Old boys and boulders
26th June 2012
The Grizebeck Farmhouse got off to a good start with demolition of the existing and excavations for the new extension well underway. The old building came down easy with the use of a 3 ton machine.and telehandler.Not like back in the old days when it was built. The old boys had just the use of primitive tools and a lot of nouse. in those days they didn't have the use of heavy machines only horse and cart. , brawn and brain,often moving large stones and boulders with levers and round poles. excavation work again was done by many hands with pick and shovel,farms like these had a rook of farm labour. often clearing fields by hand and the stones where then used for field walls and farm buildings.
The glacial boulder you can see in the picture forms the lower wall of the farm building,left over from the melt water of the previous ice age could have been carried along in the ice for miles, smoothed and shaped by up to a mile thick of ice then deposited in the melt water .
The old boys probably dug the boulder further up in the building excavations and slide it into position with many hands. weighing about 3 tons in total.
The existing gable will now need underpinning.this will mean excavating small sections of wall to a depth of 600mm in sequence ,concreting and building back in brick to form a good strong base to a crumbling wall.
Underpinning will start next week so we will let you know how we got on.
Mill Gate moved very little this week as the boys where call in to tackle a few outstanding jobs on an Ambleside property refurbishment, of which we hope to bring you some pictures soon.
The New house at Coniston moved forward a little, with new drains ,setting out for the house and the start of excavations to the outer walls.
Its a bit of a waiting game at the minute as we are quickly running out of room with approximately 250 tons of excavated material on site needing removal . but the bridge needs another good week in which to harden off before we dare use it.
I hope to bring you some more good weather next week and in the mean time keep lashing on the sun cream and most of all keep smiling its a great world out there!
Thanks for taking the time to look at my blog.
See you next week.
