sqft really started to tell on our pockets!! :(

Second Fix electrics

2009-05-01T11:45:00.002+01:00

All our lights and fixtures we bought in cork lighting up the kinsale road, we found fantastic value there and they have a great range of stuff. We got the chandlier for the sitting room there for €250 display model in closing down of old shop sale saw it for sale in another shop for €750. We got our wall lights there 16 of them for a €10 each on sale in another shop for €62.60. Kitchen dining room hall and landings for €120 each we had been looking around a long time for lots of this stuff and they had exactly what we wanted and at very very good prices. Our electrican got his cert into the esb around november and they were out two days later to connect us up, they are very quite at the moment and the cheque had not even been cashed and we had power connection fee to esb is €1,750. Our electricain is very busy locally and we are currently working on it in the evenings gettin it done bit by bit. In order to help him out i hung all the wall lights 24 in total, another day will have him finished, but there has been no major setbacks with the electrics and charlie has done a very good job, there is a small bit of money to come off the final bill as we did not go ahead with the apartment up stairs in the garage.

Add on for plumbing

2009-05-01T11:29:00.002+01:00

When we first went about getting the system filled with water so we could get the rads going there were a few unfortunate leaks the first one was fairly big resulting in water coming down through several of the ceilings letting them stained looked like the damage was done to the qualpex pipe between the floors by a drill bit, there was also a second one of these the following week when we filled the cold water system. We were lucky enough that the two leaks were accessible from the attic, if they had been under the floor we would have been in right trouble. Down stairs last week, there was a leak under the bathroom floor, it meant we had to take up three tiles, turns out there was a screw in the pipe, and the front bedroom ensuite pipe was leaking for the hot supply it would have meant far too much disruption and uprooting to find this leak so we had to blank it off, resulting in that room never will have hot water in the sink, our poor guests!!!

Second Fix plumbing

2009-05-01T11:10:00.003+01:00

We purchased our sanitary ware all locally at no huge costs, we got 4 pumped grohe mains showers for €250 in tom currans dungarven, We got all our sinks and taps in designer zone in dungarven, they had a half price sale one weekend stuff was very cheap for very good quality items taps for all bathrooms €70 each sinks averaging between €120 and €260. Picked up a second hand belfast sink for €100 for utility got the tap for that in the local hardware for €40 kitchen sink remarkable value circular sink and unattached sperate circular drainer in the island for €44 euro in b&q and a tall swinging hose tap from designer zone for €180. Shower trays and toilets from hardware supplier Paul flynn for average of €100 each. Got the shower from paul too a triton t90 si for €245. We also got the jacuzzi bath 16 jets from designer zone the weekend of their sale for €1750. The plumber actually only finished up his contract yesterday so it was a drawn out affair, but its complete now and makes life a little easier, we must still finalise our price its 26 rads condensing oil boiler solar hot water tank three zones booster pump in garage from the well, plumb 5 bathrooms and kitchen. in and around €16,500.

Garage Progress Roof and plaster

2009-05-01T10:05:00.001+01:00

The garage was roofed lathed and felted by my dad and the lads the week that they finished up on site full time in late july, after that most of the work was done at weekends between myself and dad, we slated the garage. I got a local guy for two days to plaster it for us also, as it was not worth the while gettin the lads who did the house back down. We put up a temporary door to keep the wind out and stop any potential damage occuring. The lad who plasterd the garage did so for €200 a day and was tended by my future father in law. :)

Undercoat paint to internal

2009-05-01T09:59:00.001+01:00

We gave it about 4 weeks drying out before i moved in the painter, it was a lad from down home and my younger brother came up to do it! 16, 5 litre buckets of dulux white emulsion matt as it was going through a sprayer the painter said it should be a good quality paint, he finished coated all ceilings and one coat to all walls took him two days and cost me €400 for labour, the paint cost €600 and i hired the sprayer from frahers in dungarven for €70 a day, fantastic machine does a great job. The sockets or rads were not on at this stage so it was just a case of walk in and spray just cover windows with cardboard! No second fix plumbing or carpentry in the way either so that speeds the whole lot up.

Plastering completeion (28/07/08)

2009-05-01T09:53:00.002+01:00

Well the 28th of July plastering was complete to the house, it was the lad from down home that i used to work for another plasterer that works with him and the lad that works with my dad from time to time i was paying them €150 a day and it worked out very well for a house its size it only cost me €11k and was complete in three weeks, a day rate can be very helpful when you have someone on site releated to you keeps everyone honest! :) It also takes the uncertainity out of it for the plasters as long as they know what they are gettin at the end of the week, sometimes with priced work they go in higher to cover any potential problems that might pop up. Materials cost will be posted as a link in the toolbar in the coming weeks im going to analyse the whole lot there.

Im Back

2009-05-01T09:42:00.002+01:00

Hi all,

We are back from the wilderness well its been a hectic 15 months since we started the building of the house on the 14th of Jan 2008, i have neglected the blog for the last few months, but have maintained my diary and am now going to bring the whole lot back up to the current moment in time, and let everyone know where we stand in terms of completeion budget tracking, material sourcing, prices, bargins relationships and work :) Its been and still is an enjoyable but at the same time challenging ride, which we are deffinitely ready to finish with now!!!! We moved in last Friday even though there is lots of work yet to be done, but you will see from the next posts here what we have been up to in the last few months! So hope ye enjoy and that the information is helpful to everyone.

Its Been a while since my last confession!!!

2009-01-19T18:00:00.001Z

Hello all, just a quick post to let ye know we are all still alieve and the house is still being built, i will be updating the blog in the next week or so to bring all works uptodate.

Kitchen Pricing

2008-07-11T09:04:00.007+01:00

Click on the drawings to expand size!

This is a job we have been putting off for a while, have been looking in shops around the counties at various kitchens, i eventually rang a local lad to come out have a look at it measure it up and price it for me! He gave me a design, and me being a quantity surveyor could not resist but send it out for pricing, went e-mailed it to a few kitchen places flat packs and manufacturers and got my price comparisons together, we went to waterford city then last weekend to a place called kitchen world, have some nice stuff in there showroom and i got James the guy there to price our design Including granite worktop to kitchen and island and the utility room sinks and taps included included he came to €14,800 he asked what would he need to do to get the business, and i told him to give us the utility room for free and he dropped his price to €13,300 and was throwing in a free Bosch double oven. I told him to give me till Monday so i could look at my prices and i would give him a shout, i contacted him Monday and told him i had 2 quotes from his competitors of €7k and €7.4k (for just kitchens) could he match that and i would take the granite at our previously agreed price. We have agreed to purchase the kitchen from him for €12,350 including the free double oven!
The best price i had received from a kitchen fitter was €10,250 this did not include for any sinks and just a standard formica worktop, this means I'm getting the granite worktop sinks and double oven for €2,100!
www.kitchenworld.ie
http://www.kitchenworld.ie/vienna.htm Thats the finish we have chosen

On going works

2008-07-11T08:38:00.007+01:00

Things have been hectic between work and the house lately,
External works
We have the septic tank and percolation area completed outside, all soil has now been moved off site and the gardens are ready to be landscaped, the well has been drilled and lined hit water at 90feet, they have it lined too,(€2,500) so just come back to fit the pump! We have the front fence done as well, waterford FRS very good work, 6x6 rails and 6x6 posts €22/meter, bought a ranch style timber gate from a local timber yard at €580. The house has been scratch coated and we have a finish coat to the gable and the front of the house, the rest of it is beaded just waiting for good days to get it finished.
Internal Works
The lads have been slabbing the downstairs the upstairs is now complete in terms of plastering and is drying out well, hoping to get the painter in up there next week to give the whole lot an undercoat before we second fix anything. Downstairs is almost completely slabbed and 70% complete in terms of scratch and hardwall, have 4 plasterers there all week. Im hoping all plastering will be complete this day week! I have a security alarm crowd on site too burgolarm, €2,500 for the lot with text message relay!

External Works

2008-06-13T20:17:00.003+01:00

The garge is now at lath and felt stage and is looking well, we have had to get rid of the idea of having an upstairs though unfortunately. The windows and doors arrived last thursday, ended up going wth munster joinery 24 windows and 5 doors golden oak wood grain PVC windows and teak doors €15,000.
We had planned on going with the swedish aluclad windows an had paid the deposit, when the sent through a revised quotatio 120% greater than their orignal, so i had to cancel it! Place is looking well ow though, soffit and fascia is gone up too black colour house and garage cost €3,500

On going works

2008-06-13T20:10:00.002+01:00

The inside of the house is ready for plastering and it has commenced up stairs with the hardwallto the master bedroom, paying the plasterer on a day rate so, ill let ye know how that turns out!
So far it is looking well, as it is still drying out, we are hoping to use oak doors and frames so i asked the hardware to supply some bad or damaged pine we are using these as the temporary frame, so it helps when it comes to fittig the expensive stuff later on!

Progress/Its been a while since my last post :)

2008-06-12T09:09:00.005+01:00

Its almost two months now since i last posted here, things have been hectic, got an electrician on board the local lad €7,700 seems like a good price to me the other one was returned for €14,200! The house is first fixed for plumbing and electrics and we have all internal studs up, we have used foil back slabs in the entire house just to offer that extra bit of fire protection. Between the studs we have used 4" of rock wool; and between the rafters we have used 4" of king span there was a lot of itchy days for the lads fitting all of this!! On the ground floor we have used 6" of rock wool between the joists and the upper floor and all ceilings are slabbed now also, for a bit of extra insulation to the house we decided to buy the king span slab panels with 37.5mm of insulation on the back and we have fixed these to the internal side of all the external walls! They cost me €22 each and we are using about 80 of them! The electrician recommended a chaser for the walls did the whole house for €350, i had planned on doing this myself but he had all the right gear, definitely worthwhile paying for it, id have been a week at it with a con saw and would probably have had no lungs left! :)

This weeks work

2008-04-15T08:38:00.003+01:00

Ok things are really kicking ahead at the moment, rang my plumber yesterday asked him to pay a visit see what he thinks and when he wants to start.
Im trying to get an electrican on board too and again there seems to be very few locals in the trade, i have one local pricing it, and a guy from home who works with the lads all the time, so we will see how that all goes!
Spoke to plasterers also the weekend one lad that i worked with during summers at school and college and he will come down from home, we are also thinking of bringing on a second plasterer that works with the lads, both are excellent platerers and i will probably pay them a day rate with my father and harry on site tending them they should finish it in about four weeks.
I must scud the house next weekend a messy job will take the two days to complete the outside of it!
The three lads are on site this week they are forming the chimney cap today to pour that, completing blockwork and internal studs and laying window cills so i can get these measured and on order.
Im hoping to get them started at the garage blockwork towards the end of the week, and once i have the house scudded hopefully the three lads will fall back on scratch coating the house we will pay the plasters to do the finish work then, so will save a bit of money there!

Progress of the build

2008-04-15T08:27:00.002+01:00

Between work and the site now things are very busy, not able to keep this as updated as i have been keeping it, another week down and the roof is lathed and felted, velux windows and lead are on site, awaiting a delivery of Slates on Thursday these have caused a slight delay, so order early if you need; i ordered them a week in advance wanted them Last Friday or this Monday, but the ship is only arriving Thursday!
The carpenters are off site this week so i have my father and harry at completing block work, and laying all the window cills, and the other lad is erecting and laying out all the timber studs upstairs things are really flying at the moment, the carpenters are back on site next Monday to start the slating, i will hire a teleporter for the day to load out the roof will save on the labour associated with it €170 a day for the teleporter, we will put a few pallets up on the scaffold too.
I was there at the weekend and my Mammy Sister younger brother and my other brothers girlfriend came to site, myself and my brother filled the chimney with a lime cement and sand mix, and the three girls cleaned up and gathered all the bits of timber thrown around the site, all it cost me was a free dinner to all :)

Scaffold to the build

2008-04-08T09:02:00.002+01:00

We were using the lads scaffold all along bandstands and a few 9 foot towers that we brought down from Limerick. We decided in order to make things safe speed up work and allow the lads continue there work on site to hire a scaffold contractor to supply and erect scaffold to the entire perimeter of the building, this will allow the lads easy acces for latting felting and slating make things safer and speed up the operation it's €2,500 for a month and €200 a a month for any extra hire after that! For the time we will save with the lads working on blocks and roofing instead of erecting scaffold and transporting it all down form cork i reckon the extra costs associated with it s quite small.

Roof Pictures added to slideshow

2008-04-08T08:55:00.000+01:00

Have added the first weeks work pictures to the slideshow are worth a look.

Roof End of Week 1

2008-04-08T08:36:00.009+01:00

We were working out at the site on saturday myself dad, and my brother finished blockwork to the sunroom and progressed works to the internal gable looking out to the sitting room floor. I decided to buy a 9 x 9 pine beam to use as the lintel here and make a feature out of it. My father started blocklaying the external gable yesterday, and the carpenters were at the stud walls and cutting out the opes for the velux windows. They asked me to buy some OSB board for the backing of the studs to provide sound and noise insulation and also offers better integrity, i got a further 60 sheets to put on the plywood deck to cut out noise transference and foot traffic to downstairs. Pictures below represent one weeks work for the carpenters.

Roof Works Continue

2008-04-03T21:54:00.003+01:00

The roof shape is now complete and all rafters are up, the two carpenters are flying out there. My dad has the conservatory nearly complete. I have only two recent pics i did not want to be disturbing the carpenters so here are two of me doing a bit of block work yesterday!!!! Im just in from there now was cleaning got 5 rooms done, it was well overdue a clean out! Have updated the photos in the slideshow; in the toolbar, and ill get a good few pics the weekend of the roof.

Roof Progress

2008-04-03T09:10:00.005+01:00

The place is really starting to take shape now Monday and Tuesday was taken up doing the wall plate joists and plywood to the deck along with the noggins for joist support. They also made up a temporary stairs which makes things very easy for access would highly recommend this! Yesterday Wednesday they started to erect the ridge and the common rafters so we now have the complete shape of the roof valleys and ridges and internal walls inside. Photos to follow on, i called in last night on the way home and got nabbed by my dad before he left to start building the gable wall so we can get in the steel girders for purlins today/tomorrow. Built them up to the height needed last night. (Amazed at how many cars slowed to a crawl when passing last night i think people are only starting to realise the size of it now because it has always been hidden behind the mud heaps!)

The two carpenters are on the hourly rate and i am also putting them up in the local hotel so they start in the morning at half 7 and finish at 8 in the evening they are getting great work done and im still saving a fortune in comparison to local quotes. My father has been blocklaying the conservatory and that is starting to take good shape now too. He is going to concentrate on the gable wall now today, we got the two RSJ's on that welded together to give it extra strength and the blocks will be starting this morning there is probably three days blockwork to complete the house yet and the carpenters have really steamed ahead now so the blockwork is falling behind.

Roof Work Commenced

2008-04-01T10:46:00.002+01:00

The carpenters and my father and crew started on site yesterday, the father and one of the lads were supposed to start laying blocks on the garage but all five of them fell in doing the joist work some pretty long and hefty timbers there, they wall-plated and joist the entire house yesterday will plywood the deck now today and start setting up some of the common rafters and ridge.

Pricing the roof

2008-03-31T16:14:00.002+01:00

Well when it came to this aspect of the build i left the carpenter calculate up a cutting list for timber required for the roof and sent out the list for pricing to 8 local suppliers. Prices returned varied from €8,750 to €10,800 as per the pricing list on the Google pages link in the tool bar items 14 and 15. I spoke to the local hardware who i have been using all along they were second cheapest and the hardware at home had asked to price it they came back the cheapest i negotiated with both of them and the hardware at home were very keen to win it, and so they did. The timber was delivered on Friday along with all the nails and felt. I have also been negotiating prices with slate suppliers and i priced the thrutone with the hardwares for the roof. None of them could match Capco roofing though and i am buying a natural Brazilian slate Novo Black with a 25 year guarantee for €1.53 per slate excl vat.

Progress

2008-03-31T11:39:00.002+01:00

Well myself and my father were working on site Thursday and Friday and completed the block work to the house, got the girders in the sitting room up too. The tracks machine was on Site thursday and Friday and we opened the proper site entrance moved the security cabin also stoned the new driveway put in the duct for esb services filled the base to the garage and poured the concrete in the floors. Got the delivery of the timber for the roof Friday morning

Blockwork to house practically complete

2008-03-26T08:28:00.002Z

Further to my last post, when i was working the 15th and 16th, the lads came back block laying 1 block layer 1 laborer for the 18,19 & 20th and myself and my father worked there on the 21 & 22nd all the external walls are now complete we have a few internal walls left to do so i am taking tomorrow and Friday off work and myself and my father will hopefully finish it! I have the tracks machine booked for tomorrow also and we will fill the garage base with stone, radon and insulation, we must also move the storage container and open up the permanent site entrance. We are running to a tight schedule in order to have the blocks complete for Monday morning when the carpenters arrive.

Weekend Work

2008-03-18T09:49:00.002Z

Well the jollylady was away for the weekend so i decided to dust down my trowel and lay a few blocks went out Saturday morning and the day turned out to be miserable ended up laying about 40 blocks and abandoning ship at half 2, went home to watch the rugby soaked to the skin laying blocks and then a bad loss to England not a good day!
Went out again on Sunday morning and it was a much clearer day; was laying the internal walls so finished the master bedroom the dining room and the kitchen! (Not bad going working by-youself drawing blocks and putting up scaffold) Its a great feeling to be able to do a bit of work on your own house ended up there until half 7 Sunday evening!
Went out yesterday and gave the place a good clean up swept the floors removed the broken blocks gathered up the bits of insulation/plastic prevent stuff blowing cross the country!

Plumbing costs/ Getting a plumber on board

2008-03-15T20:16:00.002Z

Plumbing is something i know very little about, im Hoping to learn more in the coming months :)
Once we had decided on the method of heating the house, i contacted a few local plumbers one of which was highly recommended i sent him off the drawings and told him in a cover letter that it was going to be oil heating, underfloor to three rooms main bathroom ensuite and kitchen we like the feeling of a hot tile floor!!! What can i say!!! Pressurised system, super condensing boiler located in the garage and 6m2 of solar panels the radiators positioning and quantity were at his discretion with heated towel rails in bathrooms!

He sent me back a detailed quote on the spec and sizes and quantity of all associated plumbing works, i also went to a second plumber recommended by one ofthe other Quantity Surveyors at work he specd the whole set up also and quoted me

The prices returned were:-

Local Guy €21,500
Work Guy €27,500

I decided to go with the work guy as he seemed to spec it better and was supplying everthing with the exception of the sanitary ware he is also experienced at converting to metric for clients who buy there sanitary ware abroad!

Getting a carpenter on board

2008-03-15T19:53:00.003Z

Right, as im not local to the area i did not know any local trades, we had to track down some carpenters. Got a few names from locals met the carpenters and gave them the drawings to quote us for first and second fix of the house.
The three prices returned were:-
1. €24,500
2. €25,000
3. €28,500

One of these carpenters was in school with my girlfriend we were hoping he would do us a favour, the prices seemed very expensive to me, i realise it is a big house but at the same time €30k labour only seems very rich! We had another guy called to site last week looking for work and he quoted me €17,500 first fix only

The rough split on costs was €18k roof of house
€3k roof of Garage
€5k second fix

The solution i had to this was to speak to some carpenter's in my hometown; Bruff in Limerick.
I decided to deal with one of the lads who does a lot of work for my father and to pay him on a daily rate 2 carpenters @ €60/hour all in.

I reckon that they will have a lot of it done in 4 weeks at:-
8hrs/Day = €480/Day
5Days/Week = €2,400/Week
4Weeks = €9,600

Even if it runs on by two weeks ill still be making a considerable saving, and i also know the quality and workmanship im getting.

Progress in Pictures 2

2008-03-15T19:10:00.006Z

Progress of works/ Next items on the go

2008-03-15T17:54:00.003Z

The weather has been miserable all week, the lads were on site from Wednesday and the progress is coming along well. Another week will finish the house it will only be my father and Harry on site next week so we will be down a blocklayer. The builders holidays are kicking in monday week and we have paddy's day and good Friday this wek coming also, so its a three day week for the lads next week and hopefully this will complete the blocks that need to be done on the house! It is mostly internal walls at this stage so they wont be long going up, i was out there today laying a few but unfortunately i had to give into the rain! Ill try again tomorrow if the weather is any better!
The plan from then is (subject to completing blockwork by next thursay) to get the blocklaying gang 2 blockies 1 labourer and the chippies 2 of them on site for the 31st of march. This will have given the block work the week to settle and the carpenters can start straight at the roof, one of the blocklayers is a chippie by trade so what im doing is putting three carpenters on the roof work and my dad and harry will be pouring the floors to the garage and starting on the block work for it also! They can also be laying the window cills in the house. The place should start to take real shape after that then!

The view on a clear day last Saturday

2008-03-15T17:03:00.002Z

Mortgage 2nd Cheque

2008-03-12T09:57:00.003Z

Have requested the second mortgage cheque yesterday, contacted my engineer told him how much i need. He sent the cert of to my solicitor and mortgage company. The solicitor sends the mortgage company a letter on my behalf requesting the amount recommended by the engineer and the cheque gets approved and posted to my solicitor! Where hopefully i will collect and lodge it next Wednesday and get a few more people paid!

Back to work

2008-03-12T09:54:00.001Z

Yesterday was a washout again, they are back on site this morning and are only going three to four blocks high due to the power of the winds that are there! I have been just speaking with them on the phone and apparently the other pier of the front door is after being damaged also after the wind and with the structure already after being badly hit last Saturday there was very little support there!

Progress/Mishaps

2008-03-10T14:37:00.003Z

Well i have updated the slide show things are going along nicely, today i have had to cancel the block layers the weather is miserable, and the forecast is not great for tomorrow either. I had stuff ordered from the hardware on Friday and they said they would deliver on Monday unfortunately they came on the Saturday and knocked the wall at the front door when he was reversing out!(pictures in the slideshow) I met the boss man of the hardware on site yesterday and told him it will cost in the region of €2,000 to fix, although id prefer not to have to fix it! Will have to take the lintels down and demolish and build back up so there is materials the days labour in reinstating it and the original dayswork for putting it up, as well as the time lost!
We were hoping to have the blocks to the house complete by this Friday but the weather may have shoved that back a bit!

On going works steel prices

2008-03-05T13:13:00.002Z

The 8 girders can be viewed in the slide-show now €1400 delivered by heiton steel! I was working on the site last weekend my father had asked me to clean it up, its one heck of a big house when you have to sweep the whole lot of it god help the jollylady!!!! :)
I must organize more stone and a tracks machine and try to get the garage floor poured and commence the blockwork on that!

Accident/Minor incident on site

2008-03-05T12:54:00.007Z

On Monday evening this week with the wind and the rain/sleet/snow coming down the lads had decided to call it a day and while packing up there stuff heard a loud bang, the internal corridor wall up six fresh courses and lintels came crashing down and took the previous four rows with it; along with a section of the opposite corridor wall! 300 blocks in total pictures in the slide show!!
It was an unfortunate incident but at least no one was hurt they cleaned it up yesterday and there was no major delay with it, it should be completed again by today. They are laying an average of 520 blocks a day (2 block layers one lad tending) and hopefully will be finished the house this Thursday/Friday!
I ordered 12" blocks to close the cavity at wall plate level, 6" blocks to make up levels at window cills (block on flat wall) 6" soaps for all other window cills!

On going Progress

2008-03-05T12:49:00.004Z

A few issues that have cropped up in the last week, once we decided to go with the window supplier, my brother (architect) blog now added to the tool bar, I'm starting to set a trend!!!http://domusarchitectus.blogspot.com/ decided that to get the best results and for architecture purposes to make the windows multiples of .675mm this was fine on the windows that had not yet been found laid out by the blocklayer/my father; on the ones he had laid out it took a bit of persuading to talk him around into altering the block work but hopefully this will have a positive effect in the long run!

Window Hunting

2008-02-29T14:44:00.011Z

Above: Example of a recent house!

Any of you readers from AAM will know the story here, went to meet Margaret Sheeran of Sjodalshus this week and had a look at her sample windows. She has varying types Timber windows with a u-value of 1.3 window and frame, she can also do a timber window with a Low e glass that can bring this down to 1.0 and the same goes for their alu-clad version and all these windows are triple glazed!
I brought a sample from her office to my brothers architecture office he had there technicians look at them, they deal with windows all the time and are very impressed with the alu-clad version. They can finish the outside in a full range of the RAL and NCS colors and the inside can be painted or stained to any color you wish from RAL. I looked at the timber windows in her house (installed 8 years) and they looked immaculate with the original painted finish.
They do the Bi-fold door also and these look amazing, going to put one in our sitting room glass gable wall!
You do have to get someone to measure and install these windows for you but at the price and value for money that is no drawback to us!

Check the Google pages link item 12 for details on costing of the windows!

Margaret imports all her windows from Sweden.

In built Fish tank Corridor wall between entrance hall and Office

2008-02-29T14:31:00.004Z

I must mark out the ope for this tank the weekend have always wanted one of these i reckon it will look great. Have built the wall as a block on flat specifically to serve the purpose of taking this tank, the wall in the hall will also be clad with a limestone type of slate it should look very well. These are items that are easily incorporated at the early stage as long as you know what you want.

Check out the links!

http://www.walltanks.com/tank_4.php
http://www.kooltanks.com/instructions/jumbo_inwall_instruct.html

Picture of the ope now added!!!

On going works

2008-02-26T09:53:00.003Z

It has been unfortunate that i have had to take the blog off line, but it has been necessary, was contemplating deleting the entire thing, except that i have put so much work into it.

Anyway progress on site remains good the weather slowed the lads down slightly yesterday but today is looking good again. The ESB are coming to site today to agree the new proposed location for their pole and give us the location of the meter box. The lintels and cills and flu gatherer are due on site today and i must measure for the steel girders to the bigger opes in the sitting room to act as lintels and also two steel girders to act as purlins in the sitting room. Hopefully i can get a reasonable price on these!

Updated Photos Blocks

2008-02-25T12:22:00.002Z

Have added photos to the slide show, things are progressing well at the moment hope the weather will stay good for us! Should be a lot of blocks completed by next Friday!

Photo Slideshow toolbar

2008-02-22T09:38:00.006Z

Guys was just flicking through the slide show on the tool bar and you don't get all the photos unless you actually click into it for some reason and view it that way just to let ye know :)

Added some night time photos of the radon and insulation! Must get some pics with the concrete slab in and update it!

New Blogs on toolbar

2008-02-21T14:53:00.003Z

We have some newly set up live blogs on the tool bar now under the heading of check these out, they should be interesting to follow!

Watergate-house (AKA Bauderline)
Selfbuild Cork (AKA Claire)
Livebuild (AKA Villian)

Along with these new ones we have some very useful old ones that are not long completed from the likes of Yop and Dolanbaker.

Site Progres Procuring Materials

2008-02-21T14:41:00.002Z

The lads are back on site since yesterday, i don't think that it had rained in the two weeks they were away and it started raining again yesterday just as they came back!!! I have ordered the Window cills going for the chunky concrete ones as we prefer the look of them have used them many times before and they make a much bolder statement with the window am getting them for €6/foot which i reckon is great value also ordered the 6&4" lintels at €1.45/foot which are also very cheap delivered for free from Middleton. They are also bringing down a flu gatherer at €30. Ordered Flu liners today from my hardware man 12 straight and 2 splayed to help achieve a draft and prevent air coming down the chimney! Have a meter box ordered and a hockey stick to suit!

Still have prices coming in for plumbing and roofing, and at the moment there is very little between them all! Hoping to have the block work complete in two and a half weeks get a roofer on board and get the windows measured!

Site hits yesterday...

2008-02-19T11:29:00.001Z

Had 144 hits yesterday looks like people were looking for some news, work was hectic so never got to post. But I'm glad to see there is a lot of interest out there in the blog! Posts were updated today.

Paying Contractors/Suppliers

2008-02-19T10:32:00.002Z

Have been going around for the last few days with my cheque book paying the various suppliers and contractors, they are all up to date now so it allows me track the actual spend for each stage of the build. i have an A4 lever arch file going split into five sections and each section within that split into the different suppliers. I have section for

Upto floor level
Upto Wall Plate
Roof
External & Internal Completions
Finishes

Each section within these five have the suppliers and all there dockets at the front of each then are there invoiced costs and receipts of payments for each.

Progress/Lack there of...

2008-02-19T09:42:00.002Z

Well its been a week and a half since the floors were poured and I'm finding it hard to get the father back, the frost yesterday morning put them off once they looked out the window! At the moment there is nothing happening they are supposed to be back tomorrow morning and i have everything they need on site insulation blocks cement wall ties dpc and so on, i must go scudding my uncles house for him this Saturday and hopefully will finish painting the post and rail at my own place on Sunday with Jolly lady!!! Have the blocks laid out and stacked for the lads starting tomorrow and the father will set out the block on flat sitting room wall for me ill build this at the weekends and leave them concentrate on the fast work. More progress pics with floors in will be posted soon!
Still receiving prices from carpenters and plumbers will post a spreadsheet on the results once all received.

Self Build/Ikea in Belfast

2008-02-15T15:29:00.003Z

Well our trip to Belfast went fairly well, left at 7 o clock Friday evening and had booked a room in the crown plaza in Dundalk for €75 for the room for the night arrived there at 11! Would highly recommend the hotel is a beautiful place and very reasonably priced.
The Sat nav came in handy and brought us right to the door of the kings hall for the building expo, got some great info and paperwork there plenty new products and i have people returning quotes to me on several items. Also met a truss company truss world i must send them some drawings of the roof they will spec and price the exposed trusses for the roof in the sitting room.
Found some beautiful stairs there, think we are going to use that design and get a local joiner to make it up for us! Also the stone cladding panels looked very well and we are thinking of putting this on one of the walls in the sitting room to make a feature of it!
The prices up the north were 5 to maybe 10% cheaper than down here ans several company's were prepared to do deals down here!
Henderson garage doors had a display there got a very good price on there new insulated draught proof up and over automated door.
After the expo we headed to Ikea i had been looking forward to seeing this place with all the talk i had heard about it, we started off on the wrong foot with the sat nav bringing us to a dead end down by Belfast's docks thank god it was bright cause id say its a scary place by night! I don't know if it is Ikea's website or the sat nav that was wrong but we had typed in the postal address from their website! We eventually got there with good old fashioned sense of direction head for the airport you cant go too wrong!!!
When we arrived there, there is a four story car park dedicated to the shop and an open air car park further back all were full its a wait just to park, when we got inside i was very disappointed with the quality and design of the majority of the furniture and me and the jolly lady certainly wont be making any purchases there she was even more disappointed than me!!!! The place was busy but negotiable and it was the stuff that was more off putting than anything else, to add insult to injury we left and it took the best part of two hours to get back to the kings hall where the expo was on, it's on the road home. The traffic was absolutely crazy!

Garage Plans

2008-02-13T13:31:00.007Z

The garage plans have been progressed by my brother "The architect" we are hoping to incorporate a 1 bed apt in the upstairs of this as can be seen in the plans.
Click on the googlepages link in the toolbar on the left to view. If anybody is looking for an architect he is newly qualified he would be more than willing to have a look at it! Contact me through the blog for details.

Self build home and rennovate show this weekend

2008-02-12T09:04:00.000Z

Our valentines weekend away is a trip to Belfast leaving on Friday to head to the show on the Saturday we are also going to take in IKEA as part of a scouting mission.

http://www.selfbuild.ie/selfbuilder/exhibition.asp
http://www.selfbuild.ie/selfbuilder/admin/uploads/exhibitors_belfast.pdf

Be sure to get your tickets on line if you are thinking of going, will get them for half price.
Unlike the last show that i canceled to go to a stag, ill post about this one next week! :)

Update on Budget Tracker

2008-02-11T15:45:00.000Z

Did not foresee all the costs to this stage and some of the problems which we ran into, it has been an experience already, with plenty more work ahead of us; floors in and complete starting to pay suppliers now our final account to this level is circa €46k!
View the budget tracker in the link in the tool bar it gives all cost details and reasons why we have went over budget and needed various materials.

Floors Poured

2008-02-07T11:09:00.000Z

Well all went to plan and poured the floors yesterday ran out of radon so that caused a bit of a delay i had not allowed enough for laps and leaving it run over the walls even though i ordered 60sqm more than the floor plan size.
32 M3 of concrete to the floors and they were still being power floated last night when i got home from work so gave my dad a hand we were home for 9!
Let the site sit now until Tuesday and get two loads of blocks dropped on the base then. My dad is on site this morning finishing the block work to the garage.
I must start pricing pre-cast concrete company's for supply of lintels and window cills. Order DPC wall insulation wall ties, chimney flues and flue gatherer.

All in all things are going well fingers crossed.

The Progress in pictures

2008-02-07T10:52:00.001Z

Updated Photos

2008-02-07T09:23:00.000Z

Have finally updated the pictures, for the full size pics click on the slide show in the tool bar and read the captions for an explanation. The pictures do not do the size of the base justice! Its nice to see from the start all the way through to floors though, i think it chronicles the mess that it was very well!

Maybe it does justify spending €6k on stone!!!!!!!!

Umm Progress.!!!

2008-02-04T10:48:00.000Z

I guess we are a week ahead of where we should be as the blocks are all laid on flat, they did not need much time to settle. The rooms are nearly all filled now with a 2to4" stone compacted and wacked and then a 2" fine stone compacted and wacked and finished with a fine limestone dusting which will prevent any damage to the radon barrier. I was out there saturday with the tracks machine and we filled the base to within 18" of the floor level, the lads are due to put down radon sumps and pipes and drainage pipes today.
My father is laying the blocks to the garage we were short 450 blocks so had those delivered this morning. Hopefully he can finish this today and it will allow us to fill it; and concrete the floors the same day as the house, and we will only have to hire the powerfloat for the one day and we can off hire the wacker also!

Subsoil is being removed everday currently 22 loads gone and plenty more to go!

I also finished off the final touches to the post and rail fencing i put on 13 no 12" pigtails with the white horse tape running through them as the landowner is keen to get his horses in!

Hoping to pour the floors on Wednesday weather dependant!!!

I took plenty photos on Saturday will post them tommorow!

Alll in All progress is going good; apart from todays foray to the coursing in clonmel by one of the blocklayers! You know who you are!!! (",)

Mortgage 1st Cheque

2008-01-30T12:23:00.001Z

The first cheque arrived to my solicitor yesterday, so had to get that collected and lodged to our account, €44K need to pay out in the region of €20k so the rest will get us to our next stage payment.
I must compliment EBS on their service and willingness to help a newcomer like me. They were very helpful with the whole process.

Progress to Subfloor Level

2008-01-30T12:19:00.000Z

Well things are moving along well and hopefully this weather will keep up, the block work is almost complete the garage foundations were poured yesterday tracks machine is continuning to move earth off site and filling the base and the stone continues to arive, the lads were hiring a wacker plate today to compact the 804 stone under the subfloors. Insulation, drainage pipe waste pipe radon barrier and sumps were all delivered yesterday stored away in our steel container for prices on these items keep an eye out on the budget tracker. Hoping to pour the subfloors for monday.

Toolbar Column Blog links

2008-01-29T13:04:00.001Z

Guys,

Have added links to other self build blogs in Ireland, hope ye guys who own them dont mind, that is if ye read this blog!!
Other people were asking me were there anymore blogs of this kind im sure between us all we have a lot of the aspects covered and a lot of the details.
If anybody else has a blog of a similiar nature let me know and i can add it.

Weekends Progress-On going work

2008-01-28T12:25:00.000Z

On Saturday morning i went out for my first days blockwork on the house in order to help the father along i finished off all the internal walls about 300 blocks i was wrecked after it. This morning the two blocklayers are on site i have a tracks machine spreading stone filling bases and digging foundations for the garage and in his spare time he is filling a tractor and dump trailer which is drawing the stone and going away with some of the subsoil that is on site, and coming back again with more stone. This groundworks is really taking up a lot of money at this stage, ordered the insulation and radon barrier for the floor slab today. The budget is creeping up.!!!!

Progress Subfloor and site

2008-01-24T13:01:00.000Z

Looks like the weather is picking up just as we near completeion on the blocks to subfloor level, i took the day off work yesterday to lend a hand as they had no labourer on site, im crippled today! It has been a while this office job is making me soft!
Another 2 days should see the blocks completed to this stage we will then leave the blocks dry and settle until Monday week when i have the tracks machine booked to fill the base and stone around the outside of the house again to give us some comfort with access!
I am going to wait until we have the concrete poured for the subfloors before i update the budget but i have a suspicion that we may have gone over it!
It has taken 4000 blocks to date and they are still laying!
The whole place is like a swimming pool and i have had the water puemp on hire for a week and a half now hopefully can off hire that this saturday.
Currently waiting on prices back from plumbers and roofers hopefully they wont be too shocking. Have had one quote back on the roofing labour only €24,500 i have three more fellas pricing it so we will see how it goes.

Eircom pole removal

2008-01-22T09:47:00.000Z

Following my two previous posts on this issue, Eircom arrived out yesterday and relocated the pole, have heard nothing from them so i presume the solicitors letter did the trick! Ill be posting again if a bill arrives in the door!

Mortgage Drawdown 1st stage payment

2008-01-22T09:41:00.000Z

Well we are nearing that stage where we will need an influx of money, and i have a few people that i need to pay. Contacted the engineer to raise a cert for the first stage he asked me what value i wanted €60k hopefully this will get us as far as and complete some part of the roof. The way EBS work for the cert is that they will give me the €60k plus the site value €120k = €180k less what we have already claimed and give me 90% of this figure.
In order to get the money across i will need to get the solicitor to send in a letter on our behalf also requesting the money and cheque issue after this letter is 24 hours posted to my solicitor.

Blocks to floor Level

2008-01-21T09:48:00.000Z

The lads were on site thursday and Friday last week, laying blocks so far they are going through a load a day. 880 blocks on a healy brothers load, also got one bail of 4" soaps a bail of 6" soaps a bail of 2" pads and a bail of 45o degree squint blocks. Had a tonne of cement delivered to them also on Friday. Another load of blocks being delivered this morning, i called to the site this morning before leaving for work and put out the water pump, all blocks that they had laid last week were under water. Hopefully this would allow them to get straight into laying and they would not have to go swimming!!!! Went to take some pictures the weekend but the batteries died will update them soon!
Anyway the far back wall in the kitchen when 4 blocks high in order to be level with the front corner of the sitting room will need to be 10 blocks high. For the structure of the sitting room and with the big glass gable there we are putting the inner leaf as a block on flat for structure. All blocks to floor level though are going in on the flat to offer support for two reasons there will be a lot fill to go in and for the steel structure with the mezz floating floor.

Progress Subfloor and site

2008-01-17T12:41:00.000Z

The fencing company arrived on site yesterday evening at around half three, when they ran there lines for the fence it highlighted that they would need 7ft posts because of the way the site slopes. This meant an extra €.50 cent a metre so we are getting imported timber pressure impregnated 7ft 6x3 posts and 5x1 3/4 rails at 2.4metre spacings for €15.50 a metre.
On the way home from work last night i hired a petrol 2" water pump the father was due on site this morning to start laying blocks, so i was there till half 8 last night pumping water out of the foundations i eventually ran out of petrol and there was still plenty water in the foundations! €20/day for the hire of the pump!

Budget Tracker Update 2

2008-01-15T10:02:00.000Z

Guys,

Have updated the budget tracker (item 11), to date may be of interest to see how we are going. Ill be keeping it updated at regular intervals.

http://jollyman2.googlepages.com/

Update on Account Set up and Procuring materials

2008-01-14T11:56:00.000Z

So far everyone i have rang has been prepared to deal for cash and without having to pay deposits and payment terms generally 30 days after recepit of invoice.
This morning i met with the concrete block supplier he required €1000 deposit to set up the account. I am still looking for a sand supplier in the locality as the ones i have spoken to are quite expensive. Hoping to have sand and blocks on site for tomorrow.
I have also gotten a shipping container to leave on site for 14 months or whatever the duration maybe for security and allow us to store materials. I have bought the container for €1,300 and €400 delivery cash hopefully will sell it on for €1,000 when it has its work done. Will be invaluable for that bit of security.
Must put up some of the securi panels as a front gate for the time being, more stone arriving on site today for driveway and access to garage and as a base to put the sand on. Id say we will have to hire a water pump also as we have a lot of water in the foundations.

Irelands Weather

2008-01-11T08:53:00.000Z

I dont think that we have had such a sustained period of rain as this in a long time trust it to happen when we are pouring foundations! Called into the site last night on the way home with my flash lamp, can actually drive into the site again for the first time have a couple of loads of 6" stone down and this is covered with a 2" down it is grand for driving on.

One half of the house foundations is currently under water at the sitting room end. The tracks machine driver was there yesterday tidying up the site and spreading stone, think we need another load or two to get as far as the garage to allow us to pour it and get blocks started there too. He cleared an area for the sand and tided up the rooms inside and shook a bit of stone around them so we can lay the blocks in there for getting it up to subfloor level.

1 week look ahead
Order and get sand delivered (price around)
Order and get 4" blocks delivered
Order and get delivered radon barrier, cement, plasticiser, kingspan 100mm insulation, radon sumps and 4" pipe
Get plumber on board for services
Get blocklayer (the father) organised and on site for wednesday
Waterford farm relief organised for tuesday afternoon/Wednesday morning to fence the site boundary.

Foundations Day 3

2008-01-10T08:50:00.000Z

Well after 10 loads 77M3 of concrete lots of wind and rain and id imagine plenty of heated discussion the foudations for the house are finally in.

The worst about this time of year is that when i go to work its dark and when i come home its the same way ill have to wait until saturday to see it, i did go in with a torch last night but its no good to try and see it like that.

Thanks to all the lads for there hard work and to the family for lending a hand and feeding the troops!!!!!

The garage never got dug or poured so thats a job for the next day when we will be filling the base after the blocks have been laid, hoping to have the blocklayers on site monday morning.

Foundations Day 2

2008-01-09T13:09:00.000Z

Well after meeting the rock the lads decided that we would just have to get in a tracks machine and yesterday lunch time it arrived! We had the JCB spreading 6" stone 9 21ton loads of that in now, and the tracks machine was digging the foundations and breaking rock where needed.

They cut the A393 mesh into strips of three and will have to walk it in once the concrete is down now because the foundations are so deep in places up to 4ft of concrete.

I had 8 loads on order for ten o clock this morning and i think the quarry had designated two lorrys to draw over and back for the afternoon, the quarry is only 10mins away so there is not much of a delay.

We were thinking that we would have had to get a concrete lorry with a conveyor belt on it to reach the back walls as you cant currently drive all the way around the building but now we will just pour it into the bucket of the tracks machine and put it across like that.

Ill post again tommorow and hopefully we will have foundations down.

For costs to date keep an eye on the budget tracker i will update it when we have the floors down!!!

Start of foundations

2008-01-08T08:11:00.000Z

Its a wet miserable morning here in cork just after arriving in the office, said i would write a post first. The crew started yesterday 3 men up from home one being my father they made great progress marked out and started digging all the foundations, and then they met rock!!!!

Rang the engineer who will be signing off the building and he has stated that all the foundations will have to come to the level of the underlying bedrock in order to achieve even settlement. This means taking certian walls down by another 16" or so and making back up levels with a lean mix of concrete (a weaker dry mix).

They are due again this morning and will start straight at this, i have the lean mix on order for 12 today and hopefully the weather will be ok for them. I got 10 sheets of A393 mesh delivered yesterday 60 stock brick and a couple of lengths of timber, hopefully by the end of the day they will have the foundations ready to pour for Wednesday morning, steel in on top of bricks and all pegs into level.

I had a tractor and dump trailer on site yesterday morning to take away a couple of loads of clay, but the ground conditions were so wet that it could not manouver. Had to hire in a 9 tonne dumper for a couple of days instead.

Will post again tomorrow on todays progress.