Thanks to all who helped while I was crocked.

To Steve, Wayne, Bill, Niek, Simon, and Dad, thanks so much for all your hard work. It's paid off, as the place is still standing, and can now be used for its intended purpose, even though I haven't completely finished it yet. Without you, I don't know where we would be.

Thanks so much.

Apologies if I've missed anyone, but I was on a lot of drugs at the time.

This




Plus Gravity

=


I fell fromthe roof of the garage onto the ground, and was lucky to 'only' break both my wrists, quite badly. It's been a month now, and things seem to be on the mend. I hope it continues and doesn't interfere with the amount of work I'm able to do myself.

General progress report.

What have we achieved in just under a year?

Well we sold our old house, moved into a rented place 1/2 a mile away from the steading, had a baby, bought the steading, sorted out various access issues, cleared the inside of the place, removed countless tons of earth / muck from the inside of the place in order to give us enough room inside for 2 storeys in one 'wing' and for the concrete floors, insulation, and underfloor heating in the rest of the place.

The drainage is nearly all in, one part of the steading has had its foundations underpinned, the crushed rock has been put into the place to form a clean, porous, stable base for the concrete is in, some walls have been removed, and some others have had holes made in them for doorways etc.

Outside the septic tank is in, the driveway and turning area is sort of in, it's not finished, but the cars and lorries won't sink into the mud, the timber shed has been demolished, and the 'garden' has been landscaped to a degree, and toms and toms of earth have nem dumped. There are many tons of building materials, one wall has had the pointing raked out, the base for the garage is in, and the garage is in the process of being built.

Am I happy with the progress so far?

I must admit that I am, we had a long lay - off while waiting for the rights of access to be sorted, and thereafter for the mortgage funds to be released. but it's really great to be at the stage of putting things back rather than taking them away, and I'm really enjoying building the garage at the moment.

(Colleagues please note, I'm not doing everything, there will be PLENTY to do on the 30th and 31st of the month)

I got wood

To build the garage, I need lots of wood


(Which was kindly delivered last Friday, so I set about it with saws, screwdrivers, drills, and nails) resulting in this:-



Tip :- Don't try to lift a 4.8 metre section of wall by yourself. They're bloody heavy.

Digging out then putting back.

Over the last month or so, the steading has been dug out as much as it needs to, and some material has been put back in, namely 50 tons of hardcore / crushed rock, and the drainage for the downstairs bathrooms. The main body of the place is on hold a bit while we wait for graite to be delivered. (Should be here in about 6 - 8 weeks) There is a bit of underpinning to be done though, so I won't be twiddling my thumbs.

I won't be twiddling my thumbs anyway, as the base for the garage is complete, and the timber for the garage is arriving on Friday. And I need to turn it from a pile of wood into a set of frames ready to be put up by some willing (and perhaps unwitting, although I hope not) volunteers. By the end of the month.

Well, it's amazing what a good operator with an excavator can do in a day.

4 more days work and we should be in a much better position to do things like making a start on the garage etc etc etc.

The granite for the new openings has been prdered today as well.

I've got a point.

Well, I've got to point.

The whole of the north wall of the steading is now raked out and ready to be repointed with nice new lime mortar. Hopefully I'll pick it up quickly............ Still, I'll get tons and tons of practice, much like digging, humping crap about, and clattering myself on the thumb with a hammer. And probably falling into holes I've dug - actually I've done that lots already.

The builders merchants are dropping off a load of stuff with swhich I can make a tremendous mess next week. And the electric is being connected up tomorrow.

It's moving - slowly, but it's moving.

RESULT!!!

The right of access to lay a drain through our neighbours land has been granted, only 5 months after we bought the steading. (We tried to insist it was done before we bought it, but the seller dug their heels in, and put the steading back on the market. We took the chance of buying the steading and getting the deed done ourselves, and it's now paid off) Needless to say we do hold a somewhat tarnished view of the seller.......

Tradespeople permitting, it's full steam ahead now. The first lump of mortgage comes in tomorrow, and I'll be spending some of it on hiring a big digger for a few days, and a tractor and trailer, and buying a septic tank along with several tons of gravel. (About 20 to start with)

And probably an ill advised power tool or two, but I've already got a chainsaw, and nailguns. Anyone got any other suggestions?

Snow and drain.

The sewer is now mostly installed, around the west and north sides of the steading, along with some perforated pipe for surface drainage. Some pics of the inside of the shell too.

Most of the standing water has drained away, following a bit of judicious digging under the wall where the orange poo pipe can be seen on the right. That was a nice job, lying in water digging under the massive stones of a 2 foot thick wall. Look on the bright side though, at least the poo pipe hasn't been used yet.

Quagmire - Tastic!