Monday - electrics to barn started, side wall stone goes up, fireplace discovered in bedrooms. Small! Tuesday - Aga engineer visit, date decided for around 2nd May, porch walls started, side walls finished, measured out for veggie patch. Wednesday- Raining. Steps at back started… Tidying up ready for deliveries. Discovered Aga won’t do hot water. Oops. Thursday - Veggie plot timbers delivered at 7am, Crane and forklift driver arrived at 7.10am, oak delivered at 8am, all finished by 9.45… oil for oak delivered, cesspit not emptied. Sarah had a haircut, Guy went to the dentist and visited the Aga shop to point out they might have mentioned about the lack of hot water as it affects what kind of boiler we have etc etc. Friday - Cesspit emptied, posh filter tap arrived, crane arrived, walls being built, steps at the back solid but not stoned yet, porch walls finished.
End of blog.
What do you mean, you want DETAIL? Good grief...
OK, here's a pic of the VERY small fireplace in the bedroom. It's cute!
We've decided to keep it uncovered but not usable, but it will be a cute feature. Or it will be a cute feature until we decide that's the only wall the bed can go on at which point it will become an expensive hole.
It was a simply gorgeous day so while I was up on the scaffolding I took a picture of the slightly rickety chimney. BOB says it's safe...
The Aga engineer visited on Tuesday and spoke to BOB which was a relief as it all got a bit technical. The upshot is that when I arranged the installation date for 2nd May I was asked 'are you sure the builder will be ready?' I said 'yes' very definitely - we know BOB and they don't. Because the quantity surveyor wanted to know if we could run two small radiators off the Aga I queried this when arranging the installation. 'Your Aga won't do any hot water'. WHAT???? SERIOUSLY??? This is News To Us and means that we have basically just ordered the world's most expensive cooker. Guy and I had a serious conversation about whether we still wanted it, then realised that it would probably still do all the other stuff an Aga does like air the house, dry and iron clothes, warm us up, make seriously good casseroles and fruit cake and generally make the whole house breathe. And reduce the heating bills. So we decided to go ahead, although Guy then popped into the Aga shop in Cardiff after his dentist appointment (you wouldn't believe how organised our diaries are right now) and gently pointed out they should have mentioned it and also to just check that it would still feel like an Aga. It did, and Aga agreed they should have mentioned the lack of hot water - they're giving us a free plinth for the Aga by way of an apology. Fair enoughski.
Work was started on the porch walls at the front (oak porch, small stone wall at bottom) and also on the small patio wall. Everyone that comes on site admires the beautiful curved wall that is going to be behind the larger extension. We really will have to do tours when the extension is in the way of seeing it...
On Wednesday afternoon I had a call from WOF (Welsh Oak Frame) who said that all of our oak (roof and two extensions) would be arriving at 8am on Thursday morning and was that ok? Oh yes! I then had a phone call from Pontrilas Sawmills who I had ordered sleepers from for the veggie patch who asked if they could deliver on Thursday morning and, if so, how early? We agreed 7am... As we're not actually living there, Guy and I made sure we were on site by 6.40 just in case... It was still dark. Sure enough the sleepers turned up at 7am on the dot..
And the crane/forklift driver (Robin) turned up at 7.10... He helped unload, bless him, and the sawmills lorry disappeared just as the oak arrived. The lorry was too large to get up the drive, so the driver stopped in the lane and Robin whizzed up and down on his 3 wheeled forklift unloading. His forklift was amazing - it's one of those that can go forward, back and sideways. Brilliant!
All of the oak was parked on the hardcore at the side of the house (another forethought by BOB)...
This is Mopsi sitting in front of the SIPs for the music room. A SIP is a Structural Insulated Panel and it means the room will go up really quickly. That's a music room just waiting right there...
And those are Roof Bits. Technical term, obvs... We think the smaller one is an end of the music room, and the larger ones are for the extension on the other side. We think. Luckily it's not us that has to put it all together. Each piece is labelled F1 or F2 or similar. Apart from some other SIPs that say 'Bowden Head'. Nope, no idea...
On Friday the crane arrived and the forklift left. We now have a HUGE crane parked ready to start putting the roof on at 8am on Monday.
Will we sleep at all tonight? Probably not - we're like kids at Christmas!!
Only one more sleep before the roof gets started....
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