Over the last couple of weeks the brick and block work has all been completed and the roof has gone on.  The roof was a cut roof so it was constructed by me and Dane.  The felt baton and tiles have all gone on, as well as the two electric Velux windows that we fitted.  We just have the lead work and ridge to finish.  As we are on a tight schedule working towards a kitchen fitting date we will be concentrating on getting the first fix electrics and plumbing done inside as well as getting everything plasterboarded and ready to be skimmed.

This was the week we put in the two large steel lintels which were going to support the existing house brick and block wall and create the kitchen opening into the extension.  First thing was to get our hands on eight acro props and strong boys plus an alloy tower so we could work safely at height.  Once we had the stuff on site we set about getting our acro’s and strong boys into position to take the load of the brick and block work.  On Tuesday we took out six courses of exterior brick work and two courses of interior block work.  Once that was all done and we had our opening to work with and we got the first lintel lifted up and put into position.  We followed that by getting the second lintel into position the following day.  We propped up both lintels and set about doing the brick work for the four pad stones for the lintels to sit on.
Andy and Liam the brickies were back on site on Thursday (and Friday) while Dane and I took another ride down to Harlow to pick up some more of our pre-coloured mortar mix to see us through to the end of the job which Dane had managed to get his hands on for free by sweet talking the female rep!  We also ordered one of the windows.  We finished off the week by doing a number of the smaller jobs that needed doing while we waited for our timber delivery on the Monday so we could make a start on the cut timber roof.

Unfortunately we lost the first two days of the week to rain, but we were all back on site on the Wednesday, with Andy and Liam continuing with the brick and block work, while Dane and I ran in the rainwater tank hose pipe and connections and also installed the tank pump.  Once that was all done we plugged in the tank to the mains and gave it a test run and everything was working as it should be. In the afternoon we made up a biscuit base for the rain water tank lid to sit on.
Andy and Liam spent Thursday and Friday on the brick and blockwork, while Dane and I went out and about and organized some material orders and deliveries on the Thursday, and then on the Friday we took up the existing kitchen tiles, removed the utility stud wall and made some alterations to some existing ducting pipe.  Hopefully next week the weather will be more kind to us.