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!