Further to our weekly update of the project in South Bucks we have now had some completed photos of the project taken by our client.

I am aware that lots of get togethers with friends and relatives are now being arranged. One for the OJ team I feel needs to be pencilled in.

Our client has yet to have the garden landscaped, but I’m sure you will see the results of our design and build. I do not have too much to say here and will let the images speak for themselves. In my opinion a project on a smaller property that has had a huge impact on the ground floor living space.

This past week I was having a discussion with one of our clients about her lovely big fat cat and the cat flap/door.
This reminded me of a past client who had a similar situation. The past client was instructed by his wife to ask us if we had considered the cat flap. Picture the scene. A group of builders having their morning meeting (tea with loads of sugar) and the husband/client has to inform us that we need to consider the cat and it’s exit and entrance. The poor chap really wanted to ask a builder question and join us in our progress meeting (tea drinking with lots of sugar, discussing last nights game). We did ask if this was a serious request in the diplomatic way only a builder/football authority can.

Our current client who’s a woman who deals with guys in her work enviroment and is not a football fan painted a picture for us wise old boys. ‘The cat needs to get in and out whilst I’m away at work all day. I do not want a cat litter tray in my lovely new garden room and want to know the cat can get in for it’s food.’

This has made me realise that requests as odd as they seem to us wise-all-at-one-with-the-world builders and authorities on the beautiful game, need to be considered and actioned. So we have now designed a cat flap that comes through the wall and numbered it 16 C; and yes the first client did also get the cat flap and joined us in the morning meetings even though he supports Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It’s all in the detail as they say.

We have fitted the folding doors and completed the garden room extension, as previsiouly stated our client is now ready for the new open plan kitchen to be fitted and the garden design to be completed. This project is a complete transformation of this property. I know it will look amazing once the kitchen and the garden have been complete

We started another Garden room this week in Old Stratford Milton Keynes with another project starting just after the easter break.

We’ve finished the external walls with the render system; this will never need to be painted. The sub floor has been insulated and laid and is now ready to accept the underfloor heating. We’re fans of underfloor heating as it gives clients much more options when placing furniture and no consideration needs to be made for radiators.

By Tuesday we will have decorated and prepared the skirting. We will be fitting the folding doors towards the end of the week and finishing off the small details which cannot be completed until the doors are installed.

Our client is now ready for the next phase of the project with which we have been offering help and advice. A new kitchen is to be installed and the garden is having a design and planting scheme produced. Once complete I feel that this will be yet another amazing space that we have helped create.

http://www.12gardendesign.co.uk

I’ve linked in the garden design company who have produced the design as their work is impressive; the successful flow of indoor and outdoor rooms employing the infinity threshold will make a stunning living space once completed.

I feel we are now on the home straight and over half way through the project.

First fix electrics were installed with the client liasing closely with the electrician to ensure light switches, lights and plug points are where they’re required. We invite clients to consider their electrical requirements carefully taking in consideration audio visual, lighting and lamps etc. Experience tells us that this stage is very important and as much thought as possible should be made towards this.

Insulation boarding and plastering has been completed and the room is starting to open up.

Our tasks next week are to finish off the external walls with the self colured render system, complete the sub floor and start getting the first coats of paint on the walls for second fix.

As I predicated the heavens did indeed open and the rain came down. We struck the scaffold after completing all the facia soffits and gutters.

We now have a date for the doors which is the end of this month (March 2012). Each set of doors are completely bespoke to each project. We only ever install Sunflex doors as we believe they are the best. We have been installing these since we started 5 years ago and have yet to ever be called back with a concern or problem. With so much mechanics and weight in these doors I find it a complete false economy to consider anything other. My tangent mind reminds me of a John Ruskin quote about taking risks with cost and the gamble… see quote below ‘The Common Law of Business Balance’

We have secured the new room and this week taken out the back of house to open up the whole of the existing house giving us a 6.3m x 4.5m kitchen dining and seating area, this will also feel bigger once we have the infinity thresholds from the doors and the floor continues out in to the garden.

This open plan is achievable due to the compliance and regulations we carry out and adhere to. Structural calculations for the steels in place of the wall and SAP calculations for insulation to ensure we have no impact on the house. This gives the room the ability to be integral to the house and not just a bolt on nasty nasty too hot too cold C word.

We are now ready to first fix electrics and start insulating and boarding up the walls and plastering.

It is unwise to pay too much but it’s unwise to pay too little.
When you pay too much you lose a little money that is all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was not capable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business prohibits paying a little and getting a lot.
It can’t be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder it is well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better!

Another week without rain. I can confirm that this has been a very dry winter, no rain and in this part of the country no snow to speak of. As I type the heavens will open for sure but we are now at the end of week three roofed in and the gutters are fitted.

We tile all our roofs to compliment the original house, it’s not often we can’t match the existing tiles.

We create a vaulted ceiling as opposed to flat. We believe this gives the room a much more open feel with the height created. We fit almost as standard, Velux roof lights. We use a square roof light that’s electrically operated. With certain products we only fit the best on the market as the products are well tested and the after sales are fantastic. Saying this we have in the time we’ve been installing the Velux product not had one breakdown on us.

I have included a link from Velux that shows off their range of products that we install. On the Velux site there’s a great download about bringing your ideas to life http://www.velux.co.uk/

Week commencing 20/02/2012 : Another great week as far as the weather was concerned, which meant we had a productive week. Oversite/ground floor slab was cast and the external walls are built. We are erecting the scaffolding today in order that we can commence roof structure works next week. The folding doors have been ordered with the client choosing the infinity floor option. This option looks fantastic when all the doors slide open and works very well in a smaller space.

We started a project in south Bucks last week. To get to this stage in the project we have designed a garden room extension that is 4.6m x 3m and applied for and won planning approval for the project. As a matter of course we always seek approval for our extensions from the local authority. We have submitted drawings to Building Control and will build this room, as we do in every case, to comply with current regulations that apply. I could go on a tangent here and explain that conservatories from the most expensive to the bottom end of the market have to comply with limited and negate building regulations.

Last Monday we started the ground works and have moved drainage and excavated the foundations that were passed by the Building Control officer Thursday. Friday we were pouring ready mixed concrete for the foundations and without sounding too evangelical a good foundation is never more important.