Measuring up

Measuring up
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

Meriel, Matt and Brian (the foreman) measued up the appertures for teh sliding doors and the triangular outer skin of the upper gable today. So measurements have gone off to ID systems and in 10 or so weeks we'll hope to have them on site fitting the finished product.
The chippies are putting in the rafters and adding more studwork to the covered section. Hopefully they'll have a wterproof covering sometime soon so that work can really get on. Weather's certainly improving of late - hope I didn't speak to soon.

The gable steel goes up

The gable steel goes up
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

Finally it looks like there's been a breakthrough in the build as the steels in the gable section go up. There's still the valley steels to go up, but it's one giant step towards being wind and water tight, which in turn means that work can continue apace. In addition, it means that we get measurements to send off to the sliding door manufacturers so that they can fabricate the elements for the gable.

New roof steels go up on monday

DSC_3656
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

This shows the 'former' which gives a good idea of how it'll look. Can't wait to see the steels go up on monday.

Upstairs stud walls

20060324-upstairs bedroom and bathroom2
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

Stud walls are starting to go up upstairs. This picture shows the landing window to the left, the bathroom walls and the door through to the master bedroom. On the right you can see the front door downstairs. This will remain double height so it gives a pretty good idea of what it'll be like.

Delays

The builders seem to be close to admitting they can't hit the deadline - due to bad weather. The high winds have not let up for 3 weeks now which does make putting up a roof on a headland a bit tricky. The problems with the brickwork have compounded the problem. Going to a large building company does mean that in theory they can simply throw more people at the job to get it done - however, the problem is the knock on effect on other items in the program - especially ordering items which have to be made to measure but which have lead times - e.g. glazing for the gable.

This leads us to believe what we've said all along - that we'll move in end June. At that point I imagine we'll still have builders around doing bits and pieces (hopefully mostly external).

I want to get there to look after my veg!

Finally some roof work

052 Saint's View, Formers going up
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

At last the brickies seem to be coming to the end of their stint. The foreman and the chippie are putting together wooden mockups of the roof steels so that the steels can be ordered and the measurements for the gable windows can finally be taken. It seems that this business of the brickwork has taken an age, although it's only set us back a week or two - relly not a major problem. Meanwhile Rihoys have mentioned that they intend for the build to be completed on time. I guess they'll just have to pile on the labour in the home straight.
In veggie patch news, most of the beds are completed and Meriel's begun sewing various crops already. More on that later.

Fireplace

Fireplace visualisation
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

After a long struggle, we've arrived at a compromise as to where to put the fireplace. We've had trouble reconciling the structural support needed for the chimney and the aesthetics of the fireplace in the sitting room. By the way, this is all on the first floor - in case you were wondering.
This image is a visualisation from the architects. Now all we have to hope is that a) it looks like this and b) it fits in with the room.

Site meeting

Site meeting
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

We went to the site meeting at the house on Tuesday. It was cold and wet and they told us that the brickwork that we had written off as pretty much independent of the new steelwork, turns out to be central to the stability of the supporting walls. So in a nutshell, no brickwork, no roof steels. This wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that we can't order the windows and doors for the gable until the steels are in and we can't get the steels in until the brickwork is up and the brickwork can't go up until it stops raining. It wouldn't be so frustrating if the brickwork hadn't been pulled down twice already - something that we can't help feeling could have been avoided. At the end of the day it means that we'll have to get Rihoys to shore up the gable temporarily to allow the internal first and second fixes to go ahead - this can't happen without a wind and watertight building. It's not a huge problem and it may only mean a slight delay in completion. In the grand scheme of things we've still been quite fortunate with the progress that's been made and everything that's been done is, in the main, very good. There is a concern that there are alot of things on order, or yet to be ordered, that need to arrive on site in quite a short period of time. Let's hope it all comes together.

Veggie patch

Vegie patch
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

1 afternoon braving the snow has given us 5 finished veg patches. Another 7 to go.

Velux appertures and vegetable patches

Velux appertures
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

It's been a slow week, presumeably because the weather has been so bad. The velux appertures in the front of the house's existing rafters have been added and we can only presume that they'll be adding the smaller appertures to the front of the existing roof later this week.
Meriel has been preparing the vegetable patch by digging out the beds, applying seaweed and horse manure and fixing boards around the beds to separate them.