Cement is now set and the groundworks as almost complete.

Then we start pouring the cement. This was a lot of hard work for the guys because it wasn't as fluid as it might have been.

This meant they had to act quickly before the cement started to set.

Damp proofing membrane over the insulation.

Insulation goes in

First, the 100mm insulation goes down.

Messy business

Driveway is a bit of a mess but Ethan & Lucy are enjoying it.

Scalpings down, ready to pour slab

Nine tonnes of scalpings down today ready for the slab to be poured on Monday.


You can now see the full extent of this thing!

Strip Founds In

Nearest strip to support the 400 Kg Glulam ridge beam.

Whose VW Beetle is that?

Concrete was poured to create the strip foundations today. Next step tomorrow is blockwork building out of the ground.

Didn't actually see the concrete go in the ground as i had to go take Ethan to A&E with a broken wrist). Cracked it practising for sports day. Boys eh?

Fresh Lego has a great placebo effect though. :-)

In the trenches

36 Tonnes of earth has been cleared away today and the trenches are almost complete. Ready for building inspection tomorrow and then the concrete backfill.

Trenchfoot & Marmite

Three more little finds during our archeological dig. Interesting little jar on the left is an old Marmite jar. The middle jar is a 2 oz Bovril jar and the last one looks like some kind of perfume or incense bottle.

Time Team hit the bottle!

Barry & Jamie have unearthed a rather strange looking round bottomed bottle from the garden.

Hard to tell if its really old or possible just circa Sodastream 1981. Interesting though.

Digging at last!

We first talked about this extension in 2003. Today we finally broke the earth for the first time!

Plot before we begin.

Wide shot shows the gap that will be no more.

Starting out

Builders coming in tomorrow (Monday 19th July) to start digging. So, the fence needed to go along with the trellis and garden gate. Then i salvaged some slabs for the garden patio. The rest will go in the skip.