Autumn 2007

Roof party at the end of August. Great afternoon and some of the guests became a little bit wobbly - what the hell! After our party ended around dusk, Gunner and Caroline celebrated one year of bar ownership so we carried on there - everybody wobbly at the end of that! A couple of roof party piccies:

So fantastic, we have a roof. Most crusty old builders will say that we are about a third of the way through the overall construction once the roof is up. Only another four years to go then!

We laid the bedroom floor/ceiling and decided to press ahead and build the terrace flat roof area outside the bedroom which gives a wonderful view over the valley. Flat roofs are a real problem: you need a gentle gradient away from the house and also down to a corner without giving the feeling that one is on the Titanic (all tipped up, piano gradually slipping away, stage right). Managed to build it OK so the evening Gin and Tonic moment should be enjoyable looking out over the valley without any lop-sided affects. Here is a shot looking over the terrace with a view to the village.

Next job: build a little add-on to the side of the house that will serve as a workshop for me initially and later as Anne's own area (don't ask). Here it is waiting for the paint job (and one side of the roof to be finished, which in turn is waiting for the chimney to be constructed, which is waiting for the wood burner to be chosen.....)

Building this is a good opportunity to try out some different rendering techniques - wow! this is really anorak-ish. We've decided to go down the lime render route based on its natural breathing properties and the supposed softer colours (assuming we will use a non-plastic paint). The usual alternative is cement render which is very hard and is not breathable. We also considered using a single coat, white finished render (capa fina) that is meant to be breathable but I couldn't quite get my head around a) a single coat being effective, b) what exactly it is - new chemical or natural and, c) the comparative cost.

I had originally thought about constructing the windows and doors for the house myself, hence, building the workshop so I could accommodate the tools required. However, I got cold feet on this idea since I wasn't sure about whether I could achieve the accuracy and finishing required so that they wouldn't look like I had made them myself! We decided to cast around for carpenters and ended up using one in the village. Price-wise I don't think there was much in it bearing in mind our specifications. We will have pine windows, chestnut doors and iroko (type of teak) folding louvred outer doors. We now have the prospect of fitting these in a couple of months time. This is verging on the habitable!

The next major event is the removal of the temporary ramp that, at the moment, is situated in front of the west facing end. This is, indeed, a big deal for me since its my route to the first floor, the main roof and my workshop with all the materials using Bella the mini-dumper.

I don't think I've mentioned Bella anywhere yet. This is truly a fantastic bit of kit. Its more like a large motorised wheelbarrow that has a 4x4 drive, four forward gears and one reverse and a tipping release. I am able to move sand, gravel, blocks, tiles and concrete around the site with relative ease. Here it is at the top of the ramp.

The bottom grey area of the photo is the top of the retaining wall and basically the ramp will be levelled off to the top of the wall. We will then have a decent sized flat area that will, one day, be a terrace.

And, hey presto, here is a picture with the ramp freshly removed.

It doesn't look too much from here, but the earth wall is about 2 meters high and around 5 meters long. The intention is to build a barbeque along that wall and steps going to the left of it and behind.

The next couple of months and into the new year are going to be quite exciting. The windows and doors should be arriving, the woodburner has now been purchased (which means the roof and chimney can be completed), we can progress the rendering and, shock, horror, do some exterior painting.

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