I'll huff and I'll puff............

and our house hasn't blown down....... yet. Pete Dave and Philip and the crane from 1970 and the crane operator started to put the roof trusses up on Thursday, they were fourtunate to have a bit of a break in the weather, until after lunch when the wind blew 11 trusses over!, by all accounts it was a really good day but exhausting physically and mentally....here are the photos  

FORTY WINKS AFTER LUNCH!

JUST IN CASE ROOFS AND VINTAGE CRANES ARE NOT YOUR THING, HERE IS A QUICK UPDATE ON THE INTERIOR PLANS...................

DESIGN OF DOORS BETWEEN KITCHEN AND HALL

BARN STYLE DOOR WE ARE GOING TO COPY AND HAVE BETWEEN THE KITCHEN AND FAMILY ROOM!

HOME ALONE

No Dave today (day off), no Brickies (AWOL),

Pete is finishing off the roof in the kitchen and doing some steel work, the rain last night;  turned the site into a swimming pool again so it will be a huge relief to get the roof trusses on next week and Philip is taking time off work to help with the tiling in the beggining of May.

 The ancillaries arrived for the roof nice and early this morning from Harlaows, They have also contacted Pete to see if they can pass our details on to another potential customer, who wants to use the frame as a home, we are the first to use this system from Harlows as a house they usually make them for schools etc..

Here are the pictures of the roofs that I took yesterday afternoon!

SNUG ROOF AND PART OF KITCHEN ROOF

LOOKING OUT FROM MASTER BEDROOM ACROSS BALCONY THE TOP OF THE WALL PETE IS KNELT ON IS THE CEILING HEIGHT FOR PART OF THE KITCHEN.

SNUG

double height ceiling in part of kitchen

The saga about the paint for the outside of the house, windows, doors, cladding, render, bifold doors.......goes on but I was inspired at the weekend to NOT take the safe option and I am sticking with my origional thoughts Iam using these picture to inspire Pete (if I go on about it much longer he will agree to sky blue pink with green spots!)

The sun sets in the East!

Pete and I were at the top of the drive today when a young bloke tried to give me a leaflet about Upvc windows, and I told him that we had already got the windows on order, he then proceeded to tell us we should consider his solar panels, so I had to tell him that the roof wouldn't be facing the right way for them  to be off benifit, Pete then had to get involved with the discussion and put the poor lad right as he really did think the sun set in the East and tried convince us that we had the perfect aspect , it's been a while since we were at school but  some things never change!!!! he left rather red in the face checking if Pete was right on his i phone! ( we are going to have one  solar panel on the hip roof on the guest bedroom but i'm not gonna buy it from him!!!!!) - gave us all lot's of laughs!

Pete built a tempoary set of stairs yesterday, much to the bricklayers amusement!  And I have seen them numerous times today up and down!( with the sacks of expanding clay granules they have been filling the chimneys with; theses stop condensation forming in the flue)

The stairs on the finished house will not be quite the same as they will have a dog leg at the bottom and they will be closed in.

Here are the pictures of the two finished fire places and the stoves we have choosen:

LOUNGE

FAMILY ROOM

THIS HAS A BACK BOILER

THE BUILDERS HAVE BEEN BUILDING THE WALL ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE HOUSE WHICH IS DOUBLE SKIN. FROM THE PICTURE YOU CAN SEE THE DOOR WAY RIGHT FOR GUEST ROOM.

Dave and Pete have been putting the roof on the snug  today, and as I said in previous blog the crane is booked for a week thursday and Kim is taking the day of work to come and help as well, locally Mr Steel and his crane seem to be quite famous, well-known for the age of the crane -from the 1970' as long as it gets the roof trusses off the lorry and on the house ok ( without taking out next doors phone line!) I'm not bothered!

On monday a chap came to see us about the K rend (anyone got 23K!!!), I had put a note through the door of a cottage that has just been renedered in Aston, It is going to be quite expensive to have done...............................CAN YOU GUESS WHAT IS COMING NEXT!!!!!???????

.......................PETE IS NOW GOING TO RENDER THE HOUSE....THE WHOLE HOUSE.....apparently rendering is underarm  (plastering is overarm) so it won't affect his poor old elbows (that we have to listen to him harping on about), he had looked at the cost of Krend and done some research on the internet, and he might just do the sand and cement render, (if it was good enough for the victorians it's good enough for me) the house will need repainting but at least we have a wider choice of colours and here's the best bit ...."WE CAN USE SOME OF THE SAVED MONEY TO BUY A REALLY GREAT COOKER"

........................................................................................................JUST SIGN THIS DOTTED LINE PLEASE PETE!

LONDON FASHION WEEK!

NOT!
 Sadly the batteries ran out in camera and I could not get a shot of Pete in his all in one black waterproof! which  he later changed for my old kagoole from 20 years ago! Philip (who Pete kept referring to as KIM) wore a pair of bright pink marigolds all day!!!!!!!

 But even tough they looked a bit wiered they worked all day in the pouring rain and got all of the upstairs panels up including the internal walls.
 It was great to go up yesterday evening and see all of the rooms.

Finn and Jude have been up today to choose their bedrooms!

Pete and Philip even had chance to lay the oak beam in the fireplace that Ken has finished today and I am really pleased with it.
Here are the photos in a hap hazzard order, taken yesterday evening.

BALCONY DOORS FROM MASTER BEDROOM

FRONT OF THE HOUSE, YOU CAN'T LOOK AT THE SILVER FOIL IN THE SUN

LANDING

ON THE LANDING LOOKING ACROSS TO THE BATHROOM AND JUDES BEDROOM BEYOND

FIREPLACE IN FAMILY ROOM (PHOTO TAKEN LAST NIGHT)

LANDING

master bedroom

It was awful to see all of the wood getting soaked in the rain,  Pete  has spoke to Borrowash  Crane man today and he is coming 2  weeks on Thursday to put up the roof ( arrive early for the best seats !- regarding viewing from the caravan!) all very exciting.

My painted card STILL HAS NOT ARRIVED,  and I really need it to sort out the exterior paint choices,I am having a small heart attack about it, much longer and my father in law will be coiming one evening with his choices from Homebase!- He was off sick today after a four day break -Staff!

UPSTAIRS!

Well, something has risen this easter!, here are the latest pictures.

BOARD SHORTS AND SNOW BOARDS

OH WHAT FUN, OH WHAT JOY IT IS ON SITE AND IN THE CARAVAN WITH THIS CHANGABLE WEATHER!!

It's only 3 O'clock and Pete says they have emptied the wheel barrow 4 times already!

taken on monday from the "egg ladies road"

The brick layers have started on the chimneys and fire places this week, the weather has kept them away today, which has given Pete a chance to sand and treat the oak beam we went to buy in Melbourne yesterday.

There has been much discussion this afternoon regarding the positioning of the beam and how much should be on show, and also regarding the supporting post in the hall, Pete has made a mock up of the stairs to add weight to his opinion!!

ON THE UP!

It's really busy this morning, Harlows turned up with the first load of the upstairs panels at 8 am, they have just off loaded it all from the road with the forklift and put it on the loading bay that the scaffolders built at the front of the house, and they have now been moved onto the floor that has been laid to make way for the next load that the chap has gone off to get.

The scafffolders are back and they can't get on the drive so are having to carry all the poles from the road! they should finish today.

"Hey man" Ken and "No worries" Ken are here just getting on with it, they are building the chimneys today so I have been out with Pete to finalise the height, we already knew what log burners we are having and the style of the fire places so that is all sorted now, but we do need to source an old oak beam, I fancy part of an old pier with some metal work or bolts still attached (perhaps the odd barnacle!!).

Living in the Caravan feels a bit more awkward ( it's fine inside although feels colder than it did in the winter???) but the site is really full and you can't get into the garden easily, I fenced off some of the garden from the building site yesterday so I can keep the dogs and kids safe when we are outside with all the comings and going on site.

I am still waiting from my painted card to come from little Greene so that I can really start to get organised with the colour choices for outside.

GREAT NEWS.... The Bi-folders have been installed in Leicester and they look realy good and our friends are pleased with them so all I need to do now is get them to try out the paint colours I am unsure about!

FAMILY ROOM

KITCHEN

THE FLOOR BOARDS GOING DOWN

view from the back of the house, which we had not really seen before, because of bungalow living!

Pete thinks that this time next week we should have all the upstairs panels on , and if the brickies take easter off, this will give Pete chance to really get ahead.