Putting the wall back

I had the full week off this past week, originally intending to have a bit of a holiday as well as getting some work done on the house. As per the last post, the action needed to replace the rotten beams meant it was quite a long, busy week. Here's a summary of what we did from Monday to Saturday, with invaluable help from Sace, Silja and Nokda:

• Removed 3 tonnes of rubble from the cellar.
• Set up shuttering for an initial concrete pour on top of cellar wall.
• Installed steel mesh.
• Mixed and poured concrete to make a lintel spanning entire wall.
• Set new 18x18cm preserved spruce beam in place on top of concrete lintel
• Got three posts in place to form main part of load-bearing wall.

• Wrapped sides of beam with damp-proof course.
• Set up shuttering and did another small concrete pour beside beam.
• Inserted a fourth 14x16cm post inder the load-bearing beam.

• Began stud-frame construction.

• Sistered another beam showing signs of rot.

• Set up a temporary exhibition at the front of the house to illustrate the progression of rot in oak beams. 

• And in between all that, got some of the frame in an upstairs bedroom wall started:

Not to mention cutting the grass, trimming hedges to make the place look nice for the May day celebrations this coming week.

Now the pressure is on to get the wall finished and get some form of floor down in the living room. We're getting pricing for plastering, as I simply can't do it myself, but there's a lot of prep work to do before that can begin. It's time to "give gas" as they say here.