Building it up again

Once the wall came down, something had to put back. Although it'd be nice to have such a wide view out to the back, it'd present certain structural challenges, as a gable dormer has to be built over the gap.

The hole on Tuesday

The hole on Wednesday

On Wednesday, the guys built up a new wall, leaving a gap for a wide door frame. Above this is a reinforced concrete lintel which was poured on-site (you can see the boards holding it together above. They also enlarged the window which was above the sink, which was more or less like a letter box (a better view is below). Here's a quick before and after to see the full transformation:

Before.

After.

I guess the lintel needs a little time to cure before they continue building the facade of the new gable dormer, as they didn't turn up today. Still, there's lots more to be done!

Meanwhile, Lutz the roofer and his crew added some finishing details to the dormers on the front of the house, prepped the back and sealed it all up, as we're expecting a lot of rain tomorrow. He's away to another job for a week, which is just as well, as there's a dependency on the brick-layers to complete the gable wall before the new roof surfaces can be built.

Nice finishing touches on the dormers.

Ready for the rain.

The plans for the back have changed slightly in terms of roof window positioning and numbers (well, one less), so this is what we have to look forward to.

We've also changed some ideas for how this new room (the bathroom) will look, having decided to have this open all the way to the apex instead of a slightly raised ceiling. This might save some cash, as we'd leave some supporting beams floating across the room instead of the major job of moving them, but that's another story, and a few weeks away.

I'm still having nightmares about the whole building collapsing in a heap. :)