We're famous ;)

We got a little mention on the Sky News website today in an article about "Riot Rebuild", a voluntary organisation set up to help deal with the aftermath of last weeks events. Let's hope more people get involved to spread the load!

Here's the link:

http://news.sky.com/home/article/16048785

With hardcore this colourful it seems a shame to lay paving!

Some people may find it sad, but I love landscaping older properties. You get to dig through a century of history, find long-gone building materials and several iterations of landscape!

By re-using old rubble as hardcore we can save on costs and land-fill. One essential point to note is that it's best to "blind off" brick rubble with finer scalpings prior to compacting as this helps bind everything together.
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Extension And Landscaping - Complete job

A blank canvas!

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Another job done!

Here is the finished conservatory conversion: a solid, warm and far more usable room.
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Face Value

Our latest project is upgrading a conservatory into a full brick-built extension.

Upon first visiting the site the brick base for the conservatory seemed very neat and well-made, meaning we can build straight off it (after permission from the building inspector). As we have started preparing the site we have discovered some nasty little mistakes and oversights. The bricks have all been laid "frog down", reducing the final strength of the build due a pocket of air being left in each brick, and the wall starters have not been correctly fixed into the house, weakening the bond between the two structures.

This, among the other things we have found may seem like minor errors, but have resulted in a lot more preparation work for us. The lesson to be learned is just because something looks nice, doesn't mean it was done properly!
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No-one likes a labourer who STRINGS it out ;-)

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A long winter

You may have noticed a lack of activity of late, this is a combination of general busyness and the fact that our broadband only got connected last week!

This time of year is a difficult one the building trade, the unpredictability of the weather causes us difficulties, as well as the cold affecting curing times on cement work etc.

After a nice Christmas break we've mostly been doing lots of repairs for the last month, it's nice to do smaller jobs at this time of year as the weather can make larger projects more difficult to plan for. Already though the days are getting longer and warmer, and soon the spring rush will begin when everyone ventures outside and starts thinking about all the work they want to do on their houses.

Here's looking forward to a good summer and a busy year!