And So It's Christmas . . .

Another year, another Christmas, but with Covid a little more in the background this time (booster jabs all done!), although as it turned out not without its alternative dramas . . .

We've had some nice days, sunny walks on the prom / up Consti, etc. and a proper break over the Christmas period, with a visit to family in Cambridgeshire for 'second Christmas' in the next few days.  

The run up to Christmas has however (aside from the Folly) also been occupied with the Saga of the Fridge . . . which stopped working at the end of November, but had to wait for service engineers in Oswestry to get to us to fix it under its guarantee.

On 8 December they finally arrived, replaced a faulty fan and left saying all should now be ok - only the fridge didn't get any cooler . . . 

We then had to wait for 17 December before they made it back to diagnose the added problem (everything had frozen up and the cold air couldn't get from the freezer section to the fridge!) and actually get it running again.

All of which felt perilously close to Christmas - trying to manage Christmas cooking with one fridge drawer kept cool with freezer blocks, was not a happy thought!

Christmas day brought its own drama, with an evening trip to A&E for a tetanus jab (following a minor incident with some firewood and a rusty nail).

All well though - just a sore hand for a few days - and only had to wait for an hour or so.

Hope you had a good one!

Getting There

Another 10 days in, and the bulk of the 'building' work is now done, with everyone due to take a break now over Christmas.  

The electricians have done their 'first fix' putting the cabling for the sockets and lighting in place, and the trench down the garden has been filled in.

The builders have finished boarding out the stud walls, and have plastered throughout:

They've also got the EDPM rubber roof fixed down permanently, and a metal lining tube through the stone wall to take the chimney for the wood burner.

It's by no means finished yet though . . .

 

There's still work to do on the feature wall; skirting boards and flooring to go down; and the second / final fix on the electrics - plus having the wood burner itself fitted.

Not to mention the decorating - which is my job!

One Week On . . .

 So, work has continued apace with the 'Folly' . . . 

The new glazed door and window have been fitted - the window is a breeze block width deeper than the old one, and together with the fully glazed door, should provide a lot more light inside.

They've boarded out the floating floor and started work on battening out for the interior stud walls, and tidying up the 'feature' stone end wall.

And some serious groundworks are underway for the electric cabling - bringing the electric across from the garage, which will get an updated fuse board as part of the process.

It's all moving on nicely anyway - although the garden lawn is currently a bit of a mess!

And We're Off

So today, work officially started on the woodshed conversion - or Folly as it will probably become known.

With a lot of input from Martin, the interior had been completely cleared out . . . 

Leaving an empty shell for the builders to work with . . . although some work had already been done at the weekend to fill a crack in the back wall.

The first job they tackled was the roof - currently formed of metal sheeting (noisy in the rain and prone to condensation), and held in place by just a small number of 'rafters'.

So off came the old roof - and they were soon busy re-raftering at regulation distance.

 

By the end of the day it was raftered and boarded over, with the new EDPM rubber roof covering loosely fixed in place (ready to be stuck down when weather conditions are right).

All-in-all it feels like a lot of progress has been made in just one day ....  further updates to follow!