2 working days later

What can I say....don't blink you might miss something.

Just sat sitting

Here I am sat in the living room......

Flat pack home

How difficult can it be to put this lot together?
We manage ok with Ikea stuff!
This is most of the kit being stored at a local haulage firm as it could not be transported straight to the plot as it would not go under two 13 ft bridges-so it has to be transferred onto smaller trucks.

Blockwork begins

It's great to go away for a week and see such a difference on returning!
We can now walk around the ground floor - it seems so small! Yet it seemed huge when it was just a trench.
They are due to start work on the kit this week, so keep watching...

Foundations afoot

I have never been so pleased to see the great British workman leaning on his shovel watching another one up to his knees in concrete!
Things are definitely on the move now, we are now waiting for the chippy to come back from his Croatian holiday and get cracked on next week.
Keep watching......

Foundations hit rock bottom

A lot has happened since the last post, but not as quickly as we want it to! The NHBC inspector was on holiday, so that delayed digging the foundations. They can't lay any concrete until he has seen them, and it's not good for them to be left for too long. So he came yesterday, but while they were digging them (the photo is the first dig!) they hit rock on one corner.

Now it's okay to build on rock, and it's okay to build on softer stuff, but it's not so good to have to bridge across the two. And so an engineer is required, to give his verdict on how the foundations should be laid. And they can't get an engineer out until Monday at the earliest. Can you see how frustrating it is?!

The kit is due to arrive next week, just as the joiner goes on holiday... But he's back on the 15th, and promises to put 4 people on the job so it should start to look like a house within days (or hours, but is that being too hopeful?!).

Elsewhere the water system is as installed as it can be at this stage. Our source is a natural spring about 50m from the house. This has been dug out and built up, and the water is then pumped up to a storage tank in the hill above. This will gravity-feed down to the house, where it will go through a filtration process to make it drinkable. Drinking water on tap, now there's a novelty!

...........and now it's gone!

Spot the difference!
Don't leave it too long before your next look, I can see a midsummer night's party happening.

Here we go..........

I know this blog has been very boring lately, but we have been stuck in 'red tape' regarding our Building Warrants.....But we now have approval and will be starting to knock the old cottage down soon and getting the foundations laid.
This picture could be the last one of the old place and is a front view.
Updates will be a lot more regular from now onwards.
We are sooooooo excited!!

Yippee!

We've got it!!
Planning application approved.
Now all we need is for me to successfully sell my house in York (already had one complete time waster). But we do have 5 yrs to build it before permission expires!

Rumblings afoot!

Rumblings quite literally - this morning we were woken at 5.30 by the house and windows shaking, it turned out to be an earthquake centred at Glenfinnan. How exciting!

Today our planning application seemed to move a step closer, as our case officer published her 'Delegated Planning Application Report', whatever that is. The important bit is the recommendation that planning permission be granted, subject to a few easily addressed conditions. This was followed by a phone call from our planning agent, who thinks we should hear the final result in the next week or two. So fingers crossed...