Wont Somebody Think of the Drains!!!!

After tidying up the sink drainage inside the house, we were left with a bit of a mess outside the house....

So the builders did their magic and put in a new drain from the upstairs loo to the septic tank and a spur for the drainpipe.....

And married a new bit of pipework from the sink into it.

They have also put in the drainage for the downspouts around the house. Somehow I hadnt thought much about drainage, but its complicated stuff. Only certain water types can be drained into certain pipes, so it all has to be planned and ducted into the proper places.

Brickwork is Done

I know its been  a few days since I blogged, but brickwork, if done properly, take a while. This is the fruits of 4 days work. The builders can only do so many bricks at one time, and this project is quite big.

All the internal and external brickwork has now been done, It turned out that 3 different sized bricks have been used in the various remodellings of this house over the years, so they had a bit of trouble finding suitable sized bricks and getting the courses to marry up where they joined the house. They have done a superb job.

The old front door has now also been bricked up. This will be part of the new porch and will be plastered. We are just using the side door for a few weeks.

More on drainage soon............

Lintels ARE important!!!

Now the outside bricks are being laid at the back, its beginning to look more like part of the house. You see the square window at the back of the original house, in the new garden room? we were going to keep that aperture and put an open-able glass hatch in. Unfortunately - yes, you've guessed it - there is NO lintel above it. What we all (including the builders) though was a lintel faced with upright bricks, turns out to be bricks, but no lintel.

The window blew yesterday, and I ran out to tell the builder. We notice a small crack appearing up the brickwork. This is the section of wall where my thermalstore is above. Scary!!! I am glad the builders were there. So we are going to brick up the aperture where the window was. There will still be plenty of light as the 5’ double doors through to the garden room are glass, all the remaining wall is glass round the garden room, and we are having a huge window on the side of the house, in the kitchen/diner, where the old side window and door are now.

And Richard has re-done the plumbing into the drain to the side of the kitchen so the drain pipe you can still see, under the window, has now gone.

I am learning so much about how a house is supposed to be constructed properly.

Knitted Blanket Progress

I managed to design and knit another 12" square for my blanket this week, and have another one started. The next one is based on a traditional patchwork square : )

Starting the Walls.

Progress is being made. The walls are coming along nicely. I felt confident in these brickies when I saw they cut the bricks from the corner of the house to tie the extensions in properly. There are also metal wall ties being added.

This photo brings home to me that the back is actually 5 meters long, the entire width of my kitchen. It feels HUGE

Almost all of the interior wall is done now at the back. The walls are low ones, for maximum window coverage all round, and I can see when the doors to the garden will be. Anyone want an oil tank?????

And they are all ready ready to start on the front extension walls tomorrow. My hydrangea is half the size it was, but is flowering its socks off.

Completing the Bases

The builders used sand to level the bases ready for the DPN.

Then the Damp Proof membranes are laid at the front and back, lining a trough for the concrete

 The concrete mixer arrives again : )

They used planks to level the concrete and tamp it down to remove any air bubbles.

And Ebony The Cat couldn't help putting his paw-print on the front base, just as the concrete was nearly set.

A final smoothing with a trowel, and the bases are ready.

Firm Foundations

How to get a lot of concrete in one place at one time.

They poured the load into the trench, then had to use shovels to spread it and level it.

The trench is now level, ready for the base walls.

then string and a spirit level came into play to get the blocks into position for the base walls.

Thats it, all caught up for last week, ready for 7am tomorrow when they start again : )