Last week was one of those weeks where we didn’t make too much progress for one reason and another.  On Monday Wayne took a day off, and I was finishing up some work for a client, so Stu had the day off as well and nobody was on site.  Tuesday, I was not on site until lunch time, but Stu and Wayne were on site carrying on the with the external and interior block work.  Wednesday and Thursday were forecast rain, so Wayne took both days off, while Stu and I loaded out the top scaffold with blocks and had a good tidy up of the site on the Wednesday morning, getting off site just as the heavens opened.  We were all back on site Friday, but only managed a half day as the black clouds rolled in and we were on the receiving end of some heavy rain showers late morning, which is the first time we have really been caught out by the rain when we have been on site.

But where are the roof trusses?  I was expecting a call this week with a delivery date for the trusses as I had placed my order on the Wednesday of last week, and they have a 5 to 7 day delivery schedule from time of order.  But on Wednesday I received a phone call saying they had mislaid some of our measurements, and could not proceed without them.  So on Thursday I gave them the figures they needed, and chased them on Friday for a delivery date, which I was informed would be a week Friday!  So we have gone from a 5 to 7 day delivery to a 10 to 12 day delivery, great!  So through no fault of my own, we have lost a week of work time, as we are struggling for work until the trusses arrive.  Plus I incur a week’s additional costs on the scaffold and the hire of the JCB Telehandler, which is around £500.  Will the truss company reimburse me, no.  Are they bothered, no.  Is it their fault they are running late, no.  Unbelievable!  And I have to pay for this service.  David from EH Smith the builders merchant is chasing them up to see if we can get an earlier delivery date and apply some pressure, but I am not holding my breath!

We were all back on site Monday, and good news, the Telehandler was repaired and ready for action.  Wayne was continuing to lay the exterior block work, assisted by ‘cement’ Stu as usual.  I used the Telehandler to load out the scaffold with the last of the exterior blocks for the front and rear of the build with help from Stu, as we were now about to reach plate height and ready for the roof trusses.  On Tuesday I made a start on running a few courses of interior blocks in on the first floor walls.  In the afternoon, Stu and I loaded out the interior scaffold boards with the interior blocks ready for Wayne.

I was away from site on Wednesday and Thursday carrying out a couple of little jobs for clients, leaving Stu and Wayne to continue in my absence.  They got all the exterior block work done, and we are now awaiting the arrival of the roof trusses which we ordered on the Wednesday before we can continue and finish the three gable ends.  On Thursday the scaffolders arrived to take the scaffold up to the third lift, while Wayne and Stu focused on the interior block work and putting in the remaining window lintels as they went.

Wayne had Friday as a day off, while Stu and I visited the NEC with my Dad to visit the Homebuild and Renovation Show to see what the show had to offer.

On Monday, Wayne continued to build up the first floor exterior block work with Stu’s assistance, leaving me to finish off putting in the joists.  Unfortunately the joist manufacturer had made a minor mistake, meaning eight of the joists were the in-correct size and were too short in length.  But the manufacturer was going to send out some metal joist hangers for next day delivery that would put things right.

On Tuesday we had a delivery of 1 tonne bags of sand and four pallets more of blocks.  I was lifting the first bag of sand into place with the JCB Telehandler when I heard a loud crack.  I thought nothing if it, until moving the Telehandler forwards a few metres to see the front right wheel at a 90 degree angle to the front left, not good!  I called out an engineer to repair it, but as it turns out it was out of action for the rest of the week.

Wayne and Stu were continuing to work on the exterior block work, having the front and rear elevations nearly up to plate height by the end of play Thursday.  I got the last of the joists in, fixed all the strapping into place, and then had the joy of laying cut blocks between the joists on the internal walls to stop them from moving about.  Measure, cut, lay block.  A slow and tedious process, but one of them jobs just needs doing!  We decided to take Friday off as we needed more blocks on the scaffold, and with the Telehandler out of action, Stu and I didn’t fancy the thought of doing 200 trips up and down a 5 metre ladder each, with a block on our shoulders.  So we will wait till Monday when the Telehandler should be back in action.  My back feels better already!

All of us were back on site, fit and raring to go after last week’s injury plagued week.  Sort of!  In the early part of the week, Wayne finished off the last of the exterior block work bringing it up to height with the rest of the block work, so we could now get the scaffolders in to take the boards up to the next lift, which I duly arranged for Thursday.  I ran in the block work on the single storey part of the build, building up the gable end as high as I could manage.  Stu was dutifully keeping our boards loaded out with cement.

On Wednesday, we moved onto building up the interior walls on the ground floor.  Wayne focused on the living areas, while I got to do the toilet/wash room.  We finished off all the block work walls by Thursday lunch, and then spent the afternoon erecting the structural steel work for the hallway, stairs and landing area.

Wayne had is usual four day week, and had Friday off.  This left Stu and me the joyous task of loading out nearly 1000 exterior concrete blocks onto the newly erected second lift of scaffolding.  It was a lovely sunny day, with clear blue skies and great views across the Fens, so it made the job a little easier.  Just after lunch, the timber posi-joists arrived, so Stu and I started to lift them into position, ready to be finished off and fixed into place on Monday.

The weather was looking good for the week, so I thought we could crack on with things and make up for lost time due to the bad weather over recent weeks.  That’s what I thought.  That’s until two out of the three us couldn’t work due to injury!  We were all in on Monday continuing with the exterior block work, and Wayne was already letting us know that his wrist was feeling the worst for wear, especially as he was working with the heavy blocks, bless him! 

7am Tuesday morning I get two texts, one from Stu saying he had badly sprained his ankle and was going to spend the next couple of days with it raised and covered with ice, and Wayne’s wrist was too painful for him to work, so he was going to rest it for a few days.  Great start to the day!  I had to be on site to meet the timber truss people later that morning so they could measure up and we could get the trusses ordered for next week. 

I took the opportunity on Wednesday and Thursday to hang some internal doors for a client, while Stu and Wayne got into their daily dose of daytime TV viewing!  On Friday, Stu was back on site, although with a limp, so he and I set about getting some courses of the exterior blocks laid so we could be in a position to have the next lift of scaffold carried out next week.  We also had some structural steel delivered, so we will need to get that erected prior to the trusses going in.  Hopefully next week all three of us will be back on site, I just hope the weather stays kind to us.