The end of Week Fifteen
A lot of progress in the last two weeks, but much of it is internal. The wiring is in and the pipework for the water and heating. The bathroom stuff has arrived and is ready to fit. The plasterers have been in for the last few days putting up the plasterboard and sealing the joints. Today the final few windows and doors were fitted. The roof has been finished except for one tiny section at the front that has been left so that the gutters can be put up easily. The scaffolding was taken down today as well, apart from a small section at the front.
It's looking great!
Week Thirteen
The roof has pretty much been finished this week on the back section. The tiles look great. Elaine and I have rolled our sleeves up this week as we have had to stain all the exposed wood ebony to match it to our house.
Week Twelve
Phil's back and has been busy laying bricks again. The roof has really taken shape over the last week and it feels like the end is in sight! Towards the end of the week we had yet another enormous lorry roll up before 8am - the neighbours really love us! This time to deliver tiles.
Week Eleven
Our builder, Phil, went on holiday last week and left his assistant, Stan, in charge of overseeing the roof construction. The Manitou wasn't big enough in the end to lift the joists into place, so we had to wait for a crane to arrive (it was down the road waiting for a hot tub to be delivered so that it could lift it over the roof of a house into the back garden!). The rest of the week was taken up with hammering and sawing lots of pieces of wood.
Week Ten
Excitement this morning as the roof joists arrive on a huge articulated lorry. Unloading went well, although there was a near miss when the joists started to rotate as they were being lifted and nearly decapitated the lamppost! The rain has held off so far, so they hope to get the joists in position while they still have the Manitou (the forklift thingy!)
Week Nine
Work is well under way now on the first floor. Phil the Builder is desperately trying to dodge the rain and get all the bricks laid before he goes on holiday next week, so that the roofers can get in and put up all the woodwork while he's away. Fingers crossed.
Week Eight
We have scaffolding and in spite of all the rain the builders are making steady progress on the second floor. Lintels have gone it, including a massive and very heavy girder across the top of the garage door. Elaine and I had a tour of the scaffolding the other evening and spotted a rather large fox in the badger sett just below us! Don't tell the chickens.
Week Seven (I think! - 16 April)
Ok, so I've missed a week and I'm losing track of time now! The ground floor brick work is complete and the inner wall is virtually there now. Should be interesting developments this week with scaffolding coming and a steel beam for the garage door. Unfortunately it looks like we are also in for horrid weather.
Week Five
At the start of week five now, and progress seems quite slow until I look at the photos from a week ago. The guys are in brick laying mode now. Hoping that Luke, Joe, Fred and Katie will get a chance to lay a brick during the week!
Week Four
Pipes have been laid. Hard core has been shipped in to bring everything up to floor level and just before the weekend, the finishing touches were made to the floor - insulation laid and concrete on top. The guys spent ages getting it lovely and smooth - Saturday morning there were paw prints!
Week three
The outer wall has now been completed to floor level and the cavity filled with cement (I think). Next step - the floor.
Week two
The concrete foundations are in. It is looking massive and is taking up more of the garden than we had thought. This week they are staying to lay blocks to build up to the floor level - there is quite a slope, so lots of building up needed at the back. Bricks and tiles have been chosen - both reclaimed and looking very good and in keeping with the house.
Week one
Today, work finally started on our new garage. The pics are the view from my office window. Incredibly distracting! The builders have sprayed the outline of the building on the floor and it looks massive. It will be a standard double garage with an office above but there will also be a two-storey n extension to the back of it. Quite a project.
I'll add a few pics as things develop.
