The ring beam

Finally, the house has a big collar! After hours of tediously shuttering the beam and the lintels, the concrete has been poured and voila the ringbeam and lintels are all in place and make it look a little more like we are building a house. Leaving a little more time for the concrete to cure and then we will be ready to start building the gable ends. Still waiting for some of the timber yards to finalise their quotes but we have found a great place to buy the natural slate to eventually cover the roof so we can get on with ordering those at least!

More blockwork!

Well, it's been a while but at last we are at the full height of the walls (excluding the gable ends). Looks like we've built a very large shoebox now!!! Next step is to pour a concrete ringbeam which will incorporate the door and window lintels. We now have all the shuttering wood so just need to get it firmly secured and we're back to mixing concrete!

Once the ringbeam is in place, it's time for the gables and starting the roof....pretty scary stuff!!!

We've planned the wood we need for the roof and are now in the process of obtaining quotes from various timber yards and merchants ready for delivery at the beginning of October.

The walls rise

The site is really beginning to look like the beginnings of a house now! Four course up on the blockwork and going up. We now have two doorways and a great place to have an apero at the end of a long, hot day!

Completing the floor slab

After the compressing of the hardcore, a layer of sand was laid to stop the hardcore puncturing the insulation and damp proof membrane.

We laid 80mm of polysterene insulation and a damp proof membrane before embarking on the pouring of the concrete slab.

As always wanting to achieve as much as we could without heavy machinery, we poured to concrete by hand...well four hands, one cement mixer and 3 and a half days of hard labour!!! We were knackered but over the moon to have the slab done.

Our first bit of machine power

Hardcore all in place we now needed to damp it down substantially to provide a stable base for the floor. Not being able to do this ourselves we have relented and hired a wacker plate compactor.

Filling the hardcore

At last we reach the end of the digging (for now!)

Having let our backs recover for all of 12 hours we then started the process of laying a bed of hardcore. This would need to be 40 cm deep at one end and 20 cm at the other. We had luckily retained a lot of hardcore when we previously knocked a hole through one of the barn walls to fit a door. Also, we have very helpful neighbours who let us have several trailer full loads. The weather has been beautiful whilst we have been digging and lugging stones around...very nice if we had time to sit in it but far too hot to be working in!

Digging again!

Having completed the arduous task of removing the excavated soil we then started on the removal of the turf. Due to the natural slope of the terrain, at the back end of the foundation it was not only the turf to be removed but another 30 cm of soil. Now we are beginning to realise the merits of a digger - even our clothes are beginning to give up!!!