Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Groundhog week
It's felt like Groundhog Day so far this week. Everything we did last week in the gite on the right we have repeated in the gite on the left. On Monday we prepared for the chape, on Tuesday we laid the chape and today did the patio edging for the other gite.
The only difference is that this week it was much much harder and I've ended up with a huge blister/cement burn on one knee after spending hours and hours crawling about in damp sand and cement. This week the chape seemed a little more moist - and so heavier - and I ordered just over 0.5m3 too much which meant barrowing too much into the gite in the first place then having to move nearly a tonne of surplus chape around before finally throwing it all back out the door.
It's quite tricky getting the amount just right. Last week we were about 4 wheelbarrow loads short so I think I over compensated not wanting to be short again. A half-centimeter difference in thickness over the area we were covering makes a difference of about 0.25 m3, or 5 big wheelbarrow loads.
The patio for the gite on the left is a little bigger and had a deceptively back breaking slope of old farmyard compacted yard. I spent most of the afternoon with a pickaxe breaking up the ground to get a level for my friend Ian to lay the granite sets for the patio edging. Note to self, next time hire a mini-digger.
| 9:03:08 PM
Groundhog week
