The Blog

The snow over last weekend has made progress slow. but Norwegian Wood sure looked pretty clad in snow! I got tarpaulin covers over my nice new joists and was loathe to remove them as rain and more snow was still hovering in the back ground this week, but on Monday a bath”room” in a kit of parts arrived. The bathroom or flat pack shed as it is more commonly known was sourced from a company in South Wales who decided that they couldn’t deliver up to us; but Mark was happy to go

Once upon a time when the world was younger (1970’s) a young man set of to explore some of it but along the way had to stop and earn a crust and so found himself employed at an oil refinery in Europort in The Nederland’s. Oil refineries have lots of steam condensers and periodically they are shut down for dismantling and servicing. To withstand internal pressure the end plates can be 50mm thick or greater and more than a mtr in diameter and held in place with large steel stud

A truly British week for weather with wind and rain and sun and snow. A couple of days we’ve had some hours of lovely sun and the hills around starting to look a little greener. Order of the week has been to get these TJI joists in. With a forest of stainless steel studs in place I've now got some fixed points from which to measure from, or to. Each of the TJI joists has to have a hole precisely drilled in the upper and lower plate of the joist so as to fit over the studs pos

This is just a test

.With the snow all gone for now and the ground a bit squidgy I've finally been able to start on the build process for getting the 2nd geo dome (Hafod) up in place. As with most structural projects, the first thing is to start off going down rather than up and this involves digging which I loathe and avoid if I can but needs must. The first stage in setting up the Hafod is creating a level base that can become the floor. I try to walk lightly on the world and to that end avoid

Yesterdays theory regards the pond creation has turned into proven practice. After I put down the plastic liner yesterday, spring water was tending to rise up under the sheet, causing a bubble to form in the center of the sheet. But by this morning the weight of accumulating water on top was was sufficient to hold the edge of the sheet down in the mud allowing more spring water to seep into the lined pond area, and forcing the bubble down. By 11 this morning the water had ri

and finally my present arrived. This is a once in a lifetime BIGGY present from me to me. With so much to do getting Redwood Retreat ready for the coming season, I really need 3 pairs of hands and also some extra legs. What I’ve got is a 4 wheel drive quad bike. It was on the wish list for this year to help with getting guests set up in the new camping dome (which incidentally will be called Hafod), but in December I realised that getting it earlier, i.e. now would give me a