More cladding, and some of a plumber's finer touches

So, while we are still emptying boxes, putting up the odd picture and shelf, and generally smiling a lot as we get used to the house, Pat's team are continuing work on the house, both inside and out. Sion the plumber has spent a couple of mornings here, replacing a basin (a tricky job) with a smaller one which suits the opening of a shower door better, silicon sealing any sanitary gap that presented itself, and tuning, yes, tuning the taps, some of which were noisy as our water pressure is quite high.

Ian and Dewi have been joinering away painstakingly, and now the rear elevation no longer has building blocks on display. The cladding process is time-consuming, involving the cutting and fixing of battens, the stapling on of a black building paper, and then the cutting and fixing of the larch boards. A lot of thought and arithmetic goes into getting the right look. Some boards have to be ripped to reduce their width, and all have to be 'invisibly' screwed in exactly the right places. The photographs below show the results of six man-days of work, with a little trimming at the base to be done first thing tomorrow, when Dewi will be with us to continue battening at the front of the house.

it may not look a lot, but the cladding (up and down) to the left is the result of this week's work so far (that to the right has already started to darken with exposure to light - eventually it will be grey)

but this kind of detailing around a drainage pipe can't be rushed

working around lots of openings makes for tricky calculations

we are looking forward to one of our green roofs to provide a contrast with the cladding over the dining area

And, in a further development, Pat turned up with Geithin at tea-time - he is to be our fencing contractor. At present our northern boundary is only marked by fencing pins and some tape, though the neighbouring farm's maize is practically growing while you look at it to soon provide a barrier of its own. Perhaps time-lapse photography is called for.


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