Garage life

Walls are up to scaffold level nearly all the way round now - scaffolding is due tomorrow/Thurs.

And with the blockwork done on the garage it's the first room that you can walk into and it feels almost complete.  This pic is from yesterday and today the brickwork is up to the top of the blocks.

Will the earth move for you?

We now have bricks up to nearly the top of the wall at the front, rear and west elevation - the east/garage still needs some blockwork and then brick facing.  Here is the south/front elevation showing a) the window slits for the utility and loo and b) that one of the priorities this week is to shift some of the displaced chalk / subsoil:

Meanwhile we've had our equivalent of the Royal Progress - now that we have something approximating to a spare room, Alan's parents Pat and Judy were able to come down to view the works; here is Pat casting his professional (he's a civil engineer) eye over the garage...

We also took the opportunity to visit Mottisfont at 'peak rose'; here are some pretty flowers:

 And here are some of the roses!

The name's Bond....

...Flemish Bond...
It uses a few more bricks and a bit more labour than stretcher bond, but - doesn't it look nice!
We've been skiving today so here is a pic of a brickie at work brickieing as I passed not terribly high under the spread-out...

Wot no brickies?

We have been deluged by a question from a Faithful Reader as to why the blog hasn't been updated for the last couple of days.  Well, on Friday we got a bit more wall but not really enough to see much  difference - so for your delectation here is that extra bit of wall including the foundations for the pillars either side of the gable at the back over the stairs. 

Today it's been (so I am told) pouring with rain here most of the day so not ideal for bricklaying.  I'm hoping that it looks different by the end of tomorrow.  Plan is for walls to be completed this week.  Watch this space!

another brick in the wall

- several in fact, this is just up to ground level:

 and this is part of the story of how you make a house that doesn't need a heating system (we trust...):

Going up!

Alan stood in the front door yesterday:

 and today:

And here is the view from the front hall looking NW at the log-burner nook with the big bifold doors on either side:

And finally a raspberry to John who I've crossed off my Christmas card list ;)

We've got piles!

The brickies appeared today and spent an hour or two getting ready for Monday:

Their prep included making a little test wall for us to approve... "wot no bricks"... What do you think? Should we say yes?

Bricks!!

Bricks - put 'em down in a straight line
Bricks - build 'em into a wall
Bricks - very useful objects
They're not expensive at all

as the Diagram Brothers song went (if I remember correctly).  They were wrong about the last bit - but these are our best compromise of nice hand-made looks without paying stupid money.  Terca Renaissance for the outside and Thermalite for the inside.

The floor in the plan*

(*those of us that speak proper wouldn't have called it that...) The garage floor is polished ready for painting; the rest of the slab is ready for the brickies to start building the walls which I think is expected to start on Monday.  Round the outside today they've completed all the storm drains - nothing much to see now except a couple of post holes - and there's a big hole in the ground at the back which is the main soakaway.  So: the initial groundwork is largely completed, and the nice groundworks men will be back at the end to do the landscaping including the gabion wall around the terracing and parking area.

And we promised a pic of the hydrangea when it was in flower - it smells lovely and here it is:

End of week four - still on schedule

End of the week and ready to pour concrete for the floor slab first thing on Monday.

Hardcore news

No dramatic progress over the past few days, but the builders have been busy with their digger putting in drains and laying hardcore in preparation for the floor slab.

Made to measure

Footings now adjusted so the garage is correct size.

All they need to do now is build it up another seven metres and it's finished.

Our architect says the only thing holding up completion is a decision on what colour we are going to paint the walls.