Another good day, sun shining, grass seed sown.

All the ground work is complete and the grass seed has been sown so as to be green for our first visitors in June.

Building inspector due tomorrow to sign off the extension and drainage works

Work has continued indoors with the new bedrooms and bathrooms prepared ready for plastering.

We will soon start decorating the ground floor rooms now that the plaster has dried out.

All the tiles are on site ready for the ground floor family bathroom.

The pressure is on

The two ground loops have successfully been put in place and tested.
The system was bled to ensure there was no air before being tested.
Each loop has been pressure tested up to 4 bar and sat at that pressure for 20 minutes, until we were sure the system was leak free. This is part of the formal procedure: paperwork recorded times and pressures and signed of.

Saturday morning after the pressure testing the digger driver was back at work to fill in the trenches. He then went on to do some grading and landscaping around the drive.

The second groundloop panel goes in

Fine weather made the difficult task of digging the three metre deep trench a bit easier.
The second trench went in parallel to the first and just over 3 metres away, with the same size panels going in.

The first sets of groundloop panels are installed

A long day resulted in the first set of pipe panels being safely inserted into the trench dug yesterday. Each is now 3 metres down with a bed of sand protecting the pipes from damage. Leaks are not required for at least 25 years. Pressure testing for leaks will begin tomorrow - final backfilling to follow.

The first trench is opened for the ground loop

The pipework for the geothermal system has to be 3 metres deep, and the top of it at least 1 metre below ground level, in order to extract the heat from the ground.

At that depth the soil is at a constant temperature, and it is that heat which our system will transfer through the heat pump (www. iceenergy.co.uk ) to warm the water and radiators for the house.




















The ground here is particularly hard, and it has taken all day to dig one of two trenches.

It is a challenging job, requiring considerable skill, to dig a trench that is 3 metres deep but only 300mm wide ( 10ft by 1ft).




















Thanks to the initiative of our digger driver, Mark, we now have a digger bucket modified by the addition of one central tooth to cut into the underlying rock.

Bottom right in the photo of the digger are the racks or panels of pipes, ready to be laid in the trench. Before being covered by sand and back filled, the pipework will be pressure tested to 4 bar pressure to ensure we have a leak free system.

Each of 12 panels of pipes runs to 36m so in total we will be burying 432m of 40mm pipe. Fortunately, speed is not of the essence!

The digger arrives!

Until the slates were on, there was too much scaffolding to bring in the digger. Friday there was much tidying ( a rare event) and scaffolding was dismantled ready to give the digger access to front and back of the house.

The area which will become the patio has now been cleared and levelled to create an outdoor room which gathers the sun.

At the front, work was begun on grading the drive so that the slope is not so severe; so that cars can swing around to let passengers alight at the front door. When this house was built in 1931, the approach was on foot up a steep path. A concrete drive was added in the 60's ( I think) with a handrail bearing testament to the steep incline. We want to make a kinder approach, bearing in mind that some people would find a steep drive intimidating. Surfacing is still under discussion - local gravel appeals but would probably wash down in the first heavy rain. We'd love to reuse old setts, but are there any cobbles or paving stones available which have been taken out locally?

Inside, the pipework has been pressure tested to make sure there are no leaks. The radiators will be mounted much later, after the decorating, and of course, we cant decorate till the plaster is dry. No plasterers here this week - downstairs plaster is drying, slowly, slowly.

More fine weather please. Snow for 2 hours on Sunday was fine, and hopefully enjoyed by those who like snow. How weird it was mid afternoon, to see bits of snowmen amidst the spring flowers
Tomorrow we need digger weather so we progress the pipelaying for the geothermal groundloop.

The final Velux window goes in, but the roof doesn't quite get finished.

So near to finishing the roof, just the end section of slates to go, but looking so much better than with cement tiles!













The fourth Velux is in and upstairs is so light and airy - it's almost a shame to put in the room divisions. The en suite shower room now has this great view out over the fields to the Downs and forest, looking over the garden room extension.

How odd that Velux dont make a bathroom window in this smaller size, although there are bigger versions. Are you listening, Velux?

How much better that extension will look soon, clad with Hardiplank 'weatherboarding' and how much better insulated it will be too.

Although the heating will be delivered by conventional radiators, the geothermal ground loop will be delivering very cost effective heating, both here and throughout the rest of the house. With the double glazing, and taking advantage of the south facing aspect, we hope to achieve very efficient heating in a very pleasant living environment.

The roof nears completion, with one Velux left to put in place.

Fine weather enabled the roof team to press on - the hope is, all slates on before the weekend and the change in the weather.

Inside , the first rooms to be plastered are drying nicely, looking lighter and so much more finished.

The third Velux is finally in place, delivering more fine views. The final one is installed tomorrow. The internal walls should also go up to create the bathrooms and fix the size of the bedrooms.

How the house looked on April 1st

As the sun shone, the slates went on and the positions of the next 2 Velux windows were fixed. The first went in before work ended yesterday; we hope to see the next in today. The next Velux will give a second window - and great view - to the twin bedroom, and the final Velux will light the en suite shower room.

The roof with slates must be so much lighter than when it was burdened with heavy cement tiles - which were of a red which clashed with the bricks.

We have selected cladding in cream 'weatherboarding' to finish and to add insulation to the garden room extension more information here. Whether we clad the front of the house this summer remains to be seen, time being of the essence.

Spring breakthrough

Spring at Last!
As the temperature hots up (16.5C today) work continues at a pace. The plasterers are busy on the second ground floor bedroom, the old window between the kitchen and the new extension has been removed to make a doorway, and a new lintel put in. The photo shows the breakthrough, and to the left the blue glazed fireplace we've saved. Originally in a bedroom, it will take pride of place in the dining room.

Work has also progressed on the roof with a new supply of slates and the second of four Velux windows being installed, this one at the top of the stairs. Light now floods onto the top of the stairs and down through the hall.

We have had to delay the installation of the ground loop for geothermal heat pump because of a lack of specialist insulation to protect the mains water pipe. If not properly insulated the water supply could freeze with disastrous effects so we must wait for proper insulation material. Work with the digger on the geothermal installation should restart on Monday.