The diary of a self-builder – Spring 2017

Week Sixteen: Painting pains…

The Ikea kitchen we've planned is being installed this week, with us making changes as we go along, namely a breakfast bar at the end of the island unit, lighting in the cabinets and a built-in surround for the American fridge/freezer that arrived.

Our installers are being really good and accommodating as we develop ideas, and our electrician has been great about adding more sockets to the ends of the island unit. We love the open plan feel to the kitchen/dining/lounge room and having off-white units in the kitchen make it feel very spacious.

The amount of painting we have to do is a bit daunting when we look at the number of nail holes in the skirting and door surrounds that have to be filled before we can use builders caulk on the window surrounds and prime and top-coat the woodwork! It sounded so easy when we volunteered to do the painting!

Week Seventeen: Solar powered…

Exciting progress this week as the solar panels are installed on the roof, and further equipment such as the inverter and meter installed in the loft and garage - it was a requirement by Planning that we have some kind of green energy, and I'm really pleased that we opted for solar panels - they face south on our roof and are picking up the full rays of the sun (when we get sun!) from early morning to late in the day.

We need to sit and have a good look at the literature that came with them and see what we need to do to apply for the Renewable Heat Incentive from the government, but we need the final Energy Performance Report once the house is complete, before we can apply for the RHI.

The front gable blockwork is going in, and we've been off to fetch a 2017 date stone for Sean to install as he gets near to the top of that gable wall.