In my last update (which you can read here) I talked about the foundations being dug for the extension. Since then, this stage has been completed after digging slightly deeper to hit solid ground (it was only half done by last week) and the depth was then approved by an official inspector or building regulator of some kind (I should really pay more attention – I was told what their official title role was!)

I made Joe dive into the hole (shortly referred to as our moat) to illustrate just how deep it is. He’s about 6 foot 5 so you get the idea! From here, I’ve included a recap of what has happened this week:

Tuesday

The footings were completely done by this point as the building inspector person (whatever they’re called!) came to assess whether this was adequate. In a nutshell, it was.

You can see below how much of a drop there was outside of our kitchen door, which I must admit, made it a bit difficult to take the bins out at the end of the week, without some seriously mega long jump skills. Luckily, we made it out alive – Indiana Jones style – and survived until Wednesday.

Wednesday

With the depth approved and the skies clear, it was time to bring concrete into the mix to ensure a solid floor for the brickwork to be laid upon. Again, you get a good idea of the depth from the images below and I decided for some unknown reason, to climb the huge pile of soil from said digging to try and show just how much ground has been dug out. This resulted in a silly picture of me looking confused, as well as one ruined pair of shoes. D’oh!

Also, we got a little stoop outside the kitchen door so we can walk outside without falling down a pit.

Thursday/Friday

Garden, say hello to bricks. On Thursday and Friday, brickwork began. There was a foundation of solid bricks laid upon the concrete floor, and then brick walls are being constructed, which I believe will become cavity walls.

Weekly progress

Below you can see what I came home to each day from work, to get a really good idea of the progress over a week’s time. I personally love how on Thursday the bricks were laid out in portion sizes, if that’s an appropriate term, ready for efficient laying the following day. Although my experience in construction is limited (understatement of the year) the work has been so neat and tidy!

What do you think? I’m excited to see what the next week will bring.