Do the math(s)!!!

In my last post I mentioned the importance of ensuring that the measurements are correct so that old and the new line-up.

So as I'm surveying the estate at the end of the week look what I found...spot the mistake.  I wonder what this was calculating or indeed what the unit of measurement was....

Michael Gove may have his work cut out at the Department of Education

Steady progress

We have seen major progress in the last few days and we are starting to get a great feel for the additional space that the project will give us.

Mark, the bricklayer is away, feet up and sunning himself so the carpenters have a couple of weeks to construct the roof.

Cue the return of the scaffolders who flew in like an army of Tazmanian Devils with accompanying bangs, crashes and Orc-like utterings and raised the scaffold another level within a couple of hours.

This week is the first week where the fabric of the original house will be interfered with.  The dorma window in the bathroom will be going this week, which will make for an interesting al-fresco morning showering experience in the coming weeks.  The builders and the carpenters have said all along that the building of the new rooms is the easy bit - the tough bit is connecting it to the old building - we don't want a step up or down into the new space, so they have to get their sums right!

The selection of photos below shows the progress in a week.

This is due to be removed

Dorma window drinking in the last chance saloon

Stripped bare

Where's the window gone?

There it is!

Fire at the Architects

Our Architect made it to the front pages of the Hertfordshire Mercury as their offices were devastated by a fire - arson is suspected.

http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/Hertfordshire/One-rescued-from-Hertford-flat-blaze-10092012.htm

Fortunately all our plans and information are safe and that no-one was hurt, sadly all the invoices were intact too

"Dear Friends, Business Colleagues and Clients ….. many of you who will be all three !

Firstly, please forgive this round-robin e mail but since booting-up at the outset of this week at our new premises, it simply isn’t possible to reply individually to the hundreds of e mails received – not today anyway …. although we do plan to do so during the course of the week.

However, the good news is that we are up and running again – in full swing at Ardeley (Nr Buntingford, Herts). Attached is a photo - it really is quite amazing what can be achieved in a week.

Following the fire at Studio 10 (photo of our poor little building attached too), we have concentrated on getting back into business shape as quickly as possible such that we can continue work on our many and varied projects with minimal interruption. The office in Ardeley is likely to be our temporary location, our home, whilst Studio 10 is pieced back together, all of which we anticipate may take some time – after all it is a listed building!

Despite the fire and subsequent deluge of hundreds of gallons of water from the fire service (no complaints – they were wonderful) we have lost no data. Our back-up hard drives saved all data up to the close of business on Friday eve before the fire in the early hours on Sunday 9 September …. and enough computers and furniture have been salvaged to allow us to get on.

The only thorn in our side is that we are awaiting BT to deliver our broadband and new phone lines to Ardeley, which is expected at the end of this week. We can receive all e mails but are not able to send from our business account – hence this e mail is from my personal account.

With regard to phones until we have our new lines we are all available on mobiles as follows:

Simon Cove                       07885 718546

Melanie Meyer                   07792 456077

Russell Hatton                    07872 038083

Lee Jenkins                        07725 477241

Office                                   01992 538088 (diverted to office mobile)

Thank you for your patience ….. it’s been quite a week !

We look forward to speaking with you shortly and maybe to seeing you at Ardeley too.

Simon, Melanie, Russell & Lee"

Road Closed...sorry neighbours!

So it's all about this U-shaped piece of steelwork below it forms the lintel for the back of the house and will be supporting the 1st floor. I ran up the road to warn the neighbours that they were going to be blocked in for an hour when a 16m crane arrived.

They certainly needed all 16m too!  They lifted the lintel out and gently lowered it onto the two posts that support it.  The guys all looked very nervous in the last few feet as if they wondered if it would actually all fit together.

No way through!

Steel lintel

Up, up and away

Mind your toes

Last few nervous inches

Hooray it fits!

Starting to feel like a room