Spot the Builder

Waited so long to see these walls being fixed up, couldn't resist posting a photo of it actually happening. Look very closely and you'll see a man hard at work.

Mending Fences

Walls are getting fixed..

The idea is to take the top few courses off, then re-lay them with good mortar. The original mortar has all washed out, what with there being no roof an' all. To cap the walls we'll just put a mortar top on them to keep rain out.

You can see through the arched window, that the North wall is more in need of repair. Really we've turned up just in time to stop this great place disintegrating altogether.

South wall only for now. The scaffolding will be moved over when it's needed for the actual house.

All this is just keeping busy (albeit with things that need doing) while we await the main event - digging the footings for the house. Drawings are imminent, we're assured.

Lyn spent today in the sunshine, knocking render off the inside of the north wall. I usually manage one or two visits to site per day, mostly to take her food or coffee. As the weather improves, those visits may well get longer of course.

View of our delightful Southward neighbours, from the "Garden wall"

And finally, I don't often post this view to the North, but it gives a sense of the neighbourhood. Jam butty hill looking down upon us. Lyn's good work on stripping the render form inside the wall.

More soon

Treasure

Even after all the digging, shifting, trampling and burning, the site is still presenting us with treasure. This silver(?) serving spoon made itself known this morning. Just need the other three now.

Claus?

We're running a competition:

Who (or what) is (or was) Claus?

Please send in your answers* to win** one hundred pounds***.

* please note: any answers NOT written on ten pound notes will not be accepted.
** please note: the minimum entry count is 11 - fewer than this voids the competition.
*** please note: in the event of a voided competition, no refunds will be given.

Since it will end up as either my office or Lyn's studio, Dingly Dell might as well have some nice features:

..now with added stone step..

In other news, and in the absence of steel, tomorrow the scaffolding will start going up for the Chapel wall repairs. I make no excuse for the dull photos which will follow.

More later

VAT

Lyn just got off the phone to the tax man. He assured her that this build is largely exempt of VAT, so any we've already paid should go into a claim to HMRC, and we should tell future suppliers not to charge it.

This is fantastic news and makes the house much more affordable.

We feel like having a party, we're so pleased

That is all.

This and that

We've been on site, pottering. I went up a ladder to mess about with one of my cameras, and released my iron two-handed grip for long enough to take this pic of the top of the Chapel wall. Shows the mess it's in, and how much work is needed to make it all safe and weatherproof. Also a nice view of Kinder beyond :-)

This scene, from another angle:

I'm not the best on a ladder, and I think it shows in the white-knuckled grip I have on the ladder. The camera I'm working on here is the one that's best placed to capture the house actually being built in April/May. 

Here's our future plant room, which currently has no roof:

I got Lyn to take this of me wondering if it will ever get built:

More soon

Comments, a polite request

So lovely to have people leaving nice comments.  Blogspot have marked them as "Anonymous" so I can't thank you personally. May I  ask for those not signed into Google accounts to pop a name at the end?

To the two nice commenters on my last post: thank you xxx

This is where my house will go:

Love this pic. You can even see where my bookcase will go. The black tube is 3 phase electricity, terminating in the plant room (below the blockwork). The tube is about 1 metre below future ground level.

There's a delay on the steel fabrication, which has horrible knock-on effects. While we wait, Paul will do some work on the Chapel walls, which as can be seen from that photo, require some love if they are to last as long as the house. they need to be capped and re-pointed, and all the large window openings need sills to prevent water ingress and more damage. For the sills, we'll use the massive old edging stones from the graves, which are stacked up in the front garden at present. It will look fantastic, which is good since it's effectively our garden wall.

We now have proper gates on the road entrance, in case anyone tries to ram-raid us and take Paul's gear:

Speaking of the road, it's held up nicely to lots of heavy traffic, and I consider it the eighth wonder of the world. That may be because it took so long to get it done though.

In other news, Lyn is busy getting quotes for all sorts of exciting things - rooves, solar panels, heat pumps, MVHR, scaffolding, all manner of stuff. It's all very exciting, as I keep saying.

More soon

Dingly Dell, birds singing, painted glass - and paw prints. And plans.

Some pics, and some words:

Our portacabin, "Dingly Dell", which does not as yet have a water supply. Neither is it fully decorated, as Lyn has promised ferns. More on that when she gets it done. We intend this to stay at the end of the job, as a studio for one of us.

Lyn had a peaceful moment in the graveyard, listening to the birds. Needs sound.

Fragments of the original windows.

Seems even the animals can't resist fresh concrete. I hope this little chap was quick getting a wash. Concrete feet make it hard to escape the local moggy.

These massive steels will be replaced with much more graceful ones next week - that's what the footings are for.

An inside view of Dingly Dell, with our not-so-ambitious plans.

More soon

Concrete

With absolutely no apologies for posting video that, to anyone not involved in the project, is one step up from watching paint dry, here's concrete arriving and being pumped, for footings for the new steel reinforcement of the front edifice. (I did type Facade, but it's pretentious and really should have a fancy "c")

Steel arrives on 19 Feb, once it's up we can remove the old temporary monstrosity, and actually be able to walk through the front door without clambering over scaffold :)

More soon

Arrivals

Portacabin's here. Toilet's here. Men are here, to stitch our front wall together. It's all going on.

Next week: footings get dug for the new steel, lots of other shenanigans. Stay tuned

Finally, a road

As promised, video proof that we've build a road. This will be removed at the end (sigh) of the project, and the exorbitantly priced bit of grass will be returned to its former glory and handed back to the Town Council. The road is a marvel - lays on top of the ground on a membrane, is of honeycomb construction filled with gravel, and can carry even large vehicles without spreading or pot-holing.

I've trimmed out some night scenes - the camera is sensitive to motion and headlights set it off. The camera will now be placed in the next place of interest, most likely inside the Sunday School, to catch the goings-on as the project continues.

More soon