Building a new house

Well, since we completed on the plot we have had very little rain indeed (which has been a help for the jobs I've had to do) and with this week forecast to be exceptionally hot - high 20s - the greens of the Clwydians are beginning to turn into browns as they last did in our first summer here - 2006. I had put aside the first three days of this week to start the job of lowering the Britlands' front wall as dictated by the planning permission - it's all to do with sightlines for drivers on a tricky bend. It will certainly make it safer when vehicles are leaving our new double-width splayed entrance. The wall is castellated limestone, typical of the area, so to maintain the castellation and reduce the height of the wall by about 800mm is not a trivial task. I have a lot of stone to remove, move and store. It was so hot by 9 this morning that I was sure I would only work half a day. Things started badly, as the 'repaired' wheeelbarrow wheel that I got out of the La...

Had a few days off and did just a half day today to do some tidying. Moved some stone, had a bonfire, and filled in the spurious ‘sewer’ trench.

29 days after completion, and the day after my 4-day First Responder training course, Liz and I went over to try to finish the lower fencing at the front of the site. We managed to complete the low, boarded fence and half of the temporary post and rail arrangement across the entrance. The half nearer to the road is restricted to a height of 900mm above the road surface; the other half will eventually house the gates. Incidentally, I think I found the sewer pipe from PCB - just where I wanted to put a post and only about 450mm down. - it's where the hole is visible in the photo below, now marked by a few bricks. Thirsty work on a warm, cloudy day.

So this is getting a bit repetitive - jump in the Land Rover at 9 (it's got all the gear in the back) and drive to Gellifor. Get going on the last three timber panels. A couple need the uprights trimming which slows things down. Liz arrives late morning and in due course we enjoy a very nice picnic lunch. In the afternoon we have a visit from Edward Bagnall who is showing off his Land Rover and collecting hazel whips from the hen-run at home. In the late afternoon I decide to try to get the uprights in for the temporary fence at the front of the plot. In digging one of the holes I find what is probably the sewer pipe. Fortunately I don't break it. Magically, the jumbo bag of ballast is used up on the last mix of concrete and the posts are in place. (I also had just enough nails in old stock for the feather boards. I think I used about 1100. Tomorrow I am off to Wrexham for the start of my 4-day First Responder training course. I might get to the plot one evening to...

Battled a bit against the weather and over-active guts today - thunderstorms and the new multi-coloured diet we are on to improve our gut flora. I did the woodwork for another three panels (so that's eight of eleven) and Liz brought lunch over and did some soil-moving and weed-clearing. Finally gave up and retired to home comforts about half past two.  Then used some of the 3x2s and featherboards to make a side gate for Hugh and Lindsay (actually the second gate as the first one was made to a width of 30" as a result of a hastily scribbled 36" being misread). Three more panels to finish tomorrow, then the temporary low fence at the front to do. Need to finish tomorrow as my First Responder training will fill Tuesday to Friday this week, and Friday marks the end of the 28 day post-completion period during which we undertook to erect the fence.

So, since the Big Job on Tuesday, I have had three days travelling to Manchester, two for MGS and one for Hugh and Lindsay. Today, Saturday 26 May, I returned to start the woodwork. It was a pleasure to be able to reverse the Land Rover onto the plot through the new entrance. The plans I had been hatching for a while to use clamps to set up the framework for the featherboard panelling worked out fine, but setting up is a little slow. The day was seven hours of clamping and nailing. Somewhat counter-intuitively, it's a rule of English boundary marking that the person who puts up a fence, sometimes at great expense and personal effort, gets the less attractive side of the fence. The neighbour has to be offered the smart side. In fact, the kind of fence we've chosen can be double skinned, so in the fulness of time I will probably add a layer of featherboards to our side. For now, however, this is how it looks, first after the initial panel was in place, then at the end of...

So this was to be a big day. I had arranged to meet Steve in Gellifor, and he arrived with a 1.5 ton digger at 8.30. We were up against it, because Thorncliffe had brought forward the time of stone delivery/waste removal from early afternoon to late morning. First of all the walls came down, with the stone being stacked just inside the boundary-to-be. Some sections were still securely mortared together - a job for the future to sort all this out. The big challenge was always going to be getting the eucalyptus stump out, and it certainly gave Steve a fight, as it had a big taproot. The other challenge had been to estimate the amount of MOT mix we needed, and how much spoil was to be taken away. We had gone for 10 tons in and 15 tons out, and it worked perfectly. Steve made really good progress and was ready by 11. When the big Thorncliffe lorry came we had problems with three drivers who were delayed - a lady bringing home medication for her ...