Moving on from two years ago

17th July 2014

From Rocky's point of view:

"A lot of concrete has been put down and filled the hole, is it a swimming pool or some play area for me? " no where to run but a lot of serious civil engineering has gone on since we began work again after the dreadful flooding in January and again in February this year.  "Life was not easy for me and my four legged Mum, with water well above our noses, we had to swim for higher ground.  Our rented house was hard to get to and some houses were fighting back the dark, dank murky waters".

 This is where we got to on the 8th July 2014.  The float test was successful and we were so relieved.

Choosing our builders

We think we are nearly there now, hopeful that our architects (BACA) will have good news this week.  In the meantime we are working on getting planning permission for improving the riverbank on the mooring.

It is all taking time but will be worth it all in the end !

No sign of a house being built just yet but we do have a boat now!

A lot of work is going on in the background, choosing builders and working out just how much it will all cost.  Decisions are being made and we should have an answer by the middle of June.  In the meantime we are enjoying playing with our latest toy, a shared adventure with the Claessens family.

Contractors on board

We now have the plans, so the next step is to get our contractors on board.  This is a specialist job and we know that we will need two to three specialist companies to complete the overall build covering the three core areas: 

1. Ground works - this will comprise of several things;  knocking the current timber house down, putting in steel pillings, digging out the hole and finally closing off the floor
2. Floatation unit - the rectangular box that will act as both the floatation unit and lower ground floor, and that ultimately will support the house
3. The house itself: - this will be the upper two floors of the house which will either be built on-site or using off-site manufacturing principles

 Hold on tight!

The start of the mess

Andrew standing on top of the newly dug bore hole at 16m deep.  It is now ready to accept the pump for the well which will feed the house with fresh water - but it is unlikely to see any action for another six months.  The team drilling the hole were excellent, but the residue and mess from the discarded chalk makes it look more like a building site already...  I just hope we can keep our neighbours happy...

Following the bore hole

An extremely wet week with three drill bits broken in the process but the inspection has been carried out and the bore hole completed.

Action on site

The soil investigation and bore hole is drilled for our water supply, this was carried out on Tuesday 24th April.  A noisy but necessary start to the work as the soil has to be inspected for contamination and any other surprises that may be uncovered.