Trev and Hil's New Build in Polemi

[trevnhil]

As those who live in Cyprus will know we are having a few days of not particularly good weather. I am also under the weather a it as I have a cold. All this means that not too much is getting done apart from being on the computer, and it gives me a chance to bring this thread bang up to date.

You will perhaps remember that one job we had done, was to have a concrete retaining wall along a good length of our property. It was done after the higher banking of the net plot fell onto our driveway.
What a good idea the wall proved to be. During the rains, the land above ours has slipped at one place and is now resting against the wall. No problem because this is exactly why it was built. Although it is not too clear, here is a picture....





Even though the weather is not so good I still enjoy the ever changing view from the kitchen window.






This morning on our car parking area there were 4 birds seemingly taking shelter from the hunters. Here is a picture of one of them.






The other bit of news for which I have no pictures of at all, is that yesterday we had our second top up of the Gas tank. This means that we can now get some idea of what the gas central heating and hot water is costing us. Of course we only need to heat the water when there has been very little sun on the previous day.

We are spending around €130 per month on gas. I know that to some people this will seem a lot, and yet to others they will probably say that they spend about the same or even more. Do bear in mind the following facts. We are older people and have no intention of being cold when we have heating that we can use. Our FIL who is 85 has a separate 'apartment' which means we are heating more rooms than the average family. In fact we have 8 radiators and 3 towel rails. These are on for one hour twice a day, plus as I said, hot water when needed.

One thing for certain we are very comfortable in this bungalow and that was the point of having an insulated property. The inside temperature varies between 18c in the early morning to 23c or 24c in an evening.

Regards. Trev..

[Biddy]

I would enjoy washing up with that view from the kitchen window! My view is a white painted wall covered in artefacts from Cyprus!

[trevnhil]

Well at least you have some reminders of Cyprus within your view. Maybe you could paint a mural on it or a mosaic.

Regards. Trev..

[jagwheels]

That is a view some would die for Trev

This thread has become so interesting & popular that it is difficult to find an answer to my question

Q: what made you decide on this location to build a new home?

norv

[trevnhil]

Wow Norv.
Only a few words in your question "what made you decide on this location to build a new home?" But I could almost write a book to supply the answer.

I'll try to keep it short

We wanted to be out of the humidity near the coast, but not too high in the mountains. Dad was 80 when we came here so we wanted a flat village that he could walk around.
So we chose Polemi, because it is all of the above. BUT... Dad has never ventured out walking
We wanted a resale with a granny flat for Dad. Non to be found at least in our range.
We looked at plots to build on with developer (Signature Lux) but they wanted 40% and cheated us over a plot of land.

So.... We decided to buy our own plot of land and get a builder to build what we wanted.
We looked at over 60 plots, many still available today. We were shown this plot that we live on now and fell in love with the views. We bought it and soon had the deeds for it.

It took three years to get permission to build here, and it was then that we realised NOT to believe all that you are told, no matter who is telling you. We were assured we could build on this plot..... would we have bought it otherwise.?? But after we had bought it we were told it could be 10 YEARS before we could build.

However, it was only Three Years, and we are here now enjoying our retirement with views that cannot be blocked at all.

There were many twists and turns in those three years, but I think I have answered your question.

Regards. Trev..

[jagwheels]

Thanks for your reply Trev. This together with your brilliant presentations on the projects progression gives me a better idea of what motivated you in the first place

From your experience is it something you would consider undertaking again?

[trevnhil]

Yes I think we would do it again. We are much wiser now, and would make fewer mistakes hopefully.
We were told originally in the village NOT to buy land that had no public road to it. We bought such a piece of land!!!!! But...all is OK now.

In answer to the question "can we build on this land" were told by officials... "yes you can build". But we never asked any further questions. The answer really was "Yes you can build in maybe 10 years".

It is VERY difficult to know WHO to trust and who NOT to trust, no matter what their standing in life.

We trusted our builder, and this turned out to be correct. BUT we thought a little differently in the beginning.
The land was cleared..... a concrete retaining wall was built or poured. The next phase was for the inside of this area to be filled and to be rolled frequently with one of the big vibrating road rollers.
It just so happened that early one Saturday I saw the digger and wagon bringing the filling.
I was not happy with the grade of the filling and called our architect and builder. They were in Limassol but agreed that all work would stop until a meeting on the Monday. Imagine my surprise later on Saturday to see that all the filling was in place and that the 'rolling' had been done with the Digger Tyres.
I was devastated because this filling was a major item and had been bodged. The builder told me not to worry..... And during the following week the filling was excavated and rolled by a proper roller, ie the job was done correctly.

The builder apologised for what the sub contractor had done, and assured me that he would do everything to regain our trust.

This he did very well indeed.

Just one of a few Hiccups.... but yes we would do it again.

Cheers. Trev..

Just a little PS... Insulate, insulate and insulate.

[trevnhil]

Whilst I am in full flow at the keyboard. Here is another little item that happened. Firstly I will say that the majority of my working life was as a joiner in the building trade. One of my jobs was to construct flat roofs and cover them with felt on bitumen.

At our bungalow design stage I said that I wanted NO FLAT ROOF ...... We have a flat roof area. We were told that the extra expense of the main roof to be all sloping was crazy.

So as I said we have a flat roof about 1.5 mts x 8mts. The builder wanted to do what all builders seem to do here. He said he would put a pipe through the roof at each of the four corners, for the rainwater to drain away.
I told him NO I want the rain to all run OVER one edge into a gutter. OK he said, you don't want the pipes, then I will build a small wall all around and put pipes through that.
NO...I told him. So, I have a small flat roof that the water runs off into a gutter.

Many more little stories but maybe for another day.

Trev..

[trevnhil]

Well here I am again, earlier than I though, with news of recent happenings. I had a Hospital appointment on Monday morning. But before I set off I had a phone call from the man who had given us the best price for railings along the patio. He measured up last week and said he would make them and paint them at his workshop.

The phone call was to ask if it would be OK for them to fit them later that same morning. Of course I said yes, and set off for the hospital. Well if you can cast your minds back to Monday the heavens opened, and I really thought that the railings would just be delivered for fixing some other day.
Imagine my surprise when I returned home in the early afternoon to find that the fixing had been completed despite the weather. The only job left to do is just to give them a second coat of paint in the areas that were welded during fixing, and that only have one coat at the moment.

We are well pleased with them. They really look good, they also fulfill the safety aspect of stopping anyone falling over the edge. And with equal importance they were done at a very good price.

Here are some pictures of the finished railings.











It would not be right to mention the firm or the price, but if you really want to know then just contact me. I certainly know where to go if I need any more metalwork making.

Trev..

[Macattack]

I bet you are glad you went for all that Insulation and Central Heating now.

[trevnhil]

I bet you are glad you went for all that Insulation and Central Heating now.

I certainly am Ian. When we woke this morning a 7-00am we could see it had been a cold night up here The outside temp was 4.6c and the inside temperature before the heating went on for an hour was 18.6c.

These readings are from an indoor / outdoor thermometer in the bedroom. The heating is on at the moment and the lounge is reading 20c.

Lubbly Jubbly... Trev..

[trevnhil]

Hello all.
Well only a little of this post has to do with our building here, but the rest may be of interest as well.

Just as all the other people living here in Cyprus we too are having to cope with what seems to be endless torrential rain, and cold temperatures as well. I hear that only a few hours ago they had a good coating of hail down in Paphos.

Up here in Polemi we are still benefiting from the insulation we had installed. Another example showed up this morning. As usual last night we had the heating on for less than an hour around 5-00pm.
I have an electronic temperature gauge which measures the temperature inside and outside, and retains the hottest and coldest temperatures. In the early hours of this morning it dropped to 0.6c outside. The lowest inside temperature was 18.6c, and as I say this was before the heating went on this morning.

Again like many people, I have seen on CL and on Facebook where many are suffering with water in some way or other. I decided to have a wander around the Polemi area this morning and the flood waters are as bad as I have seen although but we have only been here for 5 years.

The following pictures are some random views which I saw this morning. All but one of the pictures have been cropped so as not to show any identifying properties. The one with a property in it was our first rental in the village.....














Some of the areas shown were where we looked at plots of land, and as you may imagine we are quite happy that we chose this high one that we are on now.

The only effects we have had up here from the weather is that water has made the floor of the shed wet, but no doubt it will dry out. And behind the concrete retaining wall that we had built, another couple of cubic metres of the land above has moved down to rest against the wall. But of course this is exactly why we had it built in the first place. Another good decision that we made.

So all in all we are still very comfortable up here, and my heart goes out to some other people who are perhaps suffering from the storms.

Regards. Trev..

[trevnhil]

Just a quick comment to talk of our first Winter here in our new Polemi Bungalow. As most will agree this has been one of the coldest and wettest periods for a good number of years.

There used to be a programme about buying houses on TV, and one of the sayings was, Location, Location, Location.

My saying here in Cyprus is Insulation, Insulation, Insulation. It is 3.8c outside and we had the heating on from 5pm until 6pm this evening.

It is 22c in our lounge at the moment.

Keep warm, where ever you are. Trev..

[trevnhil]

Hi all. Well it is quite a number of weeks since I last updated this thread. It is Spring now and ones thoughts turn to..... Gardening of course.

It is Mrs Trev.. who is the gardener in the family, but of course I am required to join in with the heavier jobs. That is certainly what the main job is at the moment. We had a strip of land that was below the rest of the front garden area and we wanted it raised up to roughly the same level.
We contacted a Digger Driver from the village that we have used before and he said he could do the job when we had some days of fine weather. Well we have had fine weather for a week or two now and he has indeed been and done his part of the work.
I am now left to do the leveling and final shoveling and raking. I have taken some pictures as the job has progressed and although the job is not finished yet here they are.

The first one was taken at the end of last year and shows the boundary fence and the lower section of land.



The next picture is of two of the four loads of sub soil that we needed to raise the land.



The next two pictures show the wagon delivering one of the two wagon loads of.... 'soil for flowers' as the digger driver calls it.





The next one is the digger leveling the topsoil.



And finally the last picture showing the topsoil after the digger had left.




Today I have started trying to level it all and when I have finished and it looking a bit more 'shipshape' then I will probably add some more pics.

Cheers, all. Trev..

[Macattack]

You will have to take it easy, or you will run out of jobs to do!!!!

[trevnhil]

I very much doubt that will ever happen Ian. We still have what we call 'the bottom plot '. This is about 50% of our land, the bungalow, car park and the front garden area are on the other 50%.

The next door land owner called to look around his (smaller) plot today. He strolled around his plot but never came to say anything about my fence on the new boundary line.

There are other outside jobs that are ongoing and nearly completed.... But I will save those for a little later.

Cheers. Trev..

[Biddy]

Thanks for posting - such a nice project to follow. I was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms!! Bet it will look lovely when Mrs Trev has worked her magic

[trevnhil]

Well here is the other little ongoing project that we have been doing alongside the gardening.

When the digger driver was bringing the soil he said that he had a present for us..... a piece of stone to put the name of the bungalow on. He brought it up in the digger bucket during one of his journeys to our place.

However when it came out of the bucket it split in two. BUT this meant that we had two pieces now, so we have used one near the front door and the other is now in position awaiting yours truly to actually put a name on the stonework.....













The gardening is still ongoing and we keep busy most days. I will add some more pictures in a little while.

Cheers. Trev..

[Rubbernut]

Hi trev

The piece that is at the entrance looks like a map of Cyprus!!

If you squint a bit haha

Martin

[trevnhil]

Hi Martin. My wife must squint a bit, because that is what she said. And that is why it is that way up.
I still have to put the house name on it but other things are a little more pressing.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. After the torrential rain during the last 24 hrs we have found a couple of areas where the soil hand the odd plant has been washed away with the water.
I didn't think I needed to fill the gaps in the fence as I thought roots would stabalise the soil.
However I have two areas that the water has eroded away and one is only a couple of metres from an underground rainwater outlet. So I have been digging a ditch to pipe the rainwater further away, with the plastic drainpipe extended about 8 metres.

One of the next tasks is to find the cheapest way of getting a storage tank for waste water to be stored in, for the irrigation of the bottom plot. Any advice will be gladly accepted.

Cheers. Trev..

[trevnhil]

I have been outside and taken some pictures this morning, and here they are.

The first one shows the end of the rainwater drain (above the spade handle), and at the top of the picture is the area that has subsided a little due to the water.



I have dug part of the trench and will be putting a 90 degree bend on the pipe and extending it about 8 mts .



This picture is just a longer shot showing (hopefully) that the new drain will be heading towards the bottom plot of land.



This next shot should show the two other pipes that come from the back of the bungalow. They come out through the concrete retaining wall and then go down and out over the 'drop' to the lower plot.



And the final shot is of the bottom plot of our land and the slope down to it. Hilary is hoping to plant something down there, maybe fruit trees and bushes. The problem being that getting water down there would best be done by an irrigation system and if we include a 'catching' water tank it could become a little expensive...



Cheers. Trev..

[trevnhil]

Well I did get the draining job finished. Hopefully now when there is a heavy downpour the rainwater from that particular outlet will run down the slope to the lower plot....







I have also put panels in the fencing to stop soil trickling through the gaps. I have just a few to finish tomorrow Monday


One of the next jobs has to be doing the sign writing on the big piece of stone. I think I need a few days of fine weather for that. In fact if it is too sunny I will be taking a parasol out to the roadway to sit under.

Cheers. Trev..

[geoffm]

Trev.
Did you pick your pipe glue up.
Geoff.

[trevnhil]

Ha ha.... well spotted Geoff. Yes I didn't bury it in my hasty digging. It was sheltering there out of the sunshine. It came with me from the UK and it is still useable. Most of the fittings were so tight as to not need any 'glue'. Even if they did just weep a little water it would do no harm.

This morning I have just to cut and fit the last of the panels to block the gaps in the Pallet Fence.

And Then...... I think I will have to grasp the nettle and seriously look at the sign writing.

Cheers. Trev..

[trevnhil]

SLOWLY SLOWLY...

Well after finishing the fence this morning the next job on the list was to get started on the sign writing. I had drawn out the letters yesterday and I made a hole in the corners of the letters.
Then making sure everything was in the right place and level I taped the letters to the stone. I made a pencil mark on the stone through each hole in the letters. I took the letters off and then joined the pencil marks like a Dot to Dot puzzle. But I didn't use a pencil to join the dots but Masking tape.

Then it was a case of taking my courage in one hand, and a brush in the other and get the lettering painted.

The first and second pics are the rough lettering on the masking tape....






And the final picture is with the masking tape removed and the sharp painted letters spelling... VILLA.




All being well tomorrow I will be adding the name of the Villa and hoping that it turns out as well as the painting done up to now.

Cheers. Trev..

[trevnhil]

Well I had an early finish today except that I still have the watering regime to attend to.

The sign writing went fine although it is a fiddly job. The first picture shows the Parasol for shade, the seat to sit on and the template in place ready to start.



The second picture shows the masking tape forming the letters, but it is quite difficult to see.



The third picture shows the painting done and ready for the removal of the tape.




And the final two pictures show the job completed.......






I wonder what the next job will be.

Cheers. Trev..

[Molly]

Well done Trev - the sign looks fab.........

[trevnhil]

Thank you Molly. I have to go down to Paphos on each of the next three days so not too much will get done. Well at least by me, but no doubt Mrs N will be busy

The next big job, and expensive, is to cover the front area with Beige pebbles. It will take two wagon loads and the spreading will be by hand, or at least shovel and barrow.

It's hard work this retiring.

Trev..

[Molly]

Yeah, but you love it Trev and it keeps you going..

[Biddy]

It looks wonderful. What does the name mean?

[trevnhil]

It looks wonderful. What does the name mean?

I did wonder if anyone would ask. The name Kafkalla translated to English means (roughly) 'Top of the hill' .

The picture below is the plan of the area where we are. Our plot is in the middle numbered 818, and the plot on our left is the highest piece of land in this immediate area.




As you can see the name of the area is called Kafkalla, and that is why we have named our bungalow, Villa Kafkalla....

It is certainly windy on top of this hill today.

Cheers. Trev..

[jagwheels]

Looks good to me as well Trev. Hate to squiffy letters

Next question, what sort of paint did you use to fight against the Cyprus sun?

BTW you could at least have had a pint to hand under that brolly or did you hide it away at the back of that stone

[trevnhil]

Hi Norv. No I didn't have a drinky handy. but as I said we had a bottle of bubbly in the evening.
The paint that I used was Finnigans smooth metalised paint. It dries within 30 minutes and I gave the letters two coats.
I have been advised to seal the stonework with.... guess what..... Stone sealer.

I will probably be doing this in a short while, but I want to try and get some of the white ' rub' marks off the stone.

Regards. Trev..

[geoffm]

That looks really professional Trev. something to be proud of and admire very time you drive in, finding a UV proof sealer is going to be interesting, good luck.
Geoff.

[Anne&Mike]

Hi Trev
Your house sign looks fab. I think you should come out of retirement and start your own business doing this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anne

[jagwheels]

Trev out of retirement? Nah

He is in full time work with this great project

[izzie]

Trev.
Love your sign, love your house, love your garden and thank you for sharing all this with us. I enjoy looking in to see what you are getting up to next.

[trevnhil]

Thanks for the comments about the sign. we are very pleased with it. Geoff I sort of sealed it with a clear stone waterproofer, like Thompsons water seal... but it was a local make. I gave it two flood coats with a brush.

One of the next jobs is on the drawing board mainly because I saw two large water tanks on a lorry this week. They were second hand but unfortunately not for sale.
However I have been looking at two suppliers today for prices for new water tanks. I think that the size I need is about 2,000 lts and upright in shape.

If anyone knows of a cheap supplier of these then please let me know.
The ones I spotted were grey and this possibly means that they are not good for drinking water. This is of no concern to me as it is wanted to collect waste water for irrigation.

As you might expect..... I have a picture of the two that I saw.





Cheers. Trev..

[kathandjeff]

You could put them below each of the pipes in your drainage pics but would probably need to dig them in to the bank? Looking good though Trev, must try and find you next time we're out.....

[trevnhil]

That's sort of the idea Jeff. I can't get one directly below the pipe where it is now, but if I get it as near as possible then I will continue one of the pipes to the top of the tank.

I am only getting one tank but it will be 2,000 ltr. Even this is quite dear.
However I am having difficulty with the prices. The dear shop says the cheaper shop may not be as good a spec. The dearer shop will sell me a white one.

I think the one from the cheaper shop is grey, and I have to check the spec tomorrow. But if the cheaper grey one is of thinner material it is still made to hold that amount of liquid.

I actually want a grey one as it will not 'stick out like a sore thumb'. I will (hopefully) be better informed tomorrow.

Cheers. Trev..

[jagwheels]

Camouflage it Trev. Expert painter now

[trevnhil]

Camouflage it Trev. Expert painter now

Ha ha, I do some painting apart from letters but would not like to tackle camouflage painting

Events have moved on a little today. Hilary is busy in the garden and wanted some trellis to allow plant to grow over our long concrete retaining wall. We went to the Home Stores near Debenhams but they were too dear for what they were.
So it looks like yours truly will be making some trellis out of some 6x2 and other pieces of timber that we have.

I had a phone call today from the guys with the second hand grey tanks.... I can have one for €300..... Phew. However in my travel late this afternoon I got a price for a NEW one of €320.

So I have ordered a new one but it will probably be white, although I have asked for grey if possible. The thing that made my mind up was the little difference in price and the thoughts of what to do if the second hand one leaked. If I went to the seller and complained I wonder what would be said...... Hmmm, maybe a shrug and little else.

So tomorrow is May Day..... I think it 'may' well be a work day.

Cheers everyone..

[trevnhil]

You men out there will know how good we are at Multi Tasking. I now have two jobs on the go at the same time, but the main one at the moment is the trellis work.

As I said in my last post, May Day was a work day. I got my circular saw out and from odd lengths of timber that we have left from the building of the bungalow I cut pieces to make some trellis panels for Mrs Trev..
Unfortunately in the afternoon it came on rain and stopped me finishing staining. Of course yesterday was Terrible weather and I got no work at all done. However this afternoon I have finished staining over 100 pieces of wood to make the panels with.

Here are pictures of one of the 'messy job' work areas that I have. On the right are some similar pieces to the ones that I cut up, and the the other picture shows the battens that I have stained...






Hopefully tomorrow I can start to construct the panels.



The other job that I will be on with as soon as possible, is the installation of a rainwater tank mentioned previously.

This lunchtime I had a phone call from the DIY yard that are supplying the water tank to say it had arrived. I went down to see them and was very happy to see that it was GREY and not white.

The delivery guy followed me to our house and we unloaded the tank from his pickup. We have dragged it down a slope to a position nearer to where it will be going. I will have to cut a platform into the bank and then do the pipework for the rainwater to run into the tank.

Here are a few pictures of the tank on our bottom level of land.








So now I have choice of two jobs to do..... How lucky is that.

Trev..

[Memory man]

Camouflage it Trev.

If he does that, he would never find it in the garden....

[jagwheels]

Very true MM but when the hunters take a pot shot they will claim they thought it was an oversize pigeon

[trevnhil]

The tanks is still there. It looks a bit like a dalek really.
Today has been a fine day, and fine days are busy days. I collected my car from the repairers this morning. Then when I got home I changed into my working clothes and started making trellis panels. After completing about 6 I thought it would be good to have more than the original estimate.

So I got my circular saw out and cut a load more battens and then stained them. So I am ready for doing some more joinery tomorrow.

Here is a picture of one of my best workmates...



This of the makeshift table / bench that I am making the panels on.....



And finally some of the trellis panels completed.



Cheers. Trev..

[Macattack]

Trevor, you are an inspiration to those who would sit around in the sun, and do nothing. Your energy will keep you going for a good many years. Love to log in to see what you are up to, and you must be so proud of what you have all achieved. If we ever get back to Cyprus, we would go out of our way to look you up, and admire your accomplishment.

[trevnhil]

You would be made very welcome Ian. You would have to accept us as we are, dust included.
I do have lots of jobs to do here, but of course there is no real rush to do them.

I count myself very lucky that after my heart attack here in 2007 that I am able to do all these things. This year is the last one in my 60's, and I really never imagined that I would be doing this amount of work in my 70's.

But I feel fit enough, so why not. I certainly don't have the money to get someone in all the time.

Take care. Trev..

[trevnhil]

Well no sooner do I finish one job when another jumps up and bites my nether regions. Today I have been stopping the birds from making a home....
But at least I have finished the trellis work. The original plan was just to do a few panels. However we decided to do enough panels to reach all the way down our retaining wall to make it look a little better than plain concrete.

Here is a picture taken about three weeks ago...



And here are two more taken today.






In our minds it is an improvement, and the cost has been minimal. Except for a lot of hours of labour, Ha ha.


Fruit trees were delivered today so there is another job on the list as well. Hilary is the gardener but I don't mind digging the holes for them.

Cheers. Trev..

[Biddy]

Oh my word,this project is a joy to follow. Always cheers me up. The trellis looks fantastic.