We have a floor!

Thanks to more hideous weather - torrential downpours that have gone on for days and days - things at the site have been delayed slightly, which I suppose is to be expected on any project, let alone one in the middle of a bog, during a Northern Irish winter. But the builders bless them have soldiered on in spite of the rain and wind and mud, and our floor slab is now complete!

Since the last lot of pics I posted three courses of blocks were built on top of the ringbeam and the cavities filled with earth created by the excavation work. The slabs were then craned into place and cut to fit before being 'grouted' with a layer of concrete. The next step is to place a layer of insulation on top of this, followed by the final screed which will be the actual floor of our house. Then the blockwork can begin.

This week we are heading to a few kitchen places which is enough to make me squeal with excitement - it's great seeing things progressing on site but truth be known I am all about the aesthetics and I have been designing this particular interior in my head for years now. Apparently we need to know the kitchen design fairly soon as it will affect the way the internal walls are constructed, so I am really excited to start choosing and seeing what it will look like. Anyway, enough rabbiting on, here are some pics...
This was after the blocks were added, before the slab arrived. You can see where our fireplace will be in the living room!

The blueprint

Things have been a bit hectic around here the last week or so and the weather took a major turn for the worse. The builders have had to bring in a pump to get water out of the site but by all accounts it's still resembled something from the WW2 trenches at times. Because it was so wet we didn't venture in to take pictures of the piles before they were capped but when we went out yesterday morning a very exciting development awaited us! The 'ringbeam' as it's called has now been fitted which is basically the same as foundations on a build that doesn't need piling, so you can now see the outline of all the rooms! Weirdly when you are standing in them they seem small but the sqare footage is much larger than our current house so I know they're not really; it's just hard to get an impression of the space when it's in 2D. In these pictures the digger was working to spread yet more layers of hardcore - the last to arrive before the precast floor slabs are laid.

This is us looking into the grown-ups' living room...

Facing into the sunroom

Mucky!