Monday 25 June
Photos taken of the deepened footings and sent to Building Control first thing, as the Inspector said he would sign off this stage off the build based on photos. I was a bit surprised therefore to hear someone knocking on the front door later that morning and finding the Building Inspector standing there. He was in the area, so thought he's drop in....
After jumping into the trench, he pronounced he was satisfied and we could go ahead and pour the concrete. At last!!
Quick text to the man in charge to tell him the good news. The bad news came back that they can't get the concrete truck until Thursday, so that's another three days with nothing happening on site this week.
At my request, the man in charge has also sent photos of the bricks he is proposing to use for the walls of the side return extension. While they would have been fine at the front of the house which is red brick, the bricks at the back of the house are much lighter - a mix of pale yellow/light orange.
I spent the afternoon at the local builders merchant's hunting down bricks that would be a better match, and taking one of the original bricks with me (to the surprise and delight of the salesman, when I pulled it out of my backpack). Impressed by my foresight, he took me to the yard to see what they had in stock. The very last palette of bricks looked perfect, but they were a special order for another customer so I couldn't reserve them for my extension. But at least I now knew the name of the brick I wanted - "Oxford Multi Yellow Waterstruck" that looks like this:
....And back at home I could tell the builder what I wanted and give him the names of a couple of suppliers that had them in stock, so it felt like I had made some progress today.
Tuesday 26 June
No progress on the building front, but I have updated my neighbours about the concrete delivery and brick selection, and cleared up the garden a bit, picking up the last remains of the clematis Armadii which had blown about and settled amongst the other plants. Too hot to do much else, other than take an eBay item sold at auction to the nearest UPS depot for delivery to its new owner and sit in the sunshine in the garden reading the last sections of Saturday's newspaper.
Wednesday 27 June
All quiet on the building front. A chance to enjoy the fine weather in the garden in peace and quiet.
Thursday 28 June
Knock on the door at 8.15am. The concrete delivery has arrived. First up is a small truck towing the pump, which we manage to make space for on the road by one of my neighbours moving his car. The huge concrete mixing truck arrived shortly after, along with the builders.
Lots of activity as they lay out pipes from the pump through the house, in through the front door and out of the back window into the footings trench, and join them together. The the big moment - the pump is switched on and the concrete starts flowing, much to the delight of one of my younger neighbours, a three year old who wanted to see what was going on.
By 9:45am they have finished pouring the concrete and are beginning to dismantle the pipework, wash everything down and pack it away. By 10 am it's all over, and the trucks pull away and the builders leave less than two hours after arriving. I think I'll have to treat that as 0.25 day!
I am now going to sit and watch concrete drying for the next couple of days....
One month in...
So....here we are at the end of four weeks into the ten week house project, and the builders have spent a grand total of 3.75 days actually working on site, due to problems getting skips, communication issues and the Building Control Officer wanting the footings to be deeper, thereby delaying the planned concrete pour. My frustration at the slow progress has been tempered by being able to sit out and enjoy the garden in this long run of hot sunny weather. But I really do hope things speed up from now on!!
Photos taken of the deepened footings and sent to Building Control first thing, as the Inspector said he would sign off this stage off the build based on photos. I was a bit surprised therefore to hear someone knocking on the front door later that morning and finding the Building Inspector standing there. He was in the area, so thought he's drop in....
After jumping into the trench, he pronounced he was satisfied and we could go ahead and pour the concrete. At last!!
Quick text to the man in charge to tell him the good news. The bad news came back that they can't get the concrete truck until Thursday, so that's another three days with nothing happening on site this week.
At my request, the man in charge has also sent photos of the bricks he is proposing to use for the walls of the side return extension. While they would have been fine at the front of the house which is red brick, the bricks at the back of the house are much lighter - a mix of pale yellow/light orange.
I spent the afternoon at the local builders merchant's hunting down bricks that would be a better match, and taking one of the original bricks with me (to the surprise and delight of the salesman, when I pulled it out of my backpack). Impressed by my foresight, he took me to the yard to see what they had in stock. The very last palette of bricks looked perfect, but they were a special order for another customer so I couldn't reserve them for my extension. But at least I now knew the name of the brick I wanted - "Oxford Multi Yellow Waterstruck" that looks like this:
....And back at home I could tell the builder what I wanted and give him the names of a couple of suppliers that had them in stock, so it felt like I had made some progress today.
Tuesday 26 June
No progress on the building front, but I have updated my neighbours about the concrete delivery and brick selection, and cleared up the garden a bit, picking up the last remains of the clematis Armadii which had blown about and settled amongst the other plants. Too hot to do much else, other than take an eBay item sold at auction to the nearest UPS depot for delivery to its new owner and sit in the sunshine in the garden reading the last sections of Saturday's newspaper.
Wednesday 27 June
All quiet on the building front. A chance to enjoy the fine weather in the garden in peace and quiet.
Thursday 28 June
Knock on the door at 8.15am. The concrete delivery has arrived. First up is a small truck towing the pump, which we manage to make space for on the road by one of my neighbours moving his car. The huge concrete mixing truck arrived shortly after, along with the builders.
Lots of activity as they lay out pipes from the pump through the house, in through the front door and out of the back window into the footings trench, and join them together. The the big moment - the pump is switched on and the concrete starts flowing, much to the delight of one of my younger neighbours, a three year old who wanted to see what was going on.
By 9:45am they have finished pouring the concrete and are beginning to dismantle the pipework, wash everything down and pack it away. By 10 am it's all over, and the trucks pull away and the builders leave less than two hours after arriving. I think I'll have to treat that as 0.25 day!
I am now going to sit and watch concrete drying for the next couple of days....
One month in...
So....here we are at the end of four weeks into the ten week house project, and the builders have spent a grand total of 3.75 days actually working on site, due to problems getting skips, communication issues and the Building Control Officer wanting the footings to be deeper, thereby delaying the planned concrete pour. My frustration at the slow progress has been tempered by being able to sit out and enjoy the garden in this long run of hot sunny weather. But I really do hope things speed up from now on!!
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