Being there…
October 11, 2007 | 1 Comment |
After reviving skinidin.com, I start getting questions again on building a house on Skye. We found that one of the difficult things of doing a self build project, is whether you have the opportunity to follow the project as close as possible. Which ultimately means, being there! On site! When you’re on site, you can monitor day to day progress and discuss issues with all involved parties before they become problems. Also, you’re in a much better position to negotiate changes with your builder.
Luckily we did not have any real problems with our project, although sometimes things appeared to be problems from our position (well over 1.000 kilometers away, in Holland). Like the supplier of the floor tiles, who insisted time after time that we had to come by his shop again to specify exactly what type of tiles we wanted, while we had been perfectly clear about it. Or the different cabling options for the Sky TV system. Or the choice of paint. Or the lack of water, or…
We did not have the opportunity to be on site all of the time, as we were still had our lives in Holland. We popped over every month or so. So we decided to do the next best thing and employed a surveyor, who would monitor the project on our behalf. I choose the word “monitor” and not “manage”, as he wasn’t acting as a project manager. In the end we were responsible for the overall planning.
Also important was the choice of the builder. We choose to tender our project with the larger builders working on Skye, all companies who were familiar with a turnkey approach. You will probably pay more as the builder also manages the different trades, but in our situation that was the only viable option. If you’re capable of managing the project yourself, on site, you can cut cost here and and employ/manage the different trades yourself.
All practical things aside, the whole process of the house being built is quite an experience. Funny to realize: we learned far more from our Skye home - being built well over a thousand kilometers from where we then lived - than we did from the build of our last house in Holland, which was built basically “under our nose”…
Timeline
September 3, 2007 | 1 Comment |
After some back breaking garden work today, I decided to do some digital cleaning up. The “old” skinidin.com website contains a lot of history so I’m looking at ways to integrate its content with this blog. While browsing through the old site, I decided to put down a short time line of our move to Skye. Here goes….
Summer 2003: Our original plan to go to Canada on holiday is canceled due to a negative travel advice (SARS disease). We decide to go to Scotland in stead. We had a lovely holiday and a first visit to Skye.
Spring 2004: A short break on Skye. We really love the place.
Summer 2004: We decide to go to Skye again. At MacLeod & MacCallum (solicitors) we have a meeting with Peter Mason to get a feel for the procedures concerning the purchase of properties in Scotland. During our last week on Skye we come across a lovely plot of land in Skinidin. We decide to buy it.
November 2004: We’re officially owners of the plot at 16 Skinidin of the Isle of Skye. We’re starting talks with SkyeHomes for one of their kit home solutions.
December 2004: We visit Skye and have meetings with SkyeHomes, Archie MacDonald (house designer), Jon Howarth (surveyor) and Hughie MacLennan (road constructor).
February 2005: Archie MacDonald presents his design for our house. After some little modifications his design is submitted for planning permission to the Highland Council.
July 2005: Detailed planning permission and building warrant obtained. We now have all necessary formal approval to start building. Hughie starts his work on the access road and connections to mains services.
August 2005: The project is tendered to 4 builders on Skye
Early November 2005: James MacQueen wins the tender and will build the house. We meet up with him by mid November.
Late April 2006: James starts the build. Kit is ordered from SkyeHomes.
December 2006: The completion certificate is received. James has completed the build within time and budget.
December 2006 - July 2007: Preparations to complete our move to Skye: sell our house in Holland, move our stuff, setup our life on Skye, sell our Dutch cars, buy a UK car, get health care sorted, open bank accounts, etc, etc……
Completion
August 1, 2007 | Leave a Comment |
Well, obviously these words should have been written ages ago but an emigration involves a lot of work. So what happened after that last update in November 2006? The following events were rather special:
During the last week of November 2006 we undertook a trip to Skye with a hired van stocked with furniture and stuff we could spare from our house in Holland. It would give us some furniture and kitchen utensils for the first months to come. The weather was horrendous: gales and heavy rain and near Perth one of the windshield wipers broke. Luckily it wasn’t the driver side, so we carried on with just one…
The 15th of December I officially left The Netherlands. I entered the house while the painter (Murdo) was still busy finishing bits and pieces. This would take up to Christmas to complete. During that time there was limited heating as the floors and tiles had to get accustomed to the heating system and completely dry. It was bitter cold and I slept on the concrete floors for 2 weeks, waiting for the carpet layers.
I explained Murdo about a favorite Dutch lunch dish, consisting of ham layered with egg, fried together in a pan and eaten on a slice of bread. It’s called in Dutch an “uitsmijter” which literally translates to “a bouncer”. He probably did not appreciate the concept…
Tradesmen kept coming by to finish bits and pieces and correcting things which weren’t working as they should: the electrician, the painter, the joiner, the plumber, the people from SkyeHomes.
The slate floor - our pride and joy when we bought it - looked a mess. It was covered in sawdust, sand and dirt from outside. I thought cleaning would be impossible and considered the floor ruined. However, sturdy cleaning and hovering transformed the dirty slates back into the lovely floor we bought in the shop.
The landscaped area outside the house slowly turned from a muddy space to a nice little lawn. Somewhere end of March 2007 I sewed some grass seed. Grass is now everywhere!
More things happened, but it would take too much space to sum them all up here. After six months of hard work since December 2006, the house is now almost finished - will it ever be completely finished? - and we’re happy living here.
Update: 17-11-2006
November 17, 2006 | Leave a Comment |
The Skinidin project is nearing completion! Last week Magnet was busy installing the kitchen and the majority of floor tiling has been done. There’s still some plumbing left to do: bathrooms, toilets and drainage. Furthermore the internal doors, the outside painting and the access ramp has to be constructed.
An completion date of the 15th of December has been agreed upon with James and by that date the house will be occupied to finish of minor jobs and see whether there are any issues remaining which James should fix. As there’s no phone connection yet to the house, updating this site from the house will be quite impossible. So, updates to the site with new build information will be sparse for the coming weeks.
For now, enjoy the pictures Jon made on the 17th… The first one is the kitchen with the work area, the cooking island and the breakfast bar. The hood is from AEG and is designed in such a way that you have no chance of hitting your head against it. The second one is the kitchen with the fridge and the ovens built in. The last one is the lounge completely tiled but not yet grouted.
Update: 11-11-2006
November 11, 2006 | Leave a Comment |
After a couple of weeks of silence, some new updates on the internal proceedings. The painter has finished the first stage of his work and the tiler is now busy laying the tiles. The first picture shows the top part of the chimney, completely smooth and painted. The second one shows the lower part of the chimney and the room ready to be finished with floor tiles. The last one shows the first rows of floor tiles in the hallway. The tiles are South African Blue Slate. They have been cleaned and sealed before they’re being layed. Afterwards they will be sealed a second time. The sealing process makes them stain resistant.
Update: 20-10-2006
October 20, 2006 | Leave a Comment |
The majority of the work is now concentrating on the inside of the house, so nothing much happening on the outside. A number of important deliveries were made: the septic tank, the oil tank and the Megaflo system. Also, the decorator started painting the filled plasterboards.
The septic tank arrived. A massive object, approximately 3 meters high and a capacity of 3.800 liters. The tank needs to be de-sludged every two to three years from solid waste. The liquid waste will eventually fill the tank completely and will then disperse through the soak away system, a system of special purpose pipes.
The oil tank is considerably smaller than the septic tank, with a capacity of about 1300 liters. The oil tank will hold the fuel for the boiler which in turn heats the water for the underfloor heating system and the hot water facility of the house, like showers and taps.
The Megaflo tank is a hot water container and supplies the property with near-instant hot water.
The final pictures show the hallway before and after a first coat of paint. All walls and ceilings will be painted white as a first coat. Walls will then be painted a second time using antique white, an off-white color.
Update:07-10-2006
October 7, 2006 | Leave a Comment |
This time all but one picture are of the works carried out on the inside of the house. The one exception is a picture of the front door which has been put in place (picture 1). This week we say goodbye to the temporary front door…
Picture 2: The master bedroom with left the entrance to the en-suite bathroom. The windows offer a generous view to Loch Dunvegan to the east of the house.
Picture 3: The sitting room with the chimney. The basic construction for a tapered finish of the chimney has been applied.
Picture 4: Standing in the sitting room looking towards the dining room and the door opening to the hallway. The open area in the wall between the dining room and the sitting room will be filled with glass blocks.
Update: 22-09-2006
September 22, 2006 | Leave a Comment |
This weeks update shows that the major jobs on the outside of the house are nearing completion. There are probably still some odd jobs left to do, but the one remaining job appears to be applying the final paint to the outside walls. Inside the work is focussed on setting up all interior walls and doing all cabling work. Check out the pictures…
The rendering on the back side of the house (picture 1) now completely finished. Now that the majority of the scaffolding has been removed, the house looks a bit smaller. The white vertical stripes visible on the walls, are the parts where the walls can expand and shrink under the influence of temperature fluctuations. This prevent the walls from cracking up.
Picture 2: standing in the dining room, looking towards the sitting room. Again, to the right some cabling is visible. Looks quite messy on the inside!
Update: 21-08-2006
August 21, 2006 | Leave a Comment |
Below images were taken on the 21st of August. On this day the first screed was poured over the concrete floors, covering the reinforcement mesh and the pipework for the underfloor heating installation.
The western side of the house finished with the final rendering and the stone chips. Here the rendering is still wet and it takes about six hours to withstand rain. Note that this work can only be done with dry weather conditions. At the bottom of the wall an aluminum strip is attached allowing for a curved finish of the rendering. The curved finish optimizes the disposal of water from the wall.
The south wing of the house showing the pipework for the underfloor heating system and mesh for reinforcement. The pipes are attached with small metal strips to the mesh. The loops and grouping of the pipework has been designed by Invisible Heating Systems from Ullapool.
Pouring of the screed floor. This is the partially finished floor of the dining room. To achieve a smooth result the screed is first flattened with a piece of timber almost as long as the room. Once that’s done, its finished with the skimmer (not sure whether this is the correct English word) to make it smooth. The screed can be walked on after four hours but it’s best to leave it drying for a couple of days.
Update: 19-08-2006
August 19, 2006 | Leave a Comment |
These pictures were taken during a visit to the build which took place from August 19th to August 26th. August 19th was a Saturday and James had the house securely locked, so only outside pictures could be taken.
The loch side of the house with the block work and slating of the roof now completed. The most forward part of the gable is already prepared with the so called scratch layer of finish. The other picture shows a slightly different angle of the front gable. The scratch finish is clearly visible.
The stone chips are used to finish the walls (rough rendering). Once the final rendering layer has been applied, a special machine is used to inject the stone chippings onto the wall. This rough rendering is a typical feature of a Highland house and is done to minimize water attaching to the wall.
Oh, and hurray!! At last the power cable has arrived…
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Latest music...
Hair (1968, Original Broadway recording). Some naughty lyrics for that time!!
An Rathad a Bhatarsaigh, by the Vatersay Boys