Day 146. Floor High

Running out of suitable words for high. Today is a lovely warm sunny day, perfect for building (or indeed for anything else).

The wall has reached about to the level of the floor on the first floor, so Pete needs to do some measuring to make sure that the floor joists are going to go across at about the right level. Also the narrow slit windows that will have frosted glass are beginning to appear.

Speaking of which... having (briefly) had a nice clear drive we get two bags of sand turn up, then later some more blocks, on top of which may lay the joists.

Pete has "folded" the walls round for where the door frames will be. Something that I suppose must be a vertical damp course goes in between - I must ask him what this is for.

Day 145. Shoulder High

Paul does some sterling work in moving the soil heap and filling in the edges of the building where the hole met the blockwork. Good. Now (sometime) the gravelly bit needs to be restored. Or remade.

The blocks are up to shoulder high when I get back past 4. Fairly soon they will need some scaffolding to get any higher. Looking inside, I can see that the insulation is being retained against the inner wall by little ties and disks so it will stay in place. Pete phones up ?Bob? to check that the doorways seem wide, but yes this is correct, as we expected.

Also the bricks are extensively stacked where they are working, so I think we're down to only one stack in the driveway. Err, and some blocks...

We had pondered going to Ikea tonight or sometime, but this is not possible, as Ian hasn't done the kitchen plans and is off to France for a few days. Hmm.

Meanwhile invoice number ?7? arrives together with Ians OK note.

Day 144. Hip high

A bit of a wet day, more tea-in-the-kitchen stuff.

Woken early by the noise of blocks being moved, as Paul and Pete charge ahead with the work. This goes on till ab out 9:30 when rain stops play. Apparently it restarts a bit later and finally stops at lunchtime.

But the side wall is now about hip-high, or two sheets of insulation high, and the piles of blocks in the driveway are gone (built in, or stacked on the side) and there are only two piles of bricks left.

Day 144. Hip high

A bit of a wet day, more tea-in-the-kitchen stuff.

Woken early by the noise of blocks being moved, as Paul and Pete charge ahead with the work. This goes on till ab out 9:30 when rain stops play. Apparently it restarts a bit later and finally stops at lunchtime.

But the side wall is now about hip-high, or two sheets of insulation high, and the piles of blocks in the driveway are gone (built in, or stacked on the side) and there are only two piles of bricks left.

Day 143: Knee high

Today starts with rain, so poor old Pete (who today is alone) stands in the new kitchen (at least he has a roof over his head) contemplating the weather. We make him some tea, so at least he can do same with something warm. After a bit he goes off, but later it clears and when I come back at 1:30 he is hard at work building up the walls. Later the first sheet of insulation goes in (though it looks to me that it isn't thick enough. Maybe its not supposed to be). When I get E she goes to talk to Pete - she loves watching him, asking stuff, offering advice, just generally chatting to him.

The pic shows the back. You can just see the sheet of insulation in. Also the damp course.

Day 142. Yet more side

Paul and Pete at work all day. The floor now concreted in, with a wash, and with a platform built under for the base of the stairs. The corners of the brickwork going up, and the damp course laid. Pete: "does your daughter ever stop talking?" but in a nice way. More blocks delivered in the morning.

Day 141: More side

Today my early slumber (but it was past 8) is disturbed by the sound of the brick saw. Good. Pete and Paul are back. D had an early look; E was at home till 10:30 and spent quite a lot of time out there chattering, mostly to Pete, about her dresses, her fairy costume, her friends, whatever. And Pete talks back :-)

The work is putting up the side walls. They are several courses of bricks about the level where the beams are laid, and seem to be progressing well (but what do I know). Paul says that we'll need more blocks delivered soon to keep them going.

Sunny a.m.; rain past 3.

Later: Ian in the kitchen bit, measuring up (mostly for the kitchen carcasses we need to buy; also he notices that the slit windows aren't quite where they should be but no matter). Talk about lighting and power points.

Day 139-140: Side floor

Nothing on monday; nothing this morning (to my disappointment: I heard a noise at 8 ish but it was D outside...). But when I go back about 1 Paul and Pete have been busy and put the concrete beam floor in place, hurrah! And our driveway is now clear of beams, even more hurrah! P&P are off elsewhere having lunch. When we get back after ours at the Orchard they are doing more putting things into place, Paul is shovelling sand from back to front, and Les is tidying the insulation stack at the back, so I guess Bob has asked them to do some tidying... I have been talking to Ian so maybe the message is getting across. Good. Hopefully, walls to start tomorrow.

Day 136-138: Beams

No building, but we do have a large pile of concrete beams and building blocks, which very nearly block our drive entirely. Talk to Ian (friday morning) who says they may be going to do something today... but they aren't :-(

Day 134-135. Foam

No building, but a stack of insulation stuff has turned up, presumably to go into the cavity between our soon-to-be-built cavity walls.

Day 133. Poo!

For the past few days it has been a teensy bit smelly out front - not much, just a whiff of the sewers. And today I finally check around and find... err... its backing up in the kitchen bit. Fortunately not up to the surface yet but it will be soon. This at about 1:30 while making ready for E's party! A quick phone call to BtB who is on hols on a bad line but promises to "make a call for me". And in tens mins Gavin and Len the odd job chap are round. They aren't happy, cos they think its probably the kids blocking stuff, but happily for us it turns out to be that a flap of plastic left under the floor had fallen down. So its all fixed with an hour to spare and I can get on with tidying up inside.

Day 132: Spaceship

Activity outside! Exciemtent! But not too much: D and E both too blase to go and look. And then the brick saw starts up. Pete and Paul, I think, putting in a layer of bricks under the front window, then they set too putting the insulation on, so that when I get back the kitchen-to-be looks like an alien spaceship, glittering silver.

Day 127-131: Yet more bricks

Not a lot going on. We forgive them, because we have other stuff to do and we know they are waiting for the beams.

On wednesday, yet more bricks turn up, one stack and some extra, blocking the driveway. So I restart them out of the way: 1/2 hour.