It was a long wait for the glass to arrive for the Southern building. Because of all the roof nonsense and the delays it created, I realise that I am now building two buildings on differing time frames, which makes programming a nightmare. The glass has been produced and fabricated by Pilkington ready to be called off by the glaziers.

In the middle of the “dog days” of summer the southern window frames commenced installation on August 11th. The glaziers have given me a finishing date in mid September. As soon as the frames are in we can measure the sills, which Kirkstone will cut. All of us are convinced that David (Archi) only specifies something if it's heavy! Once the sills are in place the renderers can progress with the South building.

This will release us to get the Dow Floormate down (insulation) along with the Schluter systems (insulation and heating pipe holder that permits a screed depth of 8 – 25mm). The advantage of thin screeds is that they retain less heat which increases the efficiency of the under floor system. After screeding it's plastering time – believe it or not it has to be in that order for Cloud 8. We are still trying to get it the other way around – I’ll let you know.

Since the last update in May we have been doing a great deal of enabling works including fitting sills to the north building, fitting the Alligator (a creative down pipe for all the water from the roofs) which was challenging. Special steel brackets were created for this item. The link (between N + S building) was glazed.

Our kitchen has been designed and will be ordered in the next fortnight – we think it looks marvellous. Its been designed by Orca Design and is by Rational, a German concern. More about the kitchen later.

John Anderson the freelance Wirsbo (underfloor heating) installer emails me and wonders if he will be called on this year – he got a shock and a date this week!

Roger and the team are well into the cabling – about 12 Km at the last count. All the distribution boards are now in and Secom Alarms have completed their entire first fix, which includes all cable for PIR’s, entry systems, panels and main board. We also have discreet cameras which link to all sorts of things in the house. Some security technology includes microwave. Secom and their partners have been very creative in the design.

Pleasingly the window frames are fitting well in the south building. 75% of the materials required for the south building have arrived but this does not stop the fabricator requesting a valuation of 94% of the contract price when there is still 3 weeks installation and several days of snagging, and 25% of the materials are still to arrive. They do try these guys but all that is achieved as a result of an over zealous accountant is a determination to let them wait. One of their suppliers I came across recently advised me that they are terrible payers themselves. Should this surprise us? The accountant therefore successfully pisses orf the client and his supplier simultaneously and the management of his company believe he is an asset to the business. Imagine a restaurant presenting you with the bill before the desserts, cheese, coffee, and port has been served – what would you do? Rush back to the establishment for more of the same?

After the Grand Designs programme a guy called Dennis Prosser emailed me. Dennis used to work in the company Judy and I created – in essence he said “good to see things haven’t changed” - and - “if you need a good carpenter - sorry but I’m busy!” Well pleasingly he is now on site and lives quite nearby. It’s excellent having him here – like a second pair of eyes and needless to say he has learned much in intervening years. I know he does things right – a very valuable bloke and I’ve been working as his right hand man since his return from holiday with his family. He gave the build significant impetus when he arrived just when I needed it. I was at a low ebb and his cheery productivity and organisation was just what the doctor ordered.

I’ve also now put in the steps for the bridge – what a job. I do not want to see a set of precast concrete steps ever again.

Building Management Systems.

I write about this more on the new tab (see BMIS left). This is going to spread into UK homes rapidly in the next ten years. Presently there are small systems around that operate lights, curtains and other bits and pieces. I’ve known of these for sometime and have never been a fan. There is a Scottish invented system using existing cables in a house called X10. It’s popular in the US as they run 110V but frankly its not something to be considered seriously in 240V territory. The systems I am installing in Cloud 8 are really commercial systems or for houses that are at the upper end of the market that are either being fully refurbished or are new. Developers will be unlikely to embrace these systems because of cost so the majority of the buying public will get the cheap stuff that has some functionality but not the but not the good stuff that has all the functionality.

I visited my local Building Control office a couple of weeks ago to be told that they are helping in the formulation of new Building Regulations which are for broadband connections to every new home built. It’s the way we are progressing and Cloud 8 has been cabled for all this – even down to broadband in the garage so I can get a diagnostic for my car in the future. For the majority of UK households the future use of broadband will be for entertainment on demand. The growth in this sector is set to be colossal – infrastructure within home will increase rapidly as it is presently doing in the USA.

Judy’s hearing loss is now severe. The audiology department at our local hospital have been excellent, and she has recently been fitted with digital hearing aids courtesy of the NHS and the Government's promise (kept in this case) to digitise the nation's deaf within 2 years. This has seen a significant improvement in Judy’s health and spirits. I decided to consult with the RNID’s commercial arm about equipment that I might be able to integrate into the house. They have been marvellous – sure enough we are now putting in 'T' loop systems into two areas of the house – the study and the living area. We are also putting in an infrared system in the living area just in case the “T” loop gets interference from all the steel in this area of the building. I also told the RNID of the reprogramming I intended to do in the 106 lighting circuits we have in the house. (More about this on the BMIS page link.) Judy is also going to get various other accessories from RNID including a phone with built-in telecoil. This was Judy’s first contact with the organisation and they have been marvellous with their technical advice and knowledge.

Today I put a large gash in just above my knee with an angle grinder! I went to hospital and was glued back together but it popped later in the afternoon as soon as I over bent it. What can you do? After the glue session I stopped by Hewden’s and picked up a new first aid kit. When I arrived back at site Dennis wanted to know if this was a free gift from the hospital as a reward for a regular customer! Mick suggested I should be given a gold card by A&E. I pointed out that I needed none of this as the local and very efficient ambulance service knew me quite well and always enquire how the build is going when they come to collect me. Just for a change this time I went to Stoke Mandeville – I was through and out the other end in 30 minutes. Can anyone beat that?

Enjoy the latest pictures from site – and I hope you enjoy the section on BMS and communications within Cloud 8.

Steve from Kimbers returned to site and winched the four steel columns attached to the block work back into precise position before the blocks were removed and reset by the Blockies. The lot was given a longer time to set than expected and eventually the roof fabricator got Adrian and Steve back to site to apply the wings and finish this long running saga.

Hang on tight now – brace yourselves – I have shock news.

THE ROOF IS FINALLY ON!

5 MONTHS LATE IT HAS T0 BE SAID – COURTESY OF SERIAL COCK UPS BY THE FARICATOR.

This has to be the longest roofing fabrication known to man. If you know of a longer one (ours is 121sq m) please let me know location and contractor.

The corrected wings were lifted more or less on time – and after some adjustment by the chaps all are present. With the wings in place this enabled the top layer of ply to be applied to the topside rafters that completes the structure as far as the fabricator is concerned. 24 hours later the acrows that supported the whole roof were removed and everything as expected remained in position.

The damage to the dress (under) side of the ply is grim. We plan to give it time to dry out – the fabricator has suggested that washing the boards will remove the mildew to which birch is susceptible. I think this is optimistic and still no suggestion on how to remove the glue stains is proposed – this has crept through on the butting ply in a number of locations. The fabricator has further work to fulfil before some soffits are applied – I hope this happens shortly.

Observations while Adrian and Steve were undertaking the fixing. The fabricator: -

Did not give them a brief of what they had to do.
Left them short of ply on site.
Did not supply them with the correct glue. (Available only from Bristol - this was sent to site by courier. Not for the first time labour on site was left standing around waiting for components to complete the job)

If ever they want to work down here, Adrian and Steve just need to give me a call. They will be snapped up very quickly and be valued by their employers.

As soon as the top ply was fixed I applied a lapped waterproof membrane to the entire area – this product is called Tyvek Proclad. (See picture). Phil and I were both concerned how to make the area waterproof. Phil mentioned Tyvek so I called the manufacturers, part of Dupont. I mentioned that we were going to be cladding the roof in steel and expected to lay a quilt over the roof to stop “flapping.” The gent I spoke to mentioned Proclad – a brand new product that has what looks like chest hair attached to it. This stops the stainless “flapping” – ventilates the roof – and reduces noise by up to 8db and is a waterproof membrane also. Perfect – “please get 130 m2 to me” I requested. “We have none in the country yet – it's brand new” was the response. Well they managed to get a quantity to me and to be frank I wish we had also been able to use it on the other roof – its marvellous stuff. Easy and quick to apply – and Mark and Shane from our stainless roofing company think its great to lay steel over.

The two-tone stainless steel on the northern roof is being changed. It still has not been made clear to me how this occurred. Quite how the guy from Ugine could tell me this is acceptable beggars belief as I have been informed that coils coming from different consignments caused the difference. Ugine ALZ have sent 3 replacement coils and when an answer materialises as to who responsible for this error, I’ll let you know.

Meanwhile Shane and Mark have put steel into the central gutter on the
Gull wing and completed 50% of the soffits as well. It really is starting to look great.

We are now close to ordering the stainless steel flue. The drawings have been received from Selkirk the chosen fabricator. David (Archi) is keen that the topside detail is softened from an angular upstand that is clad in stainless to tapered at the point the flue emerges topside. The devil is in the detail – even up there!

Windows are a bit two paces forward one back – but now that the roof is in position at least we can measure the southern windows now. This happens next week – but we will still need to wait 10 weeks before fitting.

The window fabricators are also making the 'dimpled' doors and panels. We are using a Swiss profile system (Jansen) with whom I have been communicating about the matter of these unoptional features. The UK fabricators and trained licensees with the system tell me that there is no solution to the dimpling. The Swiss licensor of the system says there is a solution to the “inevitable” dimpling. When asked what the solution is the Swiss firm says – we know the solution but you need to speak to your fabricator. They then refuse to tell either the fabricator or the client what the solution is. When asked where the inevitable dimpling is mentioned in their sales collateral – they refuse to answer the question. They state that “dimpling” is an inevitable occurrence as a result of manufacturing. Why is it not explained in their brochures? A little like a holiday firm omitting to mention that the Hotel Splendide backs onto an 8-lane motorway whilst lyrically describing the stunning views of pacific gardens and the ocean.

In .a viewable format below – I have given you the communication between me and Jansen verbatim – see what you make of it – and given I am spending a significant six figure sum on glazing systems of which Jansen profiles form a large part, please let me know if you think dimples are acceptable. Would you expect your new car to be covered in dimples?

Click here to view the correspondence in full.

Mechanical and Electrical - First fix starts any moment. Designs are complete for what will become a substantially wired house. We have over 6km of cabling going in the house – servicing 106 lighting circuits in the house. There are 8 external circuits.

I have a meeting with a potential Alarms company who have visited site. They tell me that PIR’s won’t work in the house because of all the glass – so we are talking laser beams – cue Mission Impossible soundtrack. Peter Haseler from ABB has almost got all the Building Management System designs sorted. I’ve nearly got the electrical actuators sorted for the high-level windows and blinds. They have to be able to communicate with our software protocol. The voice and Data network will be linked to a IPHomenet hub through which TV / Video / DVD will also be distributed down Cat 5. I intend to create a graphic showing you what is happening in the house – I think you’ll find it interesting.

Mechanical – I am pleased to say we are going to be using a highly energy efficient condensing boiler system which is British made from award winning Keston Boilers Ltd. We have specified a C55 and we are also using one of their Spa hot water storage tanks – a 300-litre job. You can even arrange the exhaust stream to an out of the way location by using one of their flexi pipes. The order has been placed via Graham Gower (i/c all mechanical), a local man who came recommended. We just want to check we have no protocol conflicts with the BMS – and Bob’s your Auntie.

All the bathroom and showers have been ordered from CP Hart. We had a family day in London - and spent a good part of the morning in the shop where on a previous visit we chose most fittings. We just wanted to fine tune things before ordering and met with the jolly helpful Brian Thompson. What is such fun about CPH is you can get in the baths and try them out for size. I like that. Do you remember the old British Transport Hotels that were run by BR. I recall staying at the Lochalsh Hotel at the Kyle of the same name and almost drowning in one of their baths – well we’ve ordered one just like that for the master bedroom suite – with Starck fittings and lots of other goodies. Brian made various suggestions that improved matters greatly over previous plans and a deposit has been dispatched so that the goods are assembled and readied for delivery downstream.

I think bathrooms are potentially star turns in houses. You know when you stay in a hotel you always feel cheated if the bathroom is on a par with yours – well I no longer travel to the extent I once did, so I am keen that we do achieve an attractive job with all of ours. I am going to put an easy chair in our main suite – we’ll have sound in there – nice to sit still after a bath and read in wonderful warmth generated from bespoke under floor heating.

The children had input on their bathrooms – and we all then zipped over the road to a jolly good Chinese restaurant just over the way from the store.

I hope you enjoy the C4 programme – I will be in my local hostelry having a quiet pint of Adnams. Judy will watch and report I guess.

Oh – by the way – I fell out of the site office again and this time broke my arm. Heyho. And Talkback called to say they wanted to film a sequel for screening in Spring 2004. Should we do this I wonder?

The wings were collected on consecutive days and taken back to the factory. What I understood to be an immediate turnaround failed to materialise and we are still awaiting their return. Last week I was called to the southern building by Peter Fitzgerald the renderer. He pointed out the damage to the padstones. Three of the padstones are not too bad and can fairly easily be rectified. One corner on the south east has to have blockwork removed and replaced as cracks have appeared.

The roof contractor has been advised – and par for the course is declaring innocence and “its nothing to do with us!”

Well here we go (again)
- I inspected the blockwork after the roof had been repositioned, and two days before the wings were fitted. Everything was satisfactory.
- No one has worked in this section of the building for months other than the fabrication company – no one can without the roof being fitted.
- The area where the damage has occurred is where the four arms from the steel columns are fixed onto the high-level top course padstones – one in each corner. These are all fitted with straps.
- When you use a hammer at this high level to remove bolts – the force is not reduced by friction – there is none – it transfers directly to the steel PFC that cradles the roof structure and straight down the columns. The first resistance it meets are the arms that connect to the pad stones.
- The force that arrives at the pad stones is a high proportion of the weight the roof is carrying (6 – 7 tonnes including the wings).
- The roof sections are wedged between 2 PFC’s front and rear – which meant that damage not only occurs to the front padstones but also the rear.
- Damage is more evident to the front, which is where the wings were removed.

We have been on stop and have a meeting on Wednesday 5th Feb with Mark.

You know problems do occur. When they do and if they are resolved quickly you become a champion for the company. I don’t blame Adrian and the chaps – they are more used to working on timber frame buildings. They would be surprised at how easy it is to remove blocks from the wall. Four knocks with a hammer and its almost out.

The columns need to be strapped back to position – a corner rebuilt to about 5 courses. Rake out the pointing and epoxy grout to the other three once in correct position. Re-strap and we are finished. A days work perhaps and the fabricators are shooting themselves in the foot yet again and arguing.

Meanwhile over at the two-tone stainless steel debacle – I have both politely and impolitely told them I don’t want it on my roof. One gentlemen from the firm (UGINE ALZ) in the UK is incapable of answering questions of any nature to do with their product and disinclined to send you technical information advising you where it says stainless comes in massive colour variances. I called France and spoke to a gent called Braenaert – he does not respond to emails and is the line manager for the UK operation. Some 6 emails I sent him received not a murmur. I spoke to his boss – Mr Richard (Director of Construction) who had a tremendous grasp of English compared to my lacklustre French. It appears I should have received an email a week earlier from the Brit who can’t do much. Eventually this note arrived after a further call to Richard, it was not helpful to getting the situation resolved. I called the UK boss Mr Kinsey and put a proposal to him which seemed to be ok – but it has been reconfirmed back differently and potentially unacceptably to the fabricator who I am keen to see is not unfairly treated. The work he has done is fantastic – everyone who sees it says so. Sure he may have made a mistake – he has sound reasoning for believing he has not. Unless it is provably an error by him, I do not see that he should suffer the consequences of differing quality material from a supplier.

I’ll keep you posted.

On to happier matters.

Gerry (please no jokes about Tom and Gerry – that's with a J anyway) from our local joinery produced our Alligator. Fundamentally it’s a ply trough with attitude that is going to be lined with Kaliko sheet and clad in stainless steel and hoisted onto the roof. It will sit between the roofs to collect all the water from both buildings which will then run down the outside of stainless tubes into the rear pond.

I’ve included some pictures of the beast to give you an idea of its size. Its held in place by some wonderful brackets that are designed for the job, and painted in the Cloud 8 silver finish.

What fun!

I got back to site on the 2nd January to catch up on things. Over Christmas a great deal of rain fell – and clearly an area of the plastic covered roof was compromised – possibly by a plank being pushed by the wind causing the polythene to tear. It looks terrible and I fear for the damaged panels. Mark ****** has been informed and seems to think this will dry. I hope he is right but the ply in this area is under stress and I think the marks will be seen and the ply will be prone to delamination. I will be delighted to be proved wrong.

I called the timber merchants on the 2nd and sent them pictures of all the sheets by email. I was called the following day and the merchant agreed – they needed to be replaced. He also mentioned that another client who had a pack sent to him had also called to reject the lot. A pack in the yard also had the same markings. He then said to me – and “the next delivery is in November.” However, he checked the computer and there appeared to be stock in Hemel Hempstead.

I went straight there. Waiting till November would mean closing down the site. Horror! On arrival I was met and told that an error had occurred and that there was some left but someone had sold B/BB instead of the ordered S/BB and they only had 8 sheets left – out of 88.

I checked every sheet – then looked in the limited S/BB pile and managed to find the 12 sheets we needed. These were delivered to the builder’s merchant for cutting, which was done on Monday 6th January in time for the arrival of the team from the fabricators. But the fabricators did not arrive as scheduled. Phil spoke to Mark on the Tuesday and asked where they were? On another job seemed to be the answer.

Phil turned up on the 8th just about the time that Adrian arrived from the fabricators. They immediately went up to the roof – and various activities seemed to be taking place and lots of inspection. Adrian told me a crane had been ordered for the 10th giving the whole of Thursday to get the new boards and the insect mesh onto the frames. A coat of external primer was put onto the ply for the wings. To remind you -these were to replace the boards that were fitted the wrong way (circular…).

Phil appeared in the site office and said, “the roof is covered in mould, Adrian tried rubbing it down but it doesn’t work.” Mark ****** has been informed.

Adrian, Steven, Gary and Jimmy fixed the ply to the wings. To me, the glue mix looked very watery but I did not question Adrian about it. The following day the crane turned up and the first wing was fixed into position. I had to go back to the timber merchants because someone at the builder’s merchants had messed up and cut too many sheets. People just do not listen sadly – and given the rarity of this material I was forced to use a ply of a different gauge but in this application it will not be seen and is not important. There was no B/BB so it was sort a limited number of boards of S/BB and hope. A slight compromise but it's essential.

When I got back to site – Steven came to see me and said “the end panels are cock on Tom but there is a differential and it means that the shadow gaps do not line up. We have told Mark ****** he asks you if it is acceptable” I went to take a look – it clearly was not acceptable. We measured – and the cumulative difference between the main roof and the wings is 49mm over a distance of 11m. It is clearly visible, as you will see from the photos.

For a moment I got the idea what the roof will look like. Then the crane lifted the wings to the ground. The lot are going back to the fabricators 300 miles away to be rectified.

The steel cladders JTC are progressing well. I have been keen to see the roof in sunshine – and pleasingly on the 6th the sun shone. I went to look at it and immediately saw it was 2 colours. In overcast weather you don’t notice the difference – but when the sun lets rip – you can. Once you have seen it you then also see the difference in the dull weather. I contacted the stainless steel OEM, a French manufacturer called Ugine based in Nottingham. I asked for someone to visit site asap. I was told this was going to happen on Thursday 9th. The gentleman failed to turn up. I was furious as this is causing JTC and me delay and expense which I had previously informed Ugine. I called in the afternoon and had a very focused discussion with the individual who told me he could not get to me till the end of the following week. I said in the absence of advice we would lift the cladding this Tuesday. I was advised in the middle of this that mine was just a “piddly little order” and “you do not know the league you are dealing with.” Well this is interesting client relations. Rampant and utterly ludicrous corporate testosterone employed on my “piddly little order.” I called France. The following day I was called by the gent and informed the he would be on site @ 8am on Monday. He also apologised for his comments but clearly Cloud 8 is an irrelevant irritant otherwise these remarks would not have been made. I’ve not finished with this yet.

Last week the glaziers managed to provide four metal doors - all incorrect. These are very heavy, thermally broken items that lead from bedrooms to balconies or terraces. The doors are blank on the outside – no handles or locks. Inside there are handles and locks which are quick release in case of fire. I saw the first one just after it had been positioned and said to Mick – “it’s got the locks on the wrong side” i.e. the occupant can't get out but the burglar has easy access. Seems a cool idea! The security company and the insurer might have something to say.

To date we have had several items wrong from the glaziers (James Gibbons Structural Glass): 4 doors, and 2 windows (so far). In a very successful specialist fenestration business that we (Judy and me) owned we made 7 measuring mistakes in 6 years not 6 measuring mistakes in 5 minutes. I pointed out to Trevor, the designer, a series of scratches on a piece of glass (now in position) that weighs 330Kgs – “we have a rouge that treats scratches.” Well these look fairly deep to me – we’ll see. I hope he is right, otherwise it will be going back. I’ve been asking for some protective clingfilm for a while so the windows can be covered - I live in hope.

Additionally I saw dimples in the steel frame and doors, which are all part of Gibbons' work – I have been informed that these are part of the manufacturing process. If so, and if one can reasonably expect to see these features after manufacture, why is this information not in the brochure? These dimples are also in panels between floors and are visible in different lights.

CALM…CALM…CALM. I went to have a quiet drink at my local yesterday evening. “How is the roof asked a local” – “don’t ask” I replied. "When will you be finished?" asked another – “in the future.”