Phase 2 Starts....

[MdB]

While the builders have been battling mud in the garden, I've spent the weekend playing with lime.

As I insert new liner sections into the chimney, I've been rebuilding the stone work and back filling with a LECA lime mix.

I guess I'm about at downstairs ceiling height so a fair way still to go but I feel I've made a decent bit of progress with putting this chimney back together.

 

[worms]

So if I've got all this right, at present you have what must be Britain's only patio with under floor heating!

 

[Flyfisher]

Biff won't like that - not very good for global warming. :wink:

 

[Penners]

I would have thought that it's excellent for global warming. :wink:

 

[Flyfisher]

Fair point. :lol:

 

[MdB]

Unfortunately it is all non working at the moment which is making it rather chilly in the house. Hopefully it will be back operational before the weather turns really cold.

 

[MdB]

High water tables. They do have their uses if you want a moat...

This trench is going to take the outflow pipe from the sewage system to the stream. It isn't complete yet so the water can't escape. It is raining at the moment so I suspect the level will be even higher tomorrow. We will also put a perforated drainage pipe in the trench so hopefully this will lower the ground water table around the house.

Mud - we definitely do mud at the moment.

It is really rather depressing as there is still another trench to be dug and we spent ages levelling and reseeding the lawn after we installed the heatpump pipes.

The insulation as turned up. Lots of it bought from Seconds and Co.

The boards are all tapered but we can live with that. They quality is excellent with much having a date code of last month. The oldest appears to be only 6 months old and at approx less than half price, a bargain too.

 

[worms]

Does the high water table not affect the temperature of the ground source loop?

 

[MdB]

Does the high water table not affect the temperature of the ground source loop?

Yes, but in a good way.

Water is a good conductor of heat so when cold water from the heat pump passes through the soil, water allows good transfer and warms the pipes up a bit. Out flow from the heat pump is typically 4°C and it comes back at 6°C. Not a big difference but enough to warm the house. Without good heat transfer, the heat pump could potentially freeze the water in the pipes - not a good thing.

 

[worms]

Interesting. But will waterlogged ground not be colder than dry ground?

 

[MdB]

Interesting. But will waterlogged ground not be colder than dry ground?

No, why would it be?

Wet ground will absorb and radiate more heat than drier ground but these two effects will cancel out and on average both will be the same. At a metre down, the there will be little difference.

 

[Penners]

With a high water table, I imagine one of your problems is going to be stopping that enormous plastic bubble of air from bouncing out of the ground when the level of its contents is low. Will that involve a large head of concrete over the top of it?

 

[MdB]

With a high water table, I imagine one of your problems is going to be stopping that enormous plastic bubble of air from bouncing out of the ground when the level of its contents is low. Will that involve a large head of concrete over the top of it?

Good point and something that needed to be thought about. There are two solutions: Back fill the hole dug with concrete to weigh the tank down or do what we did which was to fix long pieces of angle iron in the sides of the hole and then tie the tank to iron with chains.

 

[MdB]

Another weekend spent working on the wall and another 6 chimney liner segments were fitted. It seems rather slow progress to me as I'm having to use the grinder to remove some of the stonework to get them to fit. I've also used up the ideally shaped pieces of stone for rebuilding the wall so I'm stuck with either the small bits or having to cut the larger bits. However, I'm over half way I think so not too bad.

The builders have made it to the stream so our moat has been drained and back filled with pea shingle and some larger stuff. This will reduce the height of the water table next to the house by half a metre or so which should help with the damp at the base of the old wall.

Due to the unfortunate incident between the digger and our heat pump pipes, we had to get a team in with electro fusion welding kit. I've not come across this before but it is basically a heating element built into a pipe coupler. Clever stuff.

 

[MdB]

Is a large number of Acrows known as a Forest?

Wall half gone.

New steel in.

It isn't often you have hailstones roll across your kitchen floor but we did this day..

Outside view.

The block work is now almost all up with the roof trusses turning up on Monday. The excitement though is on Tuesday or Wednesday when the oak beams turn up.

The chimney work is now almost complete with the plan being that the brick work on top to be rebuilt on Monday. The wall itself is partially repointed though there is still a lot to go.

 

[Feltwell]

Good progress there MdB! Puts me to shame

 

[MdB]

Good progress there MdB! Puts me to shame

Well the builders are doing most of it....

 

[LadyArowana]

Well done, must be very pleasing to see such big changes.

 

[Penners]

That definitely calls for a Kit-Kat, MdB! Better give the builders one, too (one between them, that is - no point in spoiling them).

 

[MdB]

That definitely calls for a Kit-Kat, MdB! Better give the builders one, too (one between them, that is - no point in spoiling them).

Ah but in Cornwall we give them pasties. Home made by our neighbour every Thursday - very very nice they are too as is the cake Mrs MdB makes the builders as well. I get the feeling the builders are a little bit spoilt (last Friday they got lollipops...)