Saturday, 12 February 2011

Finished

Bar the exterior paintwork, which will wait now until the spring, it's finished. The last of the builders left yesterday for the final time. It'll be odd to have the place to ourselves again after seven months.

The past week has seen some great work done, laying and pointing slabs, building fences and profiling the soil in the garden. We are delighted with it all.




If you ever want a good builder on Skye - we will be happy to recommend one!

Saturday, 15 January 2011

The new entranceway

All is well after yesterday's adventures. This morning we watched in some fear as the big digger eased out the second huge tree stump from uncomfortably close to our aged concrete septic tank. Thankfully, it is still intact.

Then, with a few lorry-loads of hardcore and some very skilful earthmoving, a new set of levels and a new alignment of the entranceway appeared. We are more than pleased with it all.


Friday, 14 January 2011

Where has our driveway gone?

Mostly to the quarry at Drumuie I'm told...

At breakfast time this morning we became aware of someone wheelbarrowing a pile of sand away from the corner of the house. "Moving stuff out of the way, because the digger is coming to re-profile the ground around the end of the extension", apparently. We relaxed over our cereals. It didn't sound very interesting really, and it was a bit wet to go out to check what was happening. But it didn't take long to realise that it was about to become more than a slight re-profile.

Have a look at what happened next...






By nightfall, some 100 tonnes (7 loads of about 15 tonnes each) of tarmac and earth had been dug out and ferried away. The main rainwater drain had been pulled up, to be replaced in a deeper trench at some point, and the huge tree stump - that I had plugged with dozens of dowels impregnated with oyster mushroom spores - had been ripped out and taken away.

After dark, the tipper returned a couple of times with loads of hardcore, and the big digger thrummed away moving it around, lights blazing. All is quiet again now, but I think they will be back tomorrow for a bit of Saturday working. I hope so. Our car is on the wrong side of the hole, and I need it out to get to Inverness Airport on Monday morning!

Meanwhile, the workshop has gained a nice cushioned rubber floor and a rather fine workbench. It is taking shape nicely.