Liz & Matt’s Home Extension Blog

Big milestone today.  When Liz and the girls got home from school this afternoon, Andrew was just placing the final (pointy) brick on the top of the gable end.  I think this part of the roof structure is more or less complete so the next job is to do the same for the gable at the back.

They have spent most of this week working on the framework for the dorma window and the roof over the bay window in the new living room.  Apparently this was rather more complex than normal, so it took a bit longer.  It doesn’t look like the roof structure will all be complete before Andrew goes away on holiday so I’m not sure whether or not the roofer will be starting at this point as originally planned.



Last week we confirmed that were definately going with wood instead of PVC for the soffits and external facias (behind the gutters, on the sides of the dormas, etc.).  This prompted another little spate of internet research, which further convinced me about how bad this stuff is (Greenpeace, showing characteristic restraint, describe it as the “poison plastic”).  Unfortunately, this means that we’ve now got to decide whether to insist on avoiding PVC elsewhere.  Given that we’re too late to do anything about the underground drainage and other pipework, the next prime candidate is the gutters and downpipes, followed by the insulation on the electrical wiring.  The wiring shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but the chief alternative for the guttering is steel, which is several times more expensive.  Ho hum!