Open house
23/06/14
The big steel is in! We were asked to stay out of the house for the day in case there were any structural problems but we did pop back around midday and saw it in place.
The incredible shrinking house
19/06/14
Our living space has shrunk again: last week we vacated the office & today the builders put supporting steels through both the office and shower room walls to support the big steel (700kg / 1540lb) that’s going in sometime in the next few days. They also took out the dining room window.
The new kitchen wall is looking great – the first few rows needed to be engineering bricks but the rest are reclaimed from the old wall.
The plumber helpfully relocated the shower-room toilet so that we can still use it. The only minor problem is that the door won’t close, but the ventilation has definitely improved!
A common sight outside our house
18/06/14
More building photos – ho hum
15/06/14
Some extra photos I took and forgot to post up here – these show the first section of the concrete slab and the outer skin of the wall. The builders have also done a lot of work to fix some of the structural problems in the cellar.
Behold, the monster cake!
14/06/14
We took Harry, Lily and a small group of friends to the Lea Valley Riding Centre where they trotted around the paddock, after which we finished the afternoon with pizza and cake at Butterfield Green. It was a great day, the eyeballs were crunchy and Caroline’s magnificent cake was delicious.
Harry is 6
10/06/14
Harry had a nice birthday morning opening his presents before school. The sweets received the most rapturous reactions!
Life on the building site
07/06/14
Things are moving on! The concrete foundations have been poured and the new kitchen side-wall is mostly finished.
The steel structure at the back of the house has been put together and the big steel that will support the side of the house is waiting massively in the lounge.
Next week the builders will be embedding short steels into the wall of the office and shower room to temporarily support the steel when it’s installed.
My working days are accompanied by the sounds of the tumbling cement mixer and Polish radio.
Visitors from Finland
01/06/14
Emma, Eija and Eija’s son Rami came to visit at the end of May. They stayed for two nights in a place nearby they found through airbnb. Then they decided to stay an extra night, so we managed to squeeze them into our maisonette and it all worked out very well.
The kids were on half-term so we borrowed an extra bike and went for a long ride (see route below) around Hackney’s green-spaces, visiting a couple of skateparks so Rami could try some UK shredding.
On Saturday we headed down to the Southbank and Rami skated at the long established Undercroft, which has been there since time began but is now sadly under threat. We signed the petition and bought some postcards from the Long Live Southbank stand to support their campaign to save it.