Saturday 17th August - Steel Beam Day

We're alive and no injuries either!

The hardest part was taking each beam from the driveway and moving them through the "window" so they could sit on the genie-lift, inside. We marked each beam's middle point so that once on the lift, they would be stable and balanced (well, in so much that a steel beam weighing a million tonnes can be balanced on a set of forks a foot-and-a-half apart!)

First one done - piece of cake!

Then, the beams had to be jacked up above the level of the walls, guided all the way up and then turned so that they could be lowered onto the padstones.

Special thanks to "Iron-Man" Alex from across the road, for helping with "Beam D"

Serious concentration

Mind your fingers Franco

Easy does it

X marks the spot!

6x beams in total, with a bit of fiddly bolting.

That look square to you?

When Franco's happy, we're all happy!

All done

And the very best thing? We finished at lunchtime :O)

In the afternoon we cut a few joists:

The beams need to be painted with fire protection paint, there's plenty more brickwork to do, lots of joists to be cut and fitted (with noggins (what a great word eh!)) and at some point we'll have to think about putting the roof on.

So plenty more to come folks.

Oh, and I got stung in the neck by a wasp.

What a great holiday - back to work Monday!

Sunday 21st July to Friday 16th August

So, it's been a while, and in response to those hundreds of requests for an update here's the next installment.

A lot has happened over the past few weeks: Paulioni has been over from der Nedderlandss, the kids have been on school holiday, there's been a wedding anniversary, Camp Bestival, boat trips on the Thames and Wey Navigations (ahoy there Captain Trievnor!) and in fact, some work has also been done on the extension .........

"Ehh, I'll come later, I'm busy!"

Ready to start work
Where is everyone?

Just to recap, the middle of August saw most of the ground floor brickwork complete, per the following photos:

Back Wall

Front Wall

  

Checkout the missing bricks ...

View from 'Fredo's Bedroom

And we haven't used any regular scaffolding yet. Instead, Franco has left out certain bricks (which will be put in later to finish the walls) in order for the holes to support beams that can be tied to the rear and side walls - that in turn support the scaffold boards. Pretty cool huh?.

Padstones

And another one

The current situation is that we are now ready for the steel beams (RSJs) to be put up. These will form the basis of the upstairs floor/downstairs ceiling, and will also support the upstairs walls (and I guess the roof in parts). The beams sit on top of "padstones" and are then boxed/bricked-in.

On a number of occasions, I've been told that getting the beams up without a crane will be "un pezzo di torta" - but since they weigh in at around 180Kg each I'm not so sure, hmmmm.....we'll see ..........

So where's the crane then?

The great news is that Rafaelle is coming over to help tomorrow - I'm feeling better already because he could probably lift a beam with one hand ..........!

errr, use this ....

We also have a Genie Lift for the weekend, capable of lifting each beam up. Will be a little bit tricky but it's ok apparently.




Anyway, Lucia isn't too worried ....

If I survive "Steel Beam Day", watch out for another post coming your way soon!

End of June Until 20th July

Apologies to all of you out there in Blog-Land. You probably thought that the lack of posts recently must be down to Blogger's- Block or some such affliction (does laziness qualify?).

However, what can I say, except that there's only so many descriptions of blocks and bricks that I can mention and show pictures of the same ........ but now, we are pretty much "up to the plate" as we builders say (cheers for that Darly - and as confirmed by Franco himself!) and it's going well - just waiting now for the doorway and window lintels.

Killer weather and great progress, here's some pics:

End of June ....

Arty Huh?
All my own work (ie. the photo!)

Go Franky Go!
(The first in a limited collection of three)

Ooh, Me Backa!

Doesa Thata Looka Straighta?

All Clean & Waiting For The Beams

Saturday 29th / Sunday 30th June

Ok, so this is really simple - see those concrete beams and concrete blocks lying over there? pick them all up and make a suspended floor out of them .........

Heavy, Sharp Concrete Beams

Concrete Blocks

Lay Them in Here

It's a Start!

  











Oh, and by the way, each beam will take four people to lift and there's 500x concrete blocks. AND, it's going to be really hot this weekend (for once) hmmmmm......

Zzzzzzzzz........... huh?? ..........So began the work on Saturday morning, woken up at 7-30am by Ziggy's barking at Franco in the garden (who was trying to make as little noise as possible until we had all arrived ready to begin!). Small dog, big bark, should never have let the kids sucker us into getting him ......I don't mean that obviously ;O)

Comme Ca

Dominoes

Nearly There

All Done

Oh Yeah!

Voila!

Along the way Franco invented a new tool for picking up concrete beams - no photos, it's a secret, being patented and planned for product launch in the Autumn (you may see him on Dragon's Den!).

Sausage dogs like Fabs, fact! - check out the vid:

The Stars of the Show!

Something a bit different in this post, since looking back over the last few there's only so many times I can show foundations and brickwork!!

So here's a few photos of everyone involved. Ruby and Alfredo - conspicuous by their absence ............

Cheers!

 

 
 
 

Liv - Never Too Far Away From the Wine

Or Lucia!!!

Even Georgia Made It!

Eh, You Lika My Walla?

 

Aaaarrrrhhhh - Woof! Slurp!