The two weeks we had off for Easter were intense - we made the decision to go for timber frame, which set off a domino run of other events - all sorts of other decisions which we had been putting off until we had made the big one. We then spent two days or more doing a reality check on the finances, and we now have a rough idea of how much the whole thing will cost - very scary!
I believe that a horrified look at the total cost is de rigeur when building a house, so we are in good company with everyone else who does a self-build.
As a light diversion from all this mental work and over-exercise of the calculator finger, we spent the last two days of the holidays breaking bricks and carting concrete around the site. The garage is not only demolished, but cleared away and sorted into types for recycling: whole bricks for a path, half-bricks for the soakaway and all the little bits which we will store under the house, on the oversite. This is because it is actually quite expensive to get stuff dumped in landfills these days - a good thing too. We'll be getting rid of enough soil as it is in the foundations. About halfway through the second day I said to R that we must have been prison guards in our last lifetimes and we were now in a position to see it from the point of view of the poor lags breaking stones all day long.
Anyway, here are a few photos, so you can see the changes in the site over the last couple of weeks.
Easy really....
Now there are all kinds of details to pin down - for example, straight after the foundations go in, we start to build the masonry plinth and that the service pipes need to be built in to the blocks of the plinth. And that means that we have to design the kitchen right now so that we know exactly where the sink will be so that the water pipe can come out in the right place. And what I say is - GREAT! I love designing kitchens. And a million other small details.
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