Block buster

So. The normal team of brickies used weren't available, and some different ones were hired in to make a start on our blockwork for the house. 3 were expected, 6 turned up complete with massive stereo which was put on full blast. Peace on the building site was shattered, but meanwhile, blockwork walls appeared in a matter of hours. Thankfully this particular team of chaps were somewhat quieter when they returned for day two, but in a very short space of time the lower blockwork was done, and thus the layout of rooms once again appearing in top of the strip foundations. This blockwork was build on top of the foundations a couple of courses high, to create a void under the floor beams.

There were heavy blocks (7 newton blocks), light blocks (thermal blocks), big blocks, small blocks, and some very thin ones too. we had no idea if the blockwork was any good, but it certainly looked like more progress was happening.

And it continued to rain.

Next, the floor beams arrived. Space had run out on site and the beams had to be delivered to the end of the drive in a big pile. The beams are made of pre-cast concrete and made to measure for the site. Due to the awful weather everyone working on building sites was running behind schedule, and apparently the pre-cast concrete place had their yard backing up with orders that builders couldn't take - our delivery date had to be put back a couple of times.

The floor beams were laid with the help of the digger but given they were all quite short could be moved around with one person at either end. The ends of the beams sit on the block walls, with strips of damp proof course running on the walls. With each beam in place, blocks were then fitted between them to create a floor platform. We watched as the ground beneath was getting covered over forever - for the life of this incarnation of Hillcroft anyway. I pondered about burying a time capsule, but instead, just some of the brickies' rubbish probably ended up underneath (I tried to clear out what I did see getting left behind but then thought maybe I should leave the odd plastic bottle for an archaeologist to fid one day?).

The perimeter of the house was treated to some special wide DPC, the details of which were considered to be a bit unusual.

Once the blocks were in place, a dry cement mix was brushed across the whole thing.

Meanwhile - the steel beam to go above the garage door entrance arrived! Very exciting, given I had ordered this online. I'd never known you could just order lengths of steel beam as easy as doing your online grocery shop. A couple of days later it arrived, and even better it fit!