Oh Bugger it..

I have received a letter stating that due to the on-going situation between the education department and social security we will not be going back to work at the start of September as was hoped but we will have to wait for a “convocatoria” which is an official announcement  of positions available and we will have to apply for our jobs back again…

What does this mean, well normally we have to cope without money coming in for the months of July and August, but we are going to have to cope for another month without any money coming in. Luckily Helen’s son had given us some money to do the kitchen but we are going to have to spend this money to tie us over. This is a very worrying development as we do rely on the money from the school work to cover the basic day to day expenses, and without this we can’t keep going indefinitely without another form of income.

Block up

Just a few blocks added here and there today.

First a few blocks go on to form the wall of the vent hut.

The another couple go on to bring the steps up a little, now this is ready to make the base of the small recess in the back of the steps which will house the valves for the watering.

A better photo of the wall that I mentioned earlier.

Venting

One of the little jobs that had to be completed before the painting of the walls could continue was what we call the “vent hut”. On the roof we have always had this little  square block and underneath was a circular hole which we believed was for a heater before the hole was made in the wall to connect the kitchen and the rest of the house.  Our intention is to use this to make a ventilation system to help keep the house cool in the summer.

Helen through the hole.

once the cover was removed from the top and with a board placed below it was time to insert the pipes that will handle the air extraction, the water feed up to the solar hot water heater that will be fitted one day, and control and power cables.

Then we built a wooden frame to make the base.

Fill with concrete and job is done for today. But there was time just to finish off a few little other jobs, like prepare the wall of the bathroom ready for the render. The blue is a mesh which is fixed on the wall to help the render stick and not crack.

Window top

Once the sides of the window had dried next came the top. the top sticks out a little to push the water away and stop it seeping in through the window.

Then it was time to add a little more cement to the steps

Patching sides

With the window sill cast and dried it’s time to patch up the edges of the window. So we fixed some strips of wood to make nice clean edges, and mixed up the fine white render and slapped it on.

One that was done we still had a little left so we had to find a place to put it.

So a little bit went to tidy the edge of the steps to the roof.

And a bit more to fill the hole where we found the horseshoe in the wall.

Sill season

Now the window is in and set, we need to finish of the window sill. The window sill is concrete but has a step in it to allow for the rendering to be finished off at the front and to put tiles on the top.

Cast windowsill is behind the wooden former.

A close up of the bottom of the window.

And on the inside.

The window goes in

Yess, today is the day when the window goes in, we had though of leaving the final fitting of the window until later in the day but after a quick test fit we decided that we would just go ahead and put it in.

The window cleaned and ready to go in. It had got a little dusty while it was stored in the bathroom.

The window in and fitted on wedges to hold it in place while the cement sets.

A view from the inside showing the cemented fixings, and under the window a load of paper just to block up the gap until the windowsill gets cast tomorrow.

Both windows and the door done…

A window on the wall

Today,was going to be a big day we were finally fitting the window which we brought way back, we brought 2, one which went into what is going to be the dining room. and the other is for the new kitchen. With one thing or another we have new gotten round to fitting the other window,well this week it’s finally going to happen.

The old window removed and all marked up for cutting the new window.

A few hours later and the main hole is cut.

Helen checks the lintel after we cut the hole and quickly put it in. The lintel previously was in the kitchen supporting the concrete hood over the barbeque.

All done for today just one more job to do.

Cover the window with some plastic to keep the insects outside.