Now 12 courses of bricks above damp proof level. Couple of questions have arisen re the insulation and the acceptable cavity gap. Hope to have this resolved soon so I can order the insulaion.

The walls are creeping up, was on a course at work for coupleof weeks and missed out on several good brick laying days! However back on the ball now and have pointed the courses of bricks on the gable wall. Pointing takes an age! I had gone about 6 courses which was a bit much, will now take to pointing every time I get 2 or 3 courses down.
It's a bit awkward around the steel at the far end as I am about 25mm out and need to cut a small bit out each brick. At least its only one storie high at that corner!
dave the architect is on holiday, Boston, lucky him! On his return we will work out the sizes for the steel ties which connect the steel frame to existing house.

Been a busy couple of weeks  at work and the weather has been a bit hit and miss so not much progress. The new laser level arrived so the steel is now plumb and level. In fact the levelling the columns made it all go square, it must be due the accuracy and quality of the fabrication, well done Murray!
Yesterday was a splendid day so managed to get grouted under the columns using a fast setting pre bagged mortar.
3 bags later and a few pounds lighter ( the stuffs not cheap!) but here we are, grouted up and not likely to move, ever!

Next thinģ is to close the walls around the columns and fill the cavity bellow dpc with concrete. Also the remaining steels to connect to the existing building need measured and made, just waiting for the architect to come back with a size below upstairs windows for the roof.

Steel is up!

It was quite a process. The long horizontal beams were fairly heavy, about 200kg each! With Eddie, Barrie and John to help we carried the first 2 round, the third proved problematic as it has a vertical brace welded to it. A fifth pair of hands were required, as luck would have it Gordon was passing at the time and was enlisted!.
The raising of the sections was fun, 2 scaffold towers and a block and tackle, some huffing and puffing, a bit of sweating and they were up. They are now bolted together with the exception of one small section, Murray is coming tomorrow with his magnetic drill to drill some extra holes, once the last section is added I can level square and plum. Have ordered a self levelling laser to aid the process ( It is a good excuse to buy tools to play with!).

Well! Now we have steel!  Had sheduled it to put up on Saturday but got a head start today, with a big hand from Barrie  there are now 3 columns up and a horizontal.

Have lined up the troops for Saturday 10.30. To lift the big horizontals from the front garden to the back. Once they are round the hope is to hoist them up with a block and tackle strung between 2 scaffold towers.
The kids are enjoying the scaffolding too!

much care is needed with sizes, the holes in the base plates are 20mm, the resin anchor studs are 16mm and the holes into which the resin goes 18mm! Not much room for error!

Hope to post tomorrow "steel up!"

Have also finished the vertical cut for the dpc and have bricked the corner as far as I can without the insulation going in. I dont want to order the insulation till I am in a better place to start using it as I will struggle to store it. Photo below isalso a record of the wall tie system.

Good news is Murray is hopefull for the steel this week! How exciting is that?

Have spent the last week stripping off the rough cast from what will be the internal wall. What with loosing 25 mm to the insulation on the outside wall I recon to have stolen back 15mm or so in the render.

Being tight I didn't want to waste all these good chippings so I have thrown them in as trench back fill. I recon when  the type1 goes in it will all compact together.

First tool casualty! SDS drill began smoking and grinding! Alas it is no more! I paid £40 for it about 10 years ago so it owes nothing. The new one was £60 though! It will have to last 15 years!