Are we back on track? You bet.
As the title says above, yes we are indeed back up to speed. There is still a delay with the builders licence however... My project manager keeps on at the council and has established that a signature was missing from the paper-work. Amazing...
Ricardo, the architect, visited their offices and has pushed for a 'hastening' of the process. So hopefully things will get a real lift off from now, as more and more people put their weight behind obtaining the licence. After all, the builder needs to progress and get funds in and help his work-force.
So this week has seen the hay harvested on the field. This hay is donated to the horse sanctuary on the island. So this is my small contribution to the Azores, for which I have received sincere thanks.
It's great to be making a difference, even though small. I intend to keep this assistance going even when the house is finished and occupied... whether it be hay or corn. As long as the land is kept tidy then I'm happy. There may be some chickens running around though.....
The wall building has really taken off this week (despite just two builders on site) and now individual rooms and spaces can be seen. Like all builds, it seems a bit strange as all these big open spaces are divided into smaller rooms. Fortunately, the smaller spaces are just the bedroom, dressing room and bathroom - the rest is open plan.
Here we can see the bedroom, top left, dressing room top middle and bathroom top right... bottom left is the position of the staircase and bottom right is the entrance hall. A bit confusing, so I have rotated the plan and posted below:
Heres a reminder of the plan - a bit cluttered because of all the furniture shown - also for the purposes of illustrating the photo above, I have rotated the plan by 180 degrees. so it matches the orientation of the photo above
Here we can see progress to the walls, looking at the entrance porch from the drive. Great progress with all exterior walls up to the same height.
An interesting one: I'm trying to figure out what this is! I'm hazarding a guess that this is metalwork that laterally supports the chimney. Over the next week I will ask my project manager. This picture is taken from the position of the entrance porch. Answers on a postcard please....
My project manager suggests that perhaps the roof will be on by the middle to end of next month.... wow. I would really like to see that when I'm next over, and to be able to walk through the build. Exciting stuff.
Fiscally, the second builders payment is due, and he will be paid tomorrow... scary to see the bank balance disappearing, but all for a good cause, as we can see.
Next Up .... Lintels and more bricks?
