The camera is in a great new spot, so I’ve put all the time-lapses at the beginning of the post. We were a little worried about sun-flare but I think the cloud cover worked in our favour this week.
There are a load of lazy grumpy wasps hanging around the wood. We noticed this when the oak frame arrived onsite, and it’s even worse now that the timbers are here. They like the wood to build their nests. We need one good frost and the problem will be solved but in the mean time, much batting and buzzing is occurring.
Friday
Tim said he’s glad James has put the curtains on the oak frame. It’s not all that previous: James assures me it’s more to protect the oak from cutting bricks in the rain and preventing a layer of muck from building up.
We’re waiting on the central gable to to built before the wings go on. The central cable is vaulted through the hallway and the master bedroom and it’s supported by one great big steel. There is a short oak beam connecting the trusses in the structure, but it’s the steel that is holding up proceedings. But there is plenty to do with the internal blockwork, and the guys are confident that they’re almost done at this stage. They’ll be back once the roof is on so they can build up underneath it, but their team is shrinking as work nears completion, and even Quizmaster Paul is off on another job at the moment.
Thursday
Popped by to see some of the pointy bits up close.
Tuesday
Crane day. For steels in the roof and floor planks in the rear bay.
Hooray! James and the gang did some magic the concrete planks into the rear bay without touching any of the wood.
There were lots of teams getting on with life on site today: the brick guys, the crane driver, James, the steels team and more general building guys to start fixing the gables on the steels.
When the crane is onsite, the brick guys have to abandon using the forklift, and they bring all the bricks, the blockwork, and the muck up by hand. Up the ladder. A million times a day.
Mick reckons there will only be about three more courses of bricks to lay round the west side. The roof kicks out at the bricks around the angle of the spirit level he held up to show me. They’ll put the roof on, then Mick’s guys will lay the rest of the bricks under the roof before the soffits get put on.
Now that the concrete floor planks are out of the way, the guys can start building the walls for the closet and ensuite. Meanwhile, James had his Meccano set out to hold up the steel until the walls are there. Looks stable enough…. doesn’t it?
Saturday
I can’t resist taking pictures of the wood frame and the brick. I brought the wide angle lens down to have a play this weekend. We met up with Neil and Grant who were dodging raindrops, tidying up some of the oak frame and drilling holes in it (!) to secure it to the walls.
