Extension walls up.

More work on the downstairs to write about this week.

For those of you who may not know what pad foundations are. In very basic words, You dig big deep holes (pads) a few meters apart, You then fill them with concrete and then connect the pads with  RSJs which have a mesh wrapped around them and then cover them in concrete. You then build the walls on top of this. 

The picture below shows the pads covered on in concrete.

The picture below shows the RSJs placed in the channels that have been dug out. The RSJs are joined together.

Below the RSJs covered in mesh so the concrete has something to grip to.

Finally covered in Concrete

The walls have started to go up. It gives you a good idea of how big the extension is compared to the existing building. The big opening below is where the bi fold doors will be going up.

From the front of the bungalow. This is where the new entrance will be .For the current door at the side there is two steps, plus an additional step once you get through the existing PVC door. Couple this with a steep drive and you get a bungalow where the front is a lot higher than the rear. This means we're going to have 4 steps , possibly more leading from the front house to the driveway. 

Hopefully by this week the roof should start to go up as the walls should be finished by Tuesday. 

Bringing down the roof!

The last thing you need in the middle of a build is a bank holiday weekend to slow things down, thankfully despite the bank holiday we're actually two days heard of schedule. Unfortunately the building work is the boring part and there isn't much to write down that is exciting.  Three RSJs have gone in and the new floor joists have gone in for the loft conversion above. Roof tiles have been removed from the rear wall where the RSJ protrudes , these will not be replaced as a dormer will be going along here which will house the Juliet balcony doors and window panels.

Tiles have also been removed along the side of the bungalow , this is where the gable wall will be built to maximise the space in the loft.

The tiles on the roof are the original concrete ones and 80 years later are not in the best of shape so I have decided to replace all of these now whilst we are removing half the roof rather than reuse. I am awaiting the quote for the tiles but this should come in around £1500.  Damn it that contingency fund is getting eaten into.