Work on the 4 Bed New Build got back under way this week as the snow finally disappeared and the weather turned in our favour, giving us dry and fairly mild conditions for the week.  Wayne made a start on getting the exterior and internal block work up to window height all the way around the perimeter of the build.  Stu was working the cement mixer, keeping Wayne’s muck boards topped up with cement.  I tried to stay one step ahead of Wayne by trying to keep the blocks loaded out as he progressed with his work.  When I got the opportunity I picked up the trowel myself and assisted Wayne with laying the blocks.

On Wednesday we put the window and door lintels into position, and while they were going off, we moved inside the build to make a start on the internal block work.  I went round, measured up and marked out for the walls and set about putting the wall fixings into position.  By the end of Thursday we had got four courses of blocks down for most of the internal walls, and laid a course of blocks onto the lintels.  I arranged with David from EH Smith to have the rep come out to measure up for the joists next week, which is planned for Tuesday.  I also placed the order for the structural steel to be delivered next week.

On Friday Wayne took a day of rest off as he was feeling the effects on his wrist and back of working on the heavy blocks all week.  That left Stu and I to take a delivery of 19 pallets of the heavy blocks, which then needed to be loaded out on to the scaffold ready for Wayne on Monday.  We spent around four hours loading out the blocks, loading out 10 of the 19 pallets, and that was with the aid of having a JCB Telehandler to move them around the site with.  So much for Wayne and his comments of “that will only take a couple of hours tops”, yeah right Wayne!  Stu and I could equally have been mistaken for Brad Pitt out of Fight Club after all that heavy lifting and carrying!!  We also got the inside of the build loaded out with bricks and blocks ready for Wayne, we had a good tidy and a sweep up and everything was looking tidy and ship shape for next week.  It was nice to get back to working a full week, and it was good to see things progressing well with the build.  Fingers crossed for more of the same next week.

Another week lost on the build due to bad weather.  Monday to Wednesday was a no go as the site was covered in snow, and it was too cold to do any block laying.  On Thursday Stu and I popped over to Northampton to fit a new back door for somebody, only on our journey back to Peterborough to encounter more snow fall!  On the Friday Stu and I went to the site to load out a delivery of blocks onto the scaffold ready for making a start on the first lift of block work, fingers crossed, next week when all the snow has disappeared!!

Things got worse on the weather front this week as most people are probably aware.  Stu and I worked through the snow showers on Monday and Tuesday as we put down 40 tonnes of hardcore around the site to improve the levels and make for a better working surface.  The first lift of scaffolding was to go up on Wednesday, but I haven’t seen the site since to find out!  But that was all we achieved work wise, as the rest of the week I watched the snow come down from the comfort of my living room!  Maybe things will improve for next week?

Last week was slightly better on the weather front, so much so we nearly put in a full week of work! Only nearly, as we had Wednesday off due to the rain.

Wayne continued to build up the exterior block work, I continued to keep loading out the blocks for him, and Stu continued to keep the supply of cement flowing.  I also made up the remaining timber frames for the windows and doors.  Once Wayne had got the exterior blocks up to a height where we require the scaffolding erected so we can continue, we moved inside the build to start on the interior blocks.  I had the job of going round laying the first three courses of bricks for the interior walls, so the interior blocks then run at the same height as the exterior blocks.  I can see why Wayne gave me this job, I spent all of my time bent over, and my back was aching big time at the end of each day.  Wayne then followed on behind me laying the blocks.

It was cold Thursday and Friday, but the sun was out, so it was very pleasant working conditions.  By the end of the week, the interior was starting to take shape and once again we had all worked hard to pull things back after losing so much time the previous week.  But looking at the weather forecasts, I am not looking forward to all this snow that is supposed to be coming our way.