Thursday, May 31, 2012

MEGAYARD: Day Nine


Bit boring today, the blazing hot weather turned to rain and the back part of the wall got filled in with concrete.



Wednesday, May 30, 2012

MEGAYARD: Day Eight


I was feeling a bit bummed-out yesterday after losing 2 foot off the width of the yard but I had a chat with Paul this morning and I feel a lot better about things. Once he started digging under the beech hedge he went as far as he could without killing it, so nothing I can do about that. As far as the stairs go, they're going to be wider and flatter but that's going to be a plus for Kodie and my Dad who currently aren't too steady on their feet, so i'm now feeling positive about it all again!



Of course, the pointing came out perfectly, Paul sorted it all out this morning, feel a bit embarrassed about being so negative last night.



Came home from work and the right hand wall's gone up with concrete down the back.



And there's the other wall, I like the giant stones in there, doesn't look as nice on the photo as it does in real life.



There's all the stones for tomorrow. I think the mini digger might be disappearing too. I reckon it's going to all turn out just right.



Looks pretty big from up here!



Tuesday, May 29, 2012

MEGAYARD: Day Seven


Kodie's body clock is round the twist at the moment with the late evenings, by the time he'd woken up at 9.00, we'd had a massive lie-in and Paul & Tom had put up the block wall at the back - going to be hidden by the worktop / storage space.



Got to admit I was a bit bummed-out when I asked Paul about the positioning of the wall against the steps, I had asked the original retaining wall to be removed and the replacement built in under the steps so I get a bit more room. Unfortunately I don't think he grasped it and it turns out the steps are now going to be 4 foot wide with and extra wall added. He said he would try to move it as close to the steps as he could but i'm still going to be losing about a foot of width on it.  :(



The left hand wall seems to have crept out quite a bit too, originally it was going to line up with the other side of the toilet door, then it was decided to move out 6 inches so the beech hedge above wasn't disturbed but it's now come out over a foot. Just keep telling myself it's only 11 foot down to 9 foot and it'll be fine in the end, but to be honest i've been feeling a bit sad about it.



The pointing is also a bit more 'rustic' than I was expecting. Hmmm...



Monday, May 28, 2012

MEGAYARD: Day Six


Left for work this morning after Paul and Tom had scraped out the foundations and dropped in the steel mesh.



They were mixing concrete across the road as I strolled by to catch the train (not sprinting for the first time in weeks)



Back home and the concrete's been filled in. That explains how they were dealing with the sticky-out stone, just let it poke through the mesh.



Concrete blocks ready for the wall building tomorrow by the looks of it!



Saturday, May 26, 2012

MEGAYARD: Day Five


Came home tonight to find 10 foot of clay rising above me, has the eerie feeling of an abandoned quarry. Am I the only one that feels eerie in abandoned quarries?



There's the trench for the foundations, pretty big stone sticking out, I guess they'll build that into the wall for strength unless it totally gets in the way of the steel mesh AKA I haven't got a clue what i'm going on about.



More trenchage.



What happened to all that clay? Here it is!



Koder and Mummy



Kodeman and Mumm-Ra



What a big pile of muck.



Tom's dumper. We've been chucking stones into the bucket for the last few weeks when it was full of rain water. Kodie was pretty gutted that it only went grdrdrdd clang instead of grdrdrdrd SPLOOSH when he chucked a stone in tonight.



OT_OHHHH


Thursday, May 24, 2012

MEGAYARD: Day Four


Who needs cartoons when you can watch a digger with your breakfast?



Right that's that lot dug out, what can I dig next?



Grandpa just checking the work out.



Wednesday, May 23, 2012

MEGAYARD: Day Three


Today's been scorching, had a lovely evening so far, eating chips in the canal basin, going for a paddle in the river, watching the BMXers at the skatepark and we come home to find a MINI DIGGER!



Hmmm, wonder what this button does.


Tuesday, May 22, 2012

MEGAYARD: Day Two


After a few hours work, the wall's been totally removed and stored up the garden.



Very neat job, the back of the house feels huge already. Kodie's pretty excited that there's wheelbarrows around too.



The red line shows where they're going to dig to.



Monday, May 21, 2012

MEGAYARD: Day One


Work starts bright and early with Paul on the Stihl saw cutting through the concrete roof. Kodie was loving this, shouting 'BA-BIKE' (motorbike) and brumming his socks off.



Already pulled up a fair bit of wall, time to smash that roof to bits.



No turning back now, bye bye wall, hello back yard.



Paul chucking the stones up to Tom.



Pile of stones, ready for Tom to shift them further up...



...to here. Takes me back to this.



Wow, not bad after just one day's work. These guys don't hang around.



Sunday, May 20, 2012

No turning back!


This is the last look of our back yard before it gets transformed. The builders are starting tomorrow morning, 2 days to take the wall down and store the stone up the garden for rebuilding later. I shifted the bikes and 'replanted' the rose that was in the wall (well, it has about an inch of soil above the root and is sat on stone, hopefully it'll pull through). Anyone want a stack of hexagonal concrete flags?