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?!!