Man Cave Mk2

[b33fy]

Slow week, started on the plumbing. Using pressfit fittings more for convenience rather than cost. That said there are two different types M or B. Toolstation and Screwfix stock one or the other, neither have much in stock. Ended up buying from BES along with another set of jaws for the press tool so I could mix and match so to speak. Also grabbed a new pipe bender with the former attached which is easier to use than one with a separate former. Chipping away at the pipework, which is quite arduous because of access and the complex roof space. More of the same over the next few days.

[DJ.]

I must admit, there is a hell of a lot of work in a house conversion, it makes building a kit car look pretty straight forward. Well done for sticking at it through the winter!

[Wingco]

Some lovely pipe work there Mike.
Agree with Duncan though.

[b33fy]

I must admit, there is a hell of a lot of work in a house conversion, it makes building a kit car look pretty straight forward. Well done for sticking at it through the winter!

Funnily enough when I first met the architect, he said if you can build a car you can build a house.

Trying to do a neat job on the pipe work and keep it presentable as I’ll need to get a boiler fitted by a pro. If they see a dogs dinner they won’t touch it. That said if you put 10 plumbers on the pipework, no doubt there’ll be 10 different ways they’d do it.

[b33fy]

Finished the first fix plumbing in the extension. We’d previously put the pipework under the new floor in the lodge. So other plumbing still to do includes hot and cold to kitchen, radiator run to third bedroom, then connect everything up in the utility room. Done enough for now to get some plasterboard on the walls after we put some electrics in. Now getting a few odd jobs done then onto the wiring.

Not really rushing as we won’t be able to do much more inside until the slater returns. Will chase him to try and firm up a date over the weekend.

Squeezed in a trip to Cragside. A national trust place in Northumberland. Originally built by Lord Armstrong, an inventor and arms manufacturer. Recognised as the first smart house. An amazing place well worth a visit.

[DJ.]

Glad to hear you are allowed some R & R

[b33fy]

Decided to do a few odd jobs, purchase a few high value items, and sort out electric and gas supplies this week.

Spent a day or so measuring and remeasuring for the replacement windows in the lodge. Like for like replacement sliding sash windows albeit in upvc. Had already ordered and fitted one as a trial and test the waters with the planning orifices. Put it off until now as there was a few design changes being introduced, mainly a thinner mid rail, which has ended up as a £50 option per unit. Twelve needed so we left that box unticked. Was expecting a ballpark figure of around £10k, in the end settled on £8.4k, supply only which was better than expected.

Onto the boiler and radiators.. Biggest Vaillant combi for three bathrooms was sourced along with 14 column rads. Decided on a face to face rather than on line so headed to Edinburgh. Turns out the company trade under different names on line and I’d bought rads from them before which I was extremely happy with. Managed to get good prices and a £500 discount on top. I’d already bought 15 pairs of radiator valves from their website which were advertised at £7.83 a pair instead of £70. I thought it was a typo and wasn’t expecting them to turn up.. they did.. result.

Spent today on the phone to electric and gas company’s to get gas installed and to sort out the mess of meters and general detritus atttached to them. Still not sure if I got anywhere with it! We’ll see if some appointments materialise over the next few days.

Other jobs included framing out the boot room and sorting out ceiling levels with firring strips to avoid a few step changes in levels and give a cleaner look. I also put together some lighting from a load of spare bits and pieces.

In other news the slater is hoping to be back later next week. He’s had a dry week this week so should be on schedule to get back to us. We’ll be back on the slate cutting and sorting Monday.

We’ve decided to see if we can get some remedial work done on the chimney before the roof progresses too far, got a company coming Monday to take a look. If they struggle to fit it in with the slaters schedule or are messers we’ll not bother.

Decided to get a replacement camera before I blow the money I got for the R5 bodies on a load of materials. Was going to wait for the R5 Mk2 but decided to go for an R3 instead. Also got a macro lens coming so if anyone’s got any high speed insects and bugs they want snapping let me know

[DJ.]

Sounds like you are still making good progress, and the weather should improve soon. Do you think you'll finish this summer?

[b33fy]

Sounds like you are still making good progress, and the weather should improve soon. Do you think you'll finish this summer?

Being realistic, I would imagine at least part of it will be habitable Duncan. Even if it’s just a couple of bedrooms and a bathroom. We’ve no intention of roughing it through a third winter. Whilst we are comfortable enough, when it’s extremely cold everything becomes a bit of a struggle. I like to think it will all be looking good internally for xmas, though we’ll see how it pans out. There is scope to put more hours in with later finishes, we’ll see how it goes.

[bigstuff]

Keep at it Mike !