Audlem house on TV

A new Audlem house is featured on national TV this week. Steve and Chris Elliott have written a number of articles about their building project. Here is the concluding episode:

The Conclusion of an Audlem Self-Build House

It seems ages since I wrote Part II of this missive. Then I checked the calendar the other day and realised that it was two years – where does time go?

Back then the timber frame was just being completed. For the next 16mths we were working full time doing lots of the work ourselves and learning a number of new skills.
For Example: fixing fascias, soffits and gutters, cutting and fitting the internal insulation, laying the garage base (Chris was great with the whacker plate!), fitting the airtight membranes, laying all of the underfloor heating pipes – (just over 1 kilometre of the stuff), fitting bathrooms & loos, fixing skirting and doorframes and laying 100s metres of CAT 6 and coax cable, plus lots of painting.

It was mostly good fun (apart from sawing what seemed like 100s of insulation blocks) but a bit nerve wracking thinking about all of the things we had to be aware of – e.g. did I do the under floor pipe pressure test properly before burying them in 80mm of concrete screed??)

It was also enjoyable working with great local tradesmen – seeing them in the pub makes it just that bit more personal – they are also good at answering all of the dumb questions we had!

We did manage some holiday as well.

Chris & I have now been living in and enjoying the fruits of our labours since the beginning of December 2013 and we're still walking around with grins on our faces. Whilst you can always see things that you might have done differently or a little better – that doesn't detract from the great sense of achievement that you feel.

Civilisation arrived on the morning of December 5th 2013. That was the day we'd agreed with the TV company for them to do their final filming, so the house had to look finished, tidy and lived in – pictures on the wall etc etc. We achieved that state, with the help of friends and family by midnight on the 4th! What a difference 24 hours makes! Still, at least it was tidy for Christmas.

We met a couple a few days ago that are about to start their own self-build – once the planners have approved it. It was great to see their excitement, plus a little nervousness, which we ourselves had had, 3 years ago.

When we started we'd only ever done DIY projects, so tackling a complete house was a bit of a steep learning curve. So, what did we learn??

Well in no particular order of importance, some of the things that we thought might be useful to remember for the next time we build a house are:

When you have plans to review, go through each room from the inside and outside. Think of living in it. Then think about building it.

Then do it again a month later – plans (like opinions) can cunningly seem to change.
Stop and talk to any other new builds or recently built projects that you see locally- ask about their bricks or windows or something – you get lots of info, contacts as well as meeting some jolly nice people – every self builder loves to talk about their projects – we can bore for England!

• Talk to your partner/wife/husband – brick catalogues can be surprisingly interesting. Also they actually ask some very good questions, as well as often seeing things from a different perspective – particularly if they don't know the practicalities of something – just how it needs to work in reality.
• If the tradesman asks you to go and make a cup of tea, it's because you're irritating them. And always keep a good supply of biscuits!
• Find a dictionary of builders' speak – I thought my brickie was being a bit rude when he talked about 'snots'.
• Learn to live on broken sleep and keep a notepad next the bed – I frequently woke up at 3am trying to decide how to do something – or whether I had remembered to do something.
• Always double the time you think that a task will take to do yourselves – then add a few days on top.
• Finally, be prepared for some big highs and some big lows, as well as some occasionally tense moments with your partner – but the end result is absolutely worth the blood, sweat, and tears.

When we bought the old cottage, the owner had called it "Station Villa" – presumably due to the fact that it had overlooked Audlem Station for most of its life.

We discovered when reading the old deeds that originally it had been called Creamery Cottage. It and the other buildings here were all built in the 1890's as a Creamery – hence its name.

So, we decided that since we had built a house, not a cottage, then the best link with its history was to have it formally renamed (with of course full permission from Cheshire East!) to "Creamery House".

Many people have asked us "Would you do it again?" The answer is always the same – absolutely – but maybe not for a while!

The other popular question is "When are you on TV?" The answer is – Tuesday 16th September on More4 at 9.00pm – Building the Dream, presented by Charlie Luxton.

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