Blocks day2

Two hard workers!!



View out the kitchen windows - sink will be under the one on the right.

View out double doors from dining area in kitchen.

Blocks starting

Blocks started today with the cavity insulation.

Finished Floor

The finished ground floor was poured and polished today.


Blocks should start later this week. Can't wait to see the walls going up.

Sub floor levels.

The radon barrier has been installed (above) - to protect us from that horrible gas - even though apparently you don't need it with a raft foundation, but regulations still demand it!


The floor insulation has been installed and also the ground floor plumbing - so many decisions so far - where do you want this sink, what size radiator, where is the washing machine going .. so many decisions already - and I am sure so many mistakes made already :-)


With the blocks at edges, you can finally make out each room and their sizes. Can't believe so much has happened in the past week.




The garage is being prepared in the background - hopefully that will be poured next week - but knowing our builder, I could get a suprise if I go out there tomorrow!!

Foundations being poured

As always - click on the pictures to see them in full size.




Concrete finally being poured for our foundations. Can't believe there is so much steel needed in the foundations. No chance of this house ever moving!!!
The two pipes sticking up in the middle are for the bathroom waste.

What a difference a day makes

Starting to finally look like a real site! Shuttering and some of the steel in for the concrete pour this week. They will finish the steel tomorrow. The shuttering gives the outline of the house which gives us an idea of our rooms etc.

Going up finally instead of down!

The hardcore has gone in and the site is finally looking like a building site!




These are mounds of hardcore - the steel will be going in the gaps between them to support the concrete first floor and house.





This is the outline showing the front porch.


This will be the view from the double doors in our kitchen/dining room.


The shuttering around the house outline has been done and the steel is finally going in for the concrete pour. I will upload some photos if the weather improves!!

Ground almost zero

21st June 2009

We have found a lot of rock where our foundations need to be. We need to go down 3 feet, but it will involve many days of the rock breaker going.

Personally, I think it looks more like a bomb site than a building site!




We now have roads or at least something solid to drive into site on. (My parents house in the background near the castle)

Above is the entrance from road. Below is the break in the high wall into house.


Just click on any photos in the blog to enlarge them.

First signs of activity

13th June 2009
Digger has arrived and the entrance to the site is knocked in preparation for the ground works next week. Finally starting the build!

The castle you see in the background is Ralahine Castle which caused a lot of extra conditions on our planning due to being located so close to a national monument.

Below is the second wall we need to break through. This will be lowered in time to allow the sunshine into our house.