Glazing

On Monday the Conservatory Company and spent a couple of days finishing off what they had to do. Reason for the long delay between their fitting of the frame and the work done this week was due to the ten week delivery time for the roof panels. These have now been fitted along with the glazing to the windows, the guttering, all internal trims and the internal window sills. The conservatory is now water tight. I’m pretty pleased with the solid roof system.  

Lead

Work has been progressing on the Dormer style roof that the conservatory roof runs into. It is mostly tiled now and the valleys have been formed in lead. The wall of the conservatory that projects out from the house has been boxed in a covered in lead.

Peak

The peak is progressing with interruptions due to the rain, but at least there’s progress.

Brackets

There are now three brackets bolted to the roof trusses of the main house. These support the Conservatories Box Gutter.

Rain

It rained most of yesterday so no builders, it’s raining again this morning, so I doubt any will show up again. The forecast is for more of the same for the rest of the week. As the roof will need opening up, this work can only be done in dry weather, so I will just have to be patient.

Roof

The builders have started work on the roof of the existing house, where the new conservatory roof will run into. This will be tiled to match the existing roof. They will need to open up the roof and the weather isn’t looking too good, with quite a bit of rain forecast over the next week.

I thought I had better cut back some of the bushes in the garden, as a few were getting out of control. I also (with a bit of help) limbed the eucalyptus tree in the back garden. Trimming back some of the bushes has made more room for the conservatory deck, hopefully they wont have grown back by the time it gets erected. I was going to borrow a trailer and take the cuttings to the local amenity site, but instead decided to hire a skip, which I managed to fill, even though quite a lot of the cuttings went through the shredder first.

Frame

Got a phone call last night to say that the frame would be arriving on the Island today and that it would be fitted the same day. Arrived home for lunch and yes it was being fitted. This evening all the frame was up. Next hopefully the builders will be on site soon, they have to build the false roof which the conservatory roof runs into and sort out what’s happening where the box gutter meets the new wall. Hopefully they will be able to do the external rendering works as well. The roof panels are still over a month away.

 

Deck

At one end of my house is a bit of garden that doesn’t get much use. It contained some grass which was a pain to cut and an old wooden compost bin, which was slowly rotting away. I had been thinking of doing something with this area for a while, either concreting it over or decking it. Decking won. First job was to get rid the of the bin and cut back the grass, the bin fell apart quite easily and the long grass tangled up my petrol strimmer. Over a couple of nights I built the deck frame, the rear support is bolted to the back wall and the front support is sat on the concrete path. On Saturday I laid the decking and managed to get it all finished in about five hours. The furniture shown on the photo is just there for now, as it’s intended to go on the conservatory deck when that gets built.

 

When I was away on holiday a few weeks back I got a call from the Conservatory Company to let me know there was a 10 week wait for the roof panels, so not a lot will be happening for a while. I may be in for Christmas!

Re-Start

On the 29. June I contacted Ashley Construction (1996) Limited, a company which used to be run by my dad and I have known (and even shared an office with at times) for over twenty years. They recommended a local Conservatory Company who they have worked with on several projects and I met with them and Ashley at my home to discuss the best way forward. A week after the meeting I had a quote from the Conservatory Company and a week after that a quote from Ashley to complete the structural and finishing works. I accepted the prices.

Some small alterations to the blockwork have been agreed to make the design work, this includes returning the full height wall along the gable elevation about 30cm to support the box gutter. The dwarf wall that abuts the house will also be extended to full height for about 30cm.

On Wednesday of this week scaffolding boards appeared on site and when I went home for lunch on Thursday, blocks were sitting in the middle of the conservatory. By Thursday evening some the existing blockwork had been toothed out and a slot in the house wall had been ground out ready to take a vertical damp course. I haven’t actually seen any workers on site though!

 

Sacked

Not written for a while, as I haven’t had that much to write about and to be honest was feeling a bit fed up.

If you have read through my other posts you may have realised that things were going quite slowly on the conservatory front, in fact they weren’t moving at all. On the 23. June 2010, I wrote to the Conservatory Company expressing my disappointment over the lack of progress. I asked them to reply to my letter within seven days to confirm that the conservatory would be finished by the 16. July 2010. I hand delivered the letter and handed it to their sales manager who read it in front of me and gave no real comment.

By the 29. June 2010, I had not heard a thing back from the Company, so I wrote to them again to say that  I was terminating my contract / order with them for both the conservatory and the bi-fold door. This letter I posted. Midday on the 30. June 2010, I got a phone call from one of the Company’s Directors who was full of apologies, but no reason was offered for the lack of progress on the project. I have heard nothing more since. I could name and shame, but for the moment I wont.

Waiting

Not a lot has happened on the conservatory front since the blockwork was finished. I think I mentioned previously that the conservatory firm wanted the  blockwork in place before they took measurements to get the stuff made. The roof also caused a few problems design wise. I got a call on Monday to say that the roof design was being signed off and going to manufacturer and that work should recommence in about a week. I will believe it when I see it.

I bought two brown leather sofas in a sale about three weeks ago. They arrived today and as they can’t go into the conservatory yet (they would get wet!) I have had to put them in the dining room, which meant taking the dining table apart and storing that and the chairs in the spare bedroom.

The flooring company phoned up last week asking to lay the laminate floor I ordered from them, told them to wait a while and I would get in touch when there was something to lay the floor on.

Also bought some outdoor furniture to go on the non-existent deck, I suppose that should be okay to live outside when it arrives.

Path

Not much has been happening over the last couple of weeks. Once the blockwork was finished the conservatory firm came along and measured everything. These measurements have been passed onto the manufacturer. I don’t know how long it will take to make up, but hopefully the conservatory will be installed in the next few weeks.

I have placed an order for a new door between the house and the conservatory to replace the aluminium sliding door. The new door will be a Bifold Door in brown aluminium. This will fold totally out of the way when needed to allow full width access to and from the conservatory.

I’m also getting quotations for decking, I had a price in mind, but the prices I’m getting seem to be about double what I thought they would be.

I have had a footpath put in against the gable end of the conservatory. This will connect the slabs on the existing patio area to the new decking.

 

Blockwork Finished

The Blockwork was all finished by Thursday afternoon and the Builders put in two drain gullies connected to the existing storm-water drain either side of the conservatory. The conservatory gutters will also be taking some of the water run off from the main roof, that’s why two gullies and two downspouts are required. On Friday the builders tidied the site up, they will be back next week to put in a path and will most likely be back to make some alterations to the blockwork to the high wall once the roof detail has been finalised. 

I marked out the position of the steps for the decking to show the two companies I am asking to quote where the steps will be going.

Higher

The blockwork is almost complete, you can see now that two sides of the conservatory will be full height wall and two will be one third wall and two thirds glass. The floor joists have also gone in. Once all the brickwork is completed, I don’t expect much to happen for a few weeks as the measurements for the conservatory will be taken off the new blockwork and given to the manufacturers for them to make up the windows, doors and roof part.

  

Flooring

James Caine called round this evening to measure up for the flooring. After looking at various different types from Karndean to real wood, I have settled on something that looks good and should hopefully be pretty maintenance free.

I am going for a laminate floor from Quick-Step and the one I have chosen is called Merbau Shipdeck. I will be also going for matching skirting Boards rather than boring old white.

Even though it will be some weeks before the conservatory will be ready for the floor to be laid, James Caine, said they will get it into stock once an order is confirmed with them and so they will be ready to lay it as soon as I’m ready.

Sub Floor

The Sub Floor was laid today and the DPC set in position on the blockwork. The vertical ties have been bolted to the existing house walls. This will tie the new blockwork into the old and hopefully keep everything connected together. 

Blockwork

Yesterday the Blockwork up to DPC Level went in. I did wonder what would happen to all the soil that was taken out when the foundations were dug, well it is staying where it is on the floor of the old patio and will be covered by the new conservatories sub floor.

  

Concrete Poured

The concrete foundations were poured this morning and the blocks for the walls have arrived on site. The builder suggested that they build the walls in 100mmm Concrete Block 50mm Cavity and 100mm Block with an insulated plasterboard on the inner leaf. Sounded good to me so that’s what will be done. It also means that there will be no chasing out needed for the electric cables as these can be hidden behind the plasterboard.

  

Foundations Dug

The builders who are employed by the Conservatory Firm were on site just before 08:00 this morning. My concern about the positioning of one of the setting out lines was unfounded as it was showing the position of the inner leaf of blockwork rather than the outer.   I When I got home tonight the foundations had been dug out, all by hand and a nice neat job done and other than the big pile of soil on the old conservatory floor, no mess anywhere.

In the photos you can see the round lid of a manhole. I did think that the surface water drain leading to this manhole might be in the way of the new foundations and would have to be moved, but luckily it appears that the foundation excavations just miss this pipe.

Setting out

Came home tonight to see that the setting out lines are in. The foundations are due to be dug tomorrow. I’m not sure if one of the lines is in the correct position, so will check with the builder tomorrow. 

Gone

Exactly a month later and the old conservatory was removed today. Various delays had held things up and a redesign on how the new conservatory was going to attach to the house without cutting into the roof trusses had to be thought up. This seems to have been sorted now and I have been informed that ground works will start early next week (fingers crossed).   

Going?

I got a call from the Conservatory Firm on Thursday to say they would be taking down the old conservatory this week, which is good news and on date, as they said that works would start five weeks from placing the order with them. Hopefully work will continue and foundations dug and walls built, etc.

The old shed went on Thursday evening, it was dismantled and taken away in under an hour.

The new plastic shed arrived on the day B&Q said it would, it came in a big polythene wrapped box and was sitting on my drive when I got home. I put it up on Saturday and it only took an hour. It seems well made and feels pretty sturdy, the obvious main benefit is that it should be maintenance free.

Empty

 

The old conservatory is emptied out now, just a big horrible glass box. Ants seem to have got in under a power socket at the far end of the conservatory as there was a pile of fine soil sand next to the socket. Still waiting for things to start, which will hopefully be in the next week.

The new shed arrives today. I was told it would be here in four weeks, but I got a phone call from B&Q to say it would be delivered on Tuesday, that’s only a week from ordering it. The old shed should be going at the weekend.

Found a an interesting website called www.floorplanner.com where you can design houses / room layouts, etc. online. It’s all Flash based and I found it very easy to use. It’s free for personal limited use. Below is a quick layout of my house (with new conservatory), I didn’t do any measuring so the room sizes probably aren’t correct, but it gives you a good idea as to how it looks.

Update

Not much to update really, still waiting for a start date. I advertised the two sofas in the conservatory, but got no interest, so I thought I would offer to them to Hospice who have a used furniture warehouse. Two men and a lorry turned up yesterday, but as the sofas were a bit sun faded they said they couldn’t take them as Hospice had moved up market. I thought the idea of the warehouse was to provide furniture to people at reasonable prices who couldn’t afford new. Yes the sofas were faded, but they had hardly been used and having loose covers it would be possible to either have new covers made or re dye the existing ones. Looks like they will both be going down to the Recycle Shed at the Amenity Site.

Decided to replace my garden shed, going for a slightly smaller one constructed in plastic, this will make more room in that area of the garden and it will (hopefully) be easier to maintain. I advertised the shed as a giveaway and last night someone phoned who wanted it. As it’s free the taker must dismantle and take away. Should be going either this weekend or next.

As Is

Here are a couple of photos which show the Conservatory as it is at the present, just a big glass box.