Painting the columns

Today has been an awesome day; progress so far on this project is really good.

Carrying a length of steel for cutting

A cap on the end of the beam

Bekir nudging the beam to the center

Welding it in place

Tempering the joint

Halil painting

Test fit is good

Finishing up the painting

The men were in on time and set to with cutting the final two uprights for the left hand side columns. The new machine is proving to be an epic purchase however in the video above they actually had to change the disc to do the final little bit as the disk had just worn down too much. Either way, we had spares and as you can see an entire 160mm IPE was cut in two minutes flat. Awesome. With all the lengths cut they started the next task which was to weld caps on top and bottom of each length. This will spread the weight where it sits on the concrete and provide a better join. Once the welding was done Bekir tempered and cleaned up each weld while Halil started painting with the three in one sealing paint. The end of the day saw the final uprights painted and from Monday they will be able to start raising these beams. A quick test with the shortest one, which will stand on the end wall, puts these as exactly the correct dimensions.

Rosie helps me with the tent pegs

Xena gets in the way

Teddies watching the tent excitement

Mushrooms in the garden

This evening I am camping with Rosie again so when she got back from school I went and pitched the tent with her. She helped with the tent poles and also the pegs and we got it set up super fast. Xena, on the other hand, just kept getting in the way. I also noticed some mushrooms growing which are apparently edible however I don't think we'll risk it.

So there it is. Time for me to go get in the tent. Thanks for reading, back Monday

Steel cutting

I'm pretty late starting this today as I went out for a beer and some food with Dincher this evening, which was awesome. It was a pretty cool day, however, so let's get back to it.

Beautiful sunrise this morning

I finally saw the ducks in the pond

The line showing how tall each column will be

Halil doing some more painting

Plates for the end of the columns

Measuring everything again

Taking the beam to be cut

Bekir trying to cut by hand

The awesome new steel saw

The sunrise this morning was lovely, so much so I went back upstairs to get a picture. While I was up there I saw the ducks in the pond for the first time. I have been told they've been in loads but I just haven't seen them. The men were in on time and made a start on laying out the lines for the top of the roof, or rather where the top of the columns will go to. We now have a string running along showing that. They headed out to get some supplies and when they got back they did some more painting of the steel which will go along the top of the columns. Then it was out again to get some more metal to use as plates top and bottom of the I beams. With that done they measured everything again multiple times to make sure they had it right then Bekir got the big metal cutter and they started to cut the first of the beams. The cut was not straight and no one was happy with that so I sent them out again to go and buy a proper steel saw and when they got it back it was such an improvement. They were able to cut things very much quicker, and also dead-square. By the end of the day they had cut all but one of the columns for this side of the roof and they did that in about an hour. So much faster!

A juicy burger for dinner

The sky was so clear tonight

As I said this evening I went for dinner with Dincher. We had a lovely time sat out eating, drinking and chatting. Afterwards I walked home in the dark and tried to take some star photographs which look much better on my phone than here. Oh well.

So there you are; a good day indeed. Thanks for reading and back tomorrow.

Starting to paint the metal

Welcome back and another hot day today, once the mist cleared.

Bekir makes the hole right

Halil gets to chopping again

Cement mixed and ready

Getting the first footing filled

Metal goes in to reinforce it

Finishing touches

Sweeping up after it is all done

The first thing Bekir was on with when he got here was to chip a little more away at the edge of the first footing nearest the front of the drive, and also another further up, while Halil continued to split the wood. When Bekir was ready for the cement Halil had mixed it up and they put multiple barrows of cement into each of the footings, seating the metal in carefully to reinforce the whole. By the end of lunch they had finished all the cement work and Halil was sweeping up to leave it nice and clean.

Bekir climbs up onto the roof

Fixing the one loose ridge tile

Halil makes a start painting the steel

Working together on painting the steel

After finishing up the footings Bekir climbed onto the roof to fix the loose tile that I spotted yesterday. It was a very quick job to complete but I'm glad it is done and relieved that I spotted it before it fell off and broke. Halil was not in the mood for chopping wood as the temperature was really getting up this afternoon so instead he started to paint the steel and they finished the day working together on that.

So there it is. The forecast is for it to get warmer into the weekend so it may well be back to short tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Busy day

Today has been crazy busy and I've not got many pictures. Let's get to it.

Halil gets cracking on cutting the rest of the wood

The new aerator being installed

Tasty leek from the garden

Toot Toot drove there on his own

All the wood chopped, now to split it

The men were slightly late today as Halil's car had a lot of problems on the journey in. I did offer him to borrow Thomas to get home but he decided to risk his car instead. Halil ended up spending all day finishing cutting up all the wood and then he got stuck into the splitting. Bekir was working away on making the metal frames and has completed that task now. In the morning Angela headed into town for some things and came back with an aerator for the fish tank which is working really well. At lunch time she made potato and leek soup using potatoes and leeks from or garden! After lunch I went with Bekir to do the paperwork for transferring Julian and it took far longer than I expected. At least it is done, though. The wind today was really gusty and strong and Toot Toot took a little solo-drive because of it.

Rosie wearing Angela's helmet

After school Rosie had lots of fun on the patio with her scooter and I got down Angela's roller blades and skateboard and she had a go as well - it was great.

Making a start on the car port

We're back and it is Monday again so let's get this blog on the go.

Rosie sparkling with her sparkler

Breakfast time with the girls

Angela trims and tidies the tomato plants

Cuddling up with an octopus on my head

Rosie plants some seeds with Mummy

The weekend was an odd one as I wasn't very well on Saturday and then I was woken very early on Sunday and couldn't get back to sleep so I was pretty useless. It started off on Friday night, however, with Rosie and a sparkler just before bed. Saturday morning after breakfast at her little table, sat with the puppies, I went into town with Rosie quickly to get some stuff while Angela did a load in the garden. I slept most of the afternoon and was in bed a bit later than planned unfortunately. Sunday was a lovely day for Angela and Rosie but I was fit for very little. I did get a lovely cuddle with Rosie first thing and then enjoyed watching them spend most of the morning and early afternoon outside gardening and playing. In the late afternoon we went out for our dinner to our favourite restaurant and Rosie had lots of fun but I didn't get any pictures at all! And that was that.

Dramatic pre-dawn sky

Taking the ladder down

Halil starts the first hole

Bekir using the breaker on the concrete

Holes ready for our columns

Sand and stone delivery

Bending metal station

One is done

Halil back to the wood task

Today dawned with a dramatic sky but not long after the fog came up and didn't burn off for a bit. The first task for the men was to put the large ladder away as it isn't needed any more then they went round to the drive and began digging and breaking for a footing for the columns. It didn't take long to get these all chiseled out and we have holes for six columns on the house side. Next up they headed out to get rebar for the base of these holes and also ordered sand and stones for the cement, which arrived very quickly. Bekir spent the rest of the afternoon bending metal and making the rebar frames while Halil went back to chopping and splitting wood. It is forecast to be a very rainy and stormy day tomorrow so he may very well end up stacking wood inside for a lot of it tomorrow. We shall see.

Rosie playing on her Toot Toot

Xena climbed the sand pile

The evening sky

After school Rosie had all the fun on the patio riding her trike, her scooter and also her old Toot Toot toy which is a bit small for her now but she still enjoys. Xena found the big pile of sand and ran straight up to the top and then we chatted to Usmivka who was in his garden. After dinner the evening sky was very dramatic as well so I snapped a picture and now it's time for Rosie to head to bed.

So there it is; a good day today and let's hope that the forecast is wrong for tomorrow. Thanks for reading, back tomorrow.