Site Security Manager

Don't be fooled by the cute exterior - our site security manager 'Mr Murphy' is due to come back home after 1 week holiday. Just to prove how 'tough' he is - he takes his holidays in Crewe !!!

Any undesirables even thinking of doing anything BEWARE - Murphy is on patrol!

Please see attached video of him in training - here he is practicing grabbing a thieves leg as he escapes over a wall! It is one of his favorite work-outs..

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

It's been a busy couple of weeks - Kelvin & Phil the 'Brickies' have done us proud - all the 'blockwork' was completed last weekend. It has passed building inspector and the rep from Lowfield was happy with the measurements today, they inspect for level and dimensions before delivery of the timber frame. Infact Lowfield Surprised me today - they are delivering on the 16th November and house structure will be completed by 20th!!!! thats only about 3 weeks from now!!!

Meet the Ground Workers

Wayne the digger driver and Patrick the Austrian insisted on 'being on the internet'. Wayne on the left - Patrick's the other better looking one, who can play the saw like Carlos Santana!!

Brickie Back On Board!

Took a phone call from the first choice brickie today - looks like he might be able to do the blockwork for us! Excellent news!

Concrete Pour

Concrete poured into the foundation trenches today, and the weather was good - very lucky! Wayne did a fantastic job with the digger and 'scooped' over the concrete from the delivery wagon.

Hopefully we can start laying the trenchblock and get the slab done soon, just one small problem, our first choice brickie is busy! DOH!

Foundation Dig

After all the planning and paperwork it's good to get things started. The foundations were 'dugout' today ready for the concrete to be poured in tomorrow.

Planning Application PASSED

We got the approval from the planning dept today - after a couple of amendments we are now happy with the final drawings. I found it a little surprising that Flintshire County Council did not want to see the reclaimed bricks before passing - but we're not complaining!

Site After Demolishing

This picture is taken from about the same place as the previous one. As you can see the original house is completely gone except for some 9000 reclaimed bricks and 5000 rosemary clay tiles. We decided that re-using the original building materials as much as we could, would be the most eco-friendly way of coping with the problem of waste (less going to landfill). Although there isn't enough brick to build the whole project with - reusing what we have will give the new house character - and will remind us of the old house and the memories we have of living there...

Old Delfryn

This is the house that we decided to demolish. Built in the 1930's, we lived there for 12 years. We wanted more room and initially we had plans drawn for an extension. The cost to renovate and extend were large, so we decided to wipe the slate clean and demolish. We have never built anything of note before - except a small extension - so this is going to be a learning process!!