Apologies for the gap in blog updates through Feb - away from home a couple of days for two weeks, and some pretty foul weather during the roofing work made it difficult to catch progress. We've seen several batches of snowy weather but also some lovely mornings where I'm unable to resist including some scenic shots too!
Early morning sunrise coming over from Colt Park
Week 15(2nd-6th Feb) sees the front roof continuing to up and across towards the house, meeting up with the old Burlington house slates which needed re-battening, and repair to ensure the gap was watertight.
New thinner battens on the older house roof were needed for the Burlington Slates
FIrst few rows up on the back....the numbered slates in diminishing sizes were laid out ready
and at the end of this week, early morning shots in a lovely sunrise
Week 16 (9th-13th Feb) sees the house roof repaired to the front and back, and barn roof almost completed
Secret valley on front below chimney in place between the two different slate types
Rear roofing continues upwards between roof lights ...
...and the same secret valley on the rear where the house slates are the original sandstone flags - builders unphased by the challenge; the existing house velux which leaked has also been redone with the flashing now overlapping correctly so the rainwater flows outside rather then into the ceiling below...
The front roof and back roof's are almost completed by the end of the week, being worked simultaneously
Friday saw the return of the siskins which was lovely to see - very bold and quite tame
Week 17(16th-20th Feb) sees the roof completed, apart from final pointing which needs to be done on a dry day.....lots of steady drizzle not great for roofing work.
Note the nice new lead flashing around the chimney - much better than the old fertilizer bags found on one side...no wonder it leaked.
The builders had also found evidence of a stoat nest in the roof insulation alongside the velux - nice neat round hole plus larger droppings then mice....they know their local wildlife droppings! It will have been catching the mice living in the barn and house walls and roof.
Work now moves inside into the relative shelter of the barn from the rain
Upper rear forking holes framed out with new internal blockwork and damproof membrane in place for new window frames
Toddy continues on breaking out the wall for the upper rear fire escape doorway, so the hole went all the way down to the window below....lots of light!
The window below the fire escape gets new internal block work above the new concrete internal lintels from inside all the way to the level of the fire escape base
Window work also continues on the ground floor at the front, removing old window frames and making way for the insertion of new stone heads...acro props and large holes
This is the lower right front window
Week 18 (23rd-27th Feb) sees continuation of the window framing out and damproofing membranes and headstones going in....and the display of Variation to Condition Planning Application for repositioning of the main cart doors forward but still within the recess
The new, but mechanically weathered gritstone window head is in place on the exterior of the elevation, with stonework replaced. New concrete lintels and blockwork inside (the ground floor internal faces will have a damproof slurry render applied, before a plaster finish)
2nd ground floor window then gets the acro-prop treatment, before removal of the old narrow concrete headstone - from the outside
and below from the inside
Work underway to remove the old mortar between the stonework on the gable end
On Thursday this week, heavy rain throughout the night meant that the 'road was out' and the builders had to be driven in via Ellerbeck in the contractor's landrover. When we can see this amount of water in the front field, and the water flowing just beyond the middle wall, we know it's inaccessible the normal way in. It went down by midday.
At the back, the window below the fire escape is framed out. Any through stones have been removed and are replaced in stonework on the exterior and in blockwork internally with damproof membrane between, ready for 63.5mm insulated plasterboard to go into the internal window reveals at insulation stage....I hope I've explained that correctly...
The 2nd ground floor front window is quite tricky since the side of the window is also the side of the old stable doorway....so more acro-props are put in place.
Internal blockwork bridges across between the window and the doorway
By Friday, the weather has faired up to allow final pointing of the roof ridge tiles and the gable end
So that concludes February - in summary, completion of the main roof, framing out of roof windows and rework of house roof, and window framing out and headstone replacement.
Well done to those of you who made it to the end of this blog.
Comments
Post a Comment