In the beginning was a hole

We've been given a CD of photos taken by the contractors, which is a great record of work that we missed. This is Joe, the site manager, at the bottom of pumped-out Well 1.

The perforated pipe. Oh well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Having stabilised the well shaft, excavation of the earth-sheltered rooms can begin.

This is the formwork, waterproofing membrane and the steel reinforcing for the slab.

Sunshine for the big pour and it continued sunny and dry, thank goodness.

The front face of each gabion is arranged in neat courses. Behind this, the cage is filled with clean stone just packed in, randomly.

"Beam and block" construction on the first floor, for added thermal mass.

The timber frame going up.

The only way to move these massive glazed units into place.

So much happening

Welcome to Greenwood. It's nearly weather-tight and there has been huge progress. We were feeling rather overwhelmed by it all and then the stair plans arrived and blew our minds entirely; in a good way, I hasten to add. We've been repeating what we want until it has felt like a mantra and suddenly, there it is, realised in 3-D and colour. There will be a steel frame set up and from this will be hung the inner end of the oak treads. They won't touch the outer curve and will appear to float. The steelwork wil be concealed within a plastered wall. It is exactly what we'd planned and will be fabricated by a firm in Barnstaple.

Building sites are always bewildering and cluttered. This will eventually be a generous, oak -floored gallery opening out from the entrance lobby. It will have a glass balustrade, giving a view down into the living room. The glass will run along to the top of the stairwell, too, shown guarded by a steel fence, to the right. The view southwards, from the sliding door to the balcony should be spectacular as well. And the correct door slides open, the one on the left, not the one opening into the void!

This photo also shows the conjunction of roof structures that exercised us so mightily just a few weeks ago. It'll be fine.

First fix electrics are well under way and here the kitchen wiring is being planned in detail. So many decisoions to make just for this one area.









Slating is nearing completion and the fixings for the solar photovoltaic panels are in place. This will generate about 1.8Kwh in daylight hours and will provide most of our electricity needs. We'll put more panels on the south-facing pitch of the garage we intend to build once the house is finished. We could put more, free-standing ones on the slope below the house, but we'll see whether we need them and also, what technological developments arrive in the next few years. At the moment, we both rather fancy a helical wind-generator, such as the one on the new Colston Hall extension in Bristol.

A rather more prosaic and traditional energy technology here. We've always intended to have a woodburner and because the house is so well insulated, we won't need any supplementary heating. In the beginning, we'd planned under-floor heating; a warm water system, heated by a ground source heat-pump. However, the mechanical engineer convinced us that this would be uneccessary, so we spent the money on photovoltaics instead. And as anyone who's ever used a log fire knows, you are warmed twice at least, in the cutting and carting the logs, before they reach the fire. Yeah, right. Me. I'm inclined to pay someone else to do that bit. We'll build a wood-store in a sunny spot against the north-west boundary hedge.

And here is just some of the insulation material, stacked on the scaffolding and waiting to be tucked under the roofing felt, which will be boarded on the inside. This scaffolding is near the apex of the double-height living room and will stay in place until the painting is finished

I only noticed that this picture appears twice one I'd finished writing this post and I'm not confident that I can remove it without the whole thing disappearing.

Window problems (as always with grand designs)

What a beautiful, tranquil scene. However, a few days before this photo was taken, we'd discovered that several (possibly all) of the triangular windows that frame the sliding doors or fill the gable ends were the wrong shape and size. It has meant re-ordering them from the manufacturers in Latvia and a significant delay to some of the work, both inside and out. Those of you who watch the TV Grand Designs will be familiar with this point in most of the projects filmed. Tedious.

This is our bedroom, in a photo taken a couple of weeks earlier than the one above. It shows the sliding door unit still shrouded in heavy duty polythene. The triangular spaces will eventually be filled with correctly fitting, triple-glazing.
The roof has been heavily felted and battened and the slating is about to begin.



This view, from the west, shows where there will be a large triangle of glazing in the gable end. The yellow pipe crossing the photo is leading from Well 1. We've asked that it should be pumped out several times and if the contaminants are reduced sufficiently, we'll use the water for the garden in due course.




This is bedroom 3 and it, too, has a glazed gable end that will have to wait. It's at the north side of the house so we've put two Velux windows in here. The rectangular window below is a mandatory fire exit from this part of the house; we hadn't planned to have a window at this level.




This photo, from within our bedroom, shows a further problem that was revealed once the polythene was removed from the sliding doors. Only one side slides open; the other is fixed. From the drawings, we'd assured ourselves that the sliding door would be the one on the right, so that we can lie in bed and watch the sun come up, or stroll out and have breakfast on the balcony. Hah! The opening door is on the left, so not only would we have to squeeze past the end of the bath (did I mention the beautiful bath we have planned for this room?) but we'd have to leave the table at the other end of the balcony, obstructing our view across the valley. Smallish points, really, in the greater scheme of things. However, as there is a big order going in to the company, we've asked them to replace this unit. It won't add to the inevitable delay.

Let there be light

Why would we block this view (in this case, from the utility room)?

Hmm, so that's how it's done

The Berlin wall

We took our eye off the ball on this one

When the place was first designed, the site was perceived, accurately, as very tight and precipitously steep. Thus, the high walls at the front of the south-facing terrace were planned to stop people falling off and tumbling down the hillside, head over heels.
Since the work has started, it's become very clear that the ground can be "sculpted" by determined men with big digger-type machines. The builders have levelled a useful area around the house to give themselves room to work and to stand the scaffolding. Once we realised that the ground can safely be levelled, we decided to do away with these walls, to extend the terrace a bit and to open up the view from the ground floor again.
The terrace won't be load-bearing, so it shouldn't need sturdy foundations and we plan to make a 45 degree slope down to the next terrace. On this slope we'll plant grass and wild-flowers. The soil will be poor quality, mostly stony brash, which will suit wild flowers.

Sewage is so sexy!

No, not an alien space craft

Left hand down a bit

Nearly there

And then you jump on it, like this

This is another of the newly levelled terraces, created for the burying of the sewage treatment plant. The old septic tank was deemed too small for a modern 3 bedroom house, so we decided to put this beast at the other side of the site, accessible across our own land, rather than via the neighbour's private drive. It is an active system, using aerobic breakdown by bacteria, to give a clear (but bacteria-laden) outflow, which will discharge into the stream at the boundary. We had to apply for a "Licence to Discharge" from the Environment Agency.

Just run that past me again...

Time for some sky hooks?

Peter outlining his uncertainty

The sliding glazed doors of our bedroom, which will give on to a small balcony

Double-rafters, for extra layers of insulation

At a site meeting in September, we noticed that the entrance lobby roof ridge appeared to be balanced on a cross-beam running across the gallery, a few feet inside the front door. To our surprise and concern, it looked as if this cross beam would bisect the open, wide, lofty space we plan. We'd asked for a modification in the orientation of this entrance a couple of years ago and hadn't seen an elevation or cross-section of how it would work. It's exactly at the point where the east-west and north-south axes of the house meet.
Returning to Bristol and studying the photos only increased our anxiety. Ten days later, we met the design team and the contractor on site to discuss this, by which time there were other timbers in place and we could see that the offending "stringer" beam wouldn't, in fact, be too visually intrusive. Plus, there are some positives (as is often the case), in that the complicated geometry of the roof structures which meet at this point means that there will be some very interesting, sculpted plastered shapes at ceiling height.

Rain, rain go away

This is the view that greeted Peter as he arrived at the site

The long view-often what's needed!

The timber frame of the house, which extends up to be bolted to the roof timbers

The gabions at the western end of the house, where the bank isn't quite as steep

Actually, even though it's delayed the build, we can't grumble about the rain. It'll keep the aqifers nicely topped up.
Peter went to a site meeting on 14th August and sent me a message saying that the first sight of the timber frame in place was incredibly moving. The photo shows the view he had as he entered the site. The outlines of the upstairs rooms are emerging.
The meeting covered all sorts of details, including the passive venting system, external taps and drains, the balustrade to the front terrace, whether or not we want access panels for the plumbing of sanitaryware (no, thanks), how we'd like the floor to be finished, how the woodburner flue will get safely through the roof, where the warning/alarm light for the sewage treatment plant will go (don't ask; I didn't), how we will get electricity to the garage when we build it, etc etc. I keep thinking of my father, evening after evening, poring over drawings for the house he was building. As a child, I used to wonder why he found it all so interesting. Now, I realise, it must be in the blood.
The windows and doors have arrived at the builders' yard in Barnstaple, after a confused Latvian driver tried to deliver them to the British agent's premises, somewhere in Essex.

The really exciting July/August development is that we have decided upon a worktop for the kitchen and from that, Nathan can complete the kitchen design he'd proposed. The timber he sourced is from an oak tree felled 20 years ago and planked. The wood has been stored level and dry since then. The tree was about 250 years old and was in King John's parkland to the east of Bristol (hence "Kingswood"), reputedly giving the monarchs a clear route right through to London, without leaving their own estate lands. It is a "burr" oak; a most unusual growth and this ancient tree is going to provide a unique and beautiful work surface. I have to say that I was distinctly underwhelmed at the sight of the dusty, grimy planks but Nathan, his joiner and Peter persuaded me that it'll glow and that the revealed patterns will be really interesting once it's planed and finished.

The first fix electrics have been delayed, which is just as well, as there have been several frustrating attempts to get the wiring accurately on to the master drawings. Two sets of original, marked up drawings got lost in the post between Bristol and the electrician in Barnstaple. However, we have every faith in the electrician, who reassuringly says he won't do anything until he's sure we're absolutely happpy with it. The work can't start until the roof is felted and battened.

Earth-sheltered

This waterproofed wall will be covered up so that it's insulated by the surrounding earth. The builder is standing on top of what will be the kitchen

The store- and shower-rooms are snugly underground. This will be the third bedroom above them.

The gabions forming the retaining wall at the north-eastern end of the building. The stone is from a local quarry and seems to glow a real Devon red when it's wet

This is the hole where the stairs will be. Deciding on a curved stairwell during the difficult middle phase of the design and planning application process was a real boost to our morale. It will be top-lit by a rooflight and there will be LED step lights set into the lovely curve

I knew there'd be lots going on and decided to go down to the site one afternoon in early August. It was quite astonishing what progress had been made, despite July's rain. The house is taking shape and the rooms that will be underground already feel relatively snug.

Onward and upward

The final, defiant roots of the Macrocarpa, grubbed up and shoved ignominiously out of the way

These walls will be waterproofed and then covered by soil; this part of the house is effectively underground. The builder is standing on the ground floor.

In the background, the builders are making the gabion cages

This man was determinedly brushing away the rainwater which was collecting as fast as he could work

We attended a meeting in early July and then went over to see progress on site. Now that the slab was laid and the footings (deep, concrete "slices" cut down into the hillside, to act as anchors and stop the house sliding down), were in place and back-filled, the next step was the back walls, which will be carefully waterproofed. This co-incided with some rotten weather, which delayed proceedings somewhat but as the chief builder said, better to take the time and get it right than risk allowing water in through areas that are going to be effectively underground and inaccessible from now on. We agreed, fervently.
Interestingly, at a design meeting about 2 years ago (yes, this has all been going on a very long time), the structural engineer pointed out that the wonderful ruberoid rubber membrane that is wrapped around the structure would act as a grand sheer layer and there was the possibility that without some very careful design, the whole house would sledge down the hill. Hmmm. He re-drew it so that the membrane is wrapped around the anchors to prevent this. Jolly clever stuff.
The builders improved the shining hour whilst it was raining by making the galvanised wire gabion cages, under a makeshift shelter. The gabions are to support the bank at east and west of the house and will be filled with local stone. We also talked with the foreman about the slope immediately below the house. He agreed that it'll make a good vegetable garden and we'll enlist their help to level a wide terrace and help us to build raised beds. After all the angst about the original well, we realise that we'll end up with a well upsides of the house which can gravity-feed a pond via a rill ( always wanted a rill!). That well will need to be pumped out several times in the next few months, to allow the contaminants to wash out. It will never provide an adequate domestic supply, though.

Waterproofed

This is taken from the window of the site hut, a really good vantage point.

The waterproofing layer with a steel grid, on to which the slab will be poured.


We dropped in to the site en route to collect an anniversary present for ourselves, a framed photograph taken in 1978 by James Ravilious. He spent years taking photos of a dying way of rural life in this bit of North Devon; the villages and their inhabitants: Ashreigny, Dolton, Beaford, Chittlehamholt, Eggesford. His work began in 1972 with the Beaford Archive project and his photographs were one of the reasons why we chose this particular area. If you're interested to see his work, look at www.jamesravilious.com.

Water palaver, c'est fini

Steve checking out well 2

Well 2 is along the indistinct track used for the last 10 years or so only by badgers and foxes, beyond what could be Eeyore's house, in a very damp and boggy place


As we drove into Bideford in early June, to meet the architects, a message came through on my mobile to ring the well specialists, urgently. Surprise! The samples had indeed been mixed up; the water from the second well is fine, soft and slightly acidic (almost exactly the composition of the first well before it was lined) and completely safe to use. It'll mean a longer run of armoured cable but the flow rate (ie re-fill rate) is good and this well will provide us with a plentiful supply of water. Phew. I've promised that I'll leave the rest of the water-supply management to the experts but I'm really glad the quality was re-checked. As a bonus, we can drain the swamp at the bend of the track leading down into the wood, when a trench is dug for the well pipework.
The electrician and the plumber were at the meeting that day; an exhausting but really productive and interesting meeting. So many decisions to be made; such detail to consider. And we agreed a design for the staircase with the architects, after months of discussion. It all seems much more real, now and walking around the site later, in between rain showers, we began to imagine how the rooms will feel. Very exciting.

Well, well, well (or Water, water everywhere, nor any drop...)

We've had yet another roller-coaster few weeks. The well lining has indeed stabilised the shaft but it has reduced the volume of water to 1/9th of previous. We made a site visit in early May and talked to the site foreman, Joe, who'd been monitoring the re-fill rate. Peter did some calculations and worked out that the previous, vast reservoir which would have lasted us for about 4 weeks in drought conditions, has been lost. The re-fill rate from the ground source into the new, plastic-lined shaft has also been drastically reduced, so we can't rely on its refilling fast enough to provide more than a single day's domestic usage at a time. We were very cast down. However, about 100 metres away is another well, so we asked the well specialists to check its flow rate and send a sample for analysis. We knew it was a smaller well so the reserve would be less but it wouldn't need lining... We had the water analysis back last week and it is "unusable", with a pH of 9.6 , high levels of Aluminium, Ammonium and Calcium "off the scale", making it hard enough to fur up pipes in very short order.
This result is astonishing, from a water source within 100m of another which is slightly acidic, soft and un-contaminated. We've asked whether the anaysis returned may have been for a sample from somewhere else entirely, ie a lab mix-up.
There will be an answer (one or two options present themselves) but we will have to wait and see.
We're visiting the site in the second week of June, when we should have made a decision.