Valley detail

Valley detail
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

We went to the site today not expecting much and thought that there'd been little progress, but after looking round for a bit we found that the chimney was beginning to go up, the apperture for th chimney was cut, there was new rendering on the ground floor and the valleys were ready for the leadwork. Still going quite well. Next week promises a roof. Let's see.

Rafters finished

Rafters looking East
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

So not much has been written on this as Rihoys have mnostly been concentrating on the roof and we've been concentrating on an influx of visitors.
The rafters are finished and all the velux apertures have been cut.
The staircase is in and most of the studwork which defines the rooms is finished.
Our issues to date are that the eaves cupboards need to be built to spec, the plumber needs to pull his finger out and we need to sort out a way to finish the exterior part between the upper and lower sections of the gable. Oh and the build is now four weeks behind, but progress has picked up.
We went to a site meeting today and all the discussions have been about detials - in stark contrast to the meetings a couple of months ago which were to discuss much larger structural issues.

All in all it's looking very exciting and we're enjoying the fact that the finishes have been chosen and the building is really shaping up so that we can see the size and visualise the spaces at last.

Much head scratching today...

Shoulder rafters
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

Fitting the 400 centred rafters on the shoulder has apparently been a nightmare. I think the problem has been in calculating the angle and exact position of cut. They claimed it was hard becuase we've got a steel joist - they prefer working with wooden structures (of course - they are chippies!).
Oh dear - they've got quite a lot more of this what with the other half of the shoulder and the new gable.
This photo shows the clerestry window just below the chippy's feet.

Our stairs have arrived!

stairs arrive on site
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

They'll be fitted in the next 2 days - good news for all our visitors in the coming 2 weeks who will nolonger need to climb up the ladder!

Wonderful gardening day

Gardening day
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

The sun shone all day - and it was warm. Meriel took the opportunity to spend all Jonah's school day gardening and loved every minute of it.

The maincrop potatoes are now planted and mulched. Elephant garlic and Mizuna are racing ahead, and the summer purple sprouting, brussel sprouts and peas are just starting to come through. No sign yet of the leeks. I'm waiting for asparagus to arrive any day in the post. The strawberries are looking very happy.

I started clearing / rearranging the 'junk' space at the back of this photo. It involved doing battle with a large Camelia which was simply in the wrong place. One day - when the finances recover a little from the building work - I want a greenhouse along the back more or less where the compost bins are on the right. So I'm rearranging the space to accommodate it to save doing it all later on.

Rafters on the front of the roof

Front exterior
Originally uploaded by Lenny & Meriel.

Rafters are going up along the front of the roof now that most of the steelwork is in. We can really see the shape of the roof coming along. They're also forming tracks for the Grand Sliders in the Rear-facing gable.