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

Weekend and Tuesday progress

 I'm back, after a longer than expected break as the men couldn't get in yesterday so no update. This will cover the weekend as well however I forgot about writing the blog (working too hard so my schedule was all out) until just now so it is late and I want to get this written as quickly as possible.

A lovely golden start to the day

Visiting the Mountain House

Paddling in the fishing pond

Getting one of many games in

Dinner out

First of all the weekend, which was awesome and incredibly tiring as Steve's visit involved lots of games, a visit to the Mountain House, loads of talking and fun and company and enjoyment and it was altogether awesome. We even got to go out for our dinner one night which was a lot of fun.

The little lizard that is in our wood pile

Such a lovely day

Autumn colours slowly spreading

Yesterday was a really long and busy working day however I did get to snap a picture of our little lizard who is currently living in our indoor wood shed; we're going to have to do something about it. It was a glorious day and when I got a chance to get outside with Rosie I took it; the autumn colours are really finally setting in. Beautiful.

Bekir starts grinding the wall

I made him wear ear defenders

The wall has been shortened

Bracket starting to be engulfed

A mushroom

More grinding, more dust

Washing down the balcony

Sat with Louise

And so to today. I had another crazy busy one, but the men were in (obviously, or I wouldn't be writing this) however Sally is still not back. I suggested to Bekir that he get the balcony wall adjusted and so that is what they did all day; marking off the cut, then grinding it down, popping the tiles off the top to be reused, and generally making a mess. I got some time outside when Angela had to go to the dentist to get something looked at and had a great time running around the front garden with Rosie playing catch. What a laugh. While down there we saw that the support for the bird feeder has started to be encased in the wood of the tree, and also I spotted a large mushroom. Bekir and Halil were hard at work still making the wall the correct height for our windows and after that they washed the balcony down; the dust up there had been atrocious. I headed into town, picked up some deliveries and materials, while Angela was at the dentist and then it was back to work when Angela got back, though I got to sit on the front lawn with the puppies and Rosie waiting.

Cleaning old mortar off the tiles

A beautiful sunset to end the day

The day ended out with me still working, Halil cleaning the old glue off the bottom of the tiles, and the sun setting in a glorious display.

Tomorrow I think they'll complete this work on the wall then get back inside for more stairs and landing progress. We shall see, and so shall you. Thanks for reading.