The Big Build

Dun de dun dun dun!

2011-06-02T02:14:00.000-07:00

Wow look at our houses now nearly finished the flooring is in the final coats of paint going on the walls. Never quite thought we would get to this point but we have. We cannot thank everybody enough for their hard work.

Sabrina's Living Room

The kitchen door handles arrived as we had chosen different ones for each house and then could not remember who chose which. So we chose again from the selection of two that had arrived and these have almost been fitted.

Sabrina's Kitchen

Wright's Living Room

The flooring looks great another good choice Sabrina!

Sabrinas

We just have to finish the bathrooms with tiles, which we chose last week. Then the finishing touches such as door handles etc.

We still don’t have a functioning shed as they have delivered only one panel for the roof. I am pretty sure Stephen will soon have a heart attack the amount he has shouted at the man down the phone!

The shed was ordered from Homebase but supplied by a company called Mercia sheds. Homebase have apparently been inundated with complaints about the sheds. Not sure if this was just Stephens complaints or other people had complained to. So we have asked for a refund and for Mercia to come and take the shed away. Homebase have agreed to do so but we haven’t seen the cash yet so who knows what will happen? Stephen has told them to do it soon or he is taking a sledge hammer to the shed and taking the pieces into Homebase where I think he mentioned putting them somewhere obscure and discreet.

Don't be alarmed!

2011-05-22T04:26:00.000-07:00

The grass is not looking so good!

Stephen and Nicola spent some of Saturday this weekend up the site sorting out the grass and patching it. We also had a visit from our neighbour opposite who saw Stephen out the front and wanted to have a look around. He was a nice gentleman who informed us that he had already met Sabrina.

Whilst on our little day out to our new house we also set off the alarm. Having never had an alarm before this was a steep a learning curve. We have also found out that you cannot get a mobile phone signal in the electrics cupboard inside the house. As while on the phone to Mark to sort the alarm problem Nicolas phone kept cutting out. With the instructions coming over the phone fast Nicola failed to keep up.

So this resulted in a call out to the electrician (Uncle Robin) who sorted the problem swiftly on his arrival. Something to do with trip switches, fuses and the alarm battery apparently.
Anyhow the neighbours never came running to our aid, even if before this incident they were happy to nose around the house.

Inside things have moved on loads since the last set of pictures.

Firstly Sabrina’s place she has chosen some glass cabinets in her kitchen to display the china Nan has given her.

Sabrina's kitchen

She has chosen blue for the hallway which looks light and airy. I quite like it.

Sabrina's hallway

Sabrina’s living room painted in neutral colours.

Sabrina's Living Room

Sabrina's bathroom

Sabrina's En suite with heated towel rail

Nicola has not chosen glass cabinets in her kitchen as everybody who knows Nicola, will know her cupboards are usually crammed full of rubbish and she organises things in her own messy way. A good choice for somebody who is very organised in a scatty 'I’ll find that later' fashion.

Wright's Kitchen

Nicolas lovely pink living room wall as she has chosen pastel colours throughout the house the kitchen will be apple white. This picture also frames the pastel blue shed well I think.

Wright's pink living room

Wright's hallway

Wright's master bedroom

Wright's Hallway

Here is what was on the window is previous blog picture. The painting instructions of course!

Wright's second bedroom

The drive way is now finished!

Shedding it!

2011-05-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

So the shed is up although we are still waiting for the roof . Stephen and Nicola had a little shed painting session last Friday night. Of course we were not allowed to paint the shed Cuprinol sweet pea pink so instead we opted for combination of forget me not and barley wood.

concentration!

We have left a little space down the side of the shed for composting and water butts, very fitting for the eco friendly theme!

The grass is ok but still a bit patchy some of it hasn’t rooted well but there is still time to work on this and the grass has enjoyed the rain this week.

The boilers have gone in as have the outside taps.

The retaining wall out the front is finished.The drive is being block paved and looks amazing.

Still no photos of inside yet folks but apparently the pink in Nicolas living room looks good!

The furniture previously ordered is beginning to arrive and is being stored at mums house which is full to bursting with boxes!

So much to update each day! We are so close but still so many finishing touches to go.
Here are a few pictures of our new neighbourhood so those of you who don't know the area can see the houses look and how our fits into the look of the street. Look out new neighbours!

Let me shed some light on it!

2011-05-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

At the houses things are moving along both inside and out and on Thursday night Stephen and Nicola have been to the site to await the arrival of the shed. This of course was a month late. We were delighted when we got the delivery time ‘Your shed will be delivered between 8am and 7pm’ we would like to thank Homebase for the quality service and convenient and precise delivery time. So we waited and as promised the shed was delivered at 7.10pm minus the easy fit roof which is of course out of stock! On the plus side the easy fit roof will delivered, we have been assured of this. The delivery driver suggested we fit the normal roof and then fit the easy fit roof over the top when it arrives. The system just seems so easy!

The lads have been building a retaining wall out of the front of the houses which looks fabulous and has made large flower beds for the girls to plant lots of plants. This will of course now require a lot of reading books and selecting appropriate plants and shopping for them. Nicola has been saving up her garden centre vouchers for ages and the first purchase will be the Worcester apple tree.

Turf after 1 day

We have acquired some turf and this has been laid in the back garden and at present is requiring a lot of TLC by the men on site. Mum has also sprinkled lots of seed on the brown bits and it seems to taking up residence slowly.

Turf after 1 day

Turf after a week

The plumbing is being fitted by Granddad and he is making progress. I will try and upload some inside pictures soon but haven’t taken any of inside in a while. Sabrina’s choice paint colours look good. The hallway looks spacious in Broadway blue.

Boiler Hole

‘Cats are dangerous companions for bloggers because cat watching is a near-perfect method of blogging avoidance.’

Found this quote and liked it, so thought I would share it.

The Tree in leaf.

No whining because we’re spending!

2011-04-20T01:23:00.000-07:00

Sabrina and Nicola had a little trip to the site to see the colours we picked for the decorators going on the walls. We found lots had been painted in Sabrina’s house and the list of instructions for the decorators taped down for them to follow. From the photograph you can see our professional approach to writing instructions. Think the lads could just about make out Sabrina’s handwriting on the back of a Howdens catalogue.

Granddad was at the site and had fitted the downstairs toilet in Sabrina’s place. We found him hiding in Nicola and Stephens living room putting together the sanity wares. I’ve told Granddad he should read my blog! I fear that as he still completes his invoices on a typewriter he will never see it. Did you know you can still buy typewriter ribbon? Our cousin Jason orders it from the internet as you cannot source it anywhere else.

Thought I’d take a few shots of the wine cooler for my friends. I am sure that Rachael and Claire will be able to empty this in an evening. Sabrina has one too and will probably be stocking it with Rose for her friends. I think they like something more orangey to drink, or was that just their skin they liked orange after Sab and her mates had spray tans this week.

We have had a mad spending session on in the last of couple of weeks and frequented many shops to spend our hard earned cash and savings. We have brought everything and anything from Next, Ikea, Currys, Harveys. One of the shops we have visited many times is International Furniture in Andover we just like the price and the quality of the wooden furniture and the fact that is you ask nicely you get discount. It is a family run business and Sabrina has brought beautiful solid living room furniture in there for her place. Here’s hoping the cats don’t scratch that or the Guinea pigs down chew the leg of the coffee table like they did the last one.

Hilarys blinds rang after a week and have dropped their price by £2000. I’ll wait another week and see how much more discount they will give us then.

Dear Sir!

2011-04-15T02:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Hillarys Blinds,

We have decided not to purchase your over priced blinds. We would like to offer you some feedback for your services. Listed below are the key points.

• When the customer says they are building a house, please expect to turn up to a building site and note that other trades people will probably be on site.

• A building site has many health and safety risks including tools and items on the floor. If your people are not allowed anywhere that could jeopardise their health and safety do not sent them out to any jobs at all; as all homes pose a threat to your fitters (particularly building sites).

• Do not send women out to measure up windows who will cry if a little bit of sand or dirt gets into their sample case.

• Provide your members of staff with more baby wipes as the lady you sent to us seemed to be getting through quite a few.

• Do not tell your customers the blinds and shutters are made in sweat shops in China. (As then they will know how much you are over changing).

• Most importantly no idiot will pay over £7000 for shutters or blinds, when it didn’t even cost that much to fit the double glazing in the first place.

Although we will not be taking you up on the offer for shutters, we would like to thank your fitter for telling us that you main rivals are The California Company. This piece of information has helped us so much in our decision; as they have come in at more than £100 per window cheaper than you.

Yours Sincerely

Mr and Mrs (We are not made of money) Wright.

As it is the Easter Holidays and Stephen has had a week off work, he has been up the site all week. Except for the family day out we took to The London Book Fair to see Maria (our other sister).

Grandad

The kitchens are still being fitted and hopefully the plumber (Granddad) and electrician (Uncle Robin) will be able to get in their today to finish their bits before the bottom units go in.

Clive!

The painters and decorators have white washed most of the houses. The doors and architrave are being put on and skirting in some places. We have chosen our paint colours with the help of Clive. Nicola and Stephen have gone for a simple colour scheme of neutral colours and although Stephen doesn’t like it, the living room will be a light shade of pink! Sabrina has also chosen her colours and has chosen different colours for different areas of the house.

Les has been busy outside making a base for the shed and laying a patio which looks great. We have ordered the shed., which should be delivered in the next 7 days.

We also had a family afternoon out to Howdens to choose kitchen door handles, door handles for the doors and flooring options. From this experience we have learned that nothing they tell you first time is the real price, just get Daddy Mark to do the bartering.

Did anybody notice the BBC have stolen my blog title for their new DIY SOS series. Wonder if I can claim rights to that title?

Easter Holiday!

2011-04-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

It is the Easter Holidays and Sabrina, Stephen and Nicola have some much needed time off work. So Stephen of course has been up the site helping Mark and the million other people up there getting our houses finished.

What Pies?

Sabrina and Nicola went for another retail therapy session today to Basingstoke. While the men got on with the houses. At the moment there is so much to write about I could write a dissertation.

So in short; Uncle Robin has been walking round the site with a screw driver, light fittings and light bulbs to finish the electrics. Les and Jamie have finished the porch and were mixing up muck and stuff. Les has also been practicing his rolling skills with a pouch of tobacco. Clive was swearing and singing upstairs think he was hanging doors or something like that. There were also men walking around with paint buckets and brushes. Stephen and Mark were eating Cornish pasties in the kitchen and said something about fitting a kitchen.

On a more serious note the kitchens are being fitted in both houses and we have stolen the wine cooler ordered for mum’s house (cheers mum).

They have begun to lay the block paving and we have a large front door step for our flower pots. The garden has been levelled. All is coming on nicely and soon be ready for our family to move into the houses. Tomorrow Sabrina and Nicola aim to kill some weeds and demand Hillarys blinds to give us massive discounts on our shutters or blinds whichever we choose. We are also going to see if you get money off if it’s your birthday; Happy Birthday Sabrina. We love you lots. xxxx

How is the house? Are you nearly there yet?

2011-04-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

Two questions we are repeatedly asked and thoroughly enjoy answering.

There is so much going on in these final stages. There are tradesmen everywhere doing different jobs plumbing, electrical, painting and decorating etc .

What has happened in the past few weeks? The floors have been screeded. The baths have arrived the lads started putting the porch on. Our front doors look fabulous thanks to Sabrina who suggested red. The doors are being hung all over the houses.

Outside as the porch goes up Les has laid a retaining wall in the garden complete with steps down onto the patios. Sabrina has began to get green fingers and has started planting a few pots of seeds at mums; to transplant into her new garden when she moves in. Nicola cannot be happier that Sabrina is showing an interest into something she thoroughly enjoys. When Nicola and Stephen first brought their house Nicola caught the gardening bug and is now hoping she has infected Sabrina.

Most of all we keep changing our minds about tiles and flooring options, even though we were supposed to have decided ages ago. So as we move forward the end is nearer and nearer.

Oh my goodness!

2011-03-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

It won’t be long now! Our houses are having the heating put in now. It is so exciting.

We had a little look around the site Saturday afternoon. The insulation on the floor is down in both houses. Sabrina and Keirans also has the pipe work down, on the floor, for the heating systems.

We had to be ultra careful not to squash the pipe work while walking around. The floor should be screeded soon to cover the pipe work. We are so looking forward to a nice toasty house and will not miss our radiators at all. We will be able to place the furniture anywhere.

What do most people use their radiators for anyway? Apart from heating the house they become a dumping ground for all people’s pants and socks. There is nothing worse than popping into a friend’s house for a cup of tea and watching them frantically take their string underwear off the radiator, while the kettle boils.

The coving is almost finished and an undercoat of paint is on most walls. Just kitchens and bathrooms to fit and we can move in.

Nicola has packed her first box of Stargate DVD’s in the hope that she doesn’t have to watch that rubbish for at least 1 month or more. It will also be the last box we unpack!

Next thing on the packing list Stephens Spock ears. (He doesn’t really have any of those but it is a standing joke that he is sci-fi obsessed)

Plastered!

2011-03-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

When things inside the house start to happen everything moves forward at an alarming rates.

Bedroom

I now have a few more pictures of upstairs as we have staircases so Nicola can get up there and take photos. Normally she would be crying at the top of a ladder and watching the other people around her roll around laughing at her pathetic behaviour.

The houses are really coming on with plastering on the walls and even details like switches and coving.

Things are so close now it seems like only a little while ago this place was a massive overgrown garden full of brambles and rubble.

Shopping is all Okely Dokey!

2011-02-22T10:43:00.000-08:00

It is half term hooray for all the teachers! Today the ladies hit the town shopping however not the bags and shoes type of shopping.

As things have been progressing quite rapidly the windows are in and the plastering has begun. The plastering at Sabrina and Keirans is almost finished. The next big job is the under floor heating system.

So it was time to start thinking about fixtures and fittings. Have you ever looked around your home and really wondered who choose all the things in your house? Somebody did, maybe it was you, maybe a previous owner, maybe the building firm. Somebody chose the type of skirting boards you have, the doors, the door handles, the kitchen style, the kitchen door knobs. How many different types of tile do you have in your home? Think about the tiles on the kitchen walls, kitchen floor, bathroom walls, bathroom floor, think about your en-suite and your down stairs toilet.

We now have so many decisions to make and such a short space of time to think about it all. We have already chosen the Burford Cream kitchens from Howdens, which it itself comes in contemporary and traditional another choice we had to make. So we needed to choose tiles for the kitchen to match.

We have been too many tile shops today to choose from thousands of tiles for the kitchens and bathrooms. We really liked the selection and assistance we got in County Tile Warehouse Andover. They also stock some really pretty and sparkly tiles. This is where Nicola got some of her tiles for her last bathroom project. We have been to lots of other shops today including independent shops, Wickes and Homebase.

It was a real giggle especially the little time we spend in one shop where the guy showed us about 20 shades of beige tiles and after us saying no to each sample he showed us he replied with ‘Okely dokely.’ We expressed our interest in white tiles and were amazed to find out from ‘Ned Flanders’ that there are 150 different shades of white tiles. At 4.30 pm after a long day looking I’m not sure if we were laughing or crying at Ned, the poor man. I suppose all I can say is that he knew a lot about tiles, for example a 3° difference in temperature in firing can result in a totally different shade of white tile. I think we are a lot clearer now on what we require.

Our last shop was Wickes we were in need of rest and recuperation so Nicola had a shower while Sabrina used the facilities!

Update

2011-02-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

So things are coming along nicely.

Sabrina and Kierans house is beginning to be plastered and Nicola and Stephens is slightly behind that as the electrics 1st fix went into Sabrina and Kierans house first.

Our windows and back doors have arrived and should be fitted soon. The sash UPVC windows are gorgeous; we all love a good period feature in a house. Although having UPVC windows might not be considered a feature to some people, I can assure you that our house will be toasty and warm; while the rest of the street with the wooden original Edwardian and Victorian windows will be shelling out a fortune in heating.

We have the shopping bug and have been buying new furniture and things for the house. Sabrina wants a new toaster and kettle but I think she should wait till she gets married then she will have at least 10 of each.

Everybody seems very interested in the build Nicola and Stephen dropped into to the bank to sort out the mortgage on our current house and mentioned that we were moving to a new property. The lady behind the counter knew all about our build as she walks past it every day on the way to work. So she is desperate to be nosy and asked if she could pop in for a cup of tea, to which we responded 'Yeah of course just bring a cake when we move in.'

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

2011-01-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

Reduce, Reuse, Recyle

We can now walk round our houses as stud walls are in and the property is currently being wired up with all the wonderful new gadgets. The amount of cabling is truly astonishing! Being modern and up to date house there will be lots and lots of sockets to plug things in. It seems strange all the electronics we need for modern day life; TV, internet and millions of gadgets to keep us going. I mean who can live without their mobile and the internet?

We have tried really hard to keep the houses up there with the eco credentials; we all need to our bit to save the planet. We aim to reduce our carbon footprints and more importantly bills by the amount of insulation in the houses. The under floor heating is super efficient to so we can still remain toasty warm.

When building and moving home we always generate a lot of waste. I am not looking forward to clearing out the loft in my current house goodness know what is up there! Luckily we know of a fabulous skip company East Recycling and Materials who can recycle lots of the building waste and put it into other building projects. Being a relatively new company they are offering lots of discounts to. Need a skip call them on 01264 710689 or 07747865537 or e-mail them.

Up on the roof

2011-01-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

Why did the roofer go to the doctor?

Because he had a bad case of SHINGLES...

At the present time Keiran has been up on the roof quite a lot. The roofing is coming along with the felt and battoning done the tiles are about to be put on to make it water tight. It looks amazing!

Kieran had his brother on site to help him carry the roof tiles up the ladder and stack them on the roof. Kieran who is a trained roofer has saved us lots of money, so we wanted to pay him back by letting him marry Sabrina; I think that is a fair deal. Good job Kieran has also been in the army as he can practice his marching skills again in August all the way down the aisle, to get wed.

The other lads have been plaster boarding the ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms and are about to get the stud walls under way.

We have also had to make a lot of decisions lately. We had a meeting a few weeks ago with our Uncle Robin (the electrician) to decide about how many electrical plug sockets, tv aerial sockets, phone sockets, light switches, and lighting fixtures were needed for the house. I never realised there were so many types of socket out there. This was also the perfect opportunity to work out where those sockets and lights should go a very important decision. Is there a socket in your house you never use? Do you only have one double socket behind your television? Why do people do that? Everybody knows that behind the television you need to plug in the tv, dvd player, sky box and games console, we will be able to do this in our new places.

Catalogues full of door options

A really pretty door

Sabrina has been busy picking windows and doors. She told us she would like us to have red doors at first I wasn’t so sure but after seeing the brochure she does have taste and they do actually look quite something on the houses in the brochure.

Roof, roof, roof!

2010-12-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

With Christmas fast approaching, I have to say I am happy with my present. This year we got a roof on our new house. I am very excited that it may soon be wrapped in batons, felt and tiles.

The lads on site have been working hard. Wonder if Mark used Roofers Ready Reckoner, a book he used to read when we were children full of charts and diagrams and maths. I wonder if he knows the old edition of this book from 1987 now sells on Amazon for over £100. He will do once he has read this.

Daddy Mark has been servicing the nail guns to ensure they are in full working order.

We are still so excited about the build and cannot wait for what 2011 will bring, hopefully two new family homes. We are also going to be spending some quality time enjoying the festivities and seeing our family. Just have to ensure that Daddy Mark and Keiran don’t eat to many mince pies, as we would hate them to put too much strain on the scaffold.

Our windows

Everybody needs good neighbours!

2010-12-16T12:46:00.000-08:00

After a little while away from the site, due to the snow holding us back and the temperature being below 3°. The brick layers were back on site putting up the last few blocks. The windows look amazing with the detailing, a feature I believe it is called.

It is just amazing actually walking through the house and imagining where all the furniture will go.

A place for our car on bricks.

All four of us new Junction Road tenants had a little trip up there on Saturday, before Christmas shopping to have a little look round. We have found the perfect spot just down the side of Sabrina and Keiran’s place to put the Ford Cortina on bricks. We are really hoping our new neighbours will appreciate the plans for our new gardens. We know we are moving to a nicer area just not sure we have the etiquette for all that yet.

Next to come the roof!

Up stairs

2010-11-27T13:09:00.000-08:00

So the brick work has been steaming ahead and I cannot believe for the first time the houses seem like real homes. We have electricity in and meters.

Has been a little cold over the past week and apparently you cannot lay bricks if it is less than 3° probably because the sand is frozen solid and the water. Les and the boys have been working really hard. We have upstairs and scaffolding. Apart from the weather and Nicolas fractured wrist not much seems to be holding the build back at the moment. So mum and Mark are off sunning themselves on their cruise while we freeze and wait for the temperature to pick up.

Autumn Shopping

2010-11-04T13:42:00.000-07:00

A tree at the front of the site

It looks like autumn is here and things are getting wet and cold; which is no real issue for people who pop down to the building site once a week. I would hate to be a builder at this time of year getting wet and cold. The houses are really taking form with brick work actually going up around the outside.

We also have all the pipes and tubes and things that happen underground in. The drive has been covered in hardcore so is ready for a lovely new place to park our cars.

Soon to come the upper floor! So exciting! The joys of being a well brought up female are to send the boys up to the site and explain we need to work, at home and then spend the whole day browsing the internet for floor tiles and furniture. Looking at sites like NEXT and Laura Ashley. Just Nicola and Sabrina doing what mum taught us to do well.

We are wondering who is living in our houses already as we keep finding random objects. Last month we found a single brand new shoe. This week somebody left us their left over saturday night takeaway looks like they had a good night out. I won't tell you what other things we found!

Thinking about shopping

2010-10-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

So the latest update. Things on site are still moving along a lot of underground work has gone on pipes, wires and other such things. We have taken down some of the hedge and trees on one side at the front of the site to run the pipes underneath.

The lads have been insulating our homes over the weekend. Hopefully this will be keeping us toasty warm next winter and saving us lots of money on the central heating. I am really looking forward to the laying of the under floor heating system and from the research I’ve done its eco-friendly and energy saving. So more money for shopping I think!

Talking about shopping, it seems to be all I can think about, but I keep getting told I cannot buy any furniture until we have a house to put it in. So I have been researching key essentials that will be needed before we move in. We are hoping to have pocket doors between the kitchen diner and lounge.

What is a pocket door? - A pocket door is a system of building a counter frame which is then integrated with stud wall construction, either timber or metal. The pocket door counter frame creates an envelope the same width as the finished wall for the door to slide into, thus hiding the door within the wall cavity.

So during my research project about pocket doors I found loads of nice pictures and expensive prices! Coming from a sci-fi loving family the best had to be Star Trek pocket doors the clip I found on You Tube which was great. Think we will be opting for the regular kind though that you push into the wall yourself.

MOVING ON UP!

2010-10-15T11:58:00.000-07:00

Everybody has commenting on how quick things seem to be moving along after reading the blog.

Well nobody is more shocked about the progress of the building than us. We have been at work at week and dropped by this Friday evening to see how the block and brick are coming along.

The site now looks like two houses you can walk in the rooms. You can begin to think about where the furniture is going. In all it is really amazing. They told me the block work would go up quickly I didn't think they meant this quickly. It seemed like we were forever digging in the dirt and now we have houses.

Still lots to do with more drainage, sewage, water, gas and electricity all being connected. I wonder what everybody will make of these pictures!

I am really getting into this blogging lark to. Although I'm not the best writer in the world, I am thoroughly enjoying looking at the stats behind the blog. We have had 500 readers so far including 7 from America, 2 from Canada and 4 from Australia. Amazing really how interesting dirt, bricks and building can be. Perhaps it is just the site of us in tatty clothes and work boots that keeps drawing the readers in.

Floor in

2010-10-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

There was no building work on site this weekend! The Wrights went away to Bournemouth. Mark and Les went to the Isle of Man.

We popped by on Saturday to see our site and the floor is in. It is amazing how quick things are moving now.

The imaginary downstairs toilet

Its not behind

2010-10-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

Sabrina and Keirans House

Busy, busy, busy! This weekend Stephen went down to the site to move hardcore around the brick work. We are nearly up to the floor level. Les the bricklayer has been working very hard. From now on its up, up, up! After we have put in the floor.

The current features of the houses include holes in the brick work well we have to have somewhere for our waste to flow. Not long now until the first poo will flow through those.

The Wright Place

Although the weather has not been great over the past few weeks and it is muddy and squelchy, its like wading through can’t remember what it reminds me of.

Mark has been saying he has gotten so wet the water was running down the back of his trousers where he has a gutter in his butt crack. This is useful as it might save us some money when it comes to buying pipes for the rain water from the roof.

love it!

2010-09-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

So this weekend the fun started the boys were on site laying the first bricks. Keiran etched his name into the first brick as it was to be laid in his house. It was a busy day on site moving blocks, making up muck and laying blocks. More concrete crushing was required.

Sabrina and Keiran went away for a few days last week and got engaged! They are planning on getting married next year. So now there is also a wedding to plan. Mum is going crazy over the thought of shopping and choosing colours with Sabrina. I hope Keiran knows what he has signed up for. Nothing like a bit of hard work from our family this year life is non- stop!

Blocking Good Progress

2010-09-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since the last update on account that we are all so busy. This weekend we have been moving blocks, to get them ready for the brick layers to start the block work. A very exciting phase in the build; where from the ground houses will hopefully appear.

I always knew Mark was good at maths. I remember from my childhood, at about 9 years old, I had trigonometry explained to me. I didn’t understand this concept then, I grasped the concept for my GCSE maths where I got a B, but have since forgotten how to use this skill. Why you ask may I be mentioning this? Well I have always known that building involved lots of mathematical understanding, but not quite realised how much. Until we are on site discussing and mentally calculating how many blocks to stack in which places, believe it or not you have to work this out. It apparently saves you from moving the blocks twice and wasting time and energy.

So moving the blocks themselves was a physical task which we all did together. Whilst working, Mark also informed me that for every block we moved we saved 8p on a labourer. So whilst carrying it was a good opportunity to practice my 8 times table.

My head is now filled with Maths! So what to do with the rest of my Sunday after dinner? With maths in my head I suppose I had better get on with planning a few maths lessons for the children at school.

Mix-Up

2010-09-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Sabrina and Keirans Place

So it has been a while since the last update due to the Wrights running around the country socialising and partying, Nicola is also going back to school, boo hoo!

The site has moved on lots and lots the footings have been dug and filled with concrete. This involved several weekends of concrete mixing and Les in the trenches spreading it out.

What, you may ask have we learned about mixing concrete? Well, if one person loads the mixer with cement, one puts in the ballast and the other person adds the water the job gets done faster. Although bags of cement are heavy and dusty and after a day on site even you boogies are concreted up your nose. Water is less physical work but be careful not to catch the bucket on the edge of the mixer, this results in the water flying back out at you making you soaked wet through to your pants and you begin to wonder if it is water ,or if you have wet yourself.

We have been introduced to the concrete crusher this weekend which is a noisy machine that eats large pieces of concrete and smashes it up into little chunks.

After many years of being told not to play with fire, we lit a bonfire and enjoyed burning everything we could find on site.

The Wright House