Giles and Paula Add a Room Onto the Side of The House
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wow. it's coming along well. i'm looking forward to seeing this. or rather, what's been completed by then..
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The blocks are 100mm thick high-density concrete.
I could have let the architect run the job, then it would have cost me 15% of the total price to have a prick that does not really know what I want, trying to up the contract price so I would have to pay more….
And. He would have wanted to give the job to a "mate", who would have been busy, so could have taken forever.
And. I like finding the best at what they do, myself.
And. I love understanding exactly what is going on.
And. I'm a control freak.
And. I actually like having only myself to blame for any fuck ups....
All sad, but true.
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Ah Concrete, makes Sense, I to date never did one Project with those Blocks, due to our Strict Environemnt Protection Rules they are basicly gone from that Market, in Germany this would be probably a 36 cm high hole Brick as a Core or a 24cm one with additional Rockwool.
You seem to have quite a bad meaning of my Collegues, we or lets say I take pride in helping People to exactly get what they want and through tendering even much cheaper then if they would ask the Contractors themselfs. The Other Arguements are of course Valuable but a good Architect should know the best People of every Craft in their Area but of course that is not the Case most of the time. In the End building is a bit different on the other Side of the Pond, where quite Crazy here when it comes to Rules and Regulations to a Point where no Customers gets them all the way so they have to ask us for help to get through without Major problems with the authority. -
My walls are 100mm brick, 40mm void, 60mm Cellotex, 100mm block- 300mm total. The walls on the existing structure are 500mm solid brick.
Part of the issue is that when we bought the house 12 years ago I managed the complete restoration. It had no power, water, gas, floors and ceilings were missing etc etc. etc. It had been empty for 23 years.
So, I know this building better than anyone else alive. The architect I used (mainly to help me get planning and listed building consent), was and is good. But he just did not have enough of the back-story, I have been asked numerous questions by the tradesmen, that he would not have known (nor should he) the answer to, and would have to have asked me anyway.
Got to go now, steels were due to arrive today, but they have been delayed, so I'm off to pick up the smallest of them for the brickies, they really need it now….
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Great Story, so this is your House, really cool, I mainly do old Buildings because of that, the Soul and the Patina always get me. I planned and orderd a full Oak Door for a Building from 1600 this week, can´t wait to see it in Flesh.
That is quite a Chunk of Steel, good Job getting it in and out there without hurting yourself and/or trashing the car.
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In the "old" days, they would have been cut and rubbed to shape on site, but this is a very difficult skill to find these days, and when you do, it comes at a cost….
So, I'm having them cut and bonded to steel load-bearing lintels with 5mm joints off-site. Well, actually 2 of the windows are bricked up to replicate the look of a Georgian window-tax bricked in window...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_tax
I've just found out that the large arch will way about 700 kilos - yee gods.
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Those arches will look great when done. Shame there isn't the proliferation of skills anymore to do this the old way, but it doesn't surprise me, the house I just moved into is a new build, some of the brickwork is interesting! The builder admits that they struggle to find bricklayers; sometimes it's any old trade lending a hand !!
As you mention, anyone who is skilled and experienced can command a premium and is booked up months or years in advance. I have a family friend who only does 'premium' and listed restorations or extensions now…
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Have a little bit of a hiatus for a while. Can't go up any more until gauged arches arrive. I can get the joists put in, but need some fecker to give me a price on Posi-Joists first….
Belt and braces....
And a larger Catnic on the inner skin….
Wondering whay the blocks are smeared with muck? A rain storm that could have raised Noah's bleeding Arc came through when the muck was still wet…..
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Congrats @mclaincausey!
Also, looks like you're making great progress @Giles! I wish my project had nearly the momentum yours has had…
