Welcome to my blog, where a 30-something couple from the UK renovate and extend an old cottage, build some outbuildings, raise some hens and grow firewood trees and vegetables on our Acre in Hampshire. It's a bit like a smallholding but without too many animals, so we call it a homestead - living within our means, relying on ourselves and having a wonderful life!


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Saturday 19 April 2014

Moving the Workshop - Day 2

We woke this morning sore, stiff and creaking from our efforts yesterday - digging is not something we are used to, thank goodness! After a huge breakfast and a quick dog walk for me and a lap of Tesco for Kristy, we set to.

The first job was to finish the shuttering - this is the boarding that contains the concrete in the trench and makes a fairly straight line. We had visited Ikea on Thursday, and they sell old sheets of particle board for £5 a load - perfect for the job, after they had been ripped to size on the table saw. Imagine the sound of Saturday Live to complete the image below!

The trenches were half filled with hardcore and tamped down - note the improvised bridge to allow access with the wheel barrow to the side closest to the large barn...

 

Kristy was OIC Concrete - here she is with Kiwi, unaware that she has to shovel 800kgs of aggregate into the mixer, and then pour it out again...

 

Lots of shovelling, mixing, pouring into barrows, pouring out of barrows, compacting and smoothing later - we have foundations!

 

Spot the deliberate mistake - all the spoil from the trenches is now marooned until the concrete goes off and we can get the Gator back in.

In other good news, I've found a listing on eBay for enough concrete blocks to build the dwarf walls - which should save us at least £100. Just need to find some nice but inexpensive roofing next!

 

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