18 May 2008

He came, he saw, he concreted….. The wonderfully-named William the Concreter has done his worst, and the scree bed outlining the extension to our railway carriage house is now covered with a beautiful cement slab. (I think officially the quote refers to Julius Caesar, but couldn’t resist it – sorry…) Sticky in the London heatwave, I’d been imagining the sunny weather would be good for this part of the process, but – shows how little I know – it turns out that cool damp days are the ideal requirement, so John and co have had to hose down the cement as it set.

By the time we arrived it was hard enough to walk on. Sadly this meant we were unable to print our hands or scratch our names as we might have done had we been present – but on looking round the corner into what will be an outdoor passage, Mary spotted that a neighbour’s dog had already done this for us with his paws! There will be more cement poured in the remaining space between the two carriages (to lower the floor to allow for under-floor heating) so we can always “make our mark” then.

It all looked fantastic, anyway – so permanent! Great to walk around the “room” and finalise with John where we want the different components of the kitchen, which way the doors should open, etc. etc. There’s going to be a bit of juggling around as to where all the various items destined for the utility area (loo and shower, washing machine, water storage, stairs to the upstairs room and my longed-for airing cupboard and walk-in larder) will go – so we are all going to sit down and try to work it out like a jigsaw puzzle.

As regards the official authorities, Building Regs have been notified and have paid a visit and gone away with their money and all seems well. I’ve also been in touch with the planners, who will also be coming before too long. At the moment, as the extension only increases the existing footprint of the building by just under ten per cent, we do not technically need planning permission, though I feel it is prudent to keep them involved. When we start to change the roofline and add the front “solar” porch, we will be going over what is deemed “permitted development” and will probably need to submit yet more plans. Having tried for more than two years to finalise everything on paper with first one and then another architect, which took ages and ultimately got us nowhere (see the history of this project in the Guardian Greenhouse columns on my website (back to www.elspeththompson.co.uk) it feels so liberating just to be dealing with a creative builder who can make our ideas work – and contribute his own – as we go. This project is so unique, featuring as it does, Victorian railway carriages more than a hundred years old whose condition is variable in different places, that this approach seems the only one that makes sense. As I said to Frank the other night, it feels as if we have been wading through treacle all this time, and now we are moving free! Long may that feeling continue…

The next step is to get some walls up! The timber (from local sustainable suppliers) has been ordered, including the larch we’ll be using for the clapboard cladding because it needs no additional preservative and weathers in time to the silver-grey of driftwood. An appointment has also been made with the chap who gave us a quote for solar panels and an underfloor heating system when we first took possession of the property – he’ll need to assess the changes that have happened since then. I’m hoping he can advise us on the best wood-burning stove to incorporate into all this.

After handing out more cheques and money (ouch! – but amazing value for what has been done), we took Mary off for a swim in the sea, my first this year. As I swam further and further out in calm clear water under a cloudless blue sky, there was no need to remind myself why we are doing all this….

PS If, like me, you love huts, cabins and shed-like structures, take a look at www.shedworking.co.uk for some interesting and intriguing buildings….