Over the last few weeks we have quite literally watched our house rise up from the ground!
At the end of week 1 the ground floor was up, by the end of the week 2, the second floor and by the end of week 3 the roof on and we could see the skeleton of our new home. Amazing!
This all took place once the scaffolders had put up scaffold around the slab. The Potton kit then arrived on the back of a lorry and from that minute on, the house began to take shape. It’s a day I doubt we will ever forget. The skill with which they manoevered both the truck and the forklift on the site was incredible. There wasn’t much room to play with and yet they moved each part of our timber frame kit off the lorry and onto site with effortless precision. Within hours of the kit arriving there were walls marking the boundaries and rooms for the first floor of the house. All we could do is sit there soaking up the moment. It was pure theatre!
From that moment on the erection team, which consisted of just three guys, worked tirelessly. They were fantastic and so was the weather for the entire three weeks they were on site, so once finished it seemed only fitting that we cracked open a bottle of champagne with them to celebrate.
We have been sleeping on site in our ebay caravan since the kit arrived which has been an adventure. It’s been great as we have been able to keep an eye on the site AND it’s easy to fall out of bed and onto site for a 7am start.
Every day there has been something to do. Evenings are spent searching the internet looking at materials we might need and the days are spent organising the various materials and trades that need to be onsite throughout the build. In the middle of all that we have made the odd visit to garden centres or auction houses to snap up any bargains on offer. It’s one of the ways we hope to save money. We have picked up mature plants and shrubs for a fraction of their normal cost; much better than buying at full price when we come to landscape the garden at the end of the build! Not suprisingly the garden is now full of plants. We have planted all our borders with trees and climbers to provide us with some privacy and the rest are in pots waiting for planting out once the house is finished.
One of the key jobs we have had to get done in the past few weeks was to paint all the beading on every one of the windows ready for when the glazier to comes in. So as soon as the windows were in, we painstakingly removed every piece of beading and have now painted all 1200 of them which will have to be put back once the window pains go in and the frames have been painted. According to the glazier, this will save a lot of problems, time and effort later on. I hope he is right because it has taken hours!
The only delay we have had so far has been with the roofer, who was due to start a week earlier than he did but couldn’t as he was delayed on another job. In some ways it was a blessing as we were undecided about roof tiles. But, with the help of Terry Mahoney at Potton, we settled on a wonderful Fresco blue grey slate roof tile, imported from China believe it or not. Not only is it cheaper but it also looks beautifully weathered so we hope that it will serve to make the house look like it has been there for ever and a day. Will keep you posted!!
