Rain stops play

We're at a bit of a standstill with the workshop at the moment because of the relentless rain  which is a rather frustrating.  We have put the sheets of OSB (similar to chipboard, but made with bigger bits - I think it stands for Orientated Strand Board) on the outside and wrapped it all in nice green breather membrane.  Next to go on the outside is battens and then the wany-edged boards.  The wany-edge should be delivered at the end of this week.  On Friday we went over to Whitchurch (about 15 miles away) to a roofing and cladding firm to sort out what to put on the roof and, more importantly, how to do it.  Oh, the chap there was so helpful and explained it all to us and gave us loads of tips and then worked out exactly what we needed.   So, I can throughly recommend SLE Cladding Ltd if you are ever doing anything similar - they deliver all over the country!  We are going for black Onduline which is a corrugated sheet which doesn't produce condensation.  We are having 'rooflights' made of clear plastic which has the same wiggles as the Onduline so they fit together well.  Because the rest of the roof is having insulation and then board underneath it, we will have to make a sort of box under the clear bits and then put a flat piece of clear polycarbonate sheet under that so it still lets the light through, but doesn't attract too much condensation.  Once we had sorted out quantities, etc, we got onto when it could be delivered and our helpful chap started to look a bit doubtful and worried when we said we needed it fairly soon - they are obviously busy.  He went off to check and came back to ask if we'd be in later in the day!  So, it arrived about three hours after we got home and, once again, the delivery chap was really helpful with tips and advice.  It was a real pleasure dealing with them all and so much better than some anonymous oiks at an internet firm. 

Before winter set in!

Bob has made the frame for the big, south-facing window.  The glass for this is one of the pieces we ordered for the end bedroom, but which came with the wrong colour spacers round the edge.  The glass suppliers didn't want it back and so we thought we'd be silly not to use it.  The other, smaller, window frame is one of the ready made oak frames we bought at an auction ages ago - two for £20 which included all the iron catches and hinges, what a bargain!

May I introduce Matty Tomatter.  He grew on our hanging
basket tomato plant and just had too much character to end
up in a salad!

Lots of progress

Despite me working full-time hours for the last week or so, we've really made quite good progress.  The Friday before last was our screeding day.  Oh my, did I hurt by the end of it!!  I'm sure Bob did too, but he's not such a wuss as me and took it like a man.  We started at 8am by laying the underfloor heating cable.  We couldn't really put that down beforehand - the chickens would be bound to think it a good game to tangle themselves up in it I'm sure.  We then got straight on with the proper work.  We used our usual method with Bob on the mixer and barrow and me on my knees!  It took us a few mixes to get the consistency right.  It's funny how you forget these things - when we were doing the house floors I never thought I'd forget anything about it!

If it's too wet you can't 'polish' it  and it drags when you try to smooth it out , so it really does have to be quite dry.  Too dry though and it's really hard work.  Anyway, we got it sorted after the first few mixes.  Because this was a fairly large, fat L-shaped area, the concrete we laid cracked slightly as the two sides of the L pulled against each other as they dried and shrank.  So, for the screed we left a strip of wood in the middle (you can see it on this photo).  We will take that out later and fill in the gap, but it should let the two bits dry independently.  We laid the screed in strips with a piece of wood nearest me to pack it against and level off.  That way you are working in manageable blocks, but it does mean you are constantly leaning out over it and working at arms length.  By about the stage in this photo I really felt like crying because my knees hurt, my back ached and my arms were screaming.  Bob kept saying I could go in and he'd finish off - sooooo tempting, but I just couldn't do it, so I gritted my teeth and carried on.  With just a quick break for a sandwich and another for an choc ice (yes, it was really hot) we worked for 11 hours finally finishing tidying up at 7pm.

 

I never thought we'd get to this stage - the last little bit, yeah!  What a welcome sight.  We covered it all up with tarpaulin so it didn't dry too quickly which makes it stronger apparently.  Ooops, guess who stepped on a soft bit when the tarp was down and left a permanent, size 6 footprint in it?!  As soon as we'd tidied up, I had to go and lie down to stretch my bones out again.  Once showered, we celebrated in our usual beer and curry style - well deserved I think and we were both really pleased with our day's work.  Bob actually managed to get a bit of a suntan on his legs which doesn't usually happen . . . . well, actually it was just on the south-facing leg!

Having alternated work days with concreting or screeding, by Wednesday we were ready for a day off and so we went over to the lovely little town of Montgomery, had a look round the auction (nothing of interest to bid on), browsed the fantastic old-fashioned ironmongers, had a look round the gallery shop and had a coffee and then called at the garden centre on the way home - a nice moochy morning.  It then poured down in the afternoon, so we gave up on trying to put the plants we'd bought in and did nothing much instead.  We did go and collect a trailer full of horse muck from Ray (he owns a livery stable up the lane) which we're storing at the end of the garden on plastic sheets.  This should stop the weeds growing there while the muck rots down.  Later we want to try and make a wild flower area there, so we don't want too much richness from the poo going into the ground, hence the plastic sheets.

 

On Friday, my next day off, I was all set to do some pointing on the house - that's an ongoing job for any spare time.  Unfortunately, all our concrete and screed mixing had proved too much for our poor little cement mixer.  Bob was mixing some concrete for behind the workshop (easier to do before the workshop walls are up) and he went off to get something and, when he got back, the mixer had tipped itself and was spewing concrete down the path!  The bracket which holds the drum had sheared on both sides and bent forward!   So he took it apart and we took it to our blacksmith (the one who is STILL trying to bend a piece of metal for our stair handrail) and he welded two reinforcing strips onto it.  So, back to Friday and my pointing . . . . we put the mixer back together and plugged it in.  It all worked well . . . . . except that you had to keep your finger on the green button or it turned off - not really ideal!  It seems that, in taking it apart, one of the little 'spade couplings' in the electric bit had broken.  We have lots of spare bits like that, but nothing that was quite right.

 

So, we had to re-think our day and decided to get on with putting together the framework for the workshop walls.  Bob had already cut, marked and drilled all the long top and bottom pieces, so we needed to cut the uprights and fix them all together.  We got on really well and made three walls.  It was great having the nice flat workshop floor to work on.  We collected another trailer full of manure when we'd finished.  Then on Saturday, before I went to work, we put the last wall together.

 

Today, Sunday, we were going to go to the Michaelmas Fayre at Bishops Castle (another lovely little town), but decided that, as we were on a roll with the workshop, we'd get on with that instead.  My next day off is Wednesday, so by doing it today, Bob can get on with the next stage while I'm at work.  And so, this morning, we put the walls up!  They are quite heavy and quite waggly and it was quite windy.  So we had to do some creative-bracing, tying ropes around the fence, screwing bits of wood to trees, etc.  Everything went smoothly though and it was a very satisfying job done.  It does look very big in its space, it's actually quite tall and because it's at the top of the slope, this is emphasised even more.  Bob was quite worried and thought about cutting it down a bit, but having good head-height in a workshop makes a lot of difference - much easier when you're turning planks of wood round,etc.  I think that once it's clad in waney-edged boards and is softened a bit with plants and the ground around it is sorted out, it'll be fine.

 

After we'd put up all the walls, we went for another consignment of horse muck.  Oh, the chickens have had a wonderful time playing on the poo-pile!  They do look a bit of a mess though - I'm certainly not kissing them goodnight!

 

 

 

 



Lazy days and busy days

Yes, we've had a real mixture of laziness and being busy since I last spoke to you.  The builder came round and popped the blockwork footings in for the workshop in no time at all.  I have now painted them black on the outside, so once the ground outside is finished off and the cladding is on the walls, they should fade into insignificance.  We then went for our walk up a 'mountain' (not really a mountain, but it felt quite steep).  Thankfully, I wasn't the least fit amongst us and so it wasn't me holding everyone up - phew that was a relief.  The pint and bowl of chips at our friend's pub at the end of the walk were very welcome and very delicious.

Bob has laid all the drains, water pipes and electric cables to, from and round the workshop.  Yeah, we actually remembered to put the water pipe in before the foundations this time - just so much easier I don't know why we didn't do it for the extension!!  We forgot, that's why, in case you haven't read about that little episode.  We have even fed an armoured cable from the workshop, up behind the retaining wall to the top barns ready for when we do something to sort them out - an unusual bit of forwarding planning on our behalf I must say.

He then levelled the ground, filling in dips and chipping away at bedrock where necessary.  We hired a whacker plate to press it all down.  That was quite funny because it had been raining quite a bit and the middle was quite soggy even though we'd scooped out as much water as possible.  We ended up completely splattered with liquid mud.  Our solution was to tip the ends of bags of lime, plaster, etc onto the slop and then whacker it again.  Seemed to work, though experts would no doubt throw their hands up in horror!  Next came a layer of soft sand to level it even more (that gets whacked down too).  Then the damp-proof membrane which also goes up the sides and on top of the blockwork.  One corner of this building will be the motorbike store and that has a different floor construction to the rest of it.  The main workshop will have a step up to it, but it's not too easy to get  a Harley Davidson up a step, so the floor in that bit will be more level with outside.  We mixed and laid that bit ourselves on Sunday morning - just concrete straight on the DPM, a bit of garage floor paint and job done. 


The insulation all laid with an upstand all the way
round so heat can't escape!  It's been really sunny
and this stuff fair dazzles you if you look at it at the
right (or wrong) angle.  Bob wondered if he'd have
tanned the tops of his legs where the sun reflected
up his shorts!  He hadn't!!

The workshop part will have the same layers as the house.  So, 3" insulation, 4" concrete, underfloor heating then 2" of screed.  How posh is that to have underfloor heating in your workshop?!  We had some spare cable left when they sent the wrong stuff for the house and wouldn't come and collect it, so we thought we might as well use it.  It should make a huge difference in that Bob will be able to get to work straight away in the morning instead of having to wait for things to warm up . . . no excuses!  If, in the future, we need more room in the workshop and can house the bikes elsewhere, we will be able to take out the studwork walls, put insulation on top of the concrete floor and then screed on top of that and it will end up the same level, just not heated.  See, more forward planning - impressive huh?

Yesterday afternoon we had the readymix concrete delivered and, once more, roped in friends to help.  Phil the Barrow came again and Rob, our nearest neighbour, helped too.  Ann also came round and helped me do the levelling and tamping.  It took us just under an hour to lay and level 6 tonnes (or is it tons? Never sure if there's a difference) of concrete which I think is pretty good for amateurs.  Bob is now going back and forth to the builders' merchants getting trailers full of sand ready to do the screed.  We will try and get on with that tomorrow.  We have a fairly good system with Bob mixing and me on my hands and knees packing it in (it's quite a dry mix) then levelling and smoothing it.  I'm not sure if we'll get it all done in one go as it is really hard work, so we'll see how we get on.

First thing one morning last week, before we were actually properly up, we had a delivery of insulation . . . . . . 145 sheets of it!  The lorry driver wasn't happy with the branches overhanging the lane so stopped half way down and we had to carry it all dripping wet down the lane.  This is for the walls and roof of the workshop and we got it from a seconds company.  This was a real bargain and was less than half the price of ordinary stuff and it's actually in much better condition than the stuff we've had from the local builders' merchants in the past.


This week I've been at work quite a lot, but in the mornings before I go I've been trying to get on with our VAT claim.  Because we are renovating a house which hasn't been lived in for so long, we can claim back the VAT we've paid on goods and some services.  It's worth doing, but quite a chore to get it sorted out.  You have to submit and list all your receipts, send them the plans and a few other bits of paper.  I have kept a spreadsheet all along and kept the receipts in tidy order (rather than just chucking them in a carrier bag) and I'm really glad I did because I've just had to tweek and double check everything.  You have three months to submit your claim after building control have signed you off, so I'd better get on with it really.  It's not much fun or very interesting, but I've nearly finished.

Bob looking over the edge of the aquaduct

So, that's the work side of things, but we have also had quite a sociable few days.  Some friends from where we used to live rang the Sunday before last to ask if they could visit the next day.  Last time they came we were in the middle of underpinning, so there was plenty of progress for them to see.  Unfortunately, I had to work and they only arrived five minutes before I had to leave.  They were hiring a boat on the Llangollen Canal which is only a few miles away, so they invited us to join them for a day.  So on Thursday we gathered together a picnic, found where they'd moored their boat and off we chugged.  We had a really good day.  We went over the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct which is the longest and highest (126ft) aquaduct in Britain. 

Having walked over it a few times, we were prepared to be scared!  The footpath side has railings (obviously), but you can look straight down and it really does feel very, very high and quite scary.  The canal side has no railings at all, just a sheer drop down and I thought it would be even more scary, but it wasn't at all.  I think it is maybe because, from the boat, you can't look straight down.  Anyway, it was good fun and one ticked off our list of things we'd like to do.  We pootled along all the way to Llangollen then got on a steam train (pretending we were on the Hogwarts Express) for a short ride to see the horseshoe weir and then walked back to the boat along the towpath.  We then drove? navigated? boated? back to where we started doing the aquatuct again.  Apparently, the canalside pubs aren't too special, so we got in our car and drove over the hills (very steep and hairpin bendy) to our friend's pub in Glyn Ceriog and had a delicious meal in the evening.

On the Tuesday of the same week our old nextdoor neighbours came for their first visit and we had a lovely day with them showing them around, catching up on news of our old neighbours and a pub lunch.  And on the Thursday Bob and I went shopping in Shrewsbury which is quite a rare event, but we actually quite enjoyed it and had lunch out too.


Do you know, on Friday we will have lived in this cottage for a whole year . . . . can you believe that?!!