Day 104-5. Bargeboards up

Sorry about the lack of photos recently: they take a bit more effort than text. Anyway, here we see the kitchen, with rafters and edging and bargeboards. I don't know what the "Do" is for. The blue coils are water pipe awaiting attachment elsewhere.

Roofing is promised for friday; tiles due tomorrow. They tried fitting a frame/jig that had been made up to the correct dimensions into the triangular spaces; it fitted, so a real frame will be made up to the same dimesions.

Notice (petty detail) that the breezeblock goes up to the wooden composite beam but not above; they had built a course above this, reaslised it was wrong, and today removed it!

Day 102-3. A bit of Paint

Not much action. Gavin comes round for a cheque, and offers to look at any outstanding stuff: the light, the basin, the tile mostly. BtB comes round in the afternoon and we chat - it turns out that he has a boat on the river too. The young painter turns up and paints some of the bargeboards white (which reminds me the frames and windows in the kids room were never finsihed i think...). Roof "next week". Oh, and the "steel chap" was actually the joiner who will make the triangular frames for the below-roof windows.

Day 101: Rain

Not much done today since rain stopped play at about 11 ish. Some work on the roof; boarding at the front. Oh, and E stubbed her toe on a loose brick. I warned her about building sites...

In the afternoon, after some easing of the downpour, Gavin and unknown person X came to pore over plans and think about where the steel beam is to go. Possibly X is a special steel builder. They didn't seem keen to talk so I left them to it.

We also have a bill for £10k, but not yet Ians permission to pay it.

Day 100: Kitchen roof

Happy Birthday to our works: 100 days old today!

Today we are awakened (or at least roused from bed) by the happy sound of builders, which we haven't heard for a while (but only cos we've been away, not because they haven't been at work). They are a teensy bit puzzled about whether they have the correct plans, and about the lintel over the street window (which was a mistake: the laminate beam covers that). So I drop in on Ian on the way to work and ask him to pop by.

Back at 2: they have taken the lintel off and made very good progress on the roof: rafters are pretty well all up. The steel beam needed for strengthening is here too (but where exactly is it to go? They arent sure. Well).

When they drill/hammer stuff into place the vibrations go through the house. Controlled use of violence.

Day 88-99: Kitchen walls

So, we go away on hols for 2 weeks and come back... to find that the kitchen walls are done. Good. Probably just as well I got a break, writing this every day was getting a bit dull. I might switch to weekly. It doesn't look like it will be over any time soon!

Talk to Ian: they would have been doing the roof today (and last friday) but its been p*ss*ng with rain.

Day 85-87

Not a lot of actual building - well in fact none. The official excuse is that the concrete beams for the kitchen foundation are still awaited. The probable reason is that they are rather busy at Bennys way.

On tuesday a door turns up for the wetroom. Looks nice, needs glass and hanging and varnishing.

Also on tuesday, and perhaps more excitingly, we have the long-awaiting meeting with Mrs B over the party wall stuff and us putting scaffolding onto her driveway. Which she isn't keen on, well would you be? However, things go well, helped by Brother and Son-in-Law and everything ends amicably, which is better than we'd expected. Partly we finally realise that she doesn't want the carport taken down and renewed, she wants the same thing replaced, because it was built by her late husband. Fair enough, we promise that.