Cheryl bought me an SDS drill for my birthday. I used it for the first time this weekend.

Up to now I have done everything with my 18v Dewalt XRP which is a fantastic drill for most applications. Event hough it is a battery drill the hammer action and the power of it is amazing, I have drilled 18mm holes through brick walls with it no problem.

Bosch BGH2-26dre SDS Plus 2kg Drill

With the extension work coming up I wanted something with added power and with the chisel only action. Cheryl was fishing around form something to buy me for my Birthday so I suggested an SDS drill.

She got me the Bosch GBH 2-26DRE, and I must say how good a piece of kit it really is. This weekend I wanted to cut a hole in the under stairs toilet wall to put a 32mm waste pipe out. I used the chisel action on the new drill which cut through the bricks like butter.

It will prove very useful for the work on the extension, especially for descaling the walls, it will save a great deal of hammering with a lump hammer and bolster chisel.

I would defiantly recommend this drill, it is not the cheapest in the 2KG range but it’s 800w, really does give you the power you need for the bigger jobs and the hammer action, giving up to 3J of force for the chisel is powerful enough to cut through bricks as if they are not there.

I think that Cheryl got it from Screwfix but it is also available on Amazon for around the same price

We now have a yellow poster on the lamp post outside out house. This states that any objections must be raised by the 7th September. We therefore can deduce (yes I’ve been watching Sherlock!) from this that the earliest a decision will be made is the 8th September and the latest will be 7th October as that is 8 weeks from the date our planning application went into the planning department.

Planning Permission Poster

In my recent post about using Coroline Corrugated Bituminous Roofing Sheet on the shed, I promised that I would write up about using this material in other roofing projects.

Since that post I have been asked for some more information about using the Coroline Corrugated Bituminous Roofing Sheet, so I thought that I would try and write this post sooner rather than later.

Fortunately when I did the second of the projects I used the Coroline Corrugated Bituminous Roofing Sheet for, I took some good pictures that showed how I put the roof together.

I had a prefabricated garage that I used as a workshop at another property which I was renting so I wanted to move it to our current property to give added space in the garage. This was originally a stand-alone building, but I wanted to add it to the back of our garage. This would mean that I only needed 3 walls which gave a larger area, but obviously this in turn would mean that the roof that came with the building would not fit.

The original building had a flat roof, but as I was building a new roof I thought that I would create a pitched roof to match the Garage.

This is where the Coroline really came into the picture. I had known about it from another project I worked on, and I knew that they did several colours. One of which was the deep red which would match in with the tiles on the garage roof.

The first step was to erect the walls, this was a process of bolting the first section of the front and back walls to the brick wall of the garage. I used Shield Anchor bolts to achieve this.

Shield Anchor Bolt

These slot into the relevant sized hole and then expand when tightened to create a strong binding. They are not the cheapest but I only needed three on each side.

Once the first panel of each side was fixed I could then begin coupling the rest together and form the rest of the walls.

Walls Erected

I filled the gaps between the panels with a black mastic to make a waterproof seal. I then fitted the door and window frame and the base was complete.

Filling the gaps with Mastic

As I already said, I had to create a new roof as the shape was now different. I started by creating a wooden ‘pan’ around the top of the walls. This was easier said than done as the panels are made of concrete so I burnt out several drill bits doing this but eventually I got it secure.

I then created the roof rafters, a simple A frame construction made from CLS timber.

A Frame Rafters

I then secured the A frames to the wooden pan around the top of the walls and connected the top of the A frames together with a beam.

Securing the A Frames to the top of the walls

The structure of the roof was then finished. I then added an interior wall construction to divide the space up. One side would be for garden storage and would be accessed through the door on the extension and the rest would be storage for wood and other materials and this space would be accessed via a new door that I would cut out of the back of the garage.

Finished roof construction

It was then time to start creating the actual roof. I covered it with sterling board which both gave rigidity to the rood and would eventually support the Coroline Corrugated Bituminous Roofing Sheet.

Covering the roof with sterling board

Sterling board from the inside

Once that was done I could cover with the Coroline Corrugated Bituminous Roofing Sheets and the Coroline hip tiles. Unfortunately the weather broke and I ended doing this in the rain, but at this point in time I could not really leave the construction so I carried on and got it covered and water tight. The first sheets closest to the garage I actually cut a groove into the wall so that they would actually slot into the wall by an inch or so. I could then bed them in with some mortar to create a water tight join between the buildings.

Covering the roof with Coroline Corrugated Bituminous Roofing Sheet.

The Coroline sheets are very easy to fix, you buy some Coroline fixing nails which come with a cap which when hammered in and you close the top of the cap create a water proof fixing.

Coroline Fixing Nails

Make sure that you overlap the Coroline sheets, they are 1000mm wide but they only cover 900mm so make sure that you take this into account with your calculations.

The length of my roof was longer than the 2000mm length of the coroline sheets so I had to have two rows. Install the bottom row first and then any additional rows will overlap the bottom row so that water will flow off the roof.

If you need to cut the Coroline as I had to use an old panel saw as the bitumen sticks to the saw and it will not be good for much once you have used it. I did manage to clean some off using some petrol on a rag but it is better if you can use an old saw.

Following that I had to cut the door way through into the garage, a nice and dirty job! However before I went ahead and cut the bricks I needed to support the rest of the wall so I installed a wooden RSJ.

Installing a wooden support above where the door would be

Cutting the door opening with a bricksaw

After some additional finishing, adding guttering, glazing the window, and painting the prefabricated concrete panels the garage extension was finished.

Finished Garage Extension

I have today given our tired looking shed a new lease of life. I have replaced the felt roof with Coroline corrugated bitumen roofing that I first used on a friends lean-to garage and then again on the extension I built to our garage. I find that it is a great material and easy to use. It is hard wearing and has given both the previous roofs I have created with it a water tight and smart finish.

I will try and dig out some of the pictures of the other two roofs that I used this Coroline corrugated bitumen sheets, as I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone needing a roofing material for a similar application.

I decided to use the Coroline corrugated bitumen, this time for the shed roof so that it will fit in with the garage and the garage extension, the shed does not really need the protection that this material will give, but the cost difference between this and a roof of felt is fairly small and Coroline will look a great deal better.

I have also patched up some areas that had been damaged by squirrels and have treated the timber to give it a fresh look.I have added some fascia boarding under the new roof just to finish it off, I will paint this black again to fit in with the garage.

We have finally managed to get our planning application submitted following the delays of the planning enquiry. Hopefully we will get a quick response. I thought that I would post some images of the plans. I will not post the full plans but there are some good images of what we are looking at doing so I have shown them below.

Orangery Kitchen Extension Rear Elevation

I am rather busy at the moment working at another of our properties, getting it ready for sale, but when I get some time I want to re-work the project plan as we now know the maximum time that the planning application process will take as the Planning committee have to give a decision within 8 weeks of receiving the application.

As I have said before, if the plans are drawn up, and the go-ahead comes early all we need to do is pull the whole project forward the relevant time, but it is critical that I know this plan as there are lead times on ordering certain items, underfloor heating, kitchen units, hardwood floor etc.

Finally some good news on the project!

We have finally had a response to our Pre Planning Enquiry, which says that in the opinion of the planning officer they can see no reason why an application for planning would not be accepted so long as we only went out as far as out neighbors existing extension.

This is good news, although, we were hoping that they might come back and say it did not need any planning permission, this is positive.

What is more the planning committee and planning department is legally bound to resolve the planning application within 8 weeks and not the 12 weeks we thought it would be, so as such there is still a possibility we will be able to get the kitchen extension and orangery done this year.

It may mean that we are starting the project and the build in the first week of October at the latest but at least that will mean that the build part of the project can be completed before the end of October thus hopefully avoiding any of the really bad weather or critically the frosts which could cause problems for footings and new brickwork.

This will mean that the schedule is very tight to get the project done before Christmas, however, I will re-jig the project plan with these dates in mind and see where it leaves us.

It maybe that we get approval sooner than the 8 weeks and if so we can just bring everything in the project plan forward, but my project plan will be worst case scenario.

We have already instructed our planner to go ahead and submit the final application to the Planning Office as soon as possible, so we await news that it has been submitted

I bought some uPVC reviver to clean the conservatory with. In the end I went for De-Solv-It uPVC Reviver from Screwfix.

It is a cream very much like jiff cream cleaner, you simply rub the cream into the frame in a circular motion with a damp cloth and then buff it off with a dry cloth and hey presto the frames come up like new.

I was very impressed with the results, when I used it on our conservatory, the grayish tinge to the frames was quickly removed and they are now gleaming white.

I would defiantly recommend this product to anyone wanting to revive or clean your tired looking uPVC window frames.

As you will know we are planning some work on our kitchen, this involves an extension to the property and therefore we have got into the merky depths of planning applications.

As it was not at all clear if the work would need planning we took the decision that we would make a planning enquiry. This is a facility offered by the council where you can send them a sketch plan and measurements of what you are planning to do and they will look at it within your situation and give you advice as to if it requires planning and if it does what their thoughts on the likelihood of it being accepted would be when the full planning application went through.

The planning office promise to get an answer to this enquiry within two weeks of of its receipt. Which we considered to be worthwhile. In actual fact the area of the new extension that will be outside the 3 meter from the original house rule would be very small. The extension mostly replaces what is already there rather than creates new. The only part outside the 3 meter rule is a corner area about 1m square. And as such we were hoping that they would come back with the pragmatic approach that it did not need planning.

All that was five weeks ago and we are still awaiting an answer. The person dealing with our enquiry has been on holiday, out on site and too busy with applications. We have been promised a letter several times. The latest being the end of this week so we will see what happens.

This is causing us a great deal of problems. If we do need to go through a full planning application which it is looking it it will do, this process will take between 8 and 12 weeks and as such will take the project into the winter months and the unsettled weather.  This will ultimately mean that we will have to delay this project until next year which will then end up costing us considerably more money due to the raise in VAT to 20%.

I also know that our planner, builder and orangery fitters are all crying out for work in the current climate, this form of delay only serves to damage the local economy. If the new coalition government wants to look at ways of triggering the economy sorting these sorts of issues cutting out the delays and forcing the planning departments to stick to the deadlines that they publish would mean that everyone knows where they are and can plan for these projects.

As you can see I am getting very frustrated by this. We are currently in a limbo where we have a great deal of work that we need to do but effectively can not do any of it.

Regular readers will know that we are planning an extension to our kitchen, there is some debate as to if we will need planning permission for this extension or not, the rules regarding this are rather complex and subject to interpretation so we have gone down the route of asking our planner to do a ‘Pre-planning application inquiry’ this is not a full planning application but more of a ‘do we need planning and what are your thoughts about it’ sort of question to the planning office.

Out planned came back to us today so say that she had been in contact with the planning office to see if they had got a chance to see out inquiry. Their first thought was that we did need planning permission for the work, but then after consideration there maybe some question as to what is classed as the original wall of the property and as such they are going to raise again in the planning team to see what the position is.

So all in all no real concrete news as such, but soundings that there could potentially be some good news. Either way I still have it written into the project plan that we will have 12 weeks worth of planning to go through, if we do not then this is a bonus and will mean that we can start the process earlier, although as I have said before I have quite a substantial amount of work to do before we can actually start.

We have a fully working boiler! After 6 months of struggling with our old boiler we now have a brand new Valiant boiler fitted. The install did not go as easily as it could, regular readers of this blog will know that we also moved the boi9let to the downstairs toilet in order to free up space in the kitchen and enable the new kitchen building plans we have.

The old boiler in the kitchen was a fairly recent upgrade, it has had a catalog of faults since its install and leaks inside had ruined all chances of it ever running correctly. During the install of that boiler, it seems that the fitters took several shortcuts meaning the that hot water circled round virtually the whole house before getting to the taps in the bathroom. Not great for efficiency and not great when you come to fit a new system and have to try and work out what is going on where.

In addition as the bathroom floor is tiled, the only access we had to the bathroom was from below, the good thing is that we have the plans for the kitchen so we could take down the ceiling in the kitchen to reveal under the bathroom. Although this looks a mess it really will not take too much to sort out. I will be plastering the whole room following the build anyway and I like me ceilings to be perfectly smooth with no artex which the old ceiling had.

While doing the boiler we did a good powerflush on the system, this took some time to do but it will have been well worth it. The amount of thick black debris that we removed from the system must have been impeding its performance and there is no way we wanted all that flowing through the new boiler.

When we took the old toilet and hand basin out of the downstairs toilet we uncovered the original parquet floor. This weekend I have sanded it back to the unfinished wood and it looks fantastic. I just not need to find something that will best seal the wood and then some form of lacquer to finish it.

The next step for the downstairs cloakroom is to find a suitable toilet and basin. I need to take care when finding these as we need to ensure that they fit into the space available. Then it is a case of a little tiled area and some painting.

Thanks to all who helped on this.