Thursday 31 October 2019

Insulation

Forgot to take many photos today. Took a good one this morning of the insulation going in, but then got a bit busy moving blocks and making phone calls.
The insulation is all now hidden by a big breeze block wall, and I will take a picture tomorrow to prove it.


Wednesday 30 October 2019

Bird's eye view

Today our next door neighbour showed us the progress he is making to his house.
An added bonus was that we got a great view of our house from the roof of his.




Tuesday 29 October 2019

Deliveries day

A bit of a stressful morning with ages spent on the phone talking about floor joists and double glazing.
Sort of fun afternoon with a huge delivery of blocks and insulation.



I have no idea why Martin the delivery driver stacked it so high, but we managed to get it down and on to the site.


This picture is actually posed as Darren lifted the parcel on to my shoulder and I could not walk a single step but just slowly sank down to the ground.
I did manage to carry them, but only a few inches above the ground.
More good work from Trevor and all of the lowest brickwork is now in.


Monday 28 October 2019

Another door and window

Trevor put in our utility room door, bathroom window and front wall today.



We went Awol for the afternoon as we had a visit from Elaine and Mark. Back to the grindstone tomorrow with nine pallets of bricks, blocks and insulation due to arrive.



Sunday 27 October 2019

The clocks go back and the insulation goes in

A beautiful sunny day today, and we spent it putting in insulation and drilling holes in metal, ready for Trevor to arrive tomorrow.
It's not an exciting subject, but you cannot imagine how much insulation goes into building a new house.
I won't explain it, but if you are still reading, here are a few photos.




Carmina Burana

Saturday night out in London. We went to the Royal Albert Hall to hear the concert of Carmina Burana by Mr Orff. I know that we have been here before, but what a fantastic and magnificent building.



The concert featured a choir of 400 people, and our seats were in the West Choir section. We had to make our way past about a dozen dinner jacketed men and they all had to stand as we took our seats right next to them. They were surprised that we were there and were joking about giving us a song book.
The first half was musical instruments only and then they left us to take their seats right behind the orchestra.


We expected to be on our own for the second half, but no, 200 ladies had all materialised and took their place, and yet again we had to make them all stand as we got to our seats.
The concert was great and literally, we were right in the middle of the action.



Afterwards there was a frantic dash with S and P to the train station, but we made it with five minutes to spare and arrived home just before midnight.

Friday 25 October 2019

View through the square window

Here is the view through the square window. This is a sort of reference to Playschool from many years ago, but I can't remember exactly how it went. We don't have a round window, but I hear that one of our future neighbours will do.
And I am sure that there will be an arch somewhere nearby.


It promises to be a nice view on a better day.
I missed all of the action today because I took an overnight trip home.
Good progress was made without me and a new wall has appeared.


The trouble is that we have lots of windows and gaps for doors including a garage so what is happening is that we have the outside walls appearing, but they aren't tied together.
Next week Trevor will be putting in the internal blocks so it will become a bit more stable, and then it will all firm up when the floor joists go in.
It's forecast to be windy and rainy over the weekend, so we have tied it all down and hope it's okay.


Thursday 24 October 2019

Early bath today

We only did a half day today as heavy rain stopped play just before lunchtime.
Trevor put in the living room window so we are still moving on.



There is lots of activity on the estate at the moment, and two nearby plots are being excavated and the foundations prepared so we will soon be getting some more neighbours.
Also, on the hill behind us the diggers are out making a big pond.


Apparently they have been given special permission to move some of the Great Crested Newts, which are a protected species, from another site locally into this new pond.
It's very exciting and eventually I hope that some of them may even make a visit to our garden.

Wednesday 23 October 2019

Progress

Nice day on site today. Trevor is starting on the outer walls first and then is going to put in the insulation and finally the inner blocks.
It's already looking good and the mortar will gradually lighten as it dries.



At the end of the day its all covered over and rain is due overnight and tomorrow so we might have to miss a day.


Tuesday 22 October 2019

Settling in

Second day of the build and we are all getting into our roles.
Trevor studies the plans, measures up and does the bricklaying.


Darren fits the insulation and builds pro formas for the doors and windows.


I stack bricks into piles of 96, spend ages on the phone ordering supplies and making the tea.



Monday 21 October 2019

And we're off!

It's B day today - B for bricklayer.
Trevor turned up at eight on the dot and the site sprang to life.
Suddenly we were dashing around putting bricks around all of the walls ready for the levelling and setting up process.
Trevor got out his laser level and was pleased that it looked quite good, although it needs extra bricks and some tweaking before the main building can start.


By 9am the 'muck' was mixed and Trevor asked if I wanted to lay the first brick! Of course, no need to ask twice. Within seconds the trowel was in my hands and I was bodging the first corner of our house.




Success. Trevor then took over and within minutes the first row was in.
Brilliant first day and hopefully the start of a great new team.

Monday 14 October 2019

It's getting boring now

Still more rain, still no bricklayer.
Apart from that, it was a dramatic delivery afternoon.
I had three deliveries due, ten tons of sand, 400 blue bricks and lots of miscellaneous - cement, lime, wood, concrete bricks, paving slabs, etc.
We had it all planned out and the sand was due to go one side and everything else the other. It couldn't be swapped because of manhole covers that would be in the way.
Darren went off to pick up some essentials from town and I arrived at the site to find that the bricks had already arrived and the delivery driver had craned them over the fence and dropped them exactly in the sand pit.
Action stations. I raced around carrying five at a time and moving them out of the way. I had no idea how long it would take to move 400 quite heavy bricks, but it turns out that in an emergency it is just over half an hour.


Unfortunately I got soaked in the pouring rain, as I spread out the tarpaulin ready for the sand.


I then found out that the greenhouse was completely flooded again, so stomped around putting back the little stream to divert some of the water.



A few minutes later Daz arrived and then the sand truck.
It only took a couple of minutes and, hey presto, ten tons of sand exactly filled the space.


Just time for a quick sandwich and then all of the rest arrived. We covered it in another tarpaulin and then left as the rain really set in for the day.