Some News

I had a small delivery of breeze blocks on the drive early this week when I got home from work, my first thoughts were 'they are gonna need more than that', my second thoughts were 'something aint right' well the next morning my thoughts came to reality as I found Richard loading them onto his builders flatbed and stating the obvious 'delivery to the wrong address', nice one Jacksons building supplies.

Had a little chat and it looks like they will be getting back on to my project the following week but in the meantime he said I could ditch the rest of my rubble on the front mountain ready for the grabber truck next week, that might have saved me about £160 for a skip so not all bad news.

Windows & Doors

Richard brought the measurements of the windows round as well as our options for the front and back door. You wouldn't believe how many options you get!

We have gone for light oak effect UPVC windows on the outside with a white finish on the inside, all except the lounge windows which will have a light oak finish on the inside as well. This will allow us to add a wood floor in a similar finish to create a warm effect in the room....well thats the plan anyway.

For the front door we have gone for a composite door (plastic and metal), these things make it hard for the even the police to get in with a battering ram so it sounds quite sturdy and has to be better than our current one which whistles in the wind. This door will also be light oak with a large panel at the top, the back door will be light oak with a top and bottom glazed panel.

These were ordered on Friday/Saturday so given a couple of weeks lead time we might have new windows shortly which will certainly help with the heating particularly with oil now over $113 a barrel.

Friday Antics

I know its Saturday but I thought I should mention what happened on Friday.....its been kinda manic at work and at home so I have been slow at posting.

Richard passed me on the way to work in the builders truck and I managed to stop and have a chat to him regarding what was happening that day, to be honest I didn't expect any progress for two weeks so any progress is a bonus!

Basically it looks like things are still moving just not with bricklayers. He went to the house and dug a small trench in the foundations roughly where the back door is going to be, why?, no idea but its there and its set now. I will take a snapshot and post it up for posterity, probably tomorrow.

Also we had the window man here, he took a few measurements, made some comments, changed some sizes and generally what window men do. The upshot is we are having lightoak exterior with white interior except in the rear lounge where it will be light out in and out. Also of note is that they resized the front porch window so it didn't look oversized and a few other little tweaks, we also chose some openings for the new windows. Having windows that don't rattle when a car goes by outside will be nice not to mention them blowing in the wind when the window is shut.

Easter Island?

Although technically we aren't expecting any progress on our extension for a couple of weeks it does appear as though we have had activity, either that or someone is trying to recreate Easter Island on our new foundation.

Having just come home from work I found that 'the pile' in the front had been added to, this alone is not unusual as it has doubled as a dumping area for the odd bit of gravel/hardcore/earth that APR have come across in there day-to-day. What was odd was the obelisks that had been created on the foundation using the breeze blocks! At the moment we have four and what looks like small seats beside them.....the plot thickens!

I shall wait and see what our Alien visitors are going to do with their new obelisks.

Waiting for Day 12

Well that's it for a while.....the mini-digger has left today and I didn't get to see Dave to say thanks but like he said himself 'I am sure Foxy will have me back doing some dirty work'. Still it does feel a little strange not having to make cups of coffee every morning.

It will be two weeks now until the brickwork begins. The concrete has set on the foundation complete with paw marks and some claw marks from a hungry pigeon! I will keep this page up to date but for now its waiting until Day 12 begins.

Day 11 - Foundation

The foundation concrete went on the subbase today along with the plastic and the membrane. We now have an almost complete concrete platform ready for the brickwork.

Its very wet today and the cat has already walked through it once and required a good wash! Suffice to say its not quite flat pad that we saw when we got home. I have cleared up the driveway a little after the hardcore made its way into the garden. The digger looks like its not coming back as the fence panel between the neighbour and I has gone back up, it looks like the guys are ready to walk out on the two week gap to do the other job prior to commencing the brickwork. The soak away has been recovered but my grass is going to need a lot of love this summer to look anything like it did before this all started.

Day 10 - Foundation Prep Work

Today the base for the foundations were prepared. We have a 2 block high wall with a subbase of hardcore thats been compacted with a whacker plate.

Some more drainage has been done as well with the soak away having been covered over and a couple of pipe holes laid. As you can see from the pic above the old house wall is still part of the foundations as its going to be tougher than the concrete we are adding. Tomorrow is another smaller layer of hardcore to add on and whack down and the final piping for the waste. We have had about 5-6 people here today at various stages. Also the front looks like a bomb has hit it with a huge pile of hardcore, a cement mixer, a pile of polystyrene for the foundation and a pile of rubble. Also my gravel drive has disappeared into the hardcore founation. Also our walk we noticed that the grab truck has made some indentations in the path which have then caused cracks in the wall at the front.....best let Richard know!

Day 9 - Drainage

With the footings in Day 9 was all about getting the drainage right. David dug trenches along both sides of the new footings for the rain water and a soakaway in the middle of my lawn! Ouch!

The lawn will take some time to recover but I have some top soil for new beds down the garden. Unfotunately his disk cutter packed up so he was unable to finish the job today until he could get one for Monday. After this job its about laying the final foundations but that may be a little while with the laying of hardcore and other various layers that are required.

Day 8 - Digging Foundations

The foundations have been made ready and apart from the drains most of the digging work is now complete.
David will be digging the drainage along two sides of the footings and putting in the waste pipes for the soak away, this will mean a large hole in the back lawn but will allow me to get rid of some concrete from my broken up paving in the process.

Block work for the foundations might also start tomorrow ready for hardcore and concrete to create a flat bed ready for the real brickwork. Some areas of the existing concrete need removing due to the drop in height and to allow the installation of steps at the end of the path down the side of the house. Once the foundation is complete I have agreed a two week break in the building to allow another job to be completed. So far so good.

Day 7 - Footings Cemented

After an early bacon buttie for David, Luce and myself the plan of attack was cementing in the newly dug fottings. The electric pump was brought in and made short work of the leakage of water from the low lying water level round these parts. The cement goes off in about two hours so it was an early finish after that, tomorrow it can be driven over in the digger!

The cement lorry was due at 10.30am and it looks as though there were quite a few trips by both wheelbarrow and mini dumper to get the cement in. All looking good now:

The bricks and breeze blocks have been moved round the back ready for the brickwork.

Day 6 - Footings Done

Day 6 was a little less painful than the previous day. The apparent leak from breaking the water pipe was actually an old stopcock valve that we thought went to the house, instead it went off somewhere down the garden and whilst we thought we were turning it off we were instead turning it on. Where the water went we don't know but now the valve is off and the water pressure has been boosted by a little playing with the valve in the pavement.

The footings were dug and inspected by the required government bods, all OK'd with no problems, the hole goes down past the gravel level and into the clay:

Day 7 and we should have the cement lorry here unloading and a hive of activity ready for filling the hole, a complement of six is expected at 7am in the morning! Sorry neightbours!