This week our very own sand dune arrived! At least that is what my two-year old thought as she gleefully slid down the pile of building sand and then tried her best to spread it over the entire property. For the rest of us, the sand dune heralded the beginning of a short phase of cement and brick work. And indeed, the brick work was over almost as soon as it had begun! A few days of brick and mortar, and our foundations have now been built.
The stepped concrete foundation has been built up a level which means the ground floor will all be at one height, but that has issued in a new concern: the patio is now nine bricks above the ground and the garage floor is two bricks below ground! We knew the property was a bit sloped, but I seriously suggested hiring a “bobcat” to level the land a bit.
The building site at this stage looks like a typical development. There is a lot of dust, splats of cement on the ground like old cow-pats, a stray builder’s shoe, broken buckets, and bits of wire. The only hint of our LSF structure is the picture on the builder’s board on site. Also, perhaps, the fact that the sand dune disappeared very quickly, and there were less than 20 bricks left over from the wet works.
Another development this week was the addition of bright orange netting to demarcate the site and keep out stray children. Now the property looks even smaller than before! Maybe it will be a good thing; there will be less grass to mow in the future.
Embarrassingly, our water has not yet been connected so we have been dragging our neighbour’s hose-pipe across the road every morning to mix mortar. I seriously hope we are not permanently damaging any future neighbourly relations.
Last week saw the end of the shovels, this week saw the end of the bricks (dull, boring, old, grey, cement bricks!). Next week we hope it will be the last of the cement. At least one thing is for sure, with the foundations almost finished, this is the end of boring!
Leave a Comment