First Signs Of Life

We said here that the foundation contractors had found a maple tree when they were clearing the site for the garage. They replanted it near the back fence. When we were building the timber frame the leaves were brown and crispy, it had a bit of a lean and it didn't look well at all.

But now look! Life!

It's hard to tell from the picture but the leaves are red which will be lovely. There is a lot of new leaves, even at the top, so we're sure the tree has taken in its new spot. Nice.

Finished! Phew!

The roof is finished (with a little help from our friends!). Darran worked so hard to get it done in a week, and what a week it was! Here are some pictures of it complete and ready for slates.

Darran spoke to the roofing contractor yesterday and they were hoping to start on Thursday. Some of the slates had been delivered yesterday but there had been a mix up with the hire of a fork lift and one hadn't arrived which meant the slates spent the night roughing it on the pavement! Mum and Dad drove by this morning to see more being delivered so we hope the fork lift is sorted out!

Next on the list for us is to sort out the windows and doors and place the order, and to finish putting up in the internal walls in order to get the timber frame stage signed off. We also need to erect the sample from our brick slip supplier so the Council can give the final nod of approval. We will probably do this at weekends for a while to get back to some normality at home for a while!

Roofing (with Mother In Law!)

Site took on a different atmosphere today; Darran not only had me as a helper (well, more of a sitter and supervisor today), but Mum too. It was apparent that a 'mummy' was on site as a pot of Carex hand wash and hand towel appeared at the stand pipe.

Mum was up on the scaffold with Darran painting the rafter feet (the ends) in Weathershield paint. She was soon promoted to helping to stand the trusses which was a great help.

(Getting instructions - above!)

They got on really well, and we now have a roof that is almost finished.

(The black bits you can see here are the rafter feet that Mum painted.)

It's hard to get the true feel of it as all the scaffolding is still in place. There are still the hip-ends to finish (where the roof slopes down to the end wall) and ply to put around the bottom of the trusses to aid the roofers, who should start next week.

All Trussed Up

Now Darran and I are in the same part of the world, we can post the latest photos of the roof that Darran has been working on this week. And wow, we now have part of a real roof!

It's been a slow start but there is a system going now so it should start to flow. Darran is still hopeful to have it done by Sunday; tomorrow is judgement day on whether he will or not. Mum is helping tomorrow and we're painting the rafter feet and some ply wood to go around the bottom.

Raising the Roof

This morning Darran went up to the plot to start to stand the roof trusses. I spoke to him at lunch time and it was all going well and the trusses were coming in batches which made them easier to manage. Unfortunately the van driver was a bit of a wimp and although the manufacturers had told us they could get the van up there, the van driver decided he couldn't. So, this meant Darran had to carry them up to the plot (with the help of a chap who was working on the house at the front).

The scaffolders hadn't quite finished so were also on site doing the garage.

The house seems to have faired pretty well in all the wet weather, although there is water stood on the slab. The sooner we get the roof on and covered over the better.

I go up on Thursday for a long weekend, I'm not sure what I've been marked down for, painting was mentioned yesterday so perhaps that.

In other news, gossip from site is that the Council received a complaint from one of the neighbours that the house was too big. A planner was on site last week measuring, but we assume everything was fine as we weren't contacted.

PS - the photo is a bit of a long shot as I was struggling for something appropriate, hopefully we won't have pigeons on our roof.

Quick Update

Things have been quiet on the self-build blog for a few days now. Just to reassure you we're still busy in the background sorting out scaffolding, delivery of roof trusses and roofing contractors, as well as getting in quotes for windows and doors, floor insulation and screed, so things are still ticking along.

Darran will be standing the roof trusses week commencing 3rd August and I will be going up to join him on the Thursday of that week to give moral support for the final few days.

We also need to get our thinking caps on for a house name so we can register the address properly. Any suggestions gratefully received as we're struggling a bit!

Better Slate Than Never

We had the Council decision yesterday on the slate and we can use the Marley Birkdale slate which was our preferred option. This is good news as we can now confirm the dates for trusses and instruct a roofing contractor.

We're now waiting for Eurobrick to deliver the materials to make up a sample panel for the Council to have a look at to give what should hopefully be our final 'yes'.