"Having a normal knee would make life a lot easier." Andy Murray

Today I was reminded of a football injury 

 to be more precise the inability to stand up properly after fitting 10 of these

 

and 5 of these 

reminded me of it. Fortunately for my knee, I ran out of materials; but next time, with just three more to complete, the downstairs ring main will be ready for John to come round and check and connect it. Home tomorrow and back next Friday to fit the kitchen sink

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." Henry Ford

It was blowing a hoolie today so no surprise that the boat was cancelled. However, on the plus side it meant I was here to find out where further roof repairs are needed and that the bowl I had left wasn't quite in the right position to catch the drips. Result! (sort of)

Moving on, the next job was framing the corridor and second fixing the electrical sockets

a good day's work - better than sitting on a boat in a force 10 gale

"I'm just this committed dilettante. I think what I've found is that I've tried to do a lot of different things in my life and discovered I'm not as good at them as I'd want to be."

I spent the first part of the day distracted by the possibility of bad weather and no boat tomorrow. I had several "jobs" to do if today was the last day of this visit - measuring, calculating, tidying and that took most of the morning. After lunch I fitted a socket in the corridor 

 and started putting up plasterboard 

Later I explored some house design software my man Friday had passed on to me. 

At the time of writing it looks like the gale force winds mean I'll definitely be here until Friday - so tomorrow could be a day of plasterboarding and some second fixing

"If no one ever took risks, Michaelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor" Neil Simon

The first job of the day was to build the floor underneath where the cooker will sit in the kitchen. It involved chopping out lumps of raised concrete floor, realigning the DPC, fitting the framing and insulation, laying floorboards and... forgetting to take photos along the way.

so all there is to show is a photo of the finished article!

Next, when it came to positioning one of the doorways for the snug, I realised that calculations for the second doorway weren't quite right. This resulted in having to deconstruct and shorten one of the walls. Irritating though this was, it was better to do it now than find out the doors didn't fit at some point in the future. The frame for the second doorway was then added - you can see the shortened wall, complete with re-positioned light switch, through the dwangs on the left of the icture.

"I like the idea of being warm and secure. That's what home should be. That you have a sense of warmth, security, love, and you love the things around you" Andre Leon Talley

With the framing and moisture membrane on the front wall in place it was time for the insulation. A gentle exercise in repeatedly measuring, cutting, fitting and gawping

looking from the kitchen

and from the area where the hall will be.

It was a bit of a lazy day today - lie in, long breakfast, relax in front of the fire then an afternoon start. Tomorrow, Monday, will be all about plasterboard along the corridor

"I think I can recognize when a piece is at a state of completion." Geoff Dyer

The initial temporary repairs were done on the kitchen roof three years ago. 

In the interim, the flashband had deteriorated, a few more tiles had slipped and the ridge I had replaced wasn't quite watertight so; given a still, sunny and snowy day

it was off with the ridge plate for mortaring

and away with the flashband - replacing missing tiles at the same time

I reckon this as good as it has looked for many a year although the flaunching will need attention later in the year

"The outward man is the swinging door; the inner man is the still hinge." Meister Eckhart

Today included multiple opportunities for  head scratching and beard stroking. Although the pictures are few, they belie the effort and achievement of the day. Once the floor is laid, the amount of planning time will hopefully become proportionate

"I find peace anywhere I go. It depends on what is within the walls of my own home." Brooke Burke

Total absorption in a task leads me to a meditative state. I so enjoy manual work that sometimes hours pass uncounted and I suddenly realise I need a drink or that I've missed a meal. 

I'm not sure exactly how long it took to frame this wall, but I do know how satisfying it was to do 

The next step is to fit insulation prior to plasterboarding it.

"Never was anything great achieved without danger". Niccolo Machiavelli

This alarming picture shows the gable end doorway from the kitchen into the rest of the house. Three feet of granite with two stories above it. The wood was partly rotten and 

the brick that supported at one end it was just resting on a couple of loose slates. The main overhanging stone was propped while the wall was rebuilt to support structural concrete lintels.

The gap between the lintel and the loose stones above was filled with supporting blockwork leaving conduit for electric cables during first fix.

"There are two types of people, you see. One type keep their heads straight, and look around as they walk. The others look up - at the tops of houses, at the eaves and the lintels and the roofs, which can tell you when they were built - and I've always done that." Peter Ackroyd

One of the jobs that has been nagging away in my subconscious was attending to the lintel over the front door. It was clearly rotten and in need of replacement but it has always seemed the sort of task that was easy to put off in preference to something less complex. New year, new resolve - surely a good time to take it on, especially as it needed to be done before I could continue framing the downstairs.

Working around the central heating pipes made it a slightly trickier job, but after a few scratchy head/strokey beard moments we worked out a sequence. This involved strengthening decayed beam ends

temporarily supporting the existing stonework above the doorway

and replacing the wood with concrete lintels (see second picture) Tomorrow will see the rest of the lintels installed and the rafters chocked and braced. A lesson learned here - not dealing with a difficult problem results in it seeming even more difficult when in fact it was never that difficult in the first place

"You don't quit after you get beat. You pick yourself up, and you start rebuilding to accomplish your goals." Daniel Cormier

Yes I could try and explain all the reasons for the inactivity here, but I'll leave Daniel's quote in their stead. New year, new commitment to the project but the same resolve to complete.

I arrived early this month to find that some slates had slipped on the front of the kitchen allowing entry to the wet and windy storms. Good news - It was the perfect weather to work on the roof. Bad news - there was so little daylight in which to strip off the tiles, take out and replace the rotten wood and reassemble the tile "jigsaw" that I had to work eight hours solid with no time to think about taking a picture of the damage before starting. 

However, I did take this the next morning (feeling reasonably pleased at the result) The affected area was nearly the width of the chimney from top to bottom.