A look inside

A couple of views of the inside show that there has been plenty going on in there as well. The workshop is now separated from the rest of the building not just by a timber partition, but with a full height wall of blockwork.

That will give enough isolation to allow safe storage of paints, fuel and suchlike. The area above the ceiling beams here will be floored, lighted and fitted with a hatch and access ladder. I can envisage a nice wee den up there.

This picture gives a sense of how high the bedroom ceiling will be. The beams are so far above the floor that, even at 6' 4'' tall, I can't jump quite high enough to touch them.

The verandah

The flat roof section that covers the front part of the bedroom, the hallway and the outside walkway has begun to take shape today. This morning there was nothing. By lunchtime the beams were all in place. By the end of the day the sarking boards and membrane were there too.

This part of the roof will be finished with lead. Quite a lot of it. That needs to be in place before the main roof is slated.

This outside section of the building was envisaged simply as a convenient route from the house to the workshop in a downpour. Now that we see it taking shape, it has real potential as a verandah on which to while away an evening with a good chair and a glass of something. Angela has a fancy for slinging a hammock between two of the supporting pillars.

By the way, the three cheap looking planks propping it up are indeed cheap planks. They will be replaced by some substantial laminated larch pillars, bolted into steel footings buried in concrete. I'm told they will be more than a match for a good Skye hurricane...

Blue

Today the roof turned blue, the roof windows became invisible again from the outside, the top of the gable was built and more blockwork appeared - including the internal wall between the bedroom and the workshop. Perhaps the most noticeable thing tonight is that being inside the building now feels like being properly indoors.

It suddenly struck me this morning that the roof windows in the bedroom are going to be a long way above human reach, whether to open and close the windows or to open and close the blinds. So - a quick rethink and a change of plan to include remote controlled and electrically operated windows and blinds.
Very James Bond - "Closhe the blindsh pleash, Mish Moneypenny"...

The result of this late change may be a bit of a delay. The basic windows have already arrived in Portree. They will have to be returned and the remote control versions sourced to replace them. The slating was due to begin soon, but that will probably have to wait a while now. Still, I'm sure there's plenty more to get on with.

The mystery of what's under the tarpaulin remains - though Sorbie may be close. Our insulation is going to be mostly rigid sheets, but the specification does include some nice woolly duvet in the roof. (But none of the itchy nasty stuff!)

Looking at what we have tonight, it's hard to believe that it looked like this just one week ago. I'm amazed at the amount of progress in just five working days.

Half a roof - and a new window

We have been out all day today and arrived home to more good progress. The roof timbers that went up yesterday have been cut and framed to form the spaces for the Velux roof windows and the sarking boards are fitted on one side of the building. The hole for the window in the en-suite has appeared above the first stage of external blockwork.

Intriguingly, we noticed that there is something hidden underneath a tarpaulin in the workshop. I wonder what it is?

The Flitch Beam

We are learning about building. We know what a Flitch Beam is. In fact, we have one of our very own now. It is a big beam made of a sandwich of wood and steel plate, bolted together with great big bolts. In this case it supports the section of roof above the bedroom, where there is no wall below it.

The Flitch Beam in situ

With the beam constructed and in place, most of the rest of the roof timbers are up. Other than the covered walkway - yet to be started - we can now see for the first time the extent of the building. 

Just before close of play, a lorry delivered a pile of sand, a big cement mixer and some blocks...

All wrapped up

Today was wet, and one of the worst days for midges I have ever known. The two joiners worked right through it. They were wearing the full anti-midge gear though, wandering around the site in hoods, brandishing big staple guns and looking a lot like baddies from Dr Who.

They have wrapped the timber frames beautifully in silver-coloured insulating breather membrane - the first stage of what will be a pretty energy-efficient construction.

And, as you can see, the beginnings of the roof are in place.

All of a sudden

So far there has been a lot of work put into the foundations and floor without too much to show for it. Today's work has produced a somewhat more spectacular result.

Back door and bedroom window

Bedroom window and workshop door

Looking out the workshop window

Angela in our bedroom window

The bedroom

It's looking big again...

Polishing concrete

Completed just before one o'clock this morning with the help of floodlights and some interesting looking bits of kit. Very smooth result:


Will we get builders today, or will they be tucked up in their beds? We'll let you know!

Scoop and Dizzy join the crew

Scoop was the first to arrive this morning - very impressive:

He was here to move the concrete around instead of running wheel barrows over the underfloor electric heating cables being laid in the en-suite:

and the bedroom:

Dizzy arrived later with the concrete to cover the cabling:

This will be "polished"later on today to leave a smooth finish.

They're back.....

After a three week absence, the builders reappeared at 9.30 this morning. At close of business today, the place looked like this:


So, all day to cover the foundations with a tarpaulin? Not quite! Beneath that green exterior lurks a damp proof membrane, insulation and the electric underfloor heating mats for the bedroom and en-suite. Tomorrow Dizzy is back to cover all of the above in another layer of concrete.

Apparently the frames have been built off site, and they may start putting those up next week. The windows are on order, but won't be here for another six weeks. Nice to see things happening again though.

Rumours

There is still nothing at all happening here, but we have heard a couple of second or third hand bits of information:

- The next stage of work involves the electricians laying the underfloor heating mats to be embedded in the layer of screed above the damp proof membrane. They are waiting for delivery of the matting.

- The framing for the wall panels and the roof timbers is being done off-site at the moment.

I know not whether either of these rumours is accurate, but the optimist in me says that at least our extension may be being built. It's just that we can't see it yet!

Curing concrete

"It takes around three weeks for poured concrete to reach 90% of its final strength."

This is just a quick post to let you know that the lack of updates here is not because we've forgotten. It's because there has been nothing to report.
We are approaching two weeks of inaction on the site here. I have no idea how much longer the builders will leave it before risking a footstep on the concrete base, but I think it will soon be verging on the excessive. Meanwhile, we've been having fun choosing our flooring, wall tiles, bathroom furniture etc.
It seems there's no rush to place orders for any of it though...