Building Blox: Week 19 – Windows and doors installed, internal work starts

What we did:

• Windows and doors installed,
• Electrical first fix,
• Partitions continue,
• Stairs design.

Full-steam ahead this week as windows and doors were installed, making the building watertight. This meant work could start inside on transforming the shell into a house, plastering and installing cabling/pipework for electrics and plumbing.

'First-fix' electrics

On Monday morning I met the sub-contracted electrician, or ‘sparky’ as they’re more commonly known in the trades. We went through the precise position of every socket, light fitting and switch before he began on the electrical ‘first fix’.

A ‘first fix’ is generally internal work before the plastering is done, and no prizes for guessing what work after plastering is called – ‘second fix’. As such, the electrical first fix is when the internal cabling is run throughout the house, connecting the main fuseboard to everywhere where electrical fittings will be set. The wiring is all hidden behind the plasterboard, along structural/solid walls, or within internal timber partitions and floors.

Here’s a simple diagram of how the wiring works, showing how the multiple circuits are connected to the main fuseboard and meter, which receives power from the main power grid. The process of connecting to the main grid is quite a painful and long process which I first mentioned in week 9 and will come back to in a few weeks.

Basic wiring layout

Here are a couple of pics of the wiring installed:

Windows and designer doors

Thursday morning 7:30 sharp we took delivery of the windows and doors which took a couple of hours alone to offload! As you’ve gathered from the number of veluxes in the roof, the aim of the game was to get as much light into the building as possible using large windows and French doors. I also added in a couple of smaller ones in the kitchen and downstairs WC for ventilation.

Planning out the stairs

Another item we covered off this week was the design of the stairs. I’d drawn these out using my Autodesk software, but as with planning out other internal fixtures, only onsite can you accurately imagine and measure them out, so things may change from plan.

Here’s a sketch of what we came up with:

Stairs layout

Another ‘Wow’ moment =-O

Walking up the access way to the houses on Sunday morning after the doors and windows had gone in was another great moment, seeing the build reach another milestone.

Windows and doors installed

Lastly, I’ll leave you with the view you would get from the shower =-)

View from the shower velux