The good weather arrives and plenty of progress on the house with it. The windows have gone in, courtesy of Regency Windows and some of the exterior blockwork has started. The windows look great, particularly all the large south facing ones. Click the photo below and it’ll take you to a small album of more photos. The white on the exterior of the windows is just tape, they’re actually dark grey / black.

Windows in the House

Not much happening on site lately so I just thought I’d mention our architect Fintan Dunne who’s done a super job in designing the house, sorting planning and now looking after the build.

The house design is all Fintan’s work, the L shaped bungalow with loads of south facing glazing, monopitch roof and a neat glass porch joining the two ends.

He’s also great at sorting our varied demands for timberframe to super insulation to hrv to indoor swimming pool

If you want a creative design then we highly recommend Fintan.

The timberframe is up and almost complete. Looks good to finally see the structure of the house.

Hopefully in the coming weeks we’ll get the roof on and windows in to seal it from the awful summer rain we’re having.

Here’s a bunch of photos of the timerbframe we took on a wet Saturday.

Our Timberframe House

The floors are poured and the scaffolding is up. The first load of Timberframe arrived from Cygnum, they should start putting it up today, supposed to take around 2 weeks.

Timberframe on lorry

Scaffolding up

Work is flying along at the site now they’ve started. Foundations done and floors ready to be poured. Our building contractor Stephen Saunders is doing a great job. All on target for the Timberframe which is due to arrive on the 25th.

Here’s 2 recent photos - if you click on them they’ll take you to bigger versions that are easier to see.

Site Foundations July 13th

Site Foundations July 13th B

It’s 6 weeks ago now since I tore my achilles tendon during a game of hurling. Into my 3rd cast as they’ve gradually been adjusting the position of my foot back to normal. Was pretty sore in the hospital yesterday as they shoved it back into a neutral position (as in the photo). Another 2 weeks in this cast and then into some kind of special shoe or boot for 4 weeks. It’s a long sloooooww recovery…

The site is fenced off and the builder has started clearing the ground for the foundations. Nice to see some progress at last. The timberframe is due on site in the last week of July so hopefully by early August we’ll be looking at the complete structure up and ready for first fix.

Back from a very nice week in Puerto Del Carmen, Lanzarote. Stayed in the Jable Apartments just 2 mins from the beach and 5 mins from the old town which made it very easy for us to escape the ‘main strip’. Weather was lovely the first 2 days but got very windy on Tuesday and Wednesday before the heatwave hit on Thursday & Friday when temperatures exceeded 30 degrees.

We didnt do anything too strenous during the week. We hired a car on Tuesday and went on the Island tour on Wednesday so we got to see the majority of the sites in the 2 days. The rest of the time we spent sunbathing which was a very welcome past-time after the cold weather we have had here lately. Lying on the beach and eating in the various Lani’s restaurants was the order of the week.

Was a really enjoyable relaxing week away and we would definitely recommend the Jable (pronounced Hab - lay) Apts both because of their location and also because they are not your typical apt block and lined a very nice little street. We had our own entrance and outdoor area so no walking down long corridors to the apartment. There was also a nice pool area which we didnt use a lot because of the proximity to the beach.

Next holiday away will be the honeymoon so here’s hoping that we will get a good summer!!!!

Us Camel Trekking which was part of the Island Tour

Us out on the Atlantic Ocean in our little pedal boat

We’re taking an early trip to the sun this year, heading to the Canary island of Lanzarote next week. Going with good old Budget Travel.

The rest of the year will be so hectic with house and wedding plans that we figured this would be the best time to get away for a break. Hopefully get some sunshine and warmth, away from the miserable weather we’re having at the moment. According to the BBC weather forecast for Lanzarote it’s around 24 to 25 degress most days which sounds good. Hopefully we’ll come back tanned and the weather here at home will have improved by then!

We did our pre-marriage course on Saturday last in All Hallows college here in Dublin.  Wasn’t as bad as we were afraid it would be and judging by reports of other courses it might be one of the best there is. Presented by a couple, who ran through some slides on different aspects of relationships and marriage and in between each couple answered little quizzes and compared answers with each other. No group work, no standing up in front of the group and speaking, nothing embarrasing really and it was all over in one day. Well Marian was embarassed being in my old 97 car in a car park full of 07 mercs and jeeps but aside from that it was fine

Here’s a link to the course webpage if any one needs it