On our street

Things are moving slowly on site this week, so I have had a quick look at the progress on our street.
This is us.....

Then us and our nearest two neighbours...

And then the rest of the street.

Can't wait for the scaffolding to come down and the little toilet boxes taken away.

Early bath

Very cold and wet day today, but it wasn't windy so it was almost a pleasure to fit the last of the insulation and batons on to the top floor room.

We are now watertight on about two thirds of the house, but the roof on this floor is still open.

Never mind, it shouldn't be for too much longer.
We have finished work for the day and we are soaking wet and my hands are freezing. We are going to have the weekend off, and leave our poor house to cope with Storm Jorge on its own.

Siberian Ballet

Today we took the afternoon off and had a trip to Oxford with Susan.
We went to a matinee by the Siberian National Ballet who were performing Swan Lake.
We were on the front row in the centre and exactly behind the conductor. We were so close that we could have almost turned the pages of his music for him.
The downside of this was that he was right in the way of our view of the stage, so we had to keep peering around him and missed a lot of the action from the middle of the stage. The upside was that the sound was fantastic and we could see every note that the orchestra played.

Sorry, we weren't allowed to take photos during the performance, but here is my artist's impression.
Afterwards we hit the cocktail bar and Susan found the most fantastic drink called a Baby Zombie, with a flaming sugar cube on the top.

Two for the price of one, so we couldn't resist.

Finally, a quick stop at Sainsburys for some munchies to eat on the train home.

Progress on the top floor

The top floor is coming along nicely, and here are three time lapse photos.

This is just plain plywood covering.

This is our insulation, which was a bit difficult to put up in the wind.

This photo shows our breathable membrane that we fixed on top of the insulation with wooden batons.
What a nightmare that was with the wind trying to rip the membrane off the wall and me fighting to hold it on while Darren screwed the batons in to place.
It was really cold too, and for the final layer I was up on top of the roof holding everything down, while Darren was on the top of the ladder.
Three hours later I am still trying to get warm.

Strike a pose

We worked hard over the weekend in atrocious weather, although that is just expected now.
Daz set me the task of fixing a waterproof membrane around the roof terrace and then cutting batons and nail gunning them on.

It took a while to get used to the power tools, in particular the nail gun which was very loud and heavy.
I have picked up a little injury, I don't know if it's a common one, but I am calling it Nail Gunners Thumb. It's just a bit of a bruise and cut, but maybe it's down to bad technique.
The chop saw was also a worrying experience, but fortunately no injuries there, particularly as they could potentially mean that I could never play the piano again!

More aerial photos

Every month the Graven Hill company send a drone up to capture progress on the site. We always get excited waiting to see if our house is in any of the photos, and this time we have three great shots.
Our house is the one at the end of the arrow.

This is our little street and two more plots have their foundations in place, with only one gap left now.

In this photo it shows the large warehouses that still belong to the MOD. These are due to be knocked down in the next couple of months and houses built in their place.

View in the other direction showing more of the estate.