Daily Archives: 2012-05-21

SwimGym for me but not Karola – she has a cold and there’s just too much going on this morning.

Concrete final preparation began this morning at 8:00am; truck arrived at 1:00pm; last man left around 5:30pm with the concrete all laid and the retardant spray applied, needed so that the top layer of cement can be washed off tomorrow giving us the “exposed aggregate” finish we want.

No humans, dogs, sheep etc allowed on the concrete for 12 hours – I thought briefly of just upping sticks and going to Wellington for a couple of days but Karola prefers to stay in the cottage and will somehow manage Bramble.

Karola went to Napier in the afternoon, as soon as the concreting began in ernest. just before the concrete truck got stuck. She visited Jenny Hendery and also went to a recommended dog kennels and chatted with the owner – it might be a possible place for Bramble to stay when we’re unable to take her with us for a few days.

Before Karola went to Napier she helped saw up a few more planks for the cottage railings; I was trying to get enough rails put up that it would be animal proof if we did take of for Wellington. I borrowed builder Paul’s nailer and started nailing up the rails we had prepared over the last couple of days and then Henere and his son Scott arrived. Henere has a break from his orchard work and wondered if he could help so I asked him to dig up a big strainer post in the Island paddock that is no longer in the right place for a proposed new fence.

The concrete truck tried to go round the cottage on the North side to feed the concrete directly onto the pad between the front and kitchen verandahs but the grass is so slippery and soft that it got stuck. We tried pulling it out with the Fergie but just made more mess. The concrete was barrowed into place and once the heavy weight of concrete had been unloaded the truck got free under its own steam.

I did manage to nail up one panel of rails but then again was diverted because we needed a second delivery of concrete and the minimum order meant there’d be some left over. So, Paul and Matt and I quickly finished off the hole started by Mark for the strainer at the end of the railings going diagonally across the bend in the cottage drive – a strainer post that will be the end of the goose paddock fence going east-west. We then used the surplus concrete to anchor the strainer and finished it all up. This strainer post will not move easily, that’s for sure.

Somewhere in the afternoon Tony Page (Cedarville Joinery) called in; he was expected in the morning to complete his joinery for the cottage balustrades. He finished them and took away the 8 paving slabs he’d been using to hold down the wooden tops of the balustrades while the glue dried. He’s expecting to come back tomorrow to finish off the bit of boxing-in Karola commissioned for under the stairs in the dining room.

Concrete Pads For The Cottage Now In Place

Photo gallery shows:

• Concrete truck stuck on the grass
• Starting to barrow in the concrete for the pad between the front and kitchen verandahs
• This pad completed
• Walkway and across drive completed
• Ramp to garage completed and in fact all concreting completed

Oak Avenue Weather:2℃—13℃ no rain [79.8]