So 50% of this post isn’t about DIY, as we drafted in some tradesmen but it’s part of the build so I’ve documented it here.
The plan was always to render the house, and while I have rendered before I was very conscious that the render had to be 100% right on the property. Having seen a number of houses when the render was patchy or bumpy I knew what I didn’t want.
Baumit silicone render was recommended to me by my friend who’s a builder down south, after doing a bit of research it seems that silicone render is better than k rend, etc as it has more flexibility and can be repaired if needed. The top coat of the silicone render is only a few millimetres this and very flexible, unlike k rend and sand & cement.
After sending Baumit an email they gave me details of some local approved installers. We got a few quotes, and went with the guys we liked best - a company called Eco Construction Systems.
As I mentioned in a previous post, we booked them about 4 months in advance and then it was a race to get the whole exterior finished to a point that allowed the guys to do the render. It was a bit of a rush, and a few stressful days trying to get stuff sorted towards the end, but we made it.
Lukasz and his guys worked like absolutely machines, one chap mixing almost continuously and then the other two troweling it on.
Here’s a couple of shots as the base coat was going on. Into this based coat a plastic mesh was inserted for strength.
Even with only the base coat on, the house was transformed already (in my view). Over the space of 2 weeks it was all done…
The final plan had always been cedar cladding over the yellow stonework, but we had also slighted changed our plans in that we had a number of spare blocks left over, so we decided to add a porch to the house. This is why there’s a bit of flashing over the door and some un-rendered bits around it. That was a job to be done ones the scaffold was out of the way.
The render is a pure white finish, and as you can see from the up-close shot, there’s no way I could have got it that smooth, especially with the areas of walls involved and the need for speedy application.
If you’re wondering what the pipe in the soffit is doing, it’s connected to a vent tile in the roof, but with the rendering being done it was easier to leave the soil pipe like that to give the guys a clear rendering run.
It was a bit strange having others on the site, but I did keep myself busy (and tried to keep out of the way). I started with laying the egger floor that had been supplied with my pozi joists, and had lived in my garden for several months under a tarp…they survived very well considering!
Some noggins went down first to support where the stud wall would be going, the then I started to lay the boards.
I failed to take any photos of the process of laying the floor, but basically the flooring goes together with a rubber mallet for a bit of a wack. There’s special glue that comes with the boards which you put on the joists and also in the joints for the egger board. The glue does expand after a couple of minutes, so not loads of time to adjust it once laid. You then screw the boards down.
I left the protective coating on the flooring so when I plastered later on there would be no mess left on the boards.
I then proceeded with the studwork for the partition wall between the master bedroom and the hallway and the en-suite.
I had also been sensible (I think) and lifted all the plasterboard for the upstairs through the gaps in the joists once half the floor was laid. This saved me lugging best part of 40 PB through the house, up the stairs, and through a few doorways!
Sorry for the mess, but in this photo you can see the floor and studs, and also where I’ve fitted some OSB off cuts which will be where the radiator and tv screen will be hung, to give something solid to screw into behind the plasterboard.
If you’ve got a keen eye, you may have noticed some wiring in the above picture. I’d also had an electrician round, and after consulting with him I started to run all the wiring for the first fix electrics at this stage. I need to get that all sorted prior to getting any plasterboard stuck to the walls.
I didn’t take too many pictures of the wiring to be honest, but it look a couple of days to do all the runs and work out how to route everything. In addition to the lighting and plug circuits for both floors, I also ran a 10mm cable for the new en-suite shower, 3 x 6mm cables (oven, hob and electric charge point for future car). The posi joists made life easier for sure in terms of running cables!
As there were so many new circuits the electrician recommended a second consumer unit (fuse box) be installed. I ran all the wires up to this point, and then he did the rest. If you’re doing a first fix electrics yourself, I’d just remind anyone to check out all the min/max height requirements for sockets, switches, etc and also to the sure to clearly label all your wires!!
The final activity, was something that I’d been dreading…shifting the skylight onto the roof of the kitchen. It’s 2 x 1m in size, triple glazed with an aluminium frame…weighing just over 200kg!
The rendering chaps very kindly offered to help me do this, which was a god send. Thankfully the skylight came in a wooden frame which offers some protection.
We screwed 2 bits of 5 x 2 timber together and then strapped the skylight to the bottom. We then moved it on our shoulder around the house…which was probably the hardest, as even with 4 people it was very heavy!
Then we used my longest scaffold staging board as a reverse slide, laying the skylight on it and with two people pulling from above and two people pushing below, it slid up quite nicely as the staging board was taking the weight.
Thankfully my measurements for the upstanding were good, and the skylight popped straight on.
It was an expensive few weeks at that time for the project. The rendering all in was £12k, but I am very pleased with the finish so I feel it was worth it. Plasterboard and adhesive was £850, timber for studwalls and flooring had been paid for with the posi joists, wiring and other electrical ancillaries £600, and lists of other little odd bits and pieces, I’m just going to round to £14k. Therefore now up to £60k total spend.
.. the roof felt went on and the battens carefully put on this time to with the first batten VERY carefully measured to ensure it was even across the whole length.
