Bungalow construction - Brickwork

After a long "Christmas break", on 19th January the bricklayers began work in earnest, starting with the garage. The brickwork on the garage is structural, whereas on the bungalow it is not - it forms a weather protection barrier, but is otherwise largely "cosmetic".

The narrow access to the site again caused problems - this time with the delivery of loose sand on a skip lorry. The "skip arms" got entangled with the neighbours treasured wisteria plant and Steve had to climb into the skip to try to unravel the mess. The driver tipped the sand (rather than leaving the skip) because, he said, "I'm never coming back to this site again!"

The first pallet of bricks was delivered with no means of offloading them from the lorry! The driver passed every one by hand from the lorry to Steve who then wheelbarrowed them the 150 yds to the site. Later deliveries came on a lorry with a "moffat" which just made it down the access drive.

As the bricklaying progressed to the rear of the bungalow we realised that the line of the plinth was too high to fit under the garden-room window ledge. A quick decision was made to step the plinth down at this point. Most folk who look at the bungalow either don't notice, or if they do, think it is a deliberate design feature!

The same bricklaying team built the stone fireplace and then the chimney. We chose a local stone - "Pitsford cropped" - supplied by Bennies. Steve made a major contribution ...... fitting the cowl to the top of the chimney pot!

This is the garage nearing completion. Notice the DPC material, thoughtfully put in place by the "brickies" to protect the plinth from mortar "snots".