Smoke On The Water (Proofing)

Today our new roof was being treated to the first part of the process to make it waterproof. More roofing to come, but this will help when the weather returns to it's normal self.



As the song says, there was a fire in the sky



In other developments, we now have a lot of concrete down.

Up On The Roof

It's been a while since i last blogged anything, and this photo gave me the perfect opportunity.

Steve, up on the roof.



We should have put a roof garden (or a pool!) on top of it. Would be nice sitting up there in the evening!

There's a big hole in the middle (deliberately). All will be revealed soon...

Picture In A Frame

Another day, more wood, more bricks, more walls, and some roof. Adam has grabbed some offcuts and is keeping busy trying to saw through them with his plastic saw. It might take a while!

The view across the new room(s)

Norwegian Wood

Okay, I have no real proof that it's Norwegian, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Lots of wood going up today. Amazing how different the site looks with the timber frame going up.

Steve & Gary:



As it looks now:

Broken Bricks

Tam and Gary started knocking the external wall down today. The roof is supported on the inner wall, so this just saves time later on when we come to break through.
We can't get on with the drainage yet so things are being rejigged a little to make best use of the time.

Parallel Lines

Another couple of days have passed, and things are really starting to take shape.



Hit our first snagette: it looks like the architect thought our house and next door are parallel, but they're not - they're slightly angled so that the sides converge towards the rear, presumably because the fronts are square to the road which curves slightly. Not a big deal but it means that the access corridor down the side of the extension will be narrower than anticipated, particularly at the back of the house.

It's enough to drive a man to drink, so I need a pint of this:

Concrete Jungle

Putting the foundations down. Lots and lots of concrete.

Tam in the trench



A filled trench



The site now:

Walls come tumbling down

First of the external walls came down today, with the back of the 'sunroom' going into the skip. Another noisy day, although i'm pretty good at 'tuning out' as Emma can testify!

Aaron and Gary hard at work:



End of the day:

Can You Dig It?

I'm sure the novelty will wear off after a few weeks, but at the moment it's all fresh and exciting. Existing patio and garden wall all pulled up, and a digger has arrived. John and Rod both called in this morning, so at one point we had five people on site. That's a lot of coffee to make.

John on the digger:


Tam in the trench:

Day1: This Is The Day

After several months of planning and thinking about it, the first day of work arrived, and it's been chucking it down with rain. Typical, after all the recent sunshine.
At 8am sharp the electricians arrived to disconnect electricity from the garage and the part of the house that's about to be demolished. Power back on by 9am, which meant no interruption to the working day. Which is handy. I think ;)
The garage is down already, piled up in the enormous skip on our drive and the concrete slab it was on is now just rubble. Amazing what three guys can get done in a day.



And the rubble:

The Masterplan

The problem: the garage is about to fall down. The kitchen is too small, and all the wet boots, coats and junk end up in there.
The solution: knock it all down and build something better. At the end of it we'll have a bigger dining kitchen, utility room, new garage and a lot more space.

Having got quotes from a number of builders, we picked J Wood Builders.

We're still waiting for building control to give their final approval to the revised drawings, but at the moment that's not blocking making a start.

For posterity, here's what it looked like before (from the back garden)