Happy Husband.

(Not sure if it runs, mind you, although hubby assures me it does and is dead fun to play with.)

 

Found in a cavity…

…when tearing apart the living room in the old butt-n-ben.

 

Tearing down the place.

The skip/dumpster arrived!

At 7:15 am.

On a Monday morning.

Hubby heard it rumble past our driveway.  He’s a light sleeper.  This is going to come in very handy when we have children.

I fell out of bed, stumbled into my rubber boots, threw on a jacket and went running across the field to wait for the driver at the end of our driveway while he turned around at the end of the road.

And I waited.

And waited.

And then I heard a rumble as a large diesel vehicle came to life…at the garage across the highway.  What hubby had neglected to say was that the truck had rumbled past our driveway going in the wrong direction.

“Crap,” I thought to myself, but then I saw the truck turn down a side-road next to the garage.

Do I call the company and get them to call the driver and tell him he had it right the first time and to go back down the road he just left, or do I jump into my car, race down the sideroad and catch him?

I am my father’s daughter…and I watch too much Top Gear…and so I caught up with him just as he was coming back out of the side road he had turned down which isn’t actually a side road, I discovered, but someone’s very, very, very long driveway.  What with all of the light-flashing and hand-waiving and the desperate look of desperation on my face, the driver realised I wanted to talk to him and kindly stopped and rolled down his window.

Me:  jabber, jabber, long, narrow driveway with lots of low-hanging tree branches, right at the end of it, please, would you set it there?

Driver:  !

Me:  lots-of-big-trucks-have-been-down-it-we’ve-even-had-two-shipping-containers-delivered. jabber. big, winsome smile.

Driver: unconvinced, but he’ll give it a try.

Me:  I win! (but in my head; not out loud)

P.S.  Just a quick note that I’ll be posting every four days unless I just can’t wait to share something with you (like the Canadian, Please post), so see you on the 30th!

 

Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meep Meeeeeeeeeep Meep-Meep

That’s right.   Beethoven’s Ode to Joy sung by Beaker. (This video is appropriate on so many levels in terms of self-build.)

Why?

Because we have permission to take down the old croft buildings!!

Dear Sir,

I refer to your e-mail and enclosures received on 20th May relating to the above proposal. I have now had a chance to discuss the principle with my colleagues and line manager.

The detailed structural survey specifically states that “the extent of the  dampness, the structural cracks and misalignment of the walls noted all lead me to consider that this building is structurally unsound” – “I do not  consider upgrading the existing building to current standards is a viable  option given the site constraints.” Taking account of the above combined  with the physical condition of the building and the fact that the character  of the existing dwelling has been altered considerably with the  incorporation of non-traditional window openings, I can advise that in this  case, the Planning Service shall accept the principle of development  complies with the criteria as detailed in policy HOU/6 of the X  Local Plan.

The new house shall require to be located on the site of the existing house, unless demonstrated that an alternative position within the  curtilage and directly adjacent to the existing house site is more suitable  in terms of policy Gen/2. The design of the replacement shall require to be formally submitted…Should you wish to discuss any matter relating to the proposed design of the dwellinghouse or to any issue  relating to the proposed development, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Glory-be and hallelujah!

 

Don’t mess with Colin

What hubby received in his inbox this morning:

Dear Mr Anderson,

After protracted negotiations with your cockerel, I managed to carry out the requested survey.  The structural report will be ready roughly by the end of this week.

(I can’t stop giggling.)

(Truly.  I can’t.)

Oh.  And who’s Colin?

Colin is our cockerel — christened so just this week by our neighbours, because that’s what he does.  Constantly.

 

“Has a character worthy of retaining.”

You will remember from this post, that the planners feel that the buildings have “a character worth retaining.”

Well, sure, it has character…but ‘depressing’ wasn’t quite the character trait I was looking for in a house.  Neither was damp, dark, cramped and cold.  We were hoping to obtain character traits such as bright, roomy, and low energy/heat loss.  Silly us.

 

Letter from the planner after her visit

What we expected, but not what we wanted.  Some movement may be possible, but there are some vague statements that really do need further explanation…

Dear Sir or Madam,

Principle of Development

As previously stated in my e-mail, the Planning Service are of the opinion that the existing dwellinghouse is a traditional vernacular building that has a character worthy of retaining. However, policy allows for the replacement of such a building “if it is demonstrated by the developer that it is not structurally sound for residential use and not capable of retention.” It is the opinion of the planning service that this has not been demonstrated.

Design of the replacement dwellinghouse

It is the case that in the design of the replacement house, particular attention is given to the position, size, scale and design. The proposed replacement dwelling should follow the footprint of the existing dwellinghouse. I note on the drawings that the proposed footprint runs perpendicular to the existing.

In general, the design should follow either contemporary or traditional and preferably not contain elements of both. The proposed dwelling displays proportions of a traditional steading but is predominantly contemporary in the external appearance. The external elevations could be improved through the incorporation of additional glazing. The proposed windows have traditional glazing bars that are not reflective of the character of other elements on the building.

The stepped roof levels of the proposed dwelling make the building appear quite fussy. If a stepped roof is to be incorporated, only one change in level should be proposed. The design of the proposed pantry extension off the north east elevation should be amended in order for it to be considered favourably. Coloured elevational drawings may assist the presentation of the design. In general, the contemporary design of the building is welcomed and should be emphasised further.

In summary, the Planning Service requires further information to demonstrate that the existing dwellinghouse is not structurally stable. Assuming that this matter can be demonstrated by further investigations, the design of the proposed dwelling requires to be revised. I look forward to your submission concerning the above requirements.

Yours faithfully…

 

Quick Update

1. Ha! Turns out our rooster is a chicken.  Show him my boot and he’ll attack ’till his dying breath.  Try to pick him up and he turns tail, not letting me within 10 feet of him.
2. 1st week without hubby is down.  Three more to go.
3. After waiting two years, The Chocolate Tree chocolate has made its way to Aberdeen.  Yay!!!  But wait…It’s cheaper by 60p a bar to buy The Chocolate Tree chocolate online!
4. The planner assigned to us says she will be visiting our swamp site this coming Wednesday or Thursday…or Friday, and from this visit will determine a) whether we can have the two stories we want, and b) whether we’re allowed to tear down the house that’s there.  (‘coz having a a structural engineer’s report saying the building isn’t stable as well as a demolition order from another branch of the council isn’t considered a good enough reason by the planners to tear the place down.  instead, what is supposedly good enough is the more-than-likely-non-engineer planner’s opinion on the matter.)  (taking a deep breath now….and release.)

Today’s theme song: Run Runaway by Slade.

(P.S. See that castle in the Slade video?  That’s Edinburgh Castle.  In 1997, thanks to my friend Stacey and the crazy, wacky things that happen to her, she and I were running around the inside of the castle at 3 o’clock in the morning with a Mr B. from the military police.  Ahhh…to be young again.)

 

No More Floor

I finished pulling up the floorboards in the croft-house last week, all except a narrow walkway along the middle length.

While pulling up the section of floor over what would have originally been the living room, I found that the underside of the boards were white-washed except where they were nailed onto the joists, meaning that the second story floor used to be the first story ceiling — in Canadian terms, that is.  In UK terms, the first story floor was the ground floor ceiling.  (That’s right.  Over here, the elevator buttons read: G, 1, 2, 3…  It makes no sense to me, but neither does the inside lane of a round-about being called the outside lane.  Caused a few fights between Graeme and me, that one did, during my driving lessons phase.)

I am really enjoying finding little quirks about the house that have been hidden for goodness knows how many years.  First there were the feedbags, and now the whitewash.  Another one is a wee fireplace on the South wall of the second story that was hidden behind these wall-boards (picture to come later).

What intrigues me about the underside of the floorboards, is that some of them were lined with newspaper and then nailed down.  Were some of the floorboards originally wall boards?  Why else would newspaper be glued to the board?  Why put all that work into something and then hide it? I’ll never know, I guess.  I do wish there was a date visible on the newsprint to help me with the timeline of the house, but no luck there.  An answer never did come back from the feed company about the likely date of the feedbags, so I keep hoping for something else that will help me nail things down in time.

 

 

Update

I think it’s time to give you an update on the house.  I mean, that’s what it says on the box, right?  “A sometimes blog…about building our own house.”

Of course, we haven’t begun building the house.

And…um…I kinda hafta admit that even if we wanted to build the house tomorrow, we couldn’t because…well…that would mean having blueprints and planning permission and that sort of thing.

And we don’t.

Oh.

And it would also mean that we would have to have free space to put the house…and we don’t have that, either.  Yet.   Um…because there is still a house where we need to put our house.

But we’re getting there.  Slowly.  Slowly.  S – L – O – W – L – Y   we are getting there.

In fact, we met up with Nicole, our architect, a week ago, and talked over the first draft of drawings for the house.  They weren’t at all what I thought they were going to be, and my first reaction was: what?! Which was quickly followed by: I do not like that; no, sir, I do not.

And then I thought to myself: wait.  Don’t react.  Mull the layout over for a day or five.  Picture yourself there.  Picture yourself in the space.

And you know what?  It’s never what I would have designed, myself,  in a million, squillion, kazillion years, but I like it.  I really, truly like it.  It is going to be a really nice living space.  One with restful areas, and one where we can also have 20 of our friends over, if we wanted to, and if they all showed up at the same time, which would be a miracle because they live in five different countries and all have kids and stuff, and their kids are all on different routines, and they probably don’t have any money ‘coz they have kids, and the ones that do have money will come over, but there’s no way that would amount to 20 people.

Where was I?

Right.  A space where outside and inside aren’t that far apart, and one where we can grow as a family.  (Umm…Note to Mom: don’t get excited, Mom.  Still nothing happening on that front.  This is a future family.  Possibly a fantasy family, the way things are going.  Maybe by family I mean cats.  Lots and lots of cats.  Wearing sweaters.) And that’s why we hired an architect, rather than a draftsman.

As for the removal of the old house…Well, I’m kinda sorta getting somewhere, in that I only have 1/4 of the floorboards upstairs to remove, and then I can begin removing all the drywall downstairs, bringing everything back to the stone walls.   To remind yourself what the upstairs used to look like, go here.  Now things look a bit like this:

And then the aftermath:

Oh, and here is a recent picture of the girls and C.D, having their morning water.  (That’s right:  Christmas Dinner.  Isn’t he handsome?)