A View From The top

To trim the hedge I have built a walkway along the top which is removable so I can move very carefully along the top with the hedge trimmer.

The Hedge or the Fence?

Our section or block, is surrounded by hedges, Horn-beam, English Beech and Leland Cypress, the Leland is on the road side and had the original 5 wire farm fence which was well past its use-by date, no stock had been near it for at least 18 years.

It had chicken wire along the road side to stop our dog from straying - all very glamorous.
But first we had to remove the concrete posts which was a bit of a challenge they had been in the ground for probably 25 years, and were not designed to move, plus they were a tad heavy.

So I had to resort to a Heath Robinson system  using a 2500kg jack to lift the posts, using some old chain, some lumps of wood and - 'It worked' not the drama I was expecting.
Each post took both of us to lift, about 60kg each - there were only six...
Now to be re-purposed as edging for the drive.

I had organised our local contractor to help with the removal, using one of there loaders to do this but what with the Covid 19 lock down, we weren't going to see them for at least another 2 months.

After we had cleared the fence it all look very park-like, so decided to leave it open, The problem was to keep the dog in, Mrs DIY came up with the perfect solution, a fence on the inside, made with some reinforcing mesh that we had purchase for a garden structure.

So while I was on the other side Mrs DIY built the 'dog fence',

Covid-19 Total Isolation - Day 2 - Fending Off Boredom

Hurrah, I've done it, I have my blog back, for some reason I couldn't get in to add new posts.
So as we now in total isolation with Covid-19 and it's a raining and we have cleaned dusted cleaned again, fed the dog, been soaked 2 times taking the dog for a walk, washed by hands for the 40th time disinfected all the door handles.
Made our 5th cup of tea, I settled down to finding out why I couldn't make my blog work.
Well it was really simple fix (wrong address) Duh!!
I will continue to update and share some of our confinement adventures...

Charlie

The End - almost...

The build of the house is now complete with only the veranda and deck to complete together with the landscaping.
We had the hopefully the last delivery of timber yesterday which is sitting on our summer sun ravaged back lawn waiting for me to start work on the veranda/deck construction. the posts are so heavy as they have just been milled and have not dried out completely.
It is going to be a challenge putting them in place as there's only 2 of us to lift them into place, so I will have to work out some interesting way of placing them.

The 150 x 150 x 3000 Posts

Here are a couple of views from inside our Barn.

The void and the 4.500 high window

From kitchen to living room

Frame Constructed

The frame is now completed with the roof trusses in place, all done by the 2 master DIY builders...

The build has been a little difficult due to the weather, not rain but too much sun.
We have been having some very high temperatures of between 30 - 34 deg, and humidity of around 40% a great way to get a tan but a little unpleasant to work in.

It was an interesting exercise putting up the frames at height, we had a crane lift them up to the top floor, then very carefully moved them by hand around to there correct positions.
Its a bit more reassuring when you are surrounded by scaffolding, still a bit scary.
We fixed them all in place and then hired another crane to lift the roof trusses -so we could move them along to to there appointed positions,
A real challenge with no help, only the 2 of us.but we did it!

Sue fixing the metal truss plates so the roof wont fly away.

We are just waiting for the building inspector to OK the work, so we can start with the first stage of cladding, which is to fix the outside bracing plywood then the install the roof.
The windows are ordered and should be here in 2 weeks.
Our kitchen which is coming from Germany is due to arrive in 3 weeks, so no pressure...
We will have to put it into storage while we finish the inside of the house.

More Progress

The house is now moving along, with the floor insulation being installed.
The insulation was a mission as I had made an error in the joist layout so we had to cut almost every sheet of polystyrene to make it fit, I looked like a snowman when I finished.

As you can see the frames are being placed, they are very heavy but they are now all in place with the help of our next door neighbour who gave the 2 of us a hand for the very heavy ones.
The next step is to complete the installation of the lintels and then the upper floor joists and floor.

Pile Driving

At last the pile driving man has arrived.
The piles were driven by a half Tonne ram most of the piles are 2.5 - 3 meters into the site.
The new house is not going to be going anywhere...

Now we can continue with the rest of the build,
We have all the materials on site, so I have no excuses.

Frame Delivery

Now all I need to do is assemble it...

The good thing is, all the sections are numbered and a set of instructions showing the frame position are included.

Ground-floor Sub-Frame

This blog is a great way of keeping a diary on the build.

Spent the last 2 days fixing the floor joists to the bearers,fixing them with 12Kn connectors.
The pile ends and all cuts have been coated with a timber preservative.(that's the green stuff)
Although we couldn't complete the entire ground floor due to the problem with the soft ground, today I have had notice that the Producer Statement from the Geo Engineer had been completed and we should have it tomorrow.
Great news we will now be able to get a pile driver to complete the foundations and we will be full steam ahead...
The frames are due for delivery this week, so we will need to store them until the ground floor is completed.

Double perimeter joist to support the wall 

Site Clearing

As some light relief from waiting for the new pile requirements are completed, 3 large logs that I was going to mill  have now been turned into firewood!
I had a number of attempts at getting someone to cut them into posts but no one was interested in doing the work, so now I have converted the cedar logs into firewood.
Spent the weekend cutting and splitting.
Now have 3 years supply of firewood..