Yes!
A new material has arrived. Steel. I love steel. Well, I do after looking at 17-18000 concrete blocks since April. Steel is the best. Steely steel steel.
Anyway, what may have not been clear to readers, unless you looked at the post that referenced the plans, is that there is a bigger structure around the side and the back of the house that supports an additional room and a large deck.
The additional room is cantilevered above the ground below and in to the trees. Supporting all this is a custom made steel frame. This has been made to measure off site, galvanised and then erected on site. The pictures, as ever, probably explain it better.
From the back of the house, most of the frame you see will support a deck across the entire back of the house that extends the upper living space by about 3 meters.
As an aside, and it would be easy to miss, the land has been built up outside the back of the house making the rainwater harvesting tank disappear along with the other drainage works.
Above, from the master bedroom you can see the L shape in the frame. The part of the frame that juts out will support the steps down to ground level - joining up the living spaces to create a communal and social living space (something Kevin McLoud would say).
Above, not something we have been able to appreciate up until now. Looking from downstairs through the gap that will take the stairs you can see the frame for the front door. As the front door, and the roof above it, will be glass the daylight and the view of the trees should be quite a sight first thing in the morning when climbing the stairs.
Again, something that is now clearer than it has been. From left to right on the top floor we have the dining room, the kitchen and behind the garage the utility room. Under the utility room window is the rest of the deck above the master bedroom.
The cantilevered room is defined by the part of the steel frame that runs from the house on the left to the 2 uprights. Everything else will support the deck around it.
Another view of the cantilever room from the dining room, the cantilever room will only be accessible from the dining room. This picture shows how close to the trees the room and the deck will be.
Last photo. We do sometimes think it would be cool to be able to park the car under the cantilever room, it works with the dumper - but a mini cooper doesn't have the torque or the 4WD, This photo gives a view of the steel work from ground level.
There are a bunch of other photos here
It's a load of blocks at the moment so the blogging has slowed down a bit. Each visit is interesting to us as we notice each wall has moved on a little, a new wall gets started, a room changes slightly. But, at the end of the day, it's just blocks.
So, this blog is more of an update on what we have been posting for the last few weeks. Pictures of blocks, and the climb to get to wall plate level. This is a key phase as it means the roof can start to be constructed.
That all said, one thing to report that is more than just blocks, gas! We have gas, so to speak.
Above, the gas connection at the front of the house, just outside the garage. Next to it is a hole for the electricity.
The rest of the building is starting to creep up, some of this can be repetitive given you feel the same wall is being built twice (cavity walls).
Above, you can see the side of the house and the proximity to the neighbours. Great to see the outer skin going up, the DPC (damp proof course) is not visible around the window anymore and the lintels are in.
Above, simply the kitchen window! The chair is not part of the house, as cool as school retro is.
Stood in the garage looking into the utility room. View from the utility room out over Coytrahen. Green!
Stood in in the kitchen looking back out the front door. The brick outline represents the hallway cupboard and WC. On the other side of the wall is the snug.
Looking out from the dining room down to the master bedroom. No building over this room, the joists will eventually support part of the deck. The master bedroom looks back into the quadrant behind the house. To the left of the bedroom will be a door, this also provides extra light to the downstairs hallway.
Standing in the back garden looking up at the kitchen window and the space for for doors outside the dining room. Ellie's bedroom below. A bit of work to do on the outer skin of the cavity wall.
Rainwater harvesting provides an independent water supply during regional water restrictions and in developed countries is often used to supplement the main supply. It provides water when there is a drought, can help mitigate flooding of low-lying areas, and reduces demand on wells which may enable ground water levels to be sustained. It also helps in the availability of potable water as rainwater is substantially free of salinity and other salts.
That's what our favourite online encyclopedia says about it. Basically we are saving rainwater to run the toilets and the washing machine.
You need one big container, buried in a big hole, connected to the water supply and the drain pipes that pumps water when needed. As the new house will be on a water meter, this will allow us to use water "off meter", this saves money and is ecologically sound.
This is what the gizmo looks like, and the hole that is sits in.
A couple more pics...
Yesterday we popped up to the land as usual and bumped into the guys working on the house. It was great to meet them, they explained what was happening and what will be happening over the next couple of weeks.
We left the site knowing we had the finest craftsmen of Kinnegad (Co West Meath, Eire), South Cornelly, Tonypandy and Maesteg working on our house, it was a good feeling.
Pat, it was good to meet you and the guys, hope you like the photos.
Pat getting ready to tidy up after a Saturday shift. While talking to Pat he estimated we have used 15-16000 concrete blocks so far, most of which you cannot see anymore. To put that into perspective I think it is about 25 miles worth of block if you laid them end to end, enough to take you to the other side of Cardiff from the site!
Above, more of what was completed on Saturday. The 2 pillars are either side of the lounge (and the toilet on the right). The gap between them will be glass, so not much more block work required to complete the front of the house.
The front right pillar also forms the corner of the side of the house, again a lot of glass to go on the side so that pillar only needs to go up.
The guys finishing off what they had started on Saturday. Wall separating the garage (foreground) from the hallway and kitchen. You can see to the left of the guys working the doorway from the kitchen to the garage.
Pat - great to meet you and the guys, see you again soon.
The first floor is taking shape, after the builders put down some block and beams last weekend, they have spent this week primarily finishing off this work.
So we have moved from this
to this
In this photo we have first glimpse of the room and how they fill the first floor. In the middle of the foreground we have the corner of the kitchen started. To the right you can see a ladder peeking through what will be the stairwell. The arm of the digger represents the front door location pretty much. The far corner (top middle of the photo) is the snug, with the dining room to the right of the photo.
A couple more photos...
Scaffolding ready for next week and the building of the largest wall, the side wall.
Photo from inside the kitchen looking to the garage, the break in the wall (bottom left) is the door through to the garage.
As exciting as it all is, we are getting used to just seeing more blocks each day. We can now see the shape of the rooms downstairs, so in the sense of a house emerging in front of us not much new is happening. That was until Friday....
Start of the week
Then
...and then...
...and then on Friday...
...and then on Saturday.
Below are the views when standing on the new 'ceiling',
Well, haven't been on site for a couple of days, so it was relatively exciting to visit tonight. It is hard not to visit every night, so you see changes but they are small changes. If you can stay away for a couple of days or more your reward is to see a more significant change.
Tonight we started to get a feel for the scale of the place, with a doorway downstairs in place and fully defined. Also the beams for the upstairs block and beam floor have started to arrive on site. A sign that the block work downstairs is soon to be complete.
Above, the key supporting wall running the length of the hallway is at full height. Master bedroom in foreground, spare bedroom in the distance.
Above, the master bedroom walls nearly at full height.
The door to the master bedroom from the other side (hallway).
Classic ariel shot of the new wall and door!
