teaky

I have just about stopped itching now! I have spent most of the day moving insulation around. Bit of an odds-and-ends day today. Multiple small tasks, many of which are not especially visible but need to be done. Access to the rear eaves would be too awkward because there is so little space above the steel beams so I have written this off as storage space and it now has an increased depth of loft insulation. One possible future idea would be to fit a hatch in one of the back bedrooms from which this storage could be accessed but I’ve just filed this idea away for now. I suspect one ought to question whether one has too much stuff if this was necessary. I have added a few more lengths of timber to the boxing for the flue, together with some additional fire proof board and some insulation held away from the flue using steel mesh. The next thing will be to add a layer of PIR insulation to the side and underneath followed by some fire rated plasterboard. The end wall with the two soil vent pipes running across it is now insulated. A polyethylene vapour control layer (VCL) will be stapled to the front prior to plasterboarding. The roof windows have trickle vents but the loft was built with a couple of air bricks in the gable walls so rather than blank these off (often not a good idea anyway) I have built in ducts at each end of the room with sliding hit-and-miss vents over them. As well as giving me some adjustable ventilation there is some forward planning here as these ducts also facilitate fitting of an extractor fan for a future shower room and/or an outlet from a spray booth. You can see one of these ducts (yet to be cut to length) sticking out from the end wall. Some of the older insulation from the floor has been used to top up the rear eaves and the newer insulation which is in better condition has been refitted more carefully and evenly to the required depth of 100mm. I have now been able to calculate how much more I need and further rolls have been ordered. The cabling to provide power and a linking connection to a new smoke alarm has now been clipped to one of the old rafters and runs up to the apex ready for the smoke alarm to be connected. The primary junction boxes for lighting and sockets have been screwed down ready for cable runs to be made.

This simple bit of boxing in seems to have taken me ages. Using the original truss rafter at the end of the room I have added horizontal and vertical pieces. They could be straighter but it isn't critical as long as they coincide with the joints of the plasterboard and give something to screw into. I have also boxed in the flue and ensured that there is the required 50mm separation between the flue and any combustible material, and you can just about see the pieces of fire proof board that I have also fitted to separate the flue from the soil vent pipes where they exit through the roof tiles.

Sound advice there bgman. I have added a sentence to the end of my previous post directing people to the Approved Document. I purchased some used fire doors previously but they all had labels. I only wanted one but the seller wanted to get rid of all seven or not at all and they were assorted sizes and styles. I ended up using the best one and cutting others to make the sides and top of a unit to house appliances in the utility which means we have a fire proof utility unit. Sadly, no one wanted to buy the leftovers so, lacking the space to store them, they were sawn up and taken to the wood recycling skip at the tip. The scrapped/recycled doors weren't that attractive since they had come out of an office and since I paid only £7.50 + £2.50 in petrol for all seven it wasn't a financial loss. The doors I have used this time are seconds with only small faults/blemishes and come from the manufacturer, complete with appropriate labels.

Yes it is Phil. In fact, all four of the doors in that picture are fire doors. To comply with regs. it is necessary to create a fire proof corridor to the exit, so in my case that means all the doors on the landing and in the hall have been changed except for the bathroom & downstairs toilet. The narrow door on the cupboard probably did not need to be a fire door but it was easier to chop down a solid door than to cut and re-brace a hollow one and with it being right next door to the loft stairs it makes me more comfortable. At the moment the dividing wall between the cupboard and where the new staircase will go is just a sheet of structural ply with bracing but the plan is to face the walls on either side of the stairs with fire rated plasterboard. Possibly this is overkill but I'll only be spending an extra £20 to do this. I recommend having a look on eBay for fire doors. Check the description and sizes carefully and if you're collecting don't forget fire doors are heavier than standard doors. (Oh, and "used" is fine, just not "fire tested" !) If you read the appropriate part of the Building Regulations Approved Documents it will tell you what to look out for in terms of certification labels.

Although it wouldn't be good enough in, say, the lounge, I'm happy enough with the ceiling patching where the old loft hatch used to be. It looks less convincing close up but the main thing is that it doesn't catch your eye so you only see it if you're looking for it. At present, I am not planning to have the ceiling re-plastered. And with those exciting photos of a ceiling I'm downing tools for the day because a) my wife is home today and b) the autumn internationals are on the telly.

A less productive morning than I would want due to fixing my son's car. The flooring panels are in the house at least and we figured out the best way to manoeuvre them up into the loft. It may be a three man task but perhaps not. Either way, my son is off to work after he has finished his lunch so the panels will have to stay where they are for now. At least the next step will be completed quickly. Although not actually of the new loft room itself, I have managed to take a few snaps. The revised airing cupboard. The entrance arrangements: cupboard to the left and loft entrance to the right. Originally this was a slightly wider door to the right (opening the other way) and blank wall to the left with a larger airing cupboard which once housed the hot water cylinder too.

At present I get into the loft via a hole in the ceiling and some stepladders in what was the airing cupboard. The staircase will eventually go into the same space after I have cut through the back wall of the airing cupboard and pinched some space from the built-in wardrobes behind. I ordered the staircase earlier this week and it is due before the end of the month.

Thanks for your interest Duncan, but I'm afraid it has hardly changed since post 155. The most recent jobs have been those fiddly little things that take up a disproportionate amount of time. Other stuff is completely invisible as it is nothing more than measuring and thinking but that should pay off later. I'll see what I can do tomorrow after I get my son to assist with getting more flooring panels in and after today's painting has dried.

No, not the builders, that's one of my jobs. Thanks for the warning but fear not, I am not going beyond undercoat until everything is done. Just having door frames in white is enough to take away the feeling of living in a building site for the rest of the family even if is matt. You're right about the boards being awkward. In order to give the builders something more substantial to stand on I put 9 boards in the loft and it took some energy. The first floor ceiling is just too low for the boards to stand upright and they would only go through the old hatch on the diagonal. Fortunately my eldest son helped by standing in the loft and taking them off me. I currently have another 7 sitting in the car waiting to go up but I'm hoping they will be a little easier with the slightly larger new opening. I've decided to go for the smaller (1.8 x 0.9m) sheets of plasterboard in order to make handling easier. Entry through the new hatch might be tricky but at least there will be no problems with standing them up and getting through doorways. It seemed worth the extra cost. (That reminds me: I must measure the size of the temporary opening to make sure everything fits.)

I'm just having a cup of tea after undercoating the slimmed down airing cupboard and new/revised door frame. Surprising how an otherwise simple task becomes more tiring when you can't quite get into the space to paint and have to reach in and do most of the painting left handed. It's taken me over an hour and that's just the first coat. I also slapped some emulsion onto the filler I put in/on last night where I had patched the old loft hatch. It needs a little more filler in a few places in order to take the eye away from the square outline but it looks like I may get away with it and not have to get the whole landing ceiling re-plastered. So I'm happy about that. Finishing these small tasks will mean I can clear my tools and materials from the landing. My wife has been at a conference in Portugal since Tuesday so I set myself a target of having things tidy by her return tomorrow afternoon. This is probably the only task which has a deadline, albeit self imposed. Everything else I can just steadily plod my way through.

The scaffolders must have another job with building work scheduled to start on Monday. They returned at 08:30 to finish removing everything from the back half of the house. Hooray!

That makes sense. They do have a 7.5 ton long bed. I did wonder if they were doing two jobs at once. It also fits with the sequence and arrival time when they put it up in the first place. Funnily enough they erected it over parts of three days too.

The scaffolders arrived just before 08:00 this morning and made great progress taking the scaffolding down. True to form they stopped for a break at 11:30 and I haven't seen them since! They really are in a world of their own aren't they. I'm hoping they will be back tomorrow to remove the scaffolding from the back of the house and half way along both sides but who knows. It hasn't impacted me much though. I've been finishing off the loft entrance which is almost done. Just need a few bits of trim which I'll go and buy tomorrow.

Thanks Phil. Since I'm doing the rest of the work myself, I'm sure I'll be able to get the 'first class' job down to 'second rate' by the time it's finished.

After reading the manufacturers website and attached literature then doing some searching for alternative/independent views on this insulation I am not convinced it will perform as claimed and I have decided to stick with PIR insulation as originally planned. It won't be as easy to install and will be messy but I am more confident that it will do what is required.

Has that line ever worked for you?

All the builders' work is now complete. I have discussed the final invoice and payments. Everything looks good to me and the BCO is satisfied so I have just paid. I don't like to keep small businesses waiting when cash flow can be important. It's down to me from now on. Eeek!

Verges and ridge tiles repointed. A neat job with cement dye included to darken the mortar to a shade similar to the roof tiles. Everything was left neat and tidy. I will definitely be recommending them to anyone who asks and they will be top of my list if I need a builder in the future. I called the skip company too and rather than the "two to three days" quoted, it has already been taken away. The driver also managed to prune a crab apple next to the drive at the same time. Suits me, as it was on my to do list. I was planning to use a saw and some loppers myself but a skip lorry works just fine! I did get the loppers out to cut the pruned branches down and the driver helped me put them into the skip then took them away. What service. The builder is due to return first thing tomorrow to go through the payment(s). Scaffolding is scheduled for removal on Wednesday. Judging by tomorrow's weather forecast it should be nice and clean by then.

Good to see you back in the groove Gordon. I just love the flowing lines of your track work. Looking forward to seeing some trains running.

It occurs to me that I should point out that we do not have a gas fire. The moment you bring a gas supply and appliance into the equation any work on the flue should be done by a Gas Safe registered professional.

Finished the flue with assistance from my son. Almost finished patching the old hatch but ran out of filler. Measured various heights and did some thinking about the best approach to things. I have established that there will be sufficient headroom (at least 2m) to have a flat section down the centre of the ceiling with insulation above and a gap above that near the apex which means that the air spaces between all the rafters will be linked together. Therefore, the BCO will be satisfied without me needing to explain why the vents are OK as they are. I like this idea anyway because not only does the airflow improve but it will allow me to fit some LED down lighters in a tidy fashion.

Sorry, couldn't resist ticking Agree on that one! "Useful/informative" seemed like the best option since there isn't a "suit yourself then and I'm going off in a huff" button. (Yes, I am joking.)

I've been busy with some of those smaller tasks which always seem to take longer than you expect. I started with cutting a hole in the ceiling where the stairs will be. It isn't large enough for the stairs at this stage. I have simply taken out some plasterboard between a pair of the ceiling rafters. This allows me to get into the loft from inside the house once more which I haven't been able to do since Wednesday when the floor joists went in. I then took out the old hatch and, with a few battens, fitted it to the new access hole so that it limits the loss of warm air for the time being. I have fitted a few battens around the edge and across the centre of the original hatch opening and made a start on covering it with some of the plasterboard taken from the new temporary opening. This is a bit of an experiment and I am re-using the plasterboard because we have a random plaster textured finish to the ceilings. If I don't like the result then it will simply act as a base for a new coat of plaster at the same time as the new loft room is plastered. So the only time I'd lose would be for the fiddling about trying to disguise the joints. Next I finished the remaining soil vent pipe. The builder had kindly sawn the pipe where requested using a reciprocating saw in what would have been an awkward space to use a hand saw. (Taking the pipe out wasn't an option since the lower joint is now behind the steel beam.) No more soil vent pipes to fiddle with now. (Stu - I don't think your idea of putting a display cabinet/shelves is going to work. Pity. It was appealing. Once the pipes and the nearby flue are boxed in there will be so little wall space left that it isn't worth the effort.) I then moved on to the flue. This proved to be impossible to do single-handed. It is two lengths of straight pipe between two adjustable bends. To engage the flue pipe you line up the dimples, push together then twist. I simply couldn't get the twist bit done due to the adjustable bends being designed to rotate and the diameter of the flue being too large to grip with one hand (knees, feet and armpits don't work either!). I think it will be easier once there is someone around to assist. Then there is sweeping and vacuuming up all the mess. Once the hatch and entrance area are sorted I will be able to move tools and materials into the loft. As a result I won't need to tidy everything away at the end of each day and, other than moving materials up the stairs, mess will be restricted to the loft (which will certainly please my wife).

I went up top this morning once it finished raining and took a couple of snaps of the tile vents. They look quite neat and tidy now they're in. I'm glad I went for this option.

No update yesterday as we were attending our eldest son's graduation ceremony. The builders were still at work though and finished putting the remaining roof tiles back into place and made decent progress on pointing the verges. They'll be back on Monday to finish the pointing and re-point a few other areas which I asked them to look at whist they were up there. I'm not sure they will complete everything on Monday but it isn't impossible.