Once again - the view from the back of the house. Hopefully in a couple of months or 3 we will have moved in and be be looking out onto this every day.

A side view of the house taken around April 19th 2005 - six months after the photo below.

This is how the house looked on 30th October 2004

Getting my hands dirty

Today was one of those rare days that I actually did some work on the house. Not a lot - but I have a few blisters on my hands to show for it. We had to put in a plastic pipe underground which will carry the electricity supply from the pole to the house. A JCB did most of the work - I was just helping with the fiddly bits. While we were at it it seemed a good idea to do the same for the telephone cable - even though there is no pole yet. That meant a last minute dash to the builders supplier to get 15m of piping and some rope. While the JCB driver was waiting he had plenty of work to keep him busy - shifting soil (rocks mostly) from the boundary with the neighboring field - in preparation for a fence.
We finally got it all sorted by about 3pm (9am start) . Now I've got to get onto Eircom about connecting a phone.

Electricity - phase one

The ESB (Electricity Supply Board) came yesterday and put up a pole on the site that will provide the mains supply .
I now have to organise the digging of a trench to the house from this pole - and lay some plastic pipe in it with a length of rope in it that will be used to pull the mains cable through to the meter box.
Had a bit of fun this morning trying to get 15m of thin rope into the pipe - which is fairly rigid. I eventually managed it by tying some lead on to the end of the rope (left over from the roofing) - and then shaking it through the pipe.
The plasterer and his labourer are there again today and making steady progress.
A lovely sunny day here in the West of Ireland.
Sorry about the lack of pictures - I will remedy that soon.

Still Getting Plastered!

Plastering inside the house continues on a daily basis. Progress is steady and sure. There are only 2 workers - but the work is very good. They expect to be finished inside 2 weeks today. Then we can get the plumber back to install the heating pipes that will go under the floor - and to fix the radiators to the walls. We also need to get the electrician back to finish off so we can get some power and get the heating on to dry out the plaster.
We had a quote for the supply of all the tiles ,grout , adhesive and it was a bit more than I expected - mainly because I didn't realise how expensive adhesive and grout are. Also the extras like border tiles soon add up to a lot. We have been to several tile suppliers - but will probably go with the local one - they have the best tiles in our price range and will be nearer if we need a few extra at short notice.

Lighting for the House

Bright Ideas - Home

This shop is a good distance from us - but there aren't that many lighting shops near here.
We might have a look one day soon - but we need to make sure we see any other shops on the same day - tiles , paint , flooring etc.

Stone Mason needed

We need a natural stone wall (limestone) building at the front boundary of the site. I was just browsing the web and found this site - he's not exactly local - about 40 miles away but is work looks really good.

http://www.authenticmasonry.com/index.html

Things to Do Soon

I always have a list of things to do - which never seems to get smaller. The current list -

Organise digger for clearing some more of the site
Organise fencing materials and labour
Arrange for digging of drains and sewage
Order pipes etc for drains andany stone/gravel too
Choose and buy some downlights for kitchen.
But wall lights for living room
Decide on tiles for the house
Finalise choices and buy furniture for whole house
Try and decide on garden layout - maybe some decking?
Get quotes for doing driveway - (not tarmac)
Get quotes for building of natural stone wall at front of house (between us and the road)
Get quotes from tilers
Get quotes/choose carpenter to fit doors and skirting and other odd bits.
Choose staircase maker and type of spindles/ wood
Insulate loft
Buy shower cubicles
Buy 1 electric shower
Buy pump for the other 3 showers.
Choose someone to do the floor screed on ground floor
Lay floor insulation before floor screed.

I think that's enough for now!!

Things to Do Today

1. Contact ESB (Electricity Supply Board) about digging for the cable to the house.
2. Measure the distance from the meter box to the electricity pole
3. Buy some ducting and rope for the cable
4. See a local supplier of tiles at the house to get the rooms measured for tiles and wooden flooring quote.
5. Take 2 year old to Toddlers group - along with 11 year old who is off school because it's an "in service" day ( teacher training).
6. Do some grocery shopping
7. Cook dinner for myself and family of 5
8. Update this blog

Today is Tuesday

Another day over - and the electrician finally came to finish off his "first fix" . He had the garage to wire up and the main power cable to get into the space between ground and first floor. He arrived late in the day and I left him working - so hopefully he will have finished.
The plasterer is preparing downstairs now - ready to start plastering tomorrow hopefully.
We need to sort out fencing very soon. The site is open on 2 sides - and the neigbouring farmer may well be putting cattle back on the field soon. So that's one job for tomorrow.

A self build in the UK

These self builders at the Eddystone Self Build are a bit more "hands on" than we are. I don't expect to do much more than a bit of clearing up, painting and maybe some laminate floor laying. For me "self builder" is a bit of a contradiction - it just means that I am organising the building of our own house . Some self builders do a lot of the work themselves - blocklaying, digging, carpentry etc.

Stairway to Heaven?

This website from Kilgallon Stairs has some good pictures of stairs they have made. We will probably be having a staircae that isn't closed in underneath - if you know what I mean? It will be possible to walk underneath the stairs. We haven't chosen a stair maker yet - might give these a call tomorrow but they might be a bit too far away.

More on Waste Treatment

We had another visit from a waste treatment plant supplier today - Klargester this time. They supply a thing called Biodisc - which is different from most of the others on the market. Most of the others operate by pumping compressed air into the sewage to get bacteria to grow and break down the waste. The biodisc has a rotating disc which is supposed to expose the bacteria to the air - and allowing them to "breathe " that way.
It's 3500 euro plus VAT and that doesn't include any help with fitting. A firm will supply and fit for an extra 1500 euro !!. I will probably go with Envirocare. The crazy thing is - they are both owned by Kingspan anyway - so either way it will be more profit for them. I really will think about buying shares in Kingspan. If the house building in Ireland and the UK carries on at the rate it is now - then Kingspan will be making loads of profit.

Staircase Construction

We got in touch with a few staircase makers today. The stairs we want are fairly basic and functional . It's just a straight stairs - no landing. We will probably go for Red Deal - which is a type of Pine - it's not the cheapest but it's well away from being the dearest wood. The doors inthe house are all going to be pine - so the stairs may as well match. Most (all but one) of the stair makers we rang will not fit the stairs. That seemed a bit strange to me - I thought that they would do a better job if they had to fit them? The prices ranged from 750 euro to 1000 euro - excluding fitting. The one company that would fit too - quoted 800 euro for that.
We will make a final decision in a week or two - because they need a few weeks notice anf if everything carries on well - we should be needing them in about 4 or 5 weeks.
If the price isn't to prohibitive we might have metal spindles instead of wood - but most of the companies want you to supply those. I will be googling for stair parts tonight!

Birds in the house.

Day 166.
Sunday - no work today (unless the electrician decided to nip in and finish his final bit of his first fix)
The Pope died yesterday - so it's been on the TV and radio a lot here in Ireland - which is predominantly a Catholic country. The newsreaders have all been wearing black since yesterday evening.
We all called up to the house yesterday - to find there were two birds (maybe more) flying about upstairs. One got out a window that we opened - but the other one went into the open loft. I suppose they could be getting in anywhere - but probably the wall vents which are still fully open pipes . I need to get the vent seals or whatever they are called - tomorrow.
The plasterer has almost finished "skim coating" the upstairs rooms now - just the landing and the stairwell to do. The en-suites are being left -because tiles will stick better apparently to the plasterboard. After a bit of discussion we decided to fully tile both the ensuites upstairs. They are fairly small and the walls aren't full height all the way around - so it won't be much extra tiling. I am thinking of starting painting the upstairs ceilings soon after the plastering is done - but I need to check out how long to leave the skim coat to dry before painting.
We will probably be going looking for furniture again tomorrow when the older kids are back at school after the Easter break.