# Our house - is a very, very, very nice house...



## Steve Maskery (6 Jan 2008)

There was I on Friday morning, at my PC, minding my own business when there was a tap on the door. Well, we'd had this lousy plumber...

On the mat is standing a vaguely familiar face. Ah, yes, a builder we had approached a few weeks ago about some building work at the end of January.

"We are a bit ahead of ourselves", says he. "We've just got our planning permission", says I. "Great, we'll knock your house down at 7.15 Monday morning sharp", says he. Well, that's précised the conversation a bit, but it's essentially accurate. 





Saturday 5th Jan 2008


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## Karl (6 Jan 2008)

Steve Maskery":1e5rona2 said:


> "Great, we'll knock your house down at 7.15 Monday morning sharp", says he.



7.15 - wasn't Polish by any chance? :lol: 

Cheers

Karl


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## mailee (6 Jan 2008)

Where you and Judith going to live Steve? :shock: Got a caravan in the drive? :lol:


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## DaveL (6 Jan 2008)

Steve,

Well I am glad I visited last year, it is quite a nice house, but it looks like you will be homeless by lunch time tomorrow. :shock: You could rent the hall we had the bash in, few partition walls and it could be set up nicely. :roll: :wink:


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## motownmartin (6 Jan 2008)

Steve, is this one of the cryptic clues out of the Sunday Times :?


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## Digit (6 Jan 2008)

But when do they intend rebuilding? :lol: 

Roy.


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## Rich (6 Jan 2008)

Come down to Reading, Steve , lots of places for "key workers", all you need to qualify for a place is; come from abroad, be utterly useless, don't understand English and be able to hold your hand out.
Rich.


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## Digit (6 Jan 2008)

Welcome to Blair's Britain Rich.

Roy.


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## harryc (6 Jan 2008)

Hey Rich unfortunately under your description plenty of the locals would qualify aswell

Harry


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## tim (6 Jan 2008)

Lets be honest - if the staircase in the sitting room is anything to go by, it needs bulldozing. You'll not get far on that :lol: :lol: 

Seriously though - where are you going to live, what are the plans and is Kevin Mccloud involved?

Cheers

Tim


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## Steve Maskery (6 Jan 2008)

Well the middle bit is 20 years old - before our time - and the flat roof is living on borrowed time. We have to do something, and if we just replace the flat roof we still have a carbuncle of a box shoved on the back of an otherwise quite attractive house (well, we think so, anyway).

One option was to join up the sloping roof bits, but our builder got the rooves at two ever-so-slightly-different angles, so one would have to come off completely, and it would cut across the bedroom window too. So we are going to build up, extend the back bedroom and re-roof the house at the same time. The watery events of last summer galvanized uus on that one.

We are going to continue to live here! The builders are going to build a stud wall across the lounge, all our furniture is piled up everywhere, it's already horrible and not a brick has yet been touched.

What on earth are we doing?

Bed, I've got to be up at the crack of dawn. Well, rather before that, actually, I suppose.

S


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## tim (6 Jan 2008)

Still at least its warm so you can use the barbie.........


yep - you are bonkers. (hammer) (hammer) (hammer) I would move out now.

All the best with it though. It surely can't be that bad - can it???

Cheers

Tim


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## Shultzy (7 Jan 2008)

No extra workshop space in the design then Steve, have you hit your head lately?


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## RogerS (7 Jan 2008)

So let me make sure I understand this, Steve.

You're going to have part of your house knocked down leaving big holes at first floor and ground floor level..just as we enter the depths of winter? Mmmm....and I thought I was the only silly-billy bricklaying outside at the moment. Just make sure they don't lay any cement or concrete below 2 degrees C - don't believe what the cement frostproofer manufacturers say :wink:


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## Steve Maskery (7 Jan 2008)

Roger Sinden":2gq2k91r said:


> So let me make sure I understand this, Steve.
> 
> You're going to have part of your house knocked down leaving big holes at first floor and ground floor level..just as we enter the depths of winter?



Ummmmm....


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## Chris Knight (7 Jan 2008)

The timing seems perfectly sensible - you should certainly have it finished "in time for Christmas" whereas most folk want this even when they start in August. :lol:


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## Steve Maskery (13 Jan 2008)

Well it's the end of Week One and this is what's happened.









Under the concrete floor we discovered this terracotta tile floor. It must have been beautiful when it was new. We think the original owner must have had a lean-to sun-room here.






We found this arch in the brickwork, but apparently it would have been for support only, not as an architectural feature, as it was stuccoed over.





The previous owners built the present extension 20 years ago, and it looks as if they just covered the terracotta floor with concrete and built on that. The left-hand wall had NO footings at all under the 3.5 inches of concrete! So some new footing were is order PDQ.





While we are at it, let's have a new roof too.





Rain stopped play on Friday. Let's see what this week brings!
Cheers
Steve


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## Gordon T (14 Jan 2008)

Hello Steve, keep the photos coming, very interesting,,,and good luck this week, the forecast is rain and lots of it all week long!!
GT


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## Steve Maskery (29 Jan 2008)

Well we lost virtually all of the week before last, but last week and so far this we have made great strides.

Oi! What you doin' to me roof?





Well OK, as long as you put it back...





The trouble is, the tiles were all pointed inside the loft, and that pointing has had 70 years to crumble. I've cleaned a lot up in the loft, but htis job has brought all the rest down. I went up there this afternoon and it looks like the blitz. Still, once they have the laths on, the tiles go back quite quickly:





As for the back, they've had a bit of a to-do with the blue cants, but all is well now and I can see just how big my windows need to be. I've got all my stock planed up but not moulded or cut to length. I need to get my skates on. Cutting all those hippy angles is clever, isn't it?





I'm really not looking forward to them knocking through into the bedroom  The other thing is that my workshop door doesn't close properly anymore. Actually it's never fitted very well, but now the bottom half doesn't fit at all, I'm going to have to re-fix the frame once the bricks are set properly.


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## Slim (29 Jan 2008)

Steve Maskery":2qltgcr3 said:


> The other thing is that my workshop door doesn't close properly anymore.



Where do you live Steve? I only ask because I'm gonna come and pinch all your tools. (Did I say that out loud?)


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## RogerS (29 Jan 2008)

I don't see the Polish flag anywhere, Steve?


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## Digit (29 Jan 2008)

Does Mister Whyle pay for advertising? :lol: 

Roy.


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## Steve Maskery (29 Jan 2008)

We've just had an emergency call ou from the builder. It's raining here (and I'm indoors....)

In fairness to him he knew what he'd done, knew how to put it right and the only stuff to have got damaged is the wall that's going to come out anyway, so in the end no harm done. But as we've had two insurance jobs for water damage in the last 6 months I'm a bit jittery about the wet stuff.

S


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## lurker (30 Jan 2008)

What I don't understand is you are having all this work done to extend an already very large house :mrgreen: and yet you did not manage to sneak in a few improvements to your pokey workshop

Seems to me your priorities are all wrong. :lol: :lol: 

Or did someone put her foot down :shock:


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## Steve Maskery (30 Jan 2008)

Good q Lurker.
We're having it done becasue that flat roof was 20 years old an on its last legs. We didn't realize how far gone it was until they pulled it off, it practically fell down, we're lucky we've not had water ingress before.

So the options were to spend money putting on another flat roof, which would still look like a carbuncle, run a slope across between the two side rooves (but they are not quite the same slope so something would have to give, and it would mean changing the bedroom window anyway) or rebuild. And as we'd had the Water episode last summer, and the life of a roof like ours is about the age it is now, we decided to bite the bullet.

Yes it would have been nice to extend the workshop but that would mean taking up more of the garden and i don't think that that would have got past management. Anyway, this is taking all our money as it is (well, all J's money to be more accurate), an even bigger project would be out of the question.

BTW, I'm quite pleased with the way they are doing the job, so far so good. I'll be glad when it's done though.
Cheers
Steve


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## Racers (1 Feb 2008)

Hi, Steve

I know about flat roof problems ours leaked on to my speakers :evil: so I put a pitched roof on they let you sleep easer at night.

Pete


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## Steve Maskery (17 Apr 2008)

Well the end has dragged on and one. In fairness to the builder he got held up by the weather for a couple of weeks, then there were no hip tiles in the country (they made a batch specially for us - and they are still not the correct angle!) and finally he got held p by the lazy geezer who was supposed to be making the doors and windows...

But now it is all done and dusted, or at least dusty, the house if filthy and I'm already sick of painting and decorating and I've only done one room. But this is what it looks like now, and we are very pleased. I think it has been worth it. So we have gone from this:





to this:









I'm thinking of carving a big Green Man to hang on the brickwork. What do you reckon?


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## Racers (17 Apr 2008)

Hi, Steve

Cracking job looks like it has allways been there, nice job on the windows and doors to.

Should give us more room for this years bash :wink: 


Pete


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## Paul Chapman (17 Apr 2008)

Very nice, Steve.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## CNC Paul (17 Apr 2008)

Hey Steve,

Very nice job, extremely posh TWO back doors....are they His & Hers  


Paul


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## lurker (18 Apr 2008)

Pete,

You read my mind!!!

So........... Steve, how hard do we need to twist your arm???


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## Steve Maskery (18 Apr 2008)

Not this year, guys. The outside might be done, but inside it's a tip, and I think I'm going to be painting and decorating for a year! We are already in mid-April so June and July are just too soon. If we get to late summer and all is done, and folks are still interested in a last-minute affair, that might be a different matter.

Of course, if someone else wants to pick up the baton...

S


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## lurker (18 Apr 2008)

What about a longer "do" just at the hall you organised last time??
[-o< [-o< [-o< 


Last year, much as I enjoyed "part 2" it was "part 1" that was most memorable.


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## Racers (18 Apr 2008)

Hi,

I agree with Lurker it was a shame to leave the hall, some sandwiches and beer and then carry on plane fondling would be great.


Pete

Avalible for sandwich making.


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## Gordon T (19 Apr 2008)

Looks very impressive, good luck with the decorating,heh,heh

GT


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## NeilO (19 Apr 2008)

Steve M wrote:


> Of course, if someone else wants to pick up the baton...


Or, everyone attending picks up a paintbrush or roller... :lol: :lol:


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## SketchUp Guru (19 Apr 2008)

Steve, it has turned out quite nice. I'm glad to see pictures of it.

So, we are thinking of doing something like to our house. You're the expert. Will you come and make the windows and doors?


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