Happy Anniversary!

WE HAVE NOW BEEN IN THE CARAVAN FOR A YEAR HAVING MOVED IN ON THE DAY AFTER BOXING DAY LAST YEAR!

Pete and Dave are back  working in the house, doing the first fix sockets there are wires everywhere now, I would add a photo but the camera got broken over christmas, so here to mark the occasion are some photos of us in January 2009 when we came to look round the site and the bungalow for the first time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

safe as houses!

We are now totally water tight, apart from having the dodgy bi-fold doors that Framefast UK have  still not sorted out (we are putting pen to paper tonight). All the windows are in and the utility door, (the original front door from the bungalow, that was actually located on the side!) is in place, it will need a final coat of paint in the spring ( or February -depending on when the summer is next year!)

and we have a beautiful front door!!!!!

It feels good to be a bit more secure, as evidence suggests that we have had someone on site, whilst we have been asleep in our beds. I will have to swot up on  "home alones" during christmas, so I am ready for them!!!!!

Hooray the 3 toilets , 3 sinks, 2 showers , 2 taps , shower tray and urinals ( did I mention the urinals before???!!!!!)  arrived yesterday, everything that was on the pallet in the sale room got delivered, which was a relief as the chap dealing with  us was very tired at the end of the two day sale so we didnt hold out much hope of getting everything we picked out, -thank you Neville Lumb Swadlincote, it was a fantastic sale, I am very happy, although I did see our ensuite sink in the toilets at Coopers last night! - says the girl who is putting a urinal in the main bathroom- public conviniences could be all the rage in interior design 2013 you saw it here first!!!

Frostbite!

We have been feeling a bit chilly in the caravan especially during last weeks cold snap!, but a positive note there are always so many more size 4 shoes than 6 in the January sales!, the gas regulator froze twice, showers and the ability to cook tea can be over rated!

Pete and Dave have been getting on with the upstairs lighting, Pete and I had spent numerous evenings planning all the lights and sockets etc, then we spent 3 hours going round the house making sure we had made the right desisions - hopefully all the planning will be worth it!

MOANING- they put in all the downstairs insulation this week Pete made a bit of a fuss about it not his favorite job! Also we are gutted that we are paying so much more now for insulation than we were a year ago when you could get it for £3 a roll.

We are looking forward to Wednesday when our pallet of sinks toilets taps and showers arrive form Neville Lumb, a colleague of Petes from ED (thankyou Ashea) told him about the sale and we had no idea what to expect,- huge barns with row apon row of sinks baths toilets etc, it was fantastic we picked up some really nice things.

Still no sign of FrameFast........................................

ELVIS!

Dark nights, cabin fever, Russian roulette with the shower, and two badly stubbed toes - Caravan life continues to be interesting!!!!!, I think that we should all move into the kombi for a week, so we can fall back in love with the caravan and appreciate all it has to offer, on the other hand we could do a George Clarke on it!!

We are still here, it has been a couple of weeks since the last post, the build still continues to move on but there was a problem with the blog, pete is under  even more pressure now as I have reached my photo limit  and now paying a couple of dollars a month to continue the same blog!

 

The windows are nearly all in, the weather has beaten us and so we will probably leave the scaffolding up until the spring and finish the painting then.

They have started to put in the first fix electrics today, of course we have misplaced one of the plans that we have done so we have a busy night ahead turning the caravan upside down or re doing it- aghhh!!! and the rain water harvester has been electrically installed today.

we are pleased with the paint for the window cills .

We have got lots of quotes coming in at the moment, for curved guttering- very expensive we need a solution (no mark whatever it is your thinking the answer is NO!)

And the  resin worktop that I am keen to have in the kitchen,

 

Pete is keen to get the log burners and install them as it will be warmer in the house for working in.

 

Pete and Dave have started to paint the front and back doors, we are hoping Framefast are coming this week to sort out the bi-fold doors.

 

We got the sample acrylic for the kitchen door fronts from a company and they seem a really good match for the Magnet one I really like so we need to get a list together for a quote, They will make the doors and we will buy Ikea base units which will be better as they had the unit options that we needed for the island unit and Magnet did not.

long johns, leeks and yesterdays news!

Long John Mark came over yesterday to help take down some of the scaffolding (come back.................. I made you a dinner, I didn't know you'd gone home!), then they put on some of the down pipes-really I can see that they have some practical uses (rain gutter regattas!!) but they just dont look nice, perhaps we should have been the pioneers in the UK to have them on the inside of the house.

The 3 chaps from Warmcell, came yesterday from South Wales to do the recycled newspaper insulation it has taken them 2 days.

THIS IS THE MACHINE IN THE BACK OF THE VAN WHERE THE OLD PAPERS GET FED INTO.

It has been piped into all the external wall cavities!

 

We have now glazed all of the windows, and Pete has finished the cladding to the front of the house, there is just the big side wall that needs cladding. Tonight we are off to get the masonary paint for the cills, weather permitting we can start to paint them -we are getting there!!!!

 

LIGHTS!, CAMERA, ACTION!!!

MOST OF THE FABRIC CABLE SAMPLES HAVE COME NOW SO WE HAVE BEEN WORKING OUT HOW MUCH WE ARE GOING TO NEED IN WHAT COLOURS!

PETE STARTED TO CLAD THIS PART OF THE PORCH TODAY, UNTIL RAIN STOPPED PLAY, THEN I HELPED GLAZE 4 WINDOWS WHILST REUBEN HAD A SNOOZE.

FINALLY, A WEEK LATER THAN PROMISED MAGNET SENT OUT THE QUOTE FOR THE KITCHEN, ITS NOT QUITE RIGHT SO TONIGHT ITS GONNA BE MORE KITCHEN PLANNING AND WORKING OUT A FABRIC CABLE ORDER, IT ALL ROCK 'N' ROLL HERE!

BLOWN A FUSE!

HERE IS THE HEAT RECOVEREY SYSTEM IN THE LOFT!

AND THE SLOPING BIT IS THE SKEILING THAT GOT INSULATED A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO

PETE HAS PUT THE FAMILY ROOM BI-FOLDS IN TODAY, THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THE KITCHEN ONES AND FRAME FAST ARE COMING OUT NEXT WEEK TO LOOK AT THEM SO WE THOUGHT THAT WE SHOULD GET THESE ONES IN TO MAKE SURE THEY ARE OK- THEY ARE NOT ONE OF THE DOORS DOES NOT FIT THE FRAME.

HERE IN THE KITCHEN WHEN PUTTING IN THE GLASS PART OF THE FRAME CAME APART AND ON FURTHER INSPECTION THERE ARE A NUBMER OF SCREWS MISSING.

 

 

MORE WINDOWS ARE GOING IN . THERE IS A MISSING OPENER AS ONE OF THE PANES OF GLASS GOT BROKEN WITH THE NAIL GUN.

AND ONE OF THESE BALCONY WINDOWS HAVE BEEN GLAZED.

WE FINISHED FITTING THE BALCONY DOORS TODAY - HAPPY!

 

 

HERE IS A PICTURE OF AN INTERNAL WINDOW JUST TO SHOW THE DEPTH OF THE CILL WHICH WAS A SIGNIFICANT PART OF THE HOUSE DESIGN.

YESTERDAY WASN'T A GREST DAY FOR THE BUILD, WHAT WITH THE FRAMEFAST COCK UP THE STARTER MOTOR THAT PETE ORDERED FOR THE FORK LIFT CAME AND ONCE FITTED THE FORK LIFT STILL REFUSED TO START, NEW THEORY IS THAT THE BATTERY IS DODGY - NO PROBLEM BECAUSE IT HAS 3 YEAR WARRANTY, THAT PETE REMEMBERS PUTTING IN  A SAFE PLACE -WELL THE CARAVAN HAS BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN, AND THERE IS NO SIGN OF IT...................... IF IT KNEW WHAT WAS GOOD FOR IT IT PROBABLY DID A RUNNER  WHEN THE DOOR WAS OPEN, .... WHAT WITH THE DAMP, COLD, SMELL OF GAS AND ELECTRICS THAT FUSE IF WE HAVE THE HEATER AND KETTLE ON AT THE SAME TIME WHO COULD BLAME IT!!!!

 

 

WE ARE STILL WAITING FOR THE KITCHEN PLAN AND QUOTE FROM MAGNET TRADE DUE ON MONDAY , BUT I HAVE HAD SOME REALLY GREAT SAMPLES OF FABRIC CABLE FORM SOME REALLY LOVLEY PEOPLE AT "FABRIC CABLES", "TIGERMOTH" AND "ENAMEL SHADES"

 

. AFTER HAVING A LOOK AT THE "WHICH" GUIDE I DONT THINK THAT I WILL BE GETTING THE WONDERFUL NEFF COOKER OF "THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF" WITH THE MAGIC SLIDEY DOOR, "WHICH" DIDNT THINK THAT IT WAS WONDERFUL AND THEY DECIDED TO TELL PETE,

 

IM STILL HOLDING OUT FOR THE BOLING WATER TAP THOUGH!!!............................

THE ROAD IS LONG................

.................... AND IT'S FULL OF WINDOWS THAT STILL NEED PAINTING, IT'S BEGINNING TO FEEL A BIT LIKE THE FORTH BRIDGE!................but some have gone in this week and we are really happy with them,

 

 

I am now sourcing the coloured fabric cables for some of the lighting. And we are keen to see the kitchen plan and quote from magnet due tommorow.