Foundations

We enjoyed our garden for 25 years but the time had come to start on our new home. We saved a couple of magnolia bushes but the rest became a free-fire zone

The digger and dumper arrive to make a start

Once the topsoil is gone the ballast is laid across the whole site

The whacker plate compacts the ballast and the harris fencing goes up

The formwork for the reinforced ground slab

Then the membrane - with ducting for the services

Steel reinforcement

The concrete arrives, temporarily blocking the road. With 3 major building sites on the road we are not the only culprits and it doesn't happen very often.

The concrete is pumped onto the steel

3 or 4 loads later the formwork is full and left to dry. It takes 28 days to reach full strength but after a couple of days it's strong enough to start the next stage

Bricks and blocks are delivered for the dwarf wall that will support the timber framed structure

The outer brick skin will be seen so luckily the brickwork is high quality

With the inner skin of blockwork in place, the wall is covered to protect it from frost. Jason starts on the inner wall for the cloakroom by the front door

That's the main building foundation done so we wait for the timber frame to be ready

We started on site earlier than planned and progress has been smooth but it hasn't given the timber frame time to be ready so there will be a short break. The frame is  now due to arrive the week commencing the 22nd April

While waiting they built the bikeshed which isn't to passivhaus standard so is in blockwork. With rain filling the foundations we now have a swimming pool and a bike shed. What more does a guy need? Maybe we should just leave it here.