April 18th

More of the same as yesterday, however it seems we are no longer friends- I start prepping the study, go to fetch a tool, then see that Dad has decided to go it alone, laying down the pipes in the kitchen solo ( I have been replaced by a bottle of sun cream(-well, we won't need it today!), a pencil and an off cut of plastic pipe. interesting... but he makes it work- and alot less noisily than when I'm involved!) Nothing's been said, but after tea break we slip into our teamwork routine again and have a very productive day! Go Team Waite! I have a sudden realisation today( I had one the other day when the roof was made waterproof that half days were a thing of the past :-( . ) :That the screed is being poured fri am, and we can't walk in the house until it's dry, i.e. after the weekend...which means...we can't work in the house at all on friday... which means ( hopefully) that there'll be a giant portion of cheesy chips, and 4 pints waiting for us in a pub on friday....

April 17th

Rain stopped play for the roofers, though now the entire roof is felted and batoned, dad and I can carry on. Rather jealous that they're off down the pub though- hmmm. Dad and I in a system now- I clean the floor- chiselling off excess concrete, sweeping, lay down the radon barrier, measure the insulation and mark where he needs to cut, then we lay it all down. attatching the skirt is a 2 man job as it keeps sticking to everything bar where you want it- so I go ahead, un rolling it and peeling off the back while Dad sticks it in place (this is a shall we say cosy? experience in the downstairs toilet) I lay down the egg boxes, cutting some to fit. Dad preps all the pipe work, drilling holes where it'll go through walls and plumbing it into the manifold. We then team work laying down the underfloor heating pipes in a pattern more or less to the plans detailed by the company. A few heated moments, laughs and mishaps later- involving trodden on fingers, broken nobbles, pipes dropping on heads etc... and we still get on, and it seems like it'll work.

April 16th

Funny thing I realised today- I was upstairs in the bedroom and overheard Mick n Tony shouting out measurements on the roof: I work in centimetres, Mick in milimetres, Tony in inches, whilst Dad prefers metres- it's a fudging miracle we got this far!! This week Dad and I are concentrating on the downstairs floor, as screed will be poured on fri am, so we need to have it cleared, radon Barrier down, insulation in, skirt attached( technical name by-passed me- maybe coz I wasn't listening....), egg boxes laid down ( not actual egg boxes, rather a plastic sheet with grooves for underfloor heating pipes- but that's dad's term for them) pipes laid down, plumbed into manifold, filled with water and pressure tested. No idea how long it'll all take as we're novices-here goes trying!

April 13th

Glad we (Dad and I) are working "indoors" now, as the heavens opened. Mick n Tony on the roof, so they came in and had a cuppa while the downpour subsided. Today Pops was sanding the beams, which I then varnished-as these'll be external oak beams. Mick N Tony had the last laught however, when they worked the afternoon in glorious sunshine as Dad and I were rained on inside whilst working- there's currently only membrane over the beams, not the whole roof, so the rain sits on upstairs floor, then finds its way though to us. lurvely!

April 12th

Today I spent sanding the oak beams, then waxing them. The belt sander really tested out my healing ribs in places ( at the top of the tower-reaching over the drop of death, and then downstairs- bending over backwards whilst sanding forwards as there's no space for my fat head inbetween the joists- apparently yoga would have been of use today) something I learnt today- I'm quite a good painter left handed. Ties in with the thing I learnt yesterday- I hammer better with my left than my right ( not messing around coz of boredom- more out of necessity in hard to reach places)

April 11th

The day of the oak beams: 5 man job - well technically- 4 men and a lady (scrap that) 4 men and me! The trusty3, Tony, and Dad's old uni buddy Phil- fresh over from Canada just to help us (you just can't get reliable english staff). Not too complex a task once we got a system going- we rehearsed first with a bit of 2 x 2! up the stairs, then it got tricky. First of all, we had to lift the heavy beams up onto the tower in the bedroom,whilst trying to not knock anyone off the tower whilst rotating the beam, then also trying to not let the beam come crashing down on Pop's head ( he's busy on the ground trying to balance a beam on a stick to push it up to us- circus acts with plates on sticks springs to mind as he's dancing around trying to keep it on the wood and centred before you remind yourself to focus!) then lift again in the hope that it'll just slide down into the tailor made niches... which they did eventually with some persuasion(some gentle- some not so much). The thing that freaked me out today was Phil and Tony jumping from the tower, out onto the scaffolding and onto pieces of wood that weren't yet fastened to the roof like spider monkeys!yeesh! someone get those boys some bananas! and someone pass me a D-R-I-N-K!! The afternoon was great- armed with a hammer and a bucket of nails I went round nailing the rafters that were placed for the vaukted ceilings into place. Come home time, and the clouds drawing nearer- we decide to cover up the oak beams to protect them by batoning on some membrane onto the roof- unfortunately- timing slightly off and we carried out the procedure in a galer with hailstones-NICE! membrane flying everywhere while we struggled to pin it down long enough to attach it. succeeded in the end- complete with a nice juicy whack of the hammer on my nail- typical! Can I go home please?!

April 10th

Fresh back after the bank holiday and 4 days off- I truly am spoilt! We "chuck up" the roof trusses- one at a time. this entails dad and I positioning them, tying them to a rope, then lifting them as high as poss, whilst Mick N Tony pull them up from the top floor. Then, go upstairs to stand on the plasterboard tower to guide the centre of the truss into place reading for nailing/hanging in the joist hanger. good exercise going up and down those stairs! Glad I made the most of my break!

April 5th

Really looking forward to today- all the rain over the last few days has created a large blister above the stairwell I'm dying to pop! We devised a game plan of how we were going to let it flow out the front door via a tarpaulin supported to direct it the right way...however, I pop out to get tools and come back to find Dad n Mick trying to drain it...half a bucket a time- Boring!! not to mention long winded, and guess who's the sap having to run through the house to empty the buckets whilst getting yelled at to hurry up? hmmm this isn't working- next idea- to use a spare soil pipe to drain it out through the front door. This proceure resulted in everyone getting soaked and minimal water entering pipe. £rd plan ( the original one) worked a charm. I sliced the polythene, holding the top of the tarpaulin while dad n mick held it lower down guiding it safely out in record time. Then we found time to build upstairs internal walls whilst the scaffolders built our next level up.

April 4th

Today we completed the first floor frame by inserting the remaining walls. I then "made the windows" (temporary ones to help minimize draft and rain- whilst affording some daylight at the same time) although we have no roof yet, am sure they'll come into use soon... Now we have a blocked stairwell ( all the internal walls are piled up over it) and a completed upstairs frame- I innocently ask " how do we get downstairs?" - "ah, we'll just HOP through one of the windows" was the reply "GREAT!!" I placed a hop up onto the scaffolding and chose the window which seemed to have the sturdiest scaffolding planks which also appeared to be slightly closer to the building as our access. eeks and Jaysus are the two words on my mind- not a fan of jumping down from a height where there is daylight a person can fit through between you and the secure surface. But anyways, guess I'd better man up!

April 3rd

Today was just Mick and myself, we had a plasterboard delivery, and from previous experience- we know how annoying it is to carry sheet by sheet inside negotiating scaffolding and staircase etc, so Dad had it all delivered before we attached the last walls upstairs- so we lifted the plasterboard with the tele handler, then had to move it one sheet at a time to another room- this was still tedious but much preferable to the alternative! A visit from the building inspector completed our working day.

April 2nd

Today saw the erection of the timber frame on the 1 st floor. We were well prepared this time and had Marc and Ben join our team of 3.The day went suprisingly easily- teamwork at its best! Class moment was when Dad asked Marc ( Dad had lent Marc his steel toe cap boots in case of heavy objects falling) " so now you've walked a day in my shoes- how do you feel?" to which Marc replied " I feel like a clown" ( Marc meant because they were too big for him, but anyone who knows my pops will definitely take the alternative meaning).

March 31st

Yes!- working on a saturday!! Thought those days were behind me! haha. So, another 6.30am get up today, as timber frame for first floor is arriving on monday, so we needed a secure base to walk on. We put down the underfloor heating upstairs today. Again I was the organiser, as we worked in a chain- obviously the most effective system in our team as When the men started putting the boards in place they put them on the opposite side of where they were meant to go. 2 against 1 in a theatrical discussion of "they're meant to be over there" "oh no they're not!" " oh yes they are" etc...( including despairing of looks of "don't worry your pretty little head love- we've got this.") until I showed them both the diagrams! huh! honestly! I've decided every build site needs a female!

March 30th

Just call me "el burro" ( the donkey) spent the day carrying everything around and placing them in the right location and order so that dad n mick could position and secure them. Quite enjoyed being the organiser-not sure why I'm not able to carry this through to my personal life....hmmmm

March 29th

Today we started putting down the joists. So Mick was passing them up to me on the scaffolding. Not hard work- just abit tricky woman-handling the long planks of wood so they didn't fall back down and knock Mick out, and trying to position them when someone left a load of poles in the blooming way! (scaffolding).

March 28th

Scaffolders arrived today to erect the first floor. Quite a challenge with the tightness of the plot! I had an easy day- fixing insulation to the timber frame, and mending the ripped bits. Cutting off the carry straps off the frames( my least favorite job so far- owing to my fear and distrust of ladders- eek!). Followed by in dad's words "making the temporary frindow frames" ( no beer involved this time- just exhaustion- physical and mental this time!) On a personal note- very tempted to be the charlie dimmock of the building world as women's bras aren't the friend of broken ribs....Don't worry- I will not be following through- my upper lip has recently been starched!

March 27th

Time to erect the timber frame- 1 slight problem there...they're actually quite large and heavy. There's Dad with his undiagnosed chest issue, Mick with his gout n me with me 4 cracked ribs. We struggled along- typically- with the heaviest panels, and them having to go to the furthest corner, before I decided we needed reinforcement. Cue The lovely Marc coming to our aid. So much easier from then on, and we had a succesful day completing the ground floor panelling! Woohoo!

Monday march 26th

Had a terrible weekend rib wise- rib on right hand side crunched last night- not a clue what that means other than I was in agony afterwards, and could only sleep on my back which I'm not supposed to do- on account of my bad back(also horse related!- why do I do it??!?) Hence I'm now even more useless than a chocolate fireguard ( if that's possible) On account of having banjaxed ribs- right and left!! and a stiff back- put me down now!! So timber frame was delivered today- fortunately most of it was down to my Daddyo- unloading the lorry with his tele handler, which gave me a good excuse to shout at him, sorry- guide him!!! We then put out sole plates in prep for timber frame. I attached damp proof membrane to sole plates- cue pops asking me how i was getting on with my "Jifficult Dob" (1 beer at lunch!). Then hammered on brackets to the sole plates, for Dad and mick to drill through floor base and screw to concrete. Please now check out dad's blog: http://retirementcottage.blogspot.co.uk/ as when he saw the day's photos- he accused me of showing my g string off!!

March 23rd

Thank fudge it's friday1 Even though I've not been able to do the heavy shifting of concrete beams I was supposed to do, Still shifted a lot of concrete blocks. this week's been a tiring one, my body n ribs screaming out for a break. So both were pleased when we shut shop at midday to adjourn to the pub for a swift pint and scampi- all in the name of official build meet-naturally!site is all ready for timber frame delivery on monday- just hope all the workers are too!

March 22nd

In Some extra pain today thanks to all the shovelling from yesterday, so I spend today moving more blocks, measuring them for Pops to wield the Stihl saw at- but I do this whilst sporting a very sexy face mask, which restricts breathing and turns it into a very clammy affair. That coupled with my restricted breathing from my rib incident and I end up quite claustrophobic. Ne'er mind- show must go on. More beer and a lovely moist carrot cake provided by our catering dept. (think we provide mick with endless amusement, bringing cake and fancy lunches. in our "posh bag" and Dad constantly trying to do a health and safety makeover on him!- safe to say he's worked in the trade for 30years and not worked on a similar site!) Chief scaffolder man (official job title I'm sure!) came today to plan what system he could use on our very tight plot. He's been pre-warned that he and his lads shouldn't swear when they come to work as there is an "innocent" ahem "lady" double ahem! on site.

March 21st

Today I was "cement shoveller"- team work at it's best- mick mixing and filling up me wheelbarrow, me shovelling into buckets, ben pouring buckets into the shuttering, and Dad flapping around ("multi- tasking" if you ask him). Again- not so sure this is what the doctor's had in mind when they told me to take it easy, but it's all relative! Slight mis calculation resulted in us having to wait several hours until the lovely guys from jewson's could bring us out some more cement etc. we managed to get by filling the time with sunbathing and sipping the ambar nectar! went home with what I believed to be a tan, only to find it all later in the bottom of the bath :-(

March 20th

Another day of block shifting, but I managed to hack the whole day today! ( may have had something to do with a nice can of cool fosters, but there's no concrete proof!)Loving the sunshine! :-) Days like this reming me why I love working outdoors.

March 19th

Today was the most frustrating so far since breaking my ribs. Arrival of block n beam today- I was meant to be the "manpower" being the youngest and fittest due to my previous physical jobs. So mick drafted in his son for brawn. I was demoted to block shifter. Still, I moved a lot of blocks- pleased that I was of use until I felt a not very comfortable shoot of pain up one side and decided to call it a day. (was near end of day anyway, so I could just pack up tools etc.) Was supposed to be driving the tele handler but very relieved that it was deemed too complex for me-if you've ever been in my car when I'm driving- you'll know why!

March 15th

Today was spent constructing the steel for the retaining wall, but this time above the cement. usual complaints from the neighbours..blah blah...nothing better to worry about love?

March 14th

Today was the day for the cement pourage! had to help pops put down a mesh steel base, then fit steel bars into the cement to make a super strong strusture for the retaining wall. Loved walking on the squishy cement- nearly ranks up there with squashing grapes barefoot! The cement pump lorry broke down, so they sent us another team that had to come up from heathrow, so a wee delay, then all went swimmingly- they were a lovely team. unfortunately due to the incline to the plot, they had to wash out the excess cement onto the public road, which we then hosed down and scrubbed, but it still resulted in me being acosted by a neighbour asking why the street was so "messy" i informed her that the weekend's forecasted rain would tidy it up again :-P

March 13th

Bloody sore today. have decided that I have good adrenalin production, as I was fine working yesterday, but obiously did too much! Today had to take it easier- though I still drove the skip loader. Not alot around a build site you can do without bending/ picking up/ using ribs! Had a go at surveying today- making sure footings deep enough for cement delivery tomorrow and that we'd dug in the right places!

March 12th

First day back after rib breakage! Got to drive the skip loader- wierd sensation to drive a machine that bends in the middle, but soon adapt to it and love it! Wasn't sure what i'd be able to do. Strongly suspect the doctors wouldn't approve of me working so soon, let alone bouncing around on the machine on a build site. Also did some raking, quite a chilled day really, and an early finish- didn't go riding though today! Trust me to be fine working in a dangerous site with machinery then get hurt on my little pony!

March 9th

Am in hospital!! No tv, nothing to read and very smelly breath! lol. How did I get there? well, yesterday we finished earlier then usual, so I decided to make the most of the spare time and ride my 2 horses. Rode my crackers old boy, and had a lovely hack. Get on my second horse, exploring a new bridleway, then it all happens very suddenly, a badger hole which neither of us see, he falls into it, tipping over and then rolling over me. Call my dad who takes me to A and E. X rays, blood tests and ecg results are all clear. Spent the night drugged up under observation. this morning was sent in for CT scans showing I have 4 broken ribs- I have 2 thoughts at this stage: 1) oh bugger- now how am I supposed to work on the site? 2) Yay- I have broken ribs- am not really a wuss! Really wish I hadn't told myself this morning to man up and deal with the pain (when I thought well, there's no break or fractures- must be just bruising). Not impressed when I was given my meds and sent home that the parting shot was "please don't drink alcohol!" Spent the whole day in hospital, missed out on driving the skip loader :-( My dad, however is happy he was promoted to driver, though not impressed he inherited my role of tea maid!

March 8th

Today dad and I were marking out the rooms. So a lot of calculations, measusements and headaches ensued. I got to use the nail gun again as we marked out the centre of the dig for the foundations. After me teasing my dad about his pink panther impression as he stealthily creeps along spraying the lines, he decides it's my turn to try.....i apologise dad as all my lines are slightly zig zaggy!! I get to be skip loader driver tomorrow...very excited!!

March 7th

Today was the day I realised that builder's are fair weather workers! Was drizzling when we arrived, Mick was happy to go home on the spot. We stayed, I did more digging, round the wall and into the clay. Digger driver wasn't impressed he was working in the rain- despite sitting inside a closed cab with heating and windscreen wipers. Takes a horsey girl to show em how it's done! Soldiering on in the rain with my digging. Called it a half day before there was a revolt!

March 6th

Today I was doing more pick-axeing and managed to slice off a toad's arm!! am quite upset by my maiming- I was a veggie for ten years and an animal lover! the toad was naturally quite shaken, I moved him to a nice moist, dark area in the garden. 20 mins later- he's gone. hope he manages without his arm! I spotted a second toad and re- located it before I could do any more damage. I was taught how to use a nail gun today- very exciting! Not sure at all that I should be trusted with one personally- am very clumsy at best of times, and these things basically fire out nails in an explosion- stand well back when I have one of these bad boys in my hands! About the clumsiness- managed to get my jeans tangled in some steel mesh i was carrying, I managed to stay upright (but pride not intact as mick and dad saw me- oops!am tgrying to prove that I deserve a place in a male dominated work place!) resulted in a few grazes on my legs- not bad so far! one of the skip lorry drivers confesses that he watches his language when he visits our site- see I have many uses-I have possibly created the 1st build site where F*** isn't the most frequently used word! Just when we're packing up, the skip company calls to say that 3 skip lorries are on the way- at this point we're trying to get rid of as many skips full of topsoil as poss so my dad decides we should stay. workers not impressed as pub o'clock is calling, so I decided we all needed an ice cool beer- sped off to town to fetch them. Happy workers :-)

First full day- march 5th

Today is the first full day on site- plenty to be getting on with. I've been given a pick-axe and shovel to clear the ground away from the wall. The council have instructed that we preserve the dry stone wall surrounding the plot, so it's my job to try to keep it there as digger can't get that close.All going well this morning, until... 1st skip driver of the day arrives to do an exchange, after several attempts, he has been unable to get the skip lifted on the lorry. the heavy rainfall over the weekend has made the ground underfoot very boggy, so his feet are sinking. The plot is very small and on a single track road, so he's blocking the road while doing the exchange. the weight of the skip, makes it swing and nearly hit the telephone pole(which is all of 5 days old!) On his next attempt, his hand is crushed between the arm of the lorry and the skip. Cue mad panic trying to get his hand free, a frustrating phone call to 999 where they are more bothered about the colour of his underwear and his favorite flavour ice cream before asking what's wrong with him. the operator then over compensates for this by sending out an air ambulance, a paramedic and an ambulance! He's attended by a very thorough and charming medical staff and taken away in the ambulance. We're all very shaken by this. Hits you that in a split second everythin can change and how dangerous what we're doing can be. I am dispatched for fags!

March 2nd

Second day on the build site. Again, not a lot to do until mick does his thing- the whole plot needs taking down about a metre (excluding foundations). So I'm head teasmaid-maybe my friends were right!! Getting second glances by passers by and delivery/ skip drivers. "Do they know there's a girl on that site?"

First day - March 1st

Today is my first day as a girl builder. Working with my Dad, and Mick. We will be a 3 man team from start to finish. It's my Dad's project and he's the brains!! The most common reaction when I told friends/ work colleagues that I'd be building a house was "oh, so you'll be doing what? making cups of tea?!" hmmmm. I know I'm a girl, but by no means a girlie girl, so feel that's uncalled for! Today we basically just got the site set up. Connected a water and electricity supply, and recieved deliveries of the digger, skips and portaloo (staff canteen!)Yes, I did make cups of tea! Mick started digging work. Dad and I erected the security fencing. Just a half day today, not much to do until it's abit further along.