Weekly Round Up Week 0: Garden Transformations & Planning Progress
Welcome back to our renovation diary! While last week focused on preparation, this week we've made good progress transforming the garden and getting the ball rolling on a few other processes. Here's what we've been up to...
What We Did This Week - Summary
Progress continues as we approach the official construction start:
Had all asbestos professionally removed by a certified contractor
Met our plumber on site to walk through bathroom plans
Had our builder visit to chat through what we can usefully do before he starts
Contacted ESB about moving our electricity connnection
Dismantled the greenhouse relatively intact
Brought in a digger and tipper for garden clearance
Finalized the shed location (we think)
Salvaged hundreds of rocks from the rockery for a future retaining wall
Continued battling the ants
Freed up more garden space previously buried under decades of waste
Toured a joinery workshop and are close to selecting our kitchen
Installed a fairy door
Created an absolutely enormous mess in the garden with rubble, soil and other junk we uncovered
Set up shared inbox, master spreadsheet and dedicated whatsapps groups for the project
Met with two lighting consultants to discuss options for the lighting plan
Garden Clearance & Shed Preparation 🌳
The digger and tipper proved their worth this week. Taking advantage of the weather, we reclaimed loads of garden space that had been completely buried under decades of accumulated waste. Tonnes of grass clippings, hedge trimmings and other assorted waste (broken glass, paint pots, old footballs and garden furniture) are now waiting to be taken away for disposal.
We dismantled the rockery and set aside the rocks for a future retaining wall - this was far more work that this short sentence alludes to!
We also successfully dismantled the greenhouse with minimal damage and will move it to its new location on site soon.
After multiple site evaluations with measuring tapes and sun-tracking apps, we've finally settled on the shed location. This is the first decision we’ve had to make that has some semi-permanent consequences. Let’s just hope we become better at making decisions as the project progresses..
The ant situation persists.
Professionals 🏗️
We had the asbestos floor tiles professionally removed this week. This was a crucial step before any major demolition works could begin - so hopefully we should have saved ourselves some delays by getting it done before everyone else is on site. We had an asbestos survey done because of the age of the house and based on our suspicions regarding the tiles. I’ll write a separate post on what was involved with the asbestos removal.
We had a walkthrough with the builder to make sure we’re all on the same page. He also provided practical advice on preparation tasks we could handle ourselves (like the rockery!) to save time and money once his team arrives on site. Our plumber meeting was productive too and helped us understand the pros and cons of relying on mains water supply and exactly what we need to choose for our bathrooms (and what we dont need) and why certain decisions cause knock on expenses.
We also visited a local joinery workshop in Wicklow. Seeing some finished products whilst also understanding the workmanship and materials has helped us get closer to finalizing our kitchen selection and make a few decisions about joinery elsewhere in the house.
We finally managed to make some progress with the ESB this week. We have overhead cables that we will need to disconnect for external insulation/work on the roof, and service alterations can come with a long wait so we wanted to get the ball rolling on that as soon as possible. We couldnt do that until we had a bill in our name, which we now have, so some progress!
I also met with two lighting consultants to discuss potential lighting plans for the house. I wanted to do this early for a few reasons; it stills looks and feels like a house so it’s easier to visualise the spaces as the will be and also because I want to make sure that the electrical plan for the house takes all the lighting into account so we are making late changes.
Planning
We set up shared a shared email inbox, master spreadsheet in google drive and a few dedicated WhatApp groups for the project to keep track of it all.
The Greenhouse - this is for the two of us to share ideas, tasks, updates during the day. It keeps our other whatsapp chat less cluttered and stops us interrupting each other with non urgent stuff.
Builder Chat - Colm, Naomi & The Builder
Build Team Chat- Colm, Naomi, The Builder & The Structural Engineer
I think the spreadsheets and planning might need their own blog post too.
Real Life
We also celebrated Mothers Day at the house with our first Sunday lunch (a picnic!) on what’s left of the patio. The weather was glorious, the kids ran wild and my mum thoroughly enjoyed her champagne in a paper cup!
The house has definitely begun to feel like a building site this week - excited for what’s coming next!
For photos from the week, check out our instagram.
