Welcome to my blog, where a 30-something couple from the UK renovate and extend an old cottage, build some outbuildings, raise some hens and grow firewood trees and vegetables on our Acre in Hampshire. It's a bit like a smallholding but without too many animals, so we call it a homestead - living within our means, relying on ourselves and having a wonderful life!


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Sunday 19 January 2014

September

So, having knocked down a wall connecting our kitchen and the yet-to-be-named room at the front of the house, I had to accommodate a 70mm height difference in the floor. Que some battens, Celotex and flooring chipboard from Travis Perkins...

Here is the room that we are flooring. Inevitably for a house built in 1902, the existing floor was quite wonky, so each batten had to be packed out underneath and supported to prevent a lumpy, creaky floor. The new French Doors helped bring the sheets of Celotex inside.


We chose the sunniest day in the month to cut the sheet - the foil lining of the Celotex was blinding when we cut it with a bread knife (not a bodge - the recommended tool!)

















We also had our neighbour’s dog Kiwi (she is the lab - our Border Terrier is Monty) round to visit on numerous occasions - she learned to escape from her garden and open our garden gate, so she was a frequent visitor…

















I also fitted a new back door - this was a hand-me-down from my parent’s house, so it’s lovely to have at our new home. The bottom pane of glass is JUST high enough for Monty to peer through when he stands on his hind legs! Note the hole in the wall above the door - this will be the soil pipe exit from our new bathroom which we are making from an overly large bedroom upstairs. Having a downstairs loo is most overrated, particularly in the middle of the night!

 





























Lastly, I screeded the fireplace hearth where our Clearview will sit. Self levelling screed, as discussed before, is frankly marvelous stuff!

















1 comment:

  1. Interesting to see developments.

    We have just moved away from West Berkshire where we were for the last two years (prior to that we were in Oxfordshire), so although we have had no serious house renovations to do we are having to start from scratch with our outside space.

    Thanks for the follow on Bloglovin, I'll return the favour as I am very interested in your progress.

    Lovely that your dog has a friend :-)

    ReplyDelete