HAVE YOU HEARD THE ONE ABOUT..........

THE ENGLISH MAN THE IRISH MAN AND THE LOG BURNER??????


                       NO???

WELL STICK AROUND AND YOU MIGHT HEAR A GREAT JOKE....

After a lot of discussion, research and a sleepless night we have decided to take the gamble and buy the Charnwood Island III, that was installed in  someone elses house a couple of weeks ago, without water in the boiler, Pete has spoken to the technical team at Charnwood in the Isle of White  for advice and the bloke will sell it with a garuntee, it's a really good price so it's worth the risk.

  The cables have arrived from "fabric Cables", who are part of Urban Cottage Industries, I was really happy with the cable and also the fantastic packaging!!!-( I am a sucker!!!), and today I went all international, and phoned NUD collection in Sweeden ( we had not been having any luck contacting them via email) luckily the girl spoke English (better than me!) and I didnt have to play sharrads, they are able to supply the cables in the lengths that we need.

Harlows brought a whole load of wood today and after we have carried it all upstairs into the house .........they will be coming back for it tomorrow  as they sent the wrong size door frames, the rest of the wood is for the boys walk in wardrobes.

We have had contact from Marvick, regarding the windows and have come to arangement that suits us both, obviously we would rather not have to take out all 31 openers, and plane off the bottom and re paint them.

Plaster boarding continues in earnest up stairs, pete is feeling under pressure as the plasterers are closing in due in 2 ish weeks!

Pam had Reuben today So I was able to spent the whole day working with Pete, it was like the good old days, I really enjoyed it, we also designed the boys walk in wardrobes, which Pete will build tomorrow, and we re designed the guest en suite.

It's all about the taps, we have been busy ordering all the taps, there are still a few left to source this evening, we have found and ordered the two baths,  and if the price is right (come on regavent!!!) we are going to have one of those built in hoover thingies!!!!-it is always a good idea to keep cleaning products well hidden, out of sight out of mind!

Pete has built the shower enclosure in the boys bathroom and concreted the floor.

A bloke in a Landrover turned up yesterday, wanting to buy the caravan from us!!! after clearing out all my mouldy shoes (including my glitzy "camper" sandels) he can have it!!! sadly he needs it in a couple of months, and we will still be happily camping in it...................

lights, camera, action!

Our lighting order came from Barnitts, last week and we were so happy with the lights, however we are not having much luck with our coloured lighting cables.

we have borrowed a camera and so I can now add some photos onto the post.

There is plenty of action, Marvick are coming out tomorrrow to have a look at the windows, so watch this space, we are still waiting for the parts to come from framefast, they are then going to come and sort out the bi fold doors! Pete has finished the first fix for the electrics including the outside lights and doorbell ( we have saved the doorbell chimes from the bungalow), we have a date for the plasterers to come and and start (approx 3 weeks time) and therefore Pete and Dave have started plasterboarding some of the rooms.  Based on the number of floor tiles we had Pete has built the stud wall for the guest ensuite! and yesterday they built the wall in the main bathroom for the boys triple sink to sit on!, they also built the stud work for the shower and re built it this morning as on reflection the room could take a bigger shower. The building inspector came last week and is going to send out someone who actually can check the electrics, but he checked all the steels whilst he was here.

We need 2 computers, there is so much internet searching to do in the evenings, we are currently getting all the quotes for the 2 stoves, Pete has ordered the hot water tank and we are off to Newark to collect it next week,

sink in place in boys bathroom

 

the warmest place on site,- for repainting all the windows

wiring

guest bedroom with stud work for ensuite


 

Break in!

We have had a break in, in the middle of the day as well and I knew the bloke that broke in (dead dodgy he is!,) in fact I helped him break in !!!

We were concerned about security so Pete dead locked and bolted the side garage door from the inside and went into the house to do the electrics, some how the electrics tripped , causing the main box to trip which was locked in the garage!!!!! you can't raise the roller doors with out electrics, ooppps!

We have had loads of pipe insulation and loft insulation delivered, and this week we need to order the boiler. We have been staring at the fireplace in the "no toy Lounge" with different shaped cardboard cut outs in the hole working out which size log burner will look best- its all very technical.

I decided to look for lights in the sales and found some nice ones from  Rocket st George, and a whole load from "Garden Trading" who said there was no way they could offer a discount so after a few hours or research I was very happy to get the same lights from Barnitts In York ( where I have spent many christmas Eves') with 20% off and free deliverey!

We have realised that there is a problem with all of the windows in the house, and its really frustrating because Pete has spent so many hours working on the windows, and we are not 100% sure that the work we will need to do to rectify the problem will work.

We are not very Happy!!!!

Camera still broke so no photos- just imagine 2 sad faces and 3 wooden boards in the holes where 3 windows used to be.

.....it could have been worse we could have a leak.....



oh we have one of those but its in the guest bed room - and it's never wise to make your visitors too comfortable!!!!!!

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.