Welcome to our blog.

This blog will follow the ultimate in home improvement: demolish and rebuild!

This is our starting point: a 1930s bungalow. While not a bad house; it is too small for us with three teenage children so what should we do? A full storey extension versus complete rebuild - ultimately the stronger eco-credentials and more certain finances of a new-build helped to guide our choice.

For a number of years we've been trying to find the right route for us to build an eco-friendly, low energy home. We tried various architects and building companies and have eventually settled with a German prefabricated build. The new house will be nearly to passivhaus standards (but not quite due to budget constraints). In any case, the house will be heavily insulated and airtight.

As a family, we have not built a house before so everything is new and exciting but the risk of making a mess of things is quite high!

This blog aims to outline the day to day steps involved in our build.

Friday 30 July 2010

Levelling out the screed

Today Ebi, continued from yesterday and ensured that upstairs was ready for the bamboo flooring by spreading the levelling compound. It looked like chewing gum but it set very quickly.


This was poured where was needed upstairs - i.e. just about everywhere. Only one bedroom had a texture where the screed was good enough for Ebi to think about laying the bamboo floor. This was one of the bedrooms.
The master bedroom also had the same treatment as did the ensuite bathroom where the floor dipped in the middle by 5mm. David, the tiler has also finished the grouting in the bathrooms but I didn't want to tread on the floor to get a closer look!
Ebi has also been working on the showerwall, this is a waterproof board that stops the problem of leaky tiles in showers, reducing the risk of damage to the walls. We had this costly experience in our old house. The showerwall has been finished downstairs bathroom and in the ensuite but the bath needs to be installed before Ebi can finish the showerwall in the family bathroom. The showerwall has a white metal edging strip that complements the tiles well in the downstairs bathroom.
The day finished with Ebi singing along with opera music, finishing windowsills and generally getting ready to start the bamboo flooring tomorrow. 

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