Even more metal

We visited the site today whilst even more beams were being installed. The build appears to be coming along nicely.
Only fly in the ointment is the time to completion, we have been told mid February all being well.
Must look on the bright side, at least by the time we move in the weather will start to be getting warmer, ideal for the house warming.

More beams

Over the past 6 weeks we have been having a few problems with our build. The beams have been a big problem and we are only just seeing progress with them.

Our original brickie left us high and dry, problems at home, one day he was there and the next he had gone. It took a few weeks to get a new team in but now the new brickies are doing a splendid job, the chippies are on site as well constructing the joists and some rafters.

By the end of the week we hope to have most of the remaining steals up.

We hope that the build is back on track and with a lot of luck we may be in the house before January 2011, but I am not counting my chickens.

Quick update, sorry no pics today

Hi folks,

Sorry no pics today as nothing has happened over the past three weeks. This blog is just an update to let you know what is happening.

Well firstly our head brickie walked off site taking his team with him, sadly the head brickie had family problems which led to a nervous breakdown and just couldn't cope with anything.

Then we had a few issues with the steels.

Today we had a big site meeting involving Bob & Simon from GAP the structural engineers, two chaps from the steel manufacturers, one chap who does the CAD drawing for the steel manufacturers, Peter the fitter from Balconette who are producing the curved patio doors, David Fenning who is designing the glass roof and finally Ross and Baron our builders who are co-ordinating everything and building our house.

We have also had a meeting with Paul the electrician to sort out the finer details of the lights.

Now that they have all the details clarified on paper they can now get down to work and start building.

Good news, the new brickies starts on Wednesday providing the weather is good.

Bad news, the weather forecast is terrible for Wednesday.

As soon as anything changes on site I will post new photos, hopefully in the not too distant future.

View over Hamworthy Park from Scaffolding

Well folks, sorry not much of an update, all the action is taking place in the background. We have a site meeting with the Structural Engineers, Balconette (the patio door manufacturer) and our builders Baron and Trudy to discuss the steel structure and the fixing of the patio doors. The doors are curved with curved glass so manufacture takes quite a time and they obviously have to be right first time. We also have a meeting with the electrician, to discuss the lighting circuits, could take quite a while. Then we have a meeting with a glass company to discuss the glass roof attached to our lounge, sounds boring but once you get into glass it is really very interesting (sigh - getting sadder by the minute). Once all these meetings are concluded over the next two weeks the build will continue. So until then - silence.

p.s. we have received an offer on our house in Stur which we have accepted, so it's all systems go on that front.

The curved beam

The curved beam has arrived and is now joined to the rest of the metal framework. Brick-work is continuing to rise, now in breeze block as the top half of the house is rendered. Chippies also on site fitting the joist for the upper floor. Onwards and upwards as they say.

Just an update

The crane type thing arrived (that's technical isn't it) and tweaked the beams into their correct positions and then the chippies arrived and started to install the first floor joists, that meant that the scaffolding had to go up a bit.

The pictures here show the crane arm and the lorry, the joists, the beams and they also show the lovely view of Poole Harbour and the Purbecks. The view to the left is Brownsea island.

The curved steel should be arriving this week, it is being galvanised at the moment then the house should take on a whole new look.

The steels arrive

After a hectic trip to the Le Mans Classic and a mad week driving the Morgan on the quiet smooth French roads we have returned to find that some of the steels have arrived and have been erected. The erected steels will be tweaked into their correct positions tomorrow and then the chippies will be on site.
The side garden retaining wall is also taking shape now and looking rather good.

Some of the walls had to be rebuilt this week due to the very high winds in the storm. Two steps forward, one step back, but we are going in the right direction.