CHILD LABOUR!

There is only so long a 3 year old will watch from the sidelines, leave them long enough and just when they think no one is watching  they will grab a tool and get stuck in,-Don't worry Jude if it's not level we'll blame it on Grandad's Bi-focals!!!

We had one load of clay taken away this morning and then after lunch a nice young lad from Lafarge bought a load of ready mix, I  was able to help again and we got the Family Room floor done, the floor between the Family Room and Lounge and the downstairs Toilet. Later in the afternoon Pete and Dave started to dig the last internal trench.

Neil from Harlows was passing and called in this morning and they now want to deliver the sole plates and the ground floor frame all on the same load next week, Pete is still confident that they will be ready for it!!! so ready  in fact that he is taking time off site to go on an ED study day tomorrow ( there must be a new way to stick on a band aid). Tomorrow afternoon its more trench digging that means more clay--aghhhh!!! and Thursday we hope to get more concrete delivered. I am really looking forward to seeing the size of the porch, I'm  thrilled with the whole design but there are certain bits I am really keen to see and the Porch is one of them. Hopefully there will be enough pennies at the end of the whole project for a new drive - there is hardly any left!

BUILDING IN THONGS!

What a great day it was yesterday warm and sunny hopefully we can look forward to more of the same lovely for building and caravan life! , ok- not perfect for laying concrete but never mind.

 Pete and Dave worked really hard yesterday in the morning Haydn and Anna came to inspect the trenches and the prep work on the floors in the family room and the Kitchen which were all fine. Reuben Played ball and went to sleep on time! so I was able to help rake the concrete when it arrived just after lunch.

Lafarge did sent "Mr Know it all" again but he was more helpful this time and didn't once suggest that I should be inside making tea!, Pete had made a chute out of scaffolding poles etc so we could get the load further into the room, and the night before he was in the garage making tamping devises- if he carries on like this he'll have invented something to take on dragons Den before the end of the build.

Pete managed to get quite a good finish to the concrete, trowelling in the evening wearing flipflops?????, we don't need such a smooth finish at the back of the house as we are having solid wood floors, but the front of the house will need more work as we are having carpet.

After the slog of the kitchen floor they then decided to dig an internal trench (lounge and study) and hand mix the concrete to fill it so worked into the early evening.

Today Pete has dug the soak away for the rain water harvester, and started to lay the blocks in last nights trench.

The next load of concrete is due on tuesday morning- (which is no good for Reubens sleep, but it was the only slot left and Lafarge are not as bothered about working to Reubens sleeps as I am!) when we will get family room floor and another external trench filled.

My middle names not Kofi......................

.......but luckily Pete's is!!!  so when the neighbours over the road came to complain about the deliverey lorries driving on the grass ( that belongs to the council!)  at the front of their bungalow, he was able to softly and gently reassure them that he would do everything in his power to make sure the drivers behaved !

And talking of neighbours, in the gardens opposite there is gas contamination, which meant we had a clause in our planning to have tests on our site carried out, which would cost over £2000, helpfully the bloke who does the assessments told Pete it was cheaper to put in a thicker DPM, than to have the assessments done, but this was still twice the price of the standard DPM, so good old Dave got in touch with the contamination department and the risk is so low and we had no problems in the bungalow which had no DPM, so we have saved ourselves some money and are having the bog standard stuff,  a little bit of detective work was worth it!

The last couple of days have been spent getting the kitchen, Snug and Family Room ready for the concrete floor, the blocks in the photo are the finished floor level.

Today in the rain Pete and Dave have levelled both rooms wacker plated the crushed hardcore and covered with a  layer of sand to protect the DPM, then went down the insulation and wire mesh, the concrete is due tomorow after lunch and they are trying to decide if they  could have enough time to get concrete in the family room as well otherwise it will be tuesday.

I have been to the marina again to get more red diesel, as next week there will be lots more digger action the external trenches are not yet finished and there are more internal footings to dig.

We counted how many days until the timber frame arrives last night..... and Pete was out on site at 07.45 this morning, thats what I like to see!!!!!

ALL HANDS ON DECK!

Things are really starting to take shape now, on Friday Pete and Dave were joined by Philip and "Long John Mark", everyone worked really hard ( making sure Mark didn't knock any wall down with the digger!!!), "philip the terminator" (AKA Norm the terminator) just spent all afternoon making load after load of concrete, the internal footings for the kitchen and family room were dug and concreted and the kitchen was levelled. It looked like they were going to run out of rubble building up the level at the back of the house (come back Farmer Jeff) but there probably will be enough with some to spare.

FROM THE SNUG LOOKING INTO THE KITCHEN,
IT STILL NEEDS A BLOCK ON TOP OF THE BLUE COURSE TO GET TO FLOOR LEVEL.

We had two ladies visit site on Friday one came to inspect the trenches (that hadn't been dug ---oooppps!) and the other to give us some hand made shepherd pies, what a great site when you open the caravan door to be greeted by your dinner all ready to pop in the oven, I won't give an oscar speech but we have been really grateful for all the help that we get that is never mentioned on this site, meals, washing, looking after of children, cakes in the playground and of course water!

Pete finally got the fork lift started, the stater motor went to visit a chap in Shardlow who had re conditioned it in the first place and with some more tinkering from Pete it fired up, there seems to be no rhymne or reason to what was wrong with it or why it decided to start -but it did and thats good enough for us.

KITCHEN

Terminator Philip is back today and they are laying the blocks in the internal footings, so we are realy begining to get an idea of the room sizes, the kitchen is great (GREAT....great...... g r e a t.....), but the family room is looking smaller than I imagined. But I know from past experiences sizes are really desceptive at this stage.

FAMILY ROOM

Tomorrow it will be more of the same, but stick with us the timber frame is not far away now and perhaps we will get some of the concrete base laid this week, Pete had a chap from Lafarge come and talk to him about some super duper self levelling concrete, but for the cost it is not worth doing it, and they are going to stick to the sawing and tamping method.

By the way, Conservatory Tom has checked in, he is alive and well and just waiting for his planning permission to come through- phew!



BIRDS EYE VIEW!

The last couple of days Pete and Dave have been continuing with the block work, and are now into the lounge at the front of the house. And  have started on the fires places today. We had a load of crushed hardcore dumped yesterday and today woke up to Buildbase delivering insulation, steel, cement and damp proof membranes, later we had a load of sand and gravel as tomorow they are going to start digging the internal footings and mixing own concrete ( we don't require a lorry load)  So we will be seeing the building inspector again tomorow and as we have lots of extra man power on site (Philip and "long John Mark") we are having more crushed hardcore delivered for them to rake about!!!!

Below are some very basic pictures of the layout, please compare to above and future posts, feel free to point out any obvious mistakes!!!!

We have a new scam going,........ Rave about the products you think you are going to use on the build to mates that are having extensions etc then they try before we buy!!!, Thanks Kate and Craig- please send us your full report on those bifolding doors ASAP!!!

MATHS GENIUS

I'm not only all about the soft furnishings, no,no,no  I am not too bad in the numbers department ( "WHAT"- Mum and Dad) so last night I helped Pete check all the calculations and triangulation measurements, and it all looks good to me!!!, It is causing Pete some restless nights but so far it all seems to be correct. Helpfully I just got an emal fron Neil at Harlows who are making the timber frame to say that there was an amendment to the ground floor plan luckily, that particular footing had not been done so no harm done.

A SCAN OF THE PLAN WE ARE USING TO WORK OUT ALL THE MEASUREMENTS FOR THE FOOTINGS.

This week it's all about block work and Pete is thinking about asking the bricklayers if they want to come and lay some of the blues, and we have had to make some desisions regarding the verhandah, so we know wether to use blocks or blue bricks. We have had some blue seconds delivered as well as being a lot less cost they are more characterful, tomorrow we are having a load of gravel delivered for the base.

 Philip came and helped Pete at the weekend, mixing cement and brick laying, and fans of "Long John Mark" will be pleased to know he is planning on making an apperance this week, but alas it has been a couple of weeks now since we heard anything from "Conservatory Tom"

  I keep meaning to add these before and after shots onto the blog, taken from the 'Egg ladies road'!

Anyway back to the soft furnishings!!!! I have to hide from the postman as he strains under the weight of all my catalogues and brochures I've ordered for inspiration! and I thought I was quite cutting edge moving away from all those Victorian, Edwardian period colours and looking at paletes from 30's 50's but now it seems so is Kevin McCloud, and as for my vintage retro factory style lighting from cool websites like utility and trainspotter you can get something quite similar from John Lewis ! The kitchen plan we did last week is set in stone now as the space for drainage is now in.

The battle with the mud continues, and I'm secretley worried it may become an obsession!!!!!

THURSDAY BUSY THURSDAY

Thursday was busy again this week, We had the third load of clay taken away, another local farmer came to collect all the roof tiles that are going to Hartshorne, the architect and building inspector came to inspect the trenches for the kitchen, family room and lounge, and then we had two more loads of concrete delivered in the afternoon, luckily this week my mate from last week must have been interferring in someone elses buisness, and the two drivers where happy to put the concrete where we wanted it, so everyone was happy. Matt came round with his rake to help and later on in the afternoon I noticed that Pete had got him moving blocks around the site as well.
The site is really muddy now and every day it moves further up and down the plot, and the powercut cost us £250 yesterday afternoon as Dave did take a fall but alas the camera wasn't rolling! We didn't quite reach freezing here last night, but if we had the boys would have had a great ice rink, from all the water Pete pumped out of the trenches.



This moat is actually the footings for the family room and the lounge with extra bits for the fireplaces.

Pete  stood in the Kitchen.

This part of the house is quite tricky because of the many changes in direction, so there has been a lot of calculations and re-calculations today to make sure it is all ok!

Pete and Dave had a bit of a look at the schedule this week and whilst we are still on time for the date we gave the bricklayers,(mid March)  the timber frame has been put back a little bit the foot plates are coming early March and the frame for the first floor is coming on the 9th March- very Exciting  





OH ........ FOR THE LOVE OF EBAY!

So far all of the ebay transactions have been pleasent, until Sunday when a bloke arrived to pick up the hip tiles he'd bought for £20.00, and I would like to make it clear that IT WAS ALL MY FAULT that
1.He travelled from London to Chesterfield in the snow, in a pair of office shoes, no coat, no gloves, and no hat.
2. That he got stuck in the snow for 2 hours on the M1
3. That he could not fit all 120 of the tiles in his boot of his car.
4.That he had a really USELESS wife who sat in the car the whole time rubbing her hands together, whilst I was lugging their tiles about, every so often popping inside to check on baby Reuben!

I got so fed up in the end with all his moaning and grumbling as he slipped  around on the drive, I left him too it, and how I chuckled  when he then got the car stuck on the drive, luckily Pete came home from work in time to rescue them!

The conditions on the site have been poor the last couple of days, the slop from the bottom of the trench and the melting snow has made it quite treturous, however the build moves on and its great to see where some of the rooms are and the size of them. Pete has had to add an frost proof additive to the cement and the brick work is tucked in at night.

We have taken delivery of 50 metres of hessian today to replace all the dust sheets etc!

IN THE SNUG AT THE BOTTOM OF THE KITCHEN.

Perhaps it is just me but  this dosen't look like a very technical way to mark out the site!

Today Pete and Dave are digging the trench that will make the Kitchen and Family room at the back of the house, and tomorow we have the architect (Haydn) and the building inspector coming to inspect the trenches and 2 loads of concrete booked for the afternoon (hooray I get to see my old pal from Lefarge again!)
Hopefully the grab lorry will turn up some day soon to collect all the roof tiles that we sold, which will give us back a lot of space, pete wants to build some bays for sand etc as it will be more cost effective to have it delivered loose rather than the bulk bags.

We have an all singing all dancing caravan again, with water, electricity and everything!!!!

JACK FROST......GET LOST!

The adventures of the famous five in their caravan continue, we have had no water all weekend! and today before pete left to go to A+E the electric went off, he managed to sort it out, but it went again 15 mins after he left- still not worked out why!!!
"I am living my dream!" repeat 4 times over, six times a day followed by 4 shots of vodka!!!

Pete has even got the kids moving bricks around now!, and I took over from them in the afternoon, we are now ready to start laying the blocks in the first trench if the weather will let us. Last night we worked on our kitchen plan as Pete needs to know where the sink will be located so he can do the drainage.

MEEOW!

It seems, no matter where you buy your concrete from it always comes with cat paw prints!

IN THE SNUG

The building inspector was happy with the trenches, although we had to get all the slop (there is no technical term apparently) out of the bottom before the concrete lorries came so it was all hands on deck, the pump did get a fair bit of the water out but it couldn't cope when it got too muddy, the mud was really sticky and hard to shift, I thought I'd dislocated my hip at one point when my body went one way and my leg and boot were stuck fast refusing to follow!

The two lorries came nearly an hour earlier than we booked them so we were not quite ready, and the first driver  "Mr Know it all", refused to listen to anyone but himself , and told me I'd be better off  going inside and putting the kettle on, he is lucky not to be in the trench under the concrete!!! But by dusk all the concrete was where it was supposed to be and at the right levels.

Today we had another load of clay taken away, it costs £140 per lorry load, so I am considering some teletubbies humps in the orchard, other suggestions on postcards please!!

Dave has been round to make a shopping list with Pete, and the bills are starting to come in, I preferred it last week when we were selling everything in sight! although the last lot of scrap metal is going to be weighed in tommorow!

Pete has been setting out the bricks around the snug today to get the levels right, he is going to use this corner as a point of reference for all his measurements.

GIRL POWER!!!!

We have had some more help on site, Felicity came over to help move bricks around!!!, and Farmer Jeff has been taking more trailer loads of rubble away so the mound of rubble  is slowly disappearing. Although a couple of neighbours have been around to add to the pile!!!

FOUNDATIONS ROUND 2!
Pete and dave started digging the foundations again yesterday, they are both still alive and the trench is not full of diggers and dumpers so so far so good!, and they have dug out the trench down the left side of the house from the porch to the snug. The building inspector has just arrived to have a look and Dave is on his way back from screwfix with a pump to get rid of the water.



There is alot more where that came from!! the grab lorry has been today to take away all the excess soil,

The site has been really busy with folk again, we sold all the roof tiles on ebay, ( to someone from our village!!) and we are waiting for a lorry to come and collect them, "conservatory Tom" has been back again!!!, we had a deliverey of sand yesterday ( could be a new holiday concept bring the beach to the caravan!) we are expecting the architect some time today and another neighbour has been to get some bricks! and we have the first lot of concrete arriving this afternoon!- which is really exciting, I am hoping to put Reubens sleep back so I can help with the raking!

Its been necessary to approach the the project from both ends, we have been deciding on room layouts etc, so when it comes to doing the first fix plumbing  and electric we know where everything needs to be, otherwise there would be losts of frantic last minute desisions to be made, but I took it a step too far last night when I dragged Pete to the local auction house!!! to get an idea of the furniture avaliable!! and now I am satisfied that I will be able to fill the house with an ecletic mix of pieces, I promise not to go back. ( but I really hope I win the very kitch tin rocking horse!!!)