Kitchen and Garage Extension

With the delay incurred by the installations of the water and sewer connections, works couldn't commence for the kitchen and garage extension until November time (2022). Digging out the foundations were also delayed until the engineer could come out to repair the tracks on the digger, which was in December. Typically, the weather was VERY wet!!

Greenhouse Base

Greenhouse and Fruit Cage Bases

The bases for the greenhouse and the fruit cage had to be prepared first, as once the kitchen and garage wall foundations were set, they would be difficult to access. Dodging the weather was the main problem as concrete needs to be in the dry for 24 hours to fully set, and at a temperature of no less that +4c.

preparing to form the foundation walls for the kitchen and garage. The stone foundations for the demolished vestry had to be dug out, and the sewer pipe extended.

The old foundations from the vestry which was demolished at the beginning of the project, and consisted of stone and granite, had to be removed in readiness for the new foundations for the kitchen and garage.

preparing the forms for the kitchen and garage wall foundations

The forms were built from wood, and levels checked before the concrete could be delivered and spread.

half kitchen and half garage wall foundations

Future Bell Tower Base

Whilst the concrete was being delivered, we took the opportunity to start the base work on the tower which will eventually hold the bell. Apart from the foundations and the base we can go no further until the relevant permissions are applied for and approved.

In wet and cold weather, the stonemason arrived and began laying the blocks for the internal side of the walls.

A stone retaining wall had to be built so the site was level for the garage entrance, and for a future workshop to be built.

levelling up the groundworks.

digging out the foundations for the conservatory

the recycled roof slates from the demolished vestry and from a friends building project had to be restacked once the retaining wall was done

infill of stone for the foundation walls

chopping out stone from the rear of the main building so that the kitchen extension will abut. In the course of Rod "helping" he managed to fall off the low wall trying to reach a stone to be cut out, and injured his knee.

to say the site was muddy is an understatement

gravel layer for garage

gravel layer for conservatory. In the background the part felling of a tree has been done in readiness for the future workshop. However, the whole tree will be cut down now for more space

the concrete being delivered. It was done in three loads, starting with part of the kitchen and utility area, then the rest of the kitchen and part garage, then the rest of the garage and conservsatory

In April 2023 we had a site inspection from the planning authority regarding the Building warrant.

We had applied for a warrant in 2018, and had been informed that the drawings needed authorising by an approved architect, and if we paid the fee to the authority it would be done. Despite numerous phone calls to try and pay the fee, without success, COVID lockdown began. It was a surprise therefore to us to be informed that we didnt have a building warrant at all, and the authority were going to go back and find out what had happened. In the meantime they said they would email us with what they had found out, and if we needed to stop the works. After three weeks, and having heard nothing, we started again only to receive a letter from the authority that further to their email we needed to stop works immediately. We had never received any email, so we asked the authority to forward a copy of the original. When we received it, we discovered it had been sent to the wrong email address. The authority suggested a face to face meeting to resolve the Warrant issue.

We met with the planning officer and his manager, and it transpires that they could find no record of us being advised that our original application had been refused, and the original planning officer had now retired. In order to resolve this, the authority extended the original application until end of October 2023, and refunded our fees. They were extremely helpful having realised they were at fault in not advising us in the first place.

A civil engineer, and an approved architect were then commissioned to inspect the property, and the works already carried out. The civil engineer's report said that all works to date, and the

future plans drawn up, were carried out to a high standard and there were no issues. The architect's drawings are almost complete, ready to submit. The Planning Authority have said that as soon they received the drawings the Warrant would be approved.