This page is for all our family and friends who are unable to get to see us that often but want to keep up to date with our major event in 2007 - the building of our Finnish Log House.  We have designed our log house with the valued assistance of Stuart Barnett at Erlund, the manufacturer of these fantastic log cabins.  To get a taste of the houses they have built please check out their website - www.erlund.co.uk  We really can't believe it's all finally happening, albeit rather slowly but I'm sure once the ball gets rolling it will not stop.

Well our full planning permission for our Finnish Log Cabin was obtained on the 19 June 2007 and we are now officially a building site!!

21 July 2007 - The mobile home has now proved to be fully mobile but with lots of assistance!  With lots of head scratching and patience wearing thin and the rain coming down ever harder it was time for drastic measures - a telephone call to Mike Soffe to bring in the big boys toys - Paul towing Brett's tractor with our tractor and then Mike with the winch towing the other side of the house and that was that!  We really can't thank everyone enough for their help without which we couldn't have done it; so thanks Barry (Paul's Dad), Dave (brother in law), Brett (good friend), Matt (nephew), a meal on us when we get a moment.  I think Paul and Matt are having a "thinking" moment here!

We always said as soon as we were all wet through and the house was moved the sun would come out and it certainly lived up to form and we ended the day in a postive sauna.  Sunday we spent tidying up and Paul reconnected all services and I tried my best to tidy up albeit in the mud.  Indoors has a definite downhill slant but at least you can get a bit of speed up coming from the bedrooms to the kitchen.  No lights Sam's side of the house (not a bad thing though looking at the electric bill!!!) but Paul and I are fine. 

One minute it was there then it was gone!  Then of course we had to get rid of the concrete base that the mobile home had stood on - oh and did Paul lay it well!!!  7 inches in places!!  We soon gave up with the hand breakder and hired in a digger with a breaker on the back and it was done in 5 hours!!  Must remember to move the washing line before it becomes footings**??!!

Well that was that job jobbed now for the footings.  Where the house is going to be on piers we only need slots for the footings, 30 piers in all will go up.

	Well the groundworks are now done and all we need now is a house!
	And we had no idea the lorry was going to be that big and have that much on it!!  A HUGE thankyou must go to James at Drakes the Coal Merchants for letting us unload in his yard, and to Soffes the Wood Merchant for letting us borrow Graham with the Manatou forklift without which we wouldn't have been able to unload the lorry and Roger Dawes who came armed with tractor and trailer to transport house up to the farm!  To see two tractors going up the road with our house on was quite daunting!
	We then had to lay all the packs of wood out around the footings!  Not a hard job seeings as they only weighed about 2.5 ton a piece!!!
	Next the logs all had to be unpacked and sorted in piles of the correct numbers.  Each piece of wood (20 tons of wood in all) is lettered and numbered and so all the 1s were in one pile and the 2s in another with all numbers facing the house.  This makes it easier when construction starts (it helps if you then can remember where you put pile number 1!)  I don't know what we would have done without Rita and Barry Janaway (Paul's parents) and Samantha when we were unpacking - thankyou!
	Day 1 - Tuesday 2 October 2007 Engineer Paul Sherratt from Nordic Country Log Homes Limited arrived from Germany at 8.30 a.m., today and by 7pm we were 3 logs high, squared up and fixed to piers.  Apparently tomorrow it will run!
	Day 2 - Wednesday 3 October 2007 Well how about that then!  15 logs high tonight.  The sun is setting through what will be the patio door and a site visit assessing today's progress is in progress.
	Day 3 - Thursday 4 October 2007 Still on internal logs but wow has it grown!
	Day 4 - Friday 5 October 2007 The supports for the insulation are now on and the outside cladding is going on.
	Day 5 - Saturday 6 October 2007 The cladding is now going well so it'll be visible rafters next.
	Day 8 - Tuesday 9 October 2007 The visible rafters are now going on - and I must say the wood is beautiful and you can now get a feel inside of what the vaulted ceilings are going to look like.
	Day 12 - Saturday 13 October 2007 Well the 2nd lorry isn't arriving until Wednesday and it's due to rain in the next couple of days so we've had to cover the roof.  If the inside logs get too wet we risk them going blue!!! and we would really like a brown house!
	Day 14 - Monday 15 October 2007 Engineer Paul went to Friday Island in The Cotswolds to pick up some spare insulation on the water park up there so that we could at least get some insulating done while we wait for the next lorry.
	The insulation is powdered recycled paper and is blown in using an Ekovilla machine.  The job of loading the Ekovilla machine has been very expertly done by Steven and Barry.
	Day 17 - Thursday 18 October 2007 The 2nd lorry turned up at Drakes yesterday with the rest of the roof rafters, the remaining floor joists and the insulation so it's all systems go now with the roof cladding - one side done already.
	Day 18 - Friday 19 October 2007 As you can see the second side of cladding is now up and the insulation rafters are going on.
	Day 19 - Saturday 20 October 2007 How things fly when you blink!!  Insulation membrane now being secured to insulation rafters and Ekovilla machine and Barry waiting for the off!
	Day 20 - Sunday 21 October 2007 Second side now ready for insulation.
	Marley Old English Red roof tiles now on.
	Windows and doors also from Finland.  Windows are triple glazed with integral blinds.  The craftsmanship is superb.

And here are our log house building crew from left to right who all did an amazing job to get our house water tight in 20 days:-

Richard Tuck (Tucker), Shane Smith, Steven Bryant, Paul Feeney, Paul Janaway (it's our house!), Daniel Painter and Paul Sherratt (Engineer - Nordic Country Log Homes).