Hi All,
So it’s all finally started to happen here in Sunny Georgeham with the builders full-on, the house really does now resemble a building site and we are now living full-time in the motorhome/site office out on the front lawn. It’s been a busy few weeks but we are enjoying every minute, me especially as I just can’t resist getting my hands dirty helping out at every opportunity and picking up new skills and of course keeping an ever watchful eye out to make sure things get done how we want and of course jumping on the mini digger at any opportunity.....I guess old habits die hard!!
It’s a massive learning curve just like when we went travelling as every day brings new challenges and rewards. After all it is a major project and something we’ve never done before and it really is like "Grand Designs" that you watch on the TV with on-site meetings with the architect, liaising with the builders and making never ending important decisions to be made, i.e where do you want this doorway to go, are you happy with the colour of these bricks, is that opening in the right place and so it goes on and on. We have worked really hard and are pretty well organised as we have everything sorted and ready for when we need it e.g. log burners, kitchen & appliances, bathroom stuff, windows & doors and even all the floor and wall tiles so it's all quite exciting.
On paper and architects plans/drawings everything looks simple of course but in reality nothing is ever that simple and as usual we always seem to have hurdles that we have to overcome which we discovered on day one, we couldn’t believe our luck and thought OMG that’s the contingency blown straight away, so what was it?? The digger driver(not me) was starting to dig the footings for the garage and with the second scoop of the bucket hit something hard…..he gently scraped the soil away and uncovered a square manhole cover and said that it was our drains. We know the house like the back of our hand now after months of planning and surveys so we knew that the drainage was nowhere near there and ran across the opposite side of the house into the septic tank…we both looked at each other and said I bet it’s a well, the guys lifted the manhole cover and sure enough it was a stone well about 15 feet deep with water at the bottom, it would have been the main water supply to the house back in the day as the house was built back in 1914 well before the mains supply came along. It was a work of art inside with it’s round stone walls but it couldn’t have been in a worse place, right in one corner of the garage footings so of course a major spanner in the works.
We immediately spoke to the architect and arranged for the building inspector to come and see it as ultimately it’s their decision on how to deal with it and we of course didn’t want it to a) delay works or b) cost the earth to rectify. I had a look on the internet at various different sites and forums and came across a similar situation that a couple found themselves in when building their conservatory. The solution was to just over shoot the footings by a metre each way on that corner and cast a re-enforced concrete cap over the top. The building inspector turned up the next day and was having a look and mumbling to himself when I suggested to him that maybe we should "over shoot the footings and cap it off", he looked at me and said yep that will be fine…..briliiant news, and also not much extra work or cost involved so even better. I am so glad I sat and had a read up on the internet as I am not sure what he would have suggested. So that first hurdle was overcome and we could breathe a sigh of relief. It's a shame really as if it had been a few feet to the left we could have kept it and made a real feature of it and fitted a pump to extract the water for use in the garden and washing cars etc but don't worry as Julie has ideas now for another one.....read on to find out more....
The lovely well, you can see my reflection taking the photo in the water below
The footings dug out with the over shoot to the left and the door covering the well
We have a storage unit in Barnstaple with everything we possess in it which costs us quite a bit each month so we are keen to get the garage built first so that we can then get stuff out i.e. my garage stuff and tools and then we can down size the unit to reduce the cost.....well that's the story I have sold Julie who counts the pennies and she's fallen for it, obviously it's nothing to do with me having my man cave before anything else.....mum's the word.....
The lads started in the house knocking the openings through to create one big lounge with french doors at the end. The end wall is a modern extension so constructed of breeze block so no problem.
Making the opening for the French Doors
The opening ready for the brick quoins to be added
The new opening from the lounge into the kitchen
The the wall in the middle is the original stone and 18 inches thick so a different story completely. Once the lathe and plaster was stripped off the exposed wall was absolutely beautiful, a shame really to take it down but the room needs to be knocked through. We are keeping the stone as it's just too nice to dispose off so I will make use of it around the edge of the patio area and Julie's idea is that she wants me to build her a nice new well as a feature and bird feeding station which will be nice.
The accros in place ready for the removal of the wall
The other side
It took about 3 days solid for the lads to get the wall out and cleared, I had the job of manhandling every stone and stacking them in the garden for re-use.
We had a visit from Daniel & Katie, we met Daniel down at Camber kitesurfing a few years ago and have kept in touch ever since. They picked a fantastic week to come down as the weather was absolutely stunning with wall to wall warm scorchio sunshine every day. It was great to take time out with them and get away from the house. We had a brilliant day at Putsborough Sands and spent all day messing about on the SUP's and just chatting and chilling finished off with a little BBQ watching the sun go down. We couldn't believe how flat calm and clear the sea was, it was like a mill pond so great for exploring a complete contrast to the big surf waves that normally roll in.
Daniel had a touch of sunburn on his thighs on the last day, hence his face in this picture!!
The following week Saunton Sands hosted a D-Day celebration weekend so we went along for a look, it was great with lots going on. The americans trained on this beach during the second world war practising their techniques for the Normandy invasions so they put on a show displaying how they got through the anti-tank obstacles, barbed wire fences and mines etc. They even flew in and landed some L4 Cubs and Austers on the beach, it was fabulous to see them land and taxi along the beach and spend a few hours there before taking off again.
Back on site the concrete arrived for the garage footings and capping off of the well and then another load of concrete for the garage floor and they have made a start on the block work and also started on the opening for the new back door.
The well ready to be capped off with concrete
Getting stuck in.....
Crushed stone & bricks up to damp proof course
Final pour of concrete ready for block work
Work in progress
Back door opening
The steels also arrived to support the wall where we removed the stone so they have also been put in place and we can remove the accros.
I have started to build the retaining wall around the patio with some of the lovely old stone, it's a lovely bit of gear as my Dad would say...I think he'd be very proud of me getting stuck in as he was always so hands on and taught me so much and always said to me as long as I could use my hands I'd get along OK and how right he was.
So what has Julie been doing (besides sunning herself in the garden....), well she has been very busy in the garden weeding and clearing out between the array of shrubs in between shopping and housework in the van and helping out where she can but she also has her little job down the farm next door checking on the horses and will shortly be picking raspberries there. As if I didn't have enough to keep me busy she kindly volunteered me as handy man so I have done a few jobs down there too which I don't mind at all and Julie had a tidy up in the yard area.
Replacing a broken end straining post in the raspberry field
Having a sort out in the stable yard area
What an improvement
Our next adventure is just around the corner as we are off to Glastonbury next week with Paul & Twiggy so some time away from site....something completely different that we have never done before and are looking forward to, it's one to tick off our bucket list....we are taking our lovely motorhome so will have lots of luxury unlike some others under canvass!! On the subject of the motorhome, it really is worth it's weight in gold as not only did we spend a year living in it in all climates during our travels but now it is our home once again and we couldn't do what we are doing without it.
Gotta go...it's time to shut the site office and crack open a beer.
Catch up soon.
J&J
x
