Half Yard Farmhouse
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It's home, and where our hearts are.
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Jumped the gun and missed lots of stages in between, but here is the gallery... finished bar a few paintings, 6 shelves and some skirting. To say we are happy is an understatement. We are amazed. It's so much better than we could ever have expected. This is due to our wonderful architect Rowan Morrice and spot-on joiner Gareth Horlick. Hire them.
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Nearly there with the heating... 😑
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It's all happening this week. Good proportion of the front paths finished and garden tidied of a years worth of building stuff, installation of gallery oak floor and super sexy oak stairs. Note Billie the Guinea fowl helping Wayne to mix cement.
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Saturday night and.... teenager shower room is on the way. And of Walls and Wiring...
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Skirting boards and boiler. We are on a home run and I'm beginning to be cautiously optimistic we'll have a warm and serviceable house by Christmas...even if it's not entirely finished.
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The Aga has gone at last. Simon from Worcestershire answered our ad and travelled down to take the thing apart and then back with him to have it re-enamelled for a customer who wanted it green, not claret. After he'd renovated it she was going to pay him £3,500. As I was beginning to think I'd never find anyone to take it away I wasn't at all vexed at only having got £300 for thing. I had not been relishing dismantling it myself and lugging it down to what I had decided would be its final resting place, a glade in our wood. Now we need to find a wood burner. Funny, i'd never realised they were full of vermiculite.
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We have stairs*. Not the right stairs and not in the right place but now I am able to remove the final set of old stairs, repair the floor in the main bedroom and put the boiler, underfloor heating manifold, house server and all the rest of the technical heart of the house into it's place. More pain though. I've been let down by the plasterer who, despite a long-standing arrangement texted me only five days before he was due to start saying he'd twisted his ankle three weeks ago (!) and was running three weeks behind. He is not returning calls and is ignoring my texts. What is wrong with these people? The hunt is on for another... and luckily I think I've found one. We shall see. I've also got a roofer for the oak porch. So overall things are rocking. * The temporary stairs were got via Freegle for free, and they fit. An incredible stroke of luck. Hmm. Have realised I've missed a lot of stuff out. Since the last post we've laid all the underfloor heating pipes and a bloke has screeded the lounge, lobby, loo, utility and gallery floor, covering up the badly laid concrete floor. We've added in the structure of the oak gallery too (odd, I'm sure I posted this, but it doesn't seem to be here, oh well). Ever onwards.
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The big day. This weekend we took out the centre of the house... sounds good but in reality we removed the floor/ceiling between the ground and first floor at the centre of the house in preparation for the new stairs and gallery. This is the where we turn two small farm cottages (with holes knocked between them) into one house that, when we've finished, will look like it was always designed to be one house. Good friend Andrew Carpin helped me. Invaluable help too as I've damaged my shoulder and doing anything above my head is now quite painful. In the end he did all the hard work. Son Seth helped too, turning up for some minutes to cart debris to the fire. The work has transformed the house. It's now easy to understand how it will be. And it's quite big. The central space for the stairs/gallery appears large, although not so large that it diminishes the rest of the house. Once the gallery is in it's easy to see that the proportions will be just fine (thanks Rowan!). What is wonderful is that the space is flooded with warm southern light. Originally this property was very long and thin and on a south/north axis... southern light didn't enter it. Now the centre of the house is warm and light. We are completely behind with the works. I am having trouble getting tradesmen to arrive at the promised time and this has knock on effects. I have to get all my ducks in line, so if one guy lets me down I have to reschedule all the rest (which then makes me look unreliable). It's tiresome... but so far I've avoided shouting at anyone. Structure for the gallery goes in thursday. On wednesday (my day off work) I am making lots of big holes in the walls to take the oak beams and joists. No pressure.
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Steve the Angry Builder. Not seen him for nearly 15 years. He's not changed much, apart from losing his hair and growing a beard. He still does heavy building whilst wearing crocs and starts smoking at midday... and he still hasn't learnt how to lay a flat concrete floor!
Turner Family Building Services. Go on employ us!
We've dug out nearly all the downstairs floors and are now busy filling them back up again with hardcore, sand, damp proof membrane and reinforcing steel mesh... and on then on Wednesday, concrete! The week after I hope to install insulation, underfloor heating and then the screed. Saturday was a bit of a red letter day. Seth did some work! In 18 months of renovating this house it's probably the third time he's helped for any length of time. I was very grateful and he worked like a trooper, despite being rather the worst for wear due to a party at the reservoir the night before. Even Mandy helped, barrowing in the sand. I've rarely seen a sexier sight. So thanks to Seth we now have a huge hole in the front of our house, Hopefully the indomitable Graham Martin will pop along soon and build the new lobby... and before we get any unwelcome guests. Next big task is to pull the ceiling down to make way for the oak gallery. The small snag with this is I still haven't worked out how to accommodate poor Seth, who will see the floor outside his bedroom disappear. Oh well, I'm sure we'll sort it out somehow....
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The chickens were making a bit of a fuss so I broke off from bathroom building to see what was going on.....
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Weather. A beautiful mix. Taken by Seth from his bedroom.
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