Only TWO rows of brickwork to go!

I've been working so haven't been blogging at all, but much has happened in my absence. We like to come home at night and walk around in our new room upstairs, fantasizing about where we're going to put the furniture and marveling at the views, although it all looks a bit grey here.






Now we are still trying to figure out how we can get the 'exposed rafters' look on the roof and still stick to the budget.

Windows

After days of worrying about which windows would work best and constant re-planning as suppliers are out of stock or timelines are too short, we finally committed. My gripe is that I see too much of the roofs of the neighbours, and maybe not enough mountain. Also we have some burglarproofing issues as they are so close to the roof.



Other good news is that the floor downstairs has been thrown. Who could think cement was so exciting...

A view to a kill

The 2nd Floor is up!

Finally the 2nd floor is up. The builders had to get two more men to help hauling the beams up in the heat. It's extremely hard and hot, not to mention dangerous, work. I climbed up before the blocks went up and had a minor height-freight freeze. Now if only we can make up our minds what windows we want upstairs...

Next floor coming up!

It's high, it's hot... at least theres no wind. The beams for the next floor are hauled up and placed in 30+ degree heat.

The zen of insitu beam casting

Thankfully this will be the last round of insitu beams that need to be cast. These are for strengthening the openings where the slab will be placed on. It generally involves iron rods inserted through iron stirrups and then cast on site in concrete. An engineer provides drawings and requirements and needs to check it before casting.





Not wanting to remove the doors for security reasons, we have to cast the beam in the wall.



Metal rods tied together before it gets cast in concrete.

Plumber problems

I wanted to say "plumbing problems" but in fact the trouble lies with the plumber. Every time our man from Marocco shows up there are problems. He misinterpreted the plans, he didnt ask enough questions, etc. etc. It's not a sexy subject but for a few night I had pipe dreams or rather nightmares. Thankfully all the taps and toilet are where they should be... for now.

week 8: half way?

Its week 8 now and we have only one floor to go, which means we are pretty much on schedule. Although I am told that once the 'wetwork' is done, the finishing takes quite some time.



They were plastering the ceiling, and Shafiq's cool glasses got all sement splattered.





To make a long and sad story short, the bathroom is 23 cm smaller than it should be, which is quite a disaster in an already small space. But what a nice view from my bath!

Week 7: Aan die gang!

Work is continuing at a pace and with luck we'll have the second floor up by start next week.



Above shows the double door frame in place and the shell of the new bathroom.

Spade fried chicken

What looks like a photo from a crime scene is in fact one of the builders attempting to make lunch. I came apon him frying chicken in a spade over a piece of burning cement bag. As the wind blows the paper he just follows it. This has given me unique insight into why fires burn down large parts townships as well as parts of the peninsula every year. Not too mention cement poisoning...

Building Blues

Yip, I’ve definitely had the building blues this week. It started so well, with the deck taking only one day to stack. But then the engineer didn’t approve the builders' beam construction, the wall went up skew, the bathroom is 23 cm smaller than on the plans and I’m still unhappy about the light the stoep lintels is cutting off from the dining room. Boo-hoo.


On the good news front I have found and ordered the sliding folding door, and the doorframe with fanlight I wanted all along.
And on Friday evening we sat on our new stoep and after a Southern Comfort and Ginger ale it all seemed OK again. Till Monday anyway...