11th July - External walls completed.

The outside walls are now complete except for the final white-wash. Robyn had very specific desires for this so the paint has to come from Granada as ordinary white just didn’t cut it! The bathroom walls have now been rendered and the rear skylight is under construction. The internal tiles have arrived and Matilda managed to find just the right sort, they look a bit aged which we feel is more appropriate. The tiles for the patio area have to be extra strong and non-slip for the weather outside.

14th July - End of the sixth week.

We are now at the end of the sixth week and although a lot is still happeneing it is not quite so obvious in the photos. Chimney stacks have been built, we have three!!! As there is no mains water we need what is called a water deposit, this is 3,000 litre drum that is mounted above the cave t give us running water. This is quite normal practice, The water deposit can either be sunk into the ground, which can cause problems with fallen rooves or as we are doing a small outhouse is bult to contain it. The water lorry can then come along and fill it up as required.

19th July - Internal ceiling supports.

Most people when we mention caves are worried about being trapped if the roof should collapse, a somewhat unfounded concern considering many caves have been around for hundreds of years. To counter this, and to be honest for visual appeal, we are having supports, known as vegas,  fitted in the longer rooms. The skylight has also had a surround built to stop the chance of anything accidentally falling through it. These little security features, although not totally necessary, show the degree of care taken when renovating a cave for modern living requirements.

25th July - Internal rendering.

The internal walls have been rendered and painted. The rendering is to cover the block walls and the trunking for cables etc. This can be very difficult as you have to rty and match the natural cave wall. We think they did a great job from these photos. The internal walls have also been painted before the floor is laid. Sometimes it is done the other way around but means a great deal of tidying up after the paint has been applied. The water deposit shed is finished as well now and although it does stick out a bit it’ll be painted to match everything else so won’t be too bad. Last photo is a close-up of the wall cladding showing the “sparkly” stones chosen by Robyn.

28th July - Floor tiles laid.

The floor tiles are down in a number of the rooms now including the bedrooms. The bottom of the wardrobes have also been tiled with same tiles. All the rooms have now been painted. They have all been sprayed using a special sprayer. We understand it was done in the dark as by the time the painter arrived the others had locked the generator away so he didn’t have any light. Great job even with this handicap.

And now on to August to October