Roselea

Category: Phase 1

  • Filtration Module Got Installed!

    Today, we took the opportunity of a very nice sunny day and that the hole was reasonably dry, to tackle the job of installing and burying our new Rainwater Filtration Module, at the end of the swimming lane. We have had to wait for a few days whilst the rain drained out of the hole (The roof of the garage drains into the hole at the moment – it will connect to the filter soon)

    Filtration Module Got Installed!

    Lots-of-water-in-Filter-hole


    We started by digging out the hole of the excess material that had slipped in during the rain we had last week and got a wheel barrow load of gravel and sand mixture to provide a good and firm surface. We used our laser site level to make sure the bottom of the hole was set to 1metre below ground level.
    Then we built a ramp come platform (made from three 4.8metres 2inch by 4inch planks screwed together using lots of pieces of plywood) and placed it across our hole (the far end supported on the mass wall against the fence and the other end packed on to the dirt pile), ready to take our 140kg cabinet!
    We laid the module on the trolley, put on some extra temporary support arms at the top of the cabinet (for connecting lifting straps to the winch motor) and carefully rolled it out of our workshop and around to our ramp.
    Filtration Module Got Installed!

    Filter-on-its-way


    After a struggle to get it upright, and then sliding it along the ramp and then trying rope but finally settling on nylon straps to lift it clear. We pulled the ramp away and lowered the whole cabinet down into our hole. After some fiddling around with the straps and the supporting arm plus also tidying up the gravel surface again, we got the thing landed solidly into place at last!
    It was getting dark by this time so we got out our flood lights and carried on with drilling the seven fixing holes into the concrete blocks of the swimming lane’s wall and screwing concrete bolts into the back of the cabinet and then covering up the metal work with more polyester resin.
    The last job was to secure the vertical side “lid” to enclose and seal the joint with plenty of PU sealant and a couple dozens of screws.
    Filtration Module Got Installed!

    Filter-installed

    It was pitch black and tomorrow, we will finish the task of connecting the various pipelines to the new filtration module, including doing a leak test! Phew what a long day it was today!!

  • Phone Line Moved

    BT Openreach came and moved the phone line today, from the old house to the garage. The old line was overhead and the new line is underground. Engineer cut off the old overhead line at the top of the pole and connected to a new cable which was pulled through the duct using the string we sucked through ealier (at the second attemp, the string broke on the first try and had to be sucked through again). New master socket fitted under the counter in the kitchen.

  • Complete!

    It might be safe now to admit that Phase 1 of our building project is Complete! At last!

    We have settled into our new temporary living quarters, sorting out a great deal of stuff and putting up lots of shelves for our books and things, and getting ourselves sorted.

    The kitchen is performing well and it is so much nicer with the extra room and having everything near to hand.

    We had a long period of much reduced activities over the Christmas and New Year holiday to recharge our batteries, ready for Phase 2.

    So Here ends Phase 1!

    Goodbye!

  • Electric Supply Moved!

    Today we had our electric supply moved from the old place to the new place!

    Our electrician came this morning at around 10am, to test and supply a certificate of worthiness. The EDF people came about 11:30am (two of them) and did everything in one hour! They dug a hole down to the old steel wrapped twin core cable, moved the old meter, hacksawed and sliced into the old cable and threaded the new aluminium 6mm diameter with 25 thin copper wires woven mesh outer covering through the conduit into the garage.

    We now have a 100amp fuse but still our old meter. We will order a new one! Hopefully it will be a smart one!


    The electrician finished testing and connecting the consumer unit to the new supply. We are back up and running!

  • The Great Move commences

    We have started our move! A steady baggage train from the old place to the new place has been rumbling along, with us carrying boxes full of our personal bits and pieces, bowls, plates, saucepans, fridge/freezer and dishwasher! Shelving units also has been moved.

    We are slowly sorting out the kitchen in the new place, putting everything in their new locations, giving them a quick clean! The dishwasher has been plumbed in and it has done a cycle without any leaks!

    We have bedroom 1 now occupied with the bed, mattress and bedside table drawers!

    We are sorting out a little work area for Stephen and his electronic work, down at the end of the Sun Corridor outside his bedroom. We are using the old shelves from the kitchen and making a new workbench to provide a large spacious area for the equipment and tools.

    We have 10 days left until the Mains electricity is moved! And all power is cut off from the old place! We had better be all moved and settled in by then!

  • Bits and Pieces #2

    Yesterday and today, we did further tidy ups of outstanding tasks.

    The chest freezer has been moved from the outside shed to the new kitchen. It was cleaned top to bottom, inside and out, all edges and corners! It is gleaming now!

    All the shelves have been washed down (in the kitchen) ready for the migration of all the “stuff” from the old kitchen!

    A tester module has been built to check each digital thermometer probe, all are working!

    The hot tank has settled down and it is producing good quantity of hot water (running up at about 70 degree Celsius). the insulation and the cover are now back in place.

    The air con unit is in the full recirculation mode, much of the old air is cycled back into the rooms to maximise retention of the heat. This is to allow us to heat up the fabric of the building before we move in.

    The shower tray is now completed and is now connected to the supplies coming out of the floor and the waste is connected. No leaks! The shower pump is also working just fine!

    The temperature probes from the heat exchanger are ready for connection to the controller. In the morning the joint between the tray and the walls will be sealed.

    And the lounge carpet has been finally stapled down. We were waiting for the carpet to settle as it has a very heavy and stiff backing with a crease down the middle of the room. But today we gave up waiting and did the best we could to pull the carpet out flat.

    We are more or less ready for the move!

    The plan is to move most of the kitchen over first and then the part of the lunge and then each bedroom separately, over the next week or so.

  • Miscellaneous Bits and Pieces

    For the last three days, we have been doing odds and ends of tasks which needs completing before we can move.

    The shower tray and the heat exchanger are coming together. The adjustable foots to lift the tray and seal up to the walls inside the shower cubicle was glued and screwed on. It is a wedge shaped piece of timber where we can slide in the wedge to raise the tray up.

    We installed another electric cable back to the house to provide additional power. This will allow us to run the immersion heater and fan heaters to warm up the living space ready for us to move in, before the mains electricity meter is moved in 2 weeks time.

    We also installed a network cable at the same time to provide a link back to the telephone master socket and maintain our connections to the outside world, while we wait for BT to come and move our master socket from the old house to the garage.

    The temperature probes were installed in their various places of monitoring, the rain water tank, the air con unit, the hot water tank and the shower heat exchanger.

    A temporary curtain of strips to make an insulating door between the garage and the garden room (the kitchen), made of geo-textile fabric, each strip being 50mm (2inches) wide and weighted with old nuts & bolts to make the strips fall back into their resting position and maintain a better heat insulation.

    we have also started unloading some of our personal boxes into our bedrooms, mostly books.

  • Bedroom Furniture Day 3

    Bedroom 2 got its new bed frame assembled.

    The bed frame was made up of 4 strips of 300mm wide by 2315mm long of the usual 18mm OSB material, sitting (or rather lying!) on three solid legs, each made up of a 1218mm (4feet) cross beam (63mm by 38mm CLS timber). This is supported by two 400mm high posts (89mm by 38mm CLS timber) and these posts in turn sitting on a horizontal 1100mm long foot (again 89mm by 38mm CLS timber) to spread the load over the floor. These were screwed and bolted together, with the planks screwed onto the legs.

  • Furniture for Bedrooms day 2

    Bedroom 3 has it computer worktable all assembled and varnished today this afternoon.

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    The red dye has worked quite well but also we drilled a series of holes along the back to allow cables to come from the little shelf right underneath, right at the back to hold all the sockets and plugs for all the equipment.

  • Electrician Came and Saw!

    The electrician we asked to come, arrived this morning, to see, to talk and check our electrics.

    It was a very informative visit, really appreciating his expert knowledge and advice. He took a look at our Utility Rail with our modular design, pleased to see that the data cables were kept apart but also mentioned that it is not usual to use wood as the material for conduits. He would like to see metal boxes for each socket and switch. He said that the wiring at the consumer unit was neat and tidy. There were issues with our lighting channel in the garage as well. We promised to solve these issues.

    We talked about certificates and discussed the issue of how the wording of the certificate would states that “this electrician” performed the work and certified that it is correct and working. But with us he didn’t do the work so how can he certify it? He mentioned a possible solution by providing an periodic inspection certificate. I think this performs the same tests but does not state who did the actual work.

    But he has agreed that he will be willing to issue a certificate for the consumer unit and will be here when the meter is moved. We contacted EDF (It’s changed its name to UKPower now) to arrange the switch over and it will be in 3 weeks time on the 21st November 2011 in the afternoon!

    This means we had better get a move on with us moving out of the old place then!!