Having A Rest

It's been quiet on the blog recently. The weather has put the shutters on the work for any length of time because it has been so cold. We have managed to do some more bricking and have finished sticking the bricks around the garage plinth ready for pointing.

Thanks to Gramps who noticed that in our first section of bricking the bond was wrong. The lines of mortar join up on the left hand side of the picture which they shouldn't do. If this was a 'real' brick wall it wouldn't be very structurally sound. So, Dad was the Bad Cop and broke the news last week. Darran took it quite well in the end, realising that he had been thinking about the brick system as a jigsaw puzzle rather than a brick layer building a brick wall. And from then on it has gone a lot better....we hope, unless you've spotted anything else Gramps?!!

We haven't worked on the house physically since Christmas, we decided we needed a break. Darran has been researching the electrics and plumbing and seems to have got on well there.

For now though, wishing everyone a Happy New Year and thanks for your interest this year. Much more to come next year.

It works!

We started bricking last week. And there was a 'Eureka' moment on Friday when it worked. The backer panels stayed on the walls and the bricks stuck to the backer panel and the lime mortar mixed to a good consistency and stayed in the joints. Phew.

We, of course, were totally confident that it would all go together like Lego. Our faith in the system never faltered. Except.....when there was a slight glitch with the damp proofing and how this would work around the plinth and we also had to add in damp proofing at ground level on top of what was there. So after advice from the architect who offered the solution, off we went. And then there was the 'what happens at the corners' moment, but with the help of Dad and some extra info from the Internet, we were sorted.

We're really pleased with how it looks.

We have to admit to being slightly daunted by the task of putting this system together after the delivery arrived a few weeks ago. There were so many bricks, and boxes, and panels, and bags of cement. It's not hard to do when you get into the swing of it so will get easier as we do more. The hardest part now is gong to be working around the weather, or not as the case may be as winter sets in.

Update on the cat mess problem: thanks to Mags who has suggested Lion manure which you can buy in pellets. That should get rid of the little blighters, and if it's not cats it should get rid of whatever else it is that is leaving us presents!