Days 18 to 22 - A busy week

After the lethargy of late summer and autumn it really is flat out on the house. At the beginning of the week the freshly boarded roof was battened and all the wall edges finished off. Then the chimney went in followed by a couple of days of tiling the roof. There was also a bit of work went on around the veranda area at the back. Finally, on Friday  UPVC windows started to be fitted and by close of play half had been fitted.

Still not at all sure about that unroofed bit at the back and what that is for.Time will no doubt tell.

Day 17 - roof gets boarded

With rain forecast over the next few days the priority for the builders on day 17 seemed to be getting the roof boarded. They worked hard on this and finally got it done about 6pm Friday evening. As well as that they laid a slim line of blocks at the base of the boarding on each side of the house (can just be seen in the photos).

Also that day the roof tiles were delivered and stacked out the front of the house, presumably in readiness for fitting them next week.

I am sure once the roof is on the next task will be to get the windows in, and maybe a door or two!

Days 15 & 16 - roof going on

Sorry but forgot to take the camera on Wednesday so here is a post for Wednesday and Thursday. As expected, all hands to the roof. Gable ends up and roof frames (or is that trusses?) fitted.

As can be seen from the last photo, the other work completed is the formation of the concrete beams for the veranda roof. Bit strange this as veranda area seems to be divided into two parts with one area (one on the right) being accessed from lounge and the other only accessible from outside. Could this be a sort of summer kitchen area?

Day 14 - full steam ahead

Seems it is all go once again as there was much activity at the site today. Most of this centred around pouring concrete both into the formwork for the lintels over the windows and into the core of the row of hollow blocks around the top of the house. This line of cast concrete around the top of the house incorporating rebar forms what they call here the "cienture" or belt which ties it all together.

This is in preparation for the placing in position of the roof frames which have now been sitting on site for a couple of sometimes very wet months. Hope they are still straight!

Day 13 - 2 months after day 12!

Well, we finally seem to be under way again after a delay of some 9 weeks. Strangely it would appear I was wrong about them waiting for pre-made windows to drop in as electric shutter mechanisms have now been set into the tops of the window apertures and shuttering for the lintels formed above them. 

The only other work done is the casting of a concrete pillar at the rear at the house to support the corner of the roof over the veranda.

Day 12 - all walls now level

Some more courses of bricks went up today but only to level out all the walls and then only to the top of all the window apertures. This further confirms to me the thought that they are waiting for the delivery of the drop in windows. The way the window apertures are finished off tends to agree with that idea too.

Other than that, nothing new to report. Be in touch again when something more happens.

Day 11 - some walls go up further, others don't

No close up pictures from site today as the owners (seen in the photos) were there looking at the build progress. As a result, all pictures were taken from chemin des Sources, the road above the site.

It seems that any wall with a window aperture has not grown whereas any wall without has gone up by about another four courses. This rather confirms my thought that they are waiting for the delivery and installation (all done at the same time) of the preformed windows and frames before the walls containing windows can be raised further. Other than that nothing more to report.

Back to my bed for me as I have had quite a busy day supervising mum moving gravel and dad doing window frames.