Day 10 - drains and manhole

We went to look at bifolds today and hopefully make a decision on which one we are going to go for.

Meanwhile the guys got on with connecting the soak away and new sections of drain as well as finishing the new man hole.

Luckily there were no more mishaps this time and we've hit our 2 week mark!

Still more ground works to do but every day it's changing. Onwards and upwards.

Day 9 - goodbye digger

The digger has done its job and we bid a farewell to it. With the digger one it's now moving on to our block and beam flooring stage but first the new manhole is getting installed.

The site is starting to look smarter now.

Day 8 - drilling the manhole

Today was full of drilling, and if you didn't know it was a building site then after today you will.

It was the attack of the manhole, moving it to its new home since our extension was going over the existing one. The new home should also ensure we don't have issues with blockages in the future.

The core of the hole was also dug out so you can see it taking shape.

At the moment it still feels unreal as its not affecting the 'living area'

Day 7 - pouring the concrete

Today the foundations were going to be filled with concrete which looked like brown sludge.

It was very loud and sounded like aliens had landed! Not much happened after that since we have to wait for it to set.

Work continued on the soak away and the garden is officially annihilated. There was a diagonal path dug up which was refilled once the pipe was laid.

The snow is melting which makes everything muddy, bring on the sun I say!

Day 6 - spring or snow?

The water pressure seems to be getting better since Fridays incident. Its not a trickle anymore but the the cold weather, lack of use (out all weekend), air in pipes and new pipe distance may all be contributing factors. So watch this space!

The day was cold and though the snow didn't help, it didn't affect the digging. Today was the day the first checks from the building office began to see if the footings were ok. At 2.5m they passed so concrete has been ordered for tomorrow.

Can't believe a week as passed already....

Day 5 - it was going so well..

The day started with flurries of snow, while it was cold it didn't settle and luckily didn't appear to seem to affect the digging. It was too cold to go outside so I left the guys to it (I didn't envy them)

The outside of the footings continued today and there was a lot of mud and clay taken away. The grab lorry came 3 times today!

Being Friday things never seem to run smoothly, the guys hit a hidden water pipe which meant I had no water for a few hours while they attempted to repair it...

It wasn't a easy job, rusty old pipes! But in the end I did get water back but there was bigger issues which needs to be fixed in the morning...keeping positive.

Day 4 - size does matter

The larger digger arrived today and made easy work of all the mud!

I had a look down the hole of where our extension ends and it's deep..it's all the trees on the border...grr let's hope building control are happy.

The sides are supported on either side to allow movement in the soil. We had a few casualties today, one of the fence panel broke and the decking took at hit.

Owen had a go in the digger today, using feet power.(and no he didn't cause the casualties mentioned above)

Its just going to be a whole load of digging for the next few days.

Day 3 - large holes

Today several large holes appeared in the garden and work on the footings began. There is no longer a garden anymore!

The grab lorry came to get rid of all the mud coming out of the ground but there's more to come, this is only the beginning. It's going to get worst before it gets better.....as the rain reared its ugly head today so it's very muddy now.

Check out 'Darren the builder', styling like he's digging. (I was hoping he wasn't going to fall down the hole as I wasn't going to rescue him)

Day 2 - dig dig dig

So today, the mini digger came. It was suppose to be a bigger one but it had developed a fault. The ground is being levelled and now marked so we can see how big the space is.

We finally have our privacy back with big fence panels, yay. And the portaloo has landed!

The guys are locating where our utility wires are and have started work on the soak away.The garden looks like its been bombed but then again that's nothing new!

Thankfully the rain has held off for now! Lots of digging and banging... But the excitement hasn't worn off yet.

Day 1 - the big day

It's taken a couple of years in the making but we have finally arrived on the day of our big build and our quest for a bigger home.

We were forecasted rain but awoke to a bright sunny though cold morning.

The first task was to clear the area ready for the digger, I can't believe that it has opened up the space by taking the fences down and removing shrubs. Having said that I do feel exposed and lots of people walking by have been having a 'right proper look' at what's happening. Talk about nosy!

Like an excited kid, I can't wait! But I know that I'm going to have to be patient.