WALKABOUT!!

I am off on my travels for a few days here are some photo's to keep you going in the meantime, and keep your eyes out for posts next week, as the floors are being laid and then the upstairs panels are going up and the scaffolding is starting to go up on Thursday, so it's all happening!!!

The longest of these packs is 11 meters and Pete had to fork lift them over the top of the caravan and garage!!!!!

THESE ARE THE THE MOULDS PETE HAS MADE FOR THE CURVED LINTLE'S  ABOVE THE FRONT DOOR AND TWO PORCH WINDOWS

EARLY BIRD

The race to stay ahead of the builders continues, and pete has been up and out on site at six the last two mornings!!! now that the two kens have started on the block work they are catching up fast, but they have told Pete  "no worries man" if they do catch up they will take off in Elvis for a couple of weeks to give us chance to get more of the frame up!
Pete reckons that we will have the whole of the ground floor frame up tomorow and then we will be waiting for the posi joists to arrive. And after the floor is down the they can start on the upstairs frame.

Dave has worked most of the week, Long John Mark worked yesterday (thankyou thankyou thankyou!) and it's all gone a bit brotherley love on Sunday as Matt and Philip are coming to lend a hand before Pete goes off to his twilight in ED (to have a rest!)

HERE ARE THE CILLS THAT PETE HAS BEEN MAKING FOR THE LAST FEW MONTHS, HE STILL HAS ABOUT 4 TO MAKE WE ARE REALLY PLEASED WITH THE SHAPE AND SIZE OF THEM

As more of the frame and blocks get used you can really see the house as the garden gets cleared, but there are plenty of deliveries planned for next week.

Pete has spoken to Steve next door and he's been really helpful and accomodating with regards to the scaffolding (which is coming on Thursday) going on to his propertey. We have got it at a fixed price for a year, I am not sure how long we will need it for (and if you ask Pete and Dave make sure whatever figure they give you, You double it and add six)

I have been having a bit of a wobble about the paint scheme for the outside of the house and have beeen doing some research to find out what Little Greene Paint Co. use with the citrine we chosen for the front door, and am waiting for some painted card to arrive  which should be a help.

As part of the planning permission we had to buy an Ercol day bed to go on the verhandah, and I can happily say that we purchased one at an auction this week- phew!  (thanks Flick and Steve) gotta keep those planning people happy!

Nerves of steel!

When I took out the tea yesterday I was greeted with "we don't need a crane for the steels wev'e had an idea"!!!!!!! and here you have it.....

We had the concrete laid in the porch and hall laid today, we paid for the super duper stuff that comes with a bloke to ensure a great finish................... and of course there is a significant drop in between the the hall between the hall  floor in between the lounge and family room where it meets the hall floor laid today. (I knew there was no way Pete would be happy with a job done by someone else). ( except for the brick layers who he is really impressed with) The guy from lafarge came yesterday to check we were ready,  turns up today with random guy in joggers and trainers ( nerver broke a sweat in his life) and claimed he was assessing him (yeah right) it was just his mate, hopefully his mate just loves watching concrete dry and wasn't casing the joint (I am very suspisious ). So fingers crossed he won't be appearing on a wanted poster any time soon, and I've got it wrong!

(The gap in the curve is where the front door will be .)

We have been having more deliveries but also stuff taken back that we didn't need and generally things around the site are as mad as ever, but it's all good, Ken and Dedriee have fitted in really well and we are really pleased with the job they are doing, Ive made them a couple of cakes so I hope all their jabs are up to date!!!

Next week we are having the floor and the floor joists delivered, and today marks the 12th week in the caravan!

SPRING WATCH- if you can think back to a really old post when we moved the blue tit house, great news our family of blue tits have found their new location aaaahhhhh!

curvaceous!

HERE IS THE CURVED WALL THAT WILL BE WHERE THE FRONT DOOR IS THAT KEN AND BARBIE BUILT TODAYaka Mike and Karl the 3rd)

floor ready for insulation and DPM and hopefully concrete on monday.

STEELS DELIVERED TODAY, PETE NEEDS TO DO SOME DRILLING AND WELDING ON SATURDAY!

ARCHITECTS PLAN MAY BE OF INTEREST WHEN LOOKING AT THE AERIEL SHOTS PETE TOOK TODAY!

HERE ARE THE BITS I SCANNED FOR THE NERDS AMONGST YOU, YOU CAN ENLARGE ANY OF THE PICTURES (BUT IF YOU NEED ME TO TELL YOU THAT YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT TECHNICAL ENOUGH TO BE BOTHERED ABOUT IT ANY WAY!)

THE SOLE PLATES

SO FAR WE HAVE BEEN QUITE PLEASED WITH THE FRAME AND ANY PROBLEMS WE HAVE HAD THEY HAVE SORTED OUT QUITE QUICKLY, BUT WHERE AS PETE WAS REALLY PRECISE WITH SETTING OUT WITH THE BLOCK WORK, THE FRAME IS NOT QUITE AS EXACT.

IT IS NOT A BUILD PROCESS FOR THOSE WHO ARE INDECISIVE OR WHO LIKE TO CHANGE THINGS ALONG THE WAY, BUT IT'S GREAT IF YOU WANT INSTANT RESULTS! I CAN ALREADY SEE MY FRAMED VIEWS THROUGH THE WINDOWS AND WALK THROUGH DOORWAYS ETC!

close of play.

Here are the pictures that I took at close of play today, I won't be chatting on this post as I have the accounts to do tonight and when I add up all my bills I will then be busy planning the next greatest train robberey! As well as the frame the pictures show how well Mike and Karl the 3rd are getting on with laying the blues around the house up to floor level.
For my technical followers I will aim to scan some bits about the frame linx system tomorrow.

PETE IN THE PANTRY LAYING THE BLOCKS FOR THE PANTRY WALLS TO SIT ON

LOOKING OUT OF THE LOUNGE WINDOW, AND THE INTERNAL WALL BETWEEN THE STUDY AND LOUNGE GOING UP.

THANKS PHILIP FOR TAKING 3 DAYS OFF WORK TO COME AND HELP!

and they're off........................

WOW! things are going at an incredible pace now, and I haven't even taken any pictures today, so I think this blog will be in bullet points and I will be putting more pictures on tomorrow,

* The two brickies started on Monday Mike and Karl the 3rd they have brought all their tools and are now going to cycle over each day this really is an eco build! they are doing a really great job and seem  nice and very willing to work around us as the frame goes up, it's all very polite and considerate a bit like one of those dances on a period drama, as they all work around the site together!

* Neil is leaving Harlows (thankfully he's not been sacked for poor timber frame design) in 3 weeks so we have another bloke to deal with now, but I guess any problems we may have with the frame in the next couple of months  will be blamed on Neil!!

* The two remaining trenches got filled yesterday, hopefully we can still get the fork lift into the back garden, without driving on it, not that there is any space for it in the garden!!!

* According to Neil there is nothing we can do about the problem of the stairs and the support beam in the hall, it seems pointless trying to teach Neil that in MY opinion everything IS possible, I will be better spending my time getting the new bloke round to my way of thinking!

* The rain water harvester soakaway has a soakaway all of its own and, it's in the place where the garden once was.  A bit was missing from the Rain water kit and rainwaterharvesting.co.uk think they are going to charge us to replace it -WRONG - we have lots of trenches to war with them in!

* Conservatory Tom has been in touch but it's bad news I am afraid he is having difficulties  getting planning permission for his conservatory extension, I will keep you all up-dated as soon as I hear anything.

................So the house is going up and I really can't believe how fast, It is fantastic, so much for savouring every moment you go and make a pot of tea and two more rooms have walls! I will take plenty of pictures tomorow.





PETE RACING TO GET THE TRENCH DUG ON SATUREDAY AFTERNOON BEFORE  DASHING OF FOR A SHIFT IN ED!

TRENCH FOR THE GUEST ,THAT WILL BE ABOVE THE ACCESS TO THE GARDEN ON THE RIGHT OF THE HOUSE

SOAK AWAY FOR THE SOAK AWAY

CURVED TRENCH FOR THE PORCH

KITCHEN WINDOW

KITCHEN WINDOW YESTERDAY AFTERNOON

"start with the edges!"

 Anyone, any good at jigsaws?!, everything does seem to be labelled and we have also had the instructions on how to build it sent this week on a memory stick, after failing to plant it in Pete's brain we had a hard copy printed off, -plenty of bedtime reading, as if Pete needed anything else keeping him awake ( at the end of the build I'm going to have a very shiny new house but an old grey husband to put in it!!).

 OK, it wasn't quite the same as some massive lorry turning up from Germany with six blokes in lederhosen ready to erect the huff haus before elevensis, But it was our house and I thought it was great!, it took four deliveries over 3 days for it all to come.

we have had more clay taken away and Yes! the chaps nice but in my opinion he drives like a girl, not only is the top of the drive now ruined, -turning wheels whilst stationary, he's now gone so close to the caravan he's crushed the edge of the
 Pat "I" "O"(as Mrs Aitken would say!)

Today we have had another load of concrete delivered, and the floors are now down in the study, lounge, laundry and utility and I was able to help with the raking again, as my lunch date cancelled me to have tea with the Queen instead. I've been next to useless on the site this week, I shut my finger in the car door (Pete said it was the worst finger injury he's seen in his A+E career and promptly stiuck a plaster on it) and Reubens turned into the Margret Thatcher of the baby world and ditched the 2 hour daytime nap opting for 15 min power naps instead!!.

Jude managed to find a rake in the sand pit and was as helping to level the floor, he is really enjoying the whole process.

We are having more and more deliveries each day now, sadly that means more and more bills, so far we are managing to keep on top of them and the spread sheet for the VAT  claim, this afternoon they have been really tidying up the site in preparation for all of the deliveries that are planned in next few days. The picture above is Pete taking deliverey of the flue liner for the chimneys, he has done much research into what type to use in a new build.

Anna has been to inspect the site again this morning, and won't come back officially until the roof is on! but we still need to do everything properley as she said she'd call in to say hello when she visits the Plough site up the road. Haydn had a headache and couldn't come today (perhaps Haydn lives in a caravan with 3 kids 2 dogs and two chickens as well!!) so" enter Daniel stage right " from the firm who seemed to be happy with progress.

We have been moved out of the bungaow 10 weeks now and things have been going really well, but this week there has felt a bit more frantic- with the arrival of the frame and the bricklayers starting next monday a week earlier than Pete had thought, and the fork lift getting a puncture the day before we needed it to off load the timber frame, But this afternoon Pete is glad to have got the last of the floors done and levelled. The hall and porch are going to have the super duper self levelling stuff as the hall is a random shape ane the porch is gong to have the parquet floor (that I still haven't started to clean up) and needs to be really flat. And they have started to now dig the curved trench that forms part of the porch, and concrete booked for monday.