Completion

12Nov07

The long interval between the mid-July post and this one in November should speak volumes. After many delays and broken promises over a completion date we eventually took possession at the end of August and moved in almost exactly a year after work first started on the house. We had made arrangements a long time previously to go away for six weeks and meant that no sooner had we moved in and we were gone. The upside was that we had a pleasant break after the trauma of the past few months. And it was a difficult time – we had to move out of our rented accommodation and ended up in a one bedroom apartment for four months.

 One bedroom apartment: Tamar Villa Units.

Are we pleased with the final house? Overall a resoundng yes. There are the inevitable things one didn’t foresee but generally we felt we did surprisingly well to achieve a house that suits our needs. We’ve discovered that good insulation has a surprising downside which for us at any rate we hadn’t even considered. The east facing windows catch a lot of sun which in winter will be give us a lot of welcome solar gained heat. In summer it does mean that the heat gained in the first three hours takes some time to dissipate because of the insulation. Quite controllable when occupied, as doors and windows can be opened but when closed up the heat builds up. We had planned for this to some extent with overhanging eaves and tinted glass but as the latter wasn’t installed (contractual loophole dishonourably exploited) we’ll use solar screen blinds. These should be fitted in the next few weeks. Retrospective tinting of the glass is a possibility still to be explored and if necessary.

The pictures below were taken just before we moved in August.

   

  

  

 

We’ve not had a chance to take pictures of the house at night with the outside lighting, so will make this another post in a few days.

There are still a few inevitable things to complete: an internal glazed door and glass panel in the kitchen to be fitted. Also some steps and access ramp to the front door. Should have been done a few weeks ago…. Once completed will show these as well.

A special thanks to long suffering family and friends who patiently listened to our tales of woe and our son who lives locally for all his help with shifting furniture, a roof over our head when we were homeless for a week or two.

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Filed under: Completion   |  Closed