Over the hot summer months of July and August there was not much progress at the house, Jerome and his team took a break for 6 weeks or so and Jenny and Norm spent most of their time woodworking and watering the garden.
In the background we enlisted some professional help to move the legal paperwork on, having put in a solicitud for permission to renovate the property in October 05 we still had not received confirmation this was ok. With the help of a local architect Pepe we had the plans drawn up and presented them to both the local Ayuntamiento and also the Patrimonio as the building was declared the equivalent to a listed building in 2001 and requires their approval too. We are still waiting for a response but are happier knowing that the information has been submitted in the correct format to the right authorities.
We also obtained a small mortgage to enable the work to continue on both properties, Jenny and Norm are still waiting for their roof which has now been ordered and should be in situe for October / November. Once the roof has been installed the doors and windows supplied by Hilderbrand can be fitted so that they will have 3 rooms renovated giving them a bathroom, temporary lounge and bedroom for them to live in whilst work continues on the rest of the project. Their plan is to head back to the UK in October and return early 2007.
Regarding the camel sheds Jerome, Barbara and Rai started back in Mid September and have almost finished the kitchen and lounge walls. We have ordered our roof from Gustavo who had some reclaimed beams in France that have now been shipped and are being treated prior to installation which should be towards the end of October. We have an electrician who can provide us with a boletin for mains connection, but are struggling on finding a plumber who has time to complete the work and can give us the necessary boletin – whilst we could manage with an aljibe and water tanker deliveries the waste is a bigger problem, there are mains in the adjacent road but it seems to be difficult to find someone available to do the work for us. The team have been given a deadline of the 1st December to complete the work required for us to move in to the house on the 15th December so that we can be unpacked and comfortable for Christmas. The kitchen and bathrooms have been ordered and should be delivered for the 1st week in December, the tiles will be ready sooner but some elements of the orders may struggle to be in stock before the end of the year.
Most days we are involved in meeting with suppliers and builders, we are also frantically working on a set of 4 x 5m beams to provide a lintel over the lounge doorway, Jerome is waiting for the wood before he can finish that section and the roof can be installed.
Our very close friends Brian and Bev are also going through major works on their house in Haria so we take some comfort from discussing the issues and progress over a bottle of wine sat on their patio admiring their stunning views whilst the sun goes down.
Hopefully there will be lots of progress over the next few weeks so keep looking for our new photos and updates.