Two-pea pod

Last weekend we migrated West, making room for the Phase 2 works on the house. Our life is now one of a two-pea pod, consisting of living-quarters and sleeping-quarters. In between these two there is a big void – the building site.

This weekend we sat in the “comfort” of our semi-water-proof living room, listening to the hammering rain and the howling wind battering our unfinished master bedroom above… This morning to our relief the bedroom was still there, mostly dry and in one piece.

The start of the Phase 2 of the build saw the remainder of the old house taken down to ground zero in the first two days of this week! The roof, the walls and the windows went down, the tiled kitchen floor went up, and all that remained was the part of the house that is still hosting our temporary bedroom. The amount of rubble piled up in the front garden this week was enormous! Two muck-away trucks hardly made a dent in the pile, so two more runs have now been ordered for the coming week.

The next major steps of the build are:

Erecting 8 remaining steels of various shapes and sizes vertically and horizontally for the roof, first floor and patio doors supports
Levelling off the floors with scalpings and concrete screed
Finishing off the walls in the study, snug, kitchen, utility room and family bathroom
Measureing up and ordering the remaining windows and bi-fold doors
Building and insulating the Phase 2 roof
Waterproofing and tiling the whole roof with slate
Building flat roofs over the study and the snug and seeding with sedum
Getting the ordered windows, doors and bi-folds installed
Getting on with the internal works, such as plumbing, electrics, plastering etc..

Other tasks desperately in need of doing:

Sorting out hot water heating (cold showers are OK when it’s +30C outside. They are not OK otherwise)
Temporarily plumbing the washing machine (I don’t do launderettes… 🙁 )

This weekend we thought we would get away from it all, have a little break from the house and enjoy the little of the sunshine we had (in between the showers). – We spent the Sunday in the garden instead – attempting to finish of the steps in the corner of our garden leading to our chill-out corner… We ran out of flagstones and pebbles… The works are yet to be recommenced at a later date should we feel we are in need of another break 🙂

Right now we are sitting indoors with the rain hammering away outside, whilst the sun is trying to shine through the thick of the clouds; the patio doors open, potatoes from the allotment cooking away on the camping gas stove, the BarBQ warming up in anticipation of some veg and lamb chops… This is the good life… 🙂