Week 8 and 9 update

The past two weeks have been focused on continuing the repairs to the gable ends and the construction of the internal structural walls in order to allow the team to insert the internal and roof beams.

Work has also continued on the structural studwork at the front of the mill enabling the wall plate to be secured in place.

The rafters have been been cut and the supporting beams for the staircase inserted.

The glulam ridge beams arrived early at the start of week 9 whilst the oak beams were delayed by a day as the sawyer was unable to source a piece of oak large enough for the beam in the bedroom (500mm x 350mm x 6.8m).

With everything in place we booked the crane and on Friday afternoon it arrived on time ready to start lifting.

The first beam to be lifted was on of the two internal glulams to support the kitchen ceiling. We quickly realised that the sockets were not deep enough to allow for those beams to be swung into place. The solution was to rest the beam in place release the straps to allow the crane to carry on with the other lifts whilst the stone masons turned the sockets for the glulams into holes in the wall to allow the beams to be slid through the wall before being slid back and slotted into their final positions.

We took the opportunity to also lift into place the rafters which have been cut this week, something which will save a huge amount of time.

This was the only hiccup and 2 hours after the crane arrived it was turning around and making its way back to Barnstable with all the beams in place, another milestone reached and the first bottle of champagne cracked to celebrate everyone's efforts.

In other news the trust brackets for the long barn have arrived and Cat's dad fitted the first one on Friday - another significant milestone achieved. 

Next week we look forward to fitting the rafters and boarding the roof.

Week 7 update

We have reached a milestone - the stone masons arrived at the start of the second week in March bringing with them a welcome change in the weather.

View from the lane down to the site

The good weather has enabled the builders to begin the construction of the internal structural walls either side if the main staircase.  We have made the decision to use 4inch blocks on the flat rather than 6 inch blocks on their edges. Whilst this increases the cost of the blocks the builders will work quicker with the lighter block and thus will be more economic overall. It also helps keep the builder on side who did not want to build an 8 meter high wall in one skin of 6 inch blocks.

Interior structural wall inn the sitting room

Graham has also cracked on and first floor in the long barn is complete enabling us to see what our snug and office will feel like. We have made the decision to alter the design slightly, in that we have removed the wall between the two rooms, and also inserted a mezzanine from this room over looking the dining room. This will mean that on entering the snug/office we will be have almost 50ft of the long barn's roof exposed - allowing us to retain as much of the building's character as possible.

Snug/office looking towards the dining room

The stone masons highlighted that the stone arches above the bedroom windows have dropped and that they could not be repaired in situ. The solution was to make a shaped steel plate to support the key stones. Inside we will support the stone with an oak lintel.  Cat's Dad to the rescue and his weekend was spent in the metal workshop. On Saturday morning we fired up the saw bench and cut the first oak felled on the farm to create 3 window lintels.

Oak for the lintels

And for the beams over the fireplace and Aga

Prepped for sawing

The saw bench in motion

With the weekend's hard work complete the masons have been able crack on with repairing the gable in order continue preparation for the ridge beams.

Adrian and Pete the stone masons inserting the first of the steel arches

And with the keystones back in place

The first lintel is inserted above the top window

The roof timbers have been ordered and should arrive this week.

Finally the stud work in the front of the barn has started in preparation for the wall plate and rafters.

In summary the team continues to work incredibly well and every day things have moved on leaps and bounds.

Stud work at the front of the mill

Week 6 update

This week's activities have been centred around preparation for the stone mason's arrival. The inner skin of the back wall has been rebuilt with ties left out for the mason tie the reconstructed stone wall. 

Inner wall complete and external scaffolding up

The swift progress has caused us to review the sequencing of the project and we will now continue to push on to get the mill ready for a roof for the first time in 27 years.

This weekend was therefore spent removing roofing sheets from the pole barn next to the mill in order to scaffold the gable ends. We have repositioned the wall plate onto the inner side of the walls and therefore with the block work now in place on the back wall we need the stone mason to concentrate on the repairs to the mill's gable ends whilst the builders construct the internal structural walls. This will put us in a position whereby the ridge beams can go in to allow the roof to be formed.

The mason will then be able to reconstruct the Mill's back wall and stone around the rafters which will be in place. This is probably a more efficient way of constructing the building. 

Going..

Going..

Gone- first of the roof sheets removed to allow the scaffolding of the gable end

We look forward to Adrian the stone mason arriving in the morning which marks the next exciting stage of the project.

Mill Wall Repairs and Floor Joists above the Utility Room

Having made it home early today we dropped in on the site to be greeted by the site of the back wall repairs starting. 

We had planned to reconstruct the wall entirely in stone, however on reflection as we would no longer be exposing the internal stonework on this section it seemed a sensible solution to revert to a block work inner faced in stone.

We had to consider how the block work would interface with the stone and more importantly the lime render. He have therefore chosen a line based block with a lime based mortar.

Internally the floor joists are complete above the utility room. 

Internal Scaffolding

Having invited a couple of scaffolding contractors to price fro the scaffolding inside and outside the Mill we waiting with baited breath for the quotes to role in.  I almost fell of my seat when the first quote arrived, for 12 weeks use at just less than £14,000.  I asked the builder what they would expect to pay and they thought it should be closer to the £5-6K mark.

The recent bad weather has resulted in a huge amount of building work being undertaken under insurance work and therefore I believe the scaffolding company in question did not want the work as it would tie up a large amount of scaffolding which could otherwise be fuelling insurance paid jobs.  They clearly submitted a quote that they would treat as a bonus for them if we accepted.

We have revisited the plan and managed to borrow some quick lock scaffolding to do the internal part of the building.  this arrived on Friday and with all hands on deck we had the structure complete in one day.

We have continued to invite companies to quote for the external scaffold which does involve a complex bridge over the Mill pit.  We aim to instruct them tomorrow.  The key here is to negotiate a good 12 week price with a low weekly fee there after should stone work over run.

Week 5 Progress Update

As we enter week five we are feeling positive that things are heading in the right direction.  Since our last update work has moved on as pace, the following has been completed:

• All new internal and external block walls in the long barn complete.
• Floor joists for bedrooms in the long barn complete.
• Oak Lintels installed above door way from dining room to what will be the family room in phase 2
• Lintels inserted above hall window as existing arch had collapsed.
• Doorway from hallway to garden inserted.
• Final ivy removed from the wheel pit in preparation for external scaffolding.
• Remaining elm beam in the long barn moved up

Carrying the ivy out by hand

Dad on the hand saw cutting through the last of the ivy

View from the bottom of the wheel pit up the gable

Mum giving Dad directions from afar

The one existing beam in the long barn is moved up - this will not be used structurally but we felt it would be be a shame to remove the last of the elm beams

Floor joists in the long barn

Downstairs bedroom in the long barn - Scissor cross bracing between joists will reduce reduce movement and noise when people move about on floor above

Inserting the second of the 2 oak lintels

The view from the courtyard through the dining room into the garden

The new oak lintel in the dining room