A new blog

Halcyon now has another blog specifically for wildlife seen when visiting. You can view it here.
This blog will continue to cover the work done to get Halcyon ready to share with visitors and the blog http://halcyondaysout.blogspot.co.uk/ will continue to cover places we have visited.

The Flags Are Back

This trip was for a long weekend and to be more fun than the last week of bathroom bashing and toilet plumbing. The new concrete had set and the floor had dried.
Even with it being a fun weekend there were still several jobs to complete:

• A new outside tap for washing the boats.
• Blinds on several of the windows facing the footpath.
• A small amount of cladding on the river side of the house around the door.
• Wiring up the outside cameras for remote monitoring over the web.
• Testing the underfloor heating in the bathroom, set into the concrete floor.
• Raising the newly repainted flag pole.

The underfloor heating worked well. Theo really liked the touch control display and regularly came to tell me what the temperature was. He was a bit disappointed that his feet were only half warm when sitting on the toilet.

The blinds went up a dream. IKEA really have instructions sorted.

The camera wiring failed as I had purchased the wrong spec power cable and they could not draw enough current. Better luck next time.

Waterhen got a well needed wash, although she still needs to be treated for woodworm and her varnish patched. The water level seemed very high, leaving little of our slipway left dry to haul her onto.

The cladding went up that was required before the flagpole could be raised. Once up Helen and Sephy chose lots of flags to put up. The pole has 6 minor flag lines and one major flag line. It is a tradition that was started by the previous owner, Robin, who would raise flags for the nationalities of the people sailing by. Thanks to this, we have an extensive set of national flags from Japan to Australia, Greece to Canada.

We made the obligatory trip to Potter Heigham for breakfast, and the boys bought tackle and bait, about a pint of maggots in various colours. Over the period of the weekend, they each caught four fish and were very happy. Not so sure about the fish.

We had several trips out which are covered in Helen's blog Halcyon Days Out which I will link to when the entries are ready.

A toilet named Niagara

I had forgotten how long it takes to strip out the walls of a room. Progress was slow, not helped by arriving to a flooded house and some deliveries needing to be chased when they failed to materialize. As the roof did not turn up until late in the week, we had decided to only prepare the walls up to about half their height.

I feel I should start with a couple of shots of the bathroom as it was when we bought the house.

There was just room for a toilet, shower tray and sink, but not enough room for a person. We have knocked through into another part of the house and extended it to fit a sink, bath, shower and toilet with room for some people as well.

Once stripped back it looked a lot bigger. Well it is a lot bigger, and it will be a lot brighter as we will have a translucent roof to give natural light.

The now standard procedure was followed, sheep wool insulation up first followed by a layer of interior wrap. This time we went with an exterior OSB board interior wall as this will be the bathroom and get damp.

Helen and I then worked late ( until about 1am ! ) laying heated floor cables and pouring a new concrete screed floor. Helen was on mixing duty and I was on pouring duty. I think I got the better deal. We were using a drill with attachment to mix the concrete up in batches. It got so hot that it started to smoke and may not recover.

By the next morning is was set and looked a lot better. The next task was to fit a new toilet and sink. The little wooden stopper in the floor is protecting the water outlet from filling with concrete.

The next task was to add a new macerating toilet and a new sink. I took the easy option and decided to do all of the plumbing using push-fit fittings and plastic pipe. Waste pipes are in solvent bonded plastic.

The toilet has a hidden cistern and macerator that will be behind a false wall and a waste pipe that goes up and out like something from a Dr Zeus book (macerator pipes should not turn at right angles as this can cause blockages). Clearly they are not hidden yet, but they will be soon. I have decided to name the toilet Niagara as it flushes like the great water fall and makes a garrra sound as the macerator does its work.
I did ask my son Theo to name it but he wanted to call it after his brother Alex. I di not feel that was to be encouraged.

The sink is in place and plumbed into the supply, but does not have it's waste pipe fitted. I'm not sure this industrial look is what IKEA's designers had in mind.

That is where our week ended, but we will be back up next weekend, although I am told this time it is for a holiday and Helen never wants to mix any concrete again in her life.

Light and hammer.

Waterhen has new navigation lights. It took quite a while to complete but now we can go out after dark and be seen. Helen spent some time painting the flag pole and I made a start on stripping the bathroom with a hammer. Its taking longer than expected but it always does.

The great flood

At Halcyon for a weeks "summer holiday" which will mostly be spent re-plumbing and fitting a new toilet. We arrived at midnight on Friday to find the temporary plumbing to the old sink had burst (probably several weeks before !) and one of the rooms was about 2cm deep in water. It took most of the morning getting the house back to normal. There will be a lot of heaters on and the dehumidifier trying to dry it all out.
We don't have long as lots of orders like the Kitchen, bathroom roof and the heated floor will be delivered on Tuesday with the wood flooring arriving on the Thursday. It could be worse and have burst once the new floor and Kitchen were fitted.

Shopping

Today we made a trip to IKEA. Halcyon is almost ready for a new kitchen. Having selected the style and colour for our kitchen, we sat down with an IKEA member of staff and designed the new kitchen. Once designed we bought the whole thing, cabinets, work surfaces and appliances in one go.

Let's see how I get on with installing it. I wonder if it will look like this ?

A Packed Weekend

Just back from a packed long weekend taking in an extra Friday as the children had an inset day.
The long awaited deck wood arrived on the Friday. The North deck is almost complete. It would have been finished if it had not rained on Friday afternoon, but I used the time well clearing the bathroom and taking down an internal wall.

Rails, steps and netting and a bit of new planting including strawberries and thyme. The rails have little lights inside them for that magical look when it gets dark.

We had a nice run out in Waterhen to a pub for tea on the Saturday, however on the Sunday Waterhen had to be pulled up our slip to treat some woodworm in her bow. On investigation it look like it is just on the outside and may be quite old as there was no fresh sawdust. I sent Alex in for a look. He is just the right size :-)

Anyway, all treated and back in the water now.

Here is a view of the North side taken from Waterhen as we headed out. It was too dark for a photo on the way back. Ooops!

The South side of the property is now cleared ready for the next deck to be laid.

A Long Weekend in May

We have just come back from a long weekend at Halcyon. The wood to finish the first deck and build the second did not arrive which meant a quick change of plan.

First mini project was to reorganize the large shed Alex and I removed all of the contents and then we removed all of the current racking that used up a lot of space, then we built a new box to hold the paddles and electric outboard.

We also added a board for fishing gear.

and a high rack to hold sails.

We now have loads of space in the shed. Hurrah.

The next mini project was to try out my new table saw to make some window frames from left over cladding. I decided to make a quick first attempt to try out some ideas and learn what is required.

The first attempt doesn't look to bad as long as you don't look to closely. I now know what to do next time, which is to make templates for all of the parts as the complex angles required have left a few gaps.

I also fitted a couple of window sills on the East side

We also prepared the bathroom wall ready for cladding. Not bad for a long weekend :-)

and on the Monday we rested by going to West Runton beach on a search for fossils.
You can read about that on Helen's blog halcyondaysout.blogspot.com

Changing Weather

I have been trying to plan work around the weather, regularly checking the BBC weather forecast for Martham on the web, but it seems to change almost hourly.
So far it has not really rained much and by midday today temperature was about 7 degrees. A good bit warmer than when we arrived.
Work on the North deck has continued but again I have run out of wood. It is almost ready, but needs a hand rail and some elements to make it look neat and tidy. These should arrive tomorrow.

Tomorrows weather forecast is for heavy rain, so it may be an indoor work day (of which there is plenty)
I was up early on Wednesday to get some work in before we all went out swimming in Great Yarmouth. Below is a short video clip I took when I got up. You may need to lie down to appreciate it properly :-)

Easter 2013

It's the children's Easter holiday and we are up at Halcyon to continue work on the exterior to tidy up a bit ready for the summer. The main projects are two decks, one on each side of the house. We will also be completing the sun room. On our last visit I could not get Water Hen, our motor launch, so start. It was so cold that my hands were to frozen to take the engine apart. This time it is a heady 5 degrees and I managed to trace the problem down to a stuck solenoid. A bit of fiddling and the outboard started up. Originally I decided to take the boat out for a test run, then Alex and Theo decided to come to. I was about to leave when Helen and Persephone decided they would come too and we all set out for a trip down to Potter Heigham, under the bridge and as far as Dutch Touch. On the way back, Alex decided to run along the bank and race us back. It was a draw.

By the end of Tuesday we have almost completed one deck and completed quite a bit of tidying. I have also set up my table saw ready to experiment making some window frames. It looks a bit scary.

I didn't manage to complete the deck as I ran out of wood. Roll on Wednesday.

End of half term

Half term is now over and the children back at school. Here are a last few photos of the new deck taken  in the light.

Now its time to start planning the next trip which sadly will only be for a long weekend.

Half a Deck

Up at 7am this morning to receive the wood for the first of two decks that need building. The wood arrived at 8am and then I started the job of digging out the turf under where the deck would go. The turf will be used to level the river side garden that has a few dips in it a the moment.
I dug out the 6.5m x 1.5m area by midday then set to work driving the supporting posts. Much easier than the fence posts yesterday.
By the end of the day I had completed half of the frame and laid some of the deck planks on to see how it will look. By then it was getting dark so the photo is not the best. I'll try to get a better one in the light tomorrow.

While I was building, Helen took the children to the beach at Horsey Gap. I am told it was very cold, but they did get to see a pair of kestrels and a barn owl on the way back.

Off home tomorrow in time for the boys to go back to school. We will be back in a couple of weeks to resume the deck building.

Snow

The weather forecast was right. It has got colder. So much so that is has been snowing lightly on and off all day. Both Helen and I felt our faces turn to wax and our noses go blue, however work went on and we now have a nice new fence and some nice before and after pictures to show it off.

From the initial messy hotchpotch of hedges that we inherited when we bought Halcyon, Helen has cleared an burnt the old privet bushes and we now have a smart new fence. We chose a low fence to open up the view over the fields behind the house.

I have been eyeing up the bedroom doors for the last couple of days. We do not like the plain doors that are there currently. Our plan was to throw them out and get panelled doors. Having sawn one of the old doors up to fit it in a skip, I noticed that they had a solid pine core and a hardboard skin.

This evening I went at one of them with a crow bar and claw hammer and this is what I found. On the left is the door with skin on, on the right, the skinned door. A bit of sanding and a few coats of paint and we will have what we nearly paid out for.

Tomorrow we are off swimming as we still don't have a bathroom and we are all in need of a dip. None of us are quite brave enough to face a dip in the sea. Watch out Great Yarmouth, we are on our way. Peg your noses ;-)

Slow Progress

The outside thermometer read 2 degrees, but the wind made it feel well below freezing. The children only managed a few sessions outdoors, and only then with much cajoling. Both Helen and I were on fence clearing duty today, all of the waste wood going straight on the bonfire. We have burn our way through 3 gates, a hedge, a door frame, a post box and half a shed. The cold made it slow progress, with regular pauses to defrost our fingers at the fire.
A stop to fix a water leak in the bathroom did not help, or the failed attempt to turn over the boat engine. I now smell of a mixture of wood preservative and petrol.
Here is a photo of Helen at work.

The fence wood and posts arrived in late morning from the local wood yard, a very reasonable price that made me realise what a bad deal you get from the big diy chains. In this photo you can see the stretch that has been cleared for the new fence. I should add that Helen has done most of the work to clear this space as her cut hands bear out.

The first fence panel can be seen propped up in the bottom left of the picture. Lets hope that tomorrow brings better weather, the forecast is not good :-(

The day started cold. Very cold. Even the local heron was feeling it, but I started on the cladding before 10am and worked through until 3pm when it was completed. Meanwhile Helen worked on clearing the path side hedge ready for the new picket fence.

The sun came out in the morning and cleared the heavy frost from the night before. 

Working in the sun was quite pleasant, but in early afternoon, a fog came in and the temperature dropped, so by the time I had completed the cladding, my fingers were pretty numb. Luckily Helen has a bonfire going to burn the old hedge so I could use this to defrost.

So here it is, the east side of Halcyon clad in Thermowood. Only the west side left to clad, and that wont happen until I rebuild the bathroom, which wont happen until another trip.

Tomorrow we will be concentrating on preparing for the new fence and planning for the first of two decks.

Preparing for sping

We've arrived at Halcyon for the school half term holiday. We got here on Sunday evening, just as it had got dark. All of the flooding that had been there in the week before had gone, however we were met by our own mini flood inside, as some temporary plumbing had been dripping on the floor and had created a large wet area.

The new plaster work looks good, and makes a real change to the look of the place. Clean flat surfaces which we have not seen here before. Considering that I we had put up the plaster board, the plasterers had performed wonders. We have had all of the heaters on for the day, which has transformed the place into a sauna. The walls have already turned from a muddy brown to a pale pink, and only a small patch marks where the flood took place. The windows, however are dripping with condensation.

The plan for the week is to complete the cladding on the east side of the house, put up a picket fence and move the gate along the side that borders the footpath to the south, and place gates and fences to the sides. The next step is to create two decked areas, one on the south side as a BBQ area and sun deck, and one on the North side as a river view deck and an area to contain small children like our daughter. We went to the local wood yard this morning, who were very helpful, and got quotes for the projects. Neither they nor Helen believe I can get all of this done in a week. I probably agree really, but we may as well aim high.

Today I managed to get the bottom half of the cladding complete. I intend to finish the upper part tomorrow. Helen has been rooting up the decrepit privet hedge bordering the footpath ready for the new picket fence that arrives tomorrow.

Halycon Plastered

It will be half term next week, so we (the family) will all be travelling up to Halcyon for the week. The plan is to get all of the cladding on the east end complete before the return of the house martins so they will not be disturbed. I just hope they will rebuild their nests on the new wall.

The plasterers have just finished plastering all of the inside rooms and have done a fine job as far as I can see from the photographs they have sent me.

I am looking forward to seeing it up close and getting the heating on to dry it out. Considering that I put up the plasterboard, they have achieved a small miracle :-)

My next task inside is to lay a new floor with under floor heating. Luckily this something I have done before with more success that my attempts at plaster boarding.

Flood Alert

I have just received an automated flood warning for the river Thurne (the river that Halcyon is on) and thought I would investigate further. It turns out that the Thurne bungalows are not in danger of flooding, and in the process found a couple of web pages that give live feeds from river level monitors nearby. 

• http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/riverstation.aspx?StationId=6210&RegionId=1&AreaId=2&CatchmentId=5
• http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/riverstation.aspx?StationId=6217&RegionId=1&AreaId=2&CatchmentId=5 

 A very useful resource. Halcyon has it's own river level indicator in the riverside garden. It consists of a floating marker and gauge. I am in the process of improving it with a new gauge and an electronic level and salinity sensor. Hopefully this will be ready to install on our next visit.

Halcyon renovation has move on a bit since April 2012. We now have exterior cladding on the two biggest sides of the house

 and a completely new, open plan, layout inside with a spacious kitchen, diner, living room.
The house has been rewired and new plasterboard has been put up.
We are just waiting for the plasterer to come in before a new heated floor goes down and a new kitchen gets fitted. I think we are all looking forward to getting hot water back.

Our last trip, for a week over new year saw us fit a new window between the kitchen and the sun room to make the most of the beautiful views over the river to the national trust property beyond.

The sun room refurbishment is almost complete with cladding up on most of the walls. A pot plant has even moved in.

We still don't have a functioning bathroom, and that is on my list for the next trip. I'm not looking forward to having to move the toilet . Even if the boys don't mind not having a shower during the trips up there, if the wind blows in the wrong direction I think the locals may object :-)