Weeks 40 and 41 - 22 to 31 January 2018 - Finish internal plaster, build terraces.

The underfloor heating guy came yesterday for a site inspection. We need to run a shallow trench in the living room to take water pipes to the guest wing control box. When that's done he can start. This week we also focus on running rain water pipes to the cistern from the roofs, and sewerage pipes to the septic tank; getting the terraces ready for concrete; and finishing the internal plastering.

So here it is, the shallow trench to run two pipes for the underfloor heating in the 'guest' wing.
 Exciting, innit?

Running in the rainwater pipes to take roof water to the cistern.

Compacting the pool terrace hardcore...

... and then digging much of it out again for trenches and more drainpipes ...

... and more drainpipes (all to collect rainwater from the roof and take it to the cistern).

These two bring hot water to the pool machine room (and back) from solar panels on the roof.
Power to the machine room comes through ducting under the cement capping on the right.

 And these guys take sewerage to the septic tank, on the other side of the house.

Midweek, the pipes are all in, backfilled, and we start to put in shuttering

 for the reinforced concrete base.

Almost all shuttering is in by Wednesday evening.

My daily spectacular sunset.

Meanwhile we finish rendering the cloakroom with its built-in shelving, ...

... and all the remaining rendering/plastering. The only bit left is this beam,
 which has the first rough coat on, and will get its final smooth coat tomorrow (Thursday).
That means all internal plastering is done.
 Now to sand it all down (a big job) and then, when the floors and windows are in,
 apply of paint. Our contractor uses Würth, supposed to be good.

Thursday morning. The internal plastering is finished. The boys start on finishing the parapets to cover the nylon webbing. After that will come the final coat of fine sand and white cement.
Rain is forecast so we're rushing to do outdoor jobs.

Garage door opening was to high for the door we bought, so we've reduced the height with reinforced concrete.

And Jose is building a manhole (arqueta) for the septic tank...

...which is finished a couple of hours later.

Also, by the end of the working day, we've laid steel on the terrace base ready for concrete.

I pruned a bunch of sabinas and filled two skips to be hauled away. One day we'll have a real garden!

Friday: Cutting in duct channels for the underfloor heating. The plan keeps changing!

...and Miking final preps for terrace concrete tomorrow, rain permitting.
(We're marking up levels to get the right slope).

Saturday morning at dawn, Alexi arrives with the concrete mixer.

Pouring the first 3.5 cubic metres of 11 total.

Setting in with the big vibrator...

...and smoothing down with a 1 in a 100 slope outwards for rain.

After an hour.

By 11 am it's all done. The black plastic is to protect the stone walls from splashes.

Birds eye view, with a bit at the bottom still needing smoothing.

End of the week. I fly back to the UK tomorrow morning for a few weeks. Back soon. Meanwhile I trust Emilio, Antonio and Bill to take pictures.

P.S. Saturday 8pm: Big storm over the island, port is closed, all ferries cancelled till further notice. So, instead of being in a comfy hotel in Ibiza overnight and an early flight out to Palma connecting to the UK tomorrow morning, I'm back at an empty home for at least another 24 hours. Very windy, very wet, very dark. On the plus side, tomorrow I'll get to see and photograph the progress on the underfloor heating work done this afternoon.

And here it is, a start at least. These are the main feeds insulated pipes from the heat pump to the guest wing, through the living room.

Master bathroom underlay for hot water heating pipes.

And also by Sunday morning the terrace concrete has set. Very grey day. I found a flight out on Wednesday to Heathrow, so I have a couple extra days here.

As I'm here a few days into week 41, I'm appending a few photos from 29 to 31 January, before I fly out.

Monday morning, the bath and solar panels are delivered.

Jose finishes off the garage door opening we had to lower

And Raoul backfills the septic tank connecting pipes.

Getting the concreted terrace ready for its final layer of cement, using the laser to get the slopes and levels just right.

House at end of day Monday, reflecting a beautiful sunset.

Tuesday and the terraces are moving forward.

This is the terrace, nearly done, as I leave it on Wednesday.

Good week and a half!

Back soon.