Decisions, decisions!

All of a sudden we are faced with two tangible and, for us, exciting questions that are not about things hidden underground and that we hope to never see again.

So…

1 – do we work on roofs, doors, windows and walling for the whole steading, or on one wing at a time?

By splitting the work into three tasks, we could roof and fit out each wing separately as well. The main pro was that we could move into the first completed wing early, lose the caravan and work on the rest of the site in relative comfort. We would have indoor and outdoor jobs. Without the caravan, we could work on the courtyard and break the hardstandings on the east side, getting set up for our polytunnel and veg plot. It would also clearly break the work up into smaller and more manageable units and we could spread our spending more evenly. The potential con is that we would have to buy the roof trusses in three sections, which might cost a bit more overall. Similarly with the floor screed which we intended to be gypsum-based, self-levelling and thinner than a concrete screed. If we are not pushed for height, we could go back to the idea of the concrete screed and DIY.

The decision was easy, we will split the work up. Ric’s view was that the east wing would be easiest and quickest to start on. This again suits us fine, it has more rooms and the main bathroom.

At a practical level, we will need to run services temporarily into the east wing, given that our main plant room is intended to be next to the front door, right up the opposite end of the north wing. We would install under-floor heating but could not use it until we have the thermal store and one of the air-source heat pump or woodburner installed and commissioned. Given the high level of insulation and draft proofing, it should be fairly easy to heat to a satisfactory level using portable electric heaters. We briefly discussed getting electricity in – we could install a consumer unit in east and west wings, getting each wing fully wired as we went. We might want to move the outside meter a few metres northwards along the west-facing wall and recess it into the ex-garage wall, then run the service cable into the garage area and split it in three, with one distribution cable for each consumer unit.

2 – The aesthetics of our doors and windows

Given we acquired a mass of quoin stones from Mr Aitken next door, which are a mix of red and grey granite, how do we use these to best effect? Our bothy has red and grey quoins and it works (surprisingly) well. We will think more about this once we are up, in the meantime Ric will sort the stones into colours and shapes – some are angled back to create splayed window reveals that will soften the daylight on bright days and spread it sideways. On a related point, we already have some splayed windows, so the lintels on the inside edge of the wall need to be longer than those nearer the front. Ric asked whether I had taken account of this when I ordered concrete structural lintels. The short answer being, No. I hope/expect there is enough slack in what we have on site. For example, the batch we just had delivered have not been cut to size yet.

The other aesthetic consideration is around the window frames to be installed. We had always agreed with the architect that we would use powder-coated aluminium-clad wooden windows and doors. Ric suggested he could make at least the windows, with the provisio that they would not look as factory-made as commercial windows – there would be a little variation due to them being hand-made. Again, we will think about it and discuss once we are up there.

Fixing minor flooding

Ric is in residence and is tackling several bits of unfinished business from last year, awaiting our arrival later in April. High in our thoughts was tackling a couple of areas of poor drainage. At Christmas, after a wet-ish early winter, we had standing pools of water at the south-west corner of our plot, slowly killing our hedging. This corner always has been marginal; immediately over the boundary into the next-door property, there is a patch which has had standing water on several of our visits. A second wet patch is at the north-west corner, immediately up from our driveway off the shared track. This has been a problem since we bought the property, is small, but is also killing the hedging.

After a wet winter, Ric confirmed that the flooding is a biggish deal, worse than at Christmas.

The other place that had standing water, when we bought the property, was the north-east corner, with water running off the field immediately to the north. As we suspected last year, this is no longer a problem, having squared up the boundary when we put our fence in. The whole east side is in fact slightly higher than the west side.

So Ric tackled what looked like the tougher nut to crack – the flooded south-west corner. He used the digger to cut an experimental trench, it promptly filled with water and he could not see what he was doing. He thought about if for a bit, then had a light bulb moment. He recalled that when scraping out the area where we plan build the drainage mound, he had dug out the top end of a field drain running downhill to the south. It was below a shallow ditch that ran alongside the extensive concrete ramp we inherited, now broken up. At the time, he had covered over the end of the drain and half-forgotten it. It was a quick job to dig a trench at right angles to this, parallel to our southern boundary, lay a couple of lengths of perforated pipe, tie them in to the field drain, cover in pea gravel and re-fill. This French drain started work immediately and after a day or so the flooding was no more. The field drain appears to be in excellent condition, with plenty of capacity.

Just about in the middle of the photo is the top end of the field drain that we dug out last year

This shows the junction of the perforated pipe and the field drain, before covering.

The junction of the perforated pipe and field drain has been covered with plastic.

The first of the pea gravel that completes the new French drain.

The north-west corner was a simpler job, that he had already prepared for. He ran a drain across our driveway last year, to intercept the field drains severed when our water supply went in. This continues to work very well. He had left a spare socket at the top end of this and had left it open. So he dug a short extension trench up to our boundary and tapped into the flooded area. With more perforated pipe and pea gravel, he got that fixed and re-filled.

We will wait until next winter and see if we have any further issues.