Gables finished

Finally we have the gables complete - the concrete pour happening this morning.  The house structure is now finished and with the roof frame well under way we can see the full outline of the house for the first time.

There is loads to get a feel for now, we can get into each roof and see what the light is like, the views we'll have and generally feel like it's becoming our house.  I've yet to coax Lorraine up the ladder on the left hand side to get up to the second storey - even the incentive of seeing her walk-in wardrobe isn't enough.  But, with planning to be done in the next couple of weeks for bathroom plumbing, we'll have to find a way, I'll invest in some blinkers perhaps.

With this complete, all the window and door openings are defined and this week should also see the sills installed.  If that works out, we'll be in a position to measure windows by the weekend, and then we'll get those on order.  While waiting, we'll get the roof finished, solar panels installed, and start some of the internal fit out - HRV ducting and plumbing.  Probably best to wait till it's weather tight before we go for the wiring!

Here is another recently completed window - this is in our bedroom looking out.

All in all it's back on track in terms of moving, the roofers are bulling through it and getting great work done.  With the rest of the work as described above we could have a very productive month ahead.

Daylight viewing

This weekend I managed to be down in the daylight to get some photos of the roof.  So far you can see the general frame of it, and we're still not finished on the gables.  There is nothing waiting on these, we need to get the builder back on site to finish them off and pour the concrete.

Also we have the window sill measured out, and can order these from the supplier.  These will take about a week to prepare and deliver, and a couple of days to install.  With these in, we can finally measure and order the windows, with them in we'll have a weatherproof interior and can really crack on with the internal fit out.  Ideally we'll be able to keep the scaffolding onsite until then, and get the outside render done at the same time.  Then it'll start to look like a house for real.

Roof well under way

4 weeks since the last post, but its been slow going for that month.  The roof has certainly started with the skeleton of the roof in place and the majority of the rafters on, you can certainly see it looks like a house now.  With other commitments, the ICF builder should be in place next week to finish off the gable walls, finalise the last of the window openings and start casting the stairs.

In addition, we're considering an extension already! Not much mind you, but in order to have a preferred double-door at the front door we need to extend out about 1300 to create a porch area that we can sit the double door into.  We originally talked about converting the door where it is but the stairs starts right in the middle of that spot and a double door would be pointless.  It should be a nice feature, we're planning on a glass roof there making it light and airy.

Apart from that we have a chap lined up to do the sills, and a decent quote of the actual stone, so hopefully we can get that moving next week and order windows (finally).

With Daylight Savings there is no way I can get down during the week while it's bright, but I'll be getting some photos this weekend to post up.  It should be some noticeable progress!