Trench warfare!

Another weekend of work completed on the house this time digging the trenches for the GSHP flow and return lines that run from the unit to the bore holes. With the trenches required to be 1m deep and 500mm or so wide we hired in a small 1.5 tonne mini excavator for the weekend to take the majority of the workload.

Tor at the helm

Using this was a blast having never actually used one before!. Two joysticks with 2 degrees of motion each gave the hand eye coordination a thorough work out but by the end of the job it was feeling much more natural. Makes you appreciate the skill level of the guys who do this for a living and make difficult jobs look easy.

While the mini excavator shifted most of the soil we still had to resort to hard manual labour to hack through a section of weathered granite that the bucket couldn't get into. This was up to 10" thick at some points and my arms felt the work out having to swing the pick axe to smash through this. The areas around the bore holes also needed the more dexterous human touch to excavate. Thanks to mum for getting into the trenches with me and sharing some of the hard work.

Tor & Evelyn in the trenches

Finished trenches

Work has also progressed on the garage with the block work all complete and the granite work on the front progressing well. The slating is complete as well now on the garage and the beams are installed between the house and garage to take the glass pend roof.

Garage front

Garage back

Granite work on garage progressing

Internally the partition walls and ceilings are now completion the first floor so we are good to go now with getting the UFH pipes laid upstairs.

Family bathroom toilet

Storage closets bseide family bathroom

Have decided to lay the screed in two separate jobs, first floor first followed by the ground floor. this will work out to be logistically easier and psychologically better as we appear to be progressing more quickly. With one more work weekend this year and a work party lined up again I hope to get all the piping down but will need a water supply to filling and pressure test the system before screeding.

Next update in a couple of week time

Internal works progressing

Progress has continued over the last few weeks with the garage roof starting to take shape and the partition walls starting to go in on the first floor.

North side of garage roof almost complete

House & garage together

On the first floor the flat ceilings have now mostly been formed  formed along with the partition walls so it is now possible to see better what the room layout is going to be like when everything is finished. The joiners remembered to put the MVHR unit up into the attic space before the last joists went up. Good thing since it wont fit between the joists - hope we never need to take it down again!

Partition wall between Fraser's room & recreation room

Flat ceiling with MVHR unit (in box still)

Flat ceiling and partition walls in Ewan's room

I (Tor) was also back a week ago and started to get the first of the UFH pipe work installed in the master wing with help from mum & dad. Many lessons were learnt along the way which will hopefully result in a more efficent operation in future.

200mm thick insulation down first.....

...followed by DPM...

...then the UFH pipes

The master wing is good to go now and the insulation is almost complete in the lounge and started in the study.

Hopefully the partition walls are almost complete now and the garage roof finished. I'll have the oppertunity to see next weekend when I am back digging some trenches for the GSHP flow & return pipe which are scheduled to be installed into the house by the end of the month.

Looking good!

Mum and dad visited the house for us today and sent us some pictures of the house without the scaffolding coat that it had worn since the end of April.......and it looks great! The render has dried now to its final white colour

West face showing windows, larch render, granite & slate all coming together

Corner of the master wing

South face

North face

Dining room and bathroom

The garage is fairly  flying up and the roof trusses are already in place

Garage timber frame taking shape

Work will continue on the garage over the next week and a half. Then I get to see the house in person again... hopefully with some partition walls on the first floor