Final steel, and starting the wood

Another day and some more progress. Let's get to it.

Two short columns created

Having to fix a slightly long column

The first column is in place

This was my Dad's old drill

Bekir fixing the wooden beam in place

Working their way along

The men were in and working away on the final two columns we are adding either side of the steps. They cut them to size, welded the caps on each end, then found one was a little too long so had to shave it back down again. With this done we have finished the steel work and, with the tying in they did yesterday, this structure seems to be super secure and stable. The next job is putting wood beams on top of each steel beam so we can build a wooden roof on top. We had a delivery of a load more planks as well today so we should have all the materials for that stage I think. It was a case of drilling holes in each wooden beam and then lifting them into place and securing to the steel beam. They only drilled two of the holes into the steel beam at this stage and will do the rest once everything is in place.

Rosie trying to feed the calf

Thelma and Xena playing their version of basketball

After work I spent some fun time with Rosie outside playing. She is getting very good at her scooter indeed. We also went to see an inquisitive little calf on the lane and played a lot with Thelma and Xena.

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.