Beams and walls .. and more dust!

Well, I did some dusting on Saturday (not a lot) and then we went down to Bill's Mum in Devon for a couple of nights. So we weren't here when the new beams went in on Monday with a crew of about 6 getting them into place. Then the acroprops came out and, as you can see, the space has really opened up. I have now realised that dusting is pointless as the layer was thicker than ever when we got home - the phrase about omelettes and breaking eggs springs to mind.

The building inspector has been around and asked some questions and requested a trial trench to look at the main house foundations. A bit of a debate about a couple of changes but we're hoping for a good outcome. Sam the electrician has now been here a couple of days so the mass of wires dropping from the ceiling and walls is getting sorted - and yet more decisions for the lighting plan and cookers and switches and sockets.....

Thanks to all who have fed us or let us use their kitchens this week - eating or cooking or typing or just sitting without dust is such a luxury!

The stud walls are going up so we are getting a real sense of the shape of the new rooms. Just think I'll take my tape and have a little check of the measurements ...

Let there be .....

..... light! So they started putting the veluxes in . That's Steve standing in the middle of one and Chase up the ladder. They make a huge difference to the light that is coming into the new kitchen area so we're really pleased with them.

The enormous steels that are going to support the back of the house arrived a day early yesterday and are now sitting immovable in the front and back gardens. It was a quiet day today as Steve was cutting out parts of the joists where the new beams will go. This should happen on Monday when everyone is being called in to lift them into place - fingers crossed.

Lots of ordering has been going on by us and now we have some stuff in odd places like a bath in the lounge, a shower tray and radiators in the hall and 18 boxes of tiles outside the front door. Hopefully the bathroom and shower room work will start soon.

Abracadabra

Then there were no walls at all! I just hope that the acroprops continue to take the strain. Steve and the helpers seem to know what they're doing. Skip number two arrived yesterday and the remains of our last supporting wall are now in it. One thing of which we certainly have a lot is dust as you really can't keep it out of everywhere. It's probably filtering into our drinks and food but never mind.

We are still in ordering mode and decision making continues. I keep thinking that we have already made a lot of choices but they just keep on coming.

And then there were ...

... a lot fewer walls and ceilings, as you can see. And that revealed the wasps nest that we knew had been building up all summer. The skip was completely filled yesterday and taken away this morning. And in the midst of all the ripping up and throwing out, there was a small memento from previous workmen! So we are currently very open plan indeed.

Just so that you can see the way things were

Well, we're only a little bit late starting..

It's taken us a while for the building work to start to update the house. Our original plans were drawn up in 2008 and it's only today that the builders have moved in. The last 2 weeks have been spent packing the kitchen into the shed, putting the bathroom, shower room and airing cupboard bits into various bedrooms and sorting, storing and tipping a lot of stuff from the family room.

Last night saw me up in the loft as I realised that the builders were going to need some space to move a loft hatch and put in new lights. So then there was more stuff for the tip. And now there are units being stripped out, walls and ceilings coming down and a skip on the drive. Oh yes, and the first round of tea and coffee.

If you are wondering about the title of the blog, have you ever noticed the name of our house? I'm a great Tolkien fan and Rivendell was the last friendly house of the elves in the Lord of the Rings before Frodo began the real adventure. How very apt ....