A swarm of men..

Our house is covered in men in high-vis vests and hardhats. They arrive at 7.30am and stay until 4.30pm. Every window we look of of seems to have a hardworking tradesman outside:

 

 

They didn't waste any time getting laying either. As well as the blocks we salvaged, there are some random salmon pink ones that turned up - turns out the stonemason has taken them off the walls of his own house which has recently been given the fate of demolition.

No complaints from us.

We are officially a construction site..

As the above signage attests, we are officially now a construction site; with the following 'hazards':

As part of our anally retentive approach to the blocks, I compiled a file for the stonemason, to ensure the blocks are replaced as per the original plans, and exactly how they were prior to the earthquake.

As well as the original elevation views, I included some old photographs and the original specifications regarding the concrete blocks. Not sure if he appreciated this or found it irritating, but he graciously accepted the folder either way.

Actual work...

As of this morning, our house is actually getting fixed. A true miracle. No less than seven men in high-vis vests appeared at the front door, ready to start chipping away at the old-new blocks we are using, to bring them up to laying standard.

 

 Meanwhile, out the back of the house, they are busy chipping back the cracks in the mortar, for re-pointing. 

I have a good feeling that this blog is gonna get kind of busy from here...

Boom!

That's right folks - that is a photo of scaffolding going up. It was taken on Monday, and they have finished it now, which means that some sort of actual repair work is about to start...exciting!