Progress !!!!

Our concrete  verandah base  has had a few weeks to cure.  We had visitors in the interim ( our daughter,son in law, grandchildren and some friends of theirs).
We  had a big pig on a spit and celebrated the  2nd birthday of our grandson. It was a wonderful few days and we deliberately postponed the building as we didn't want  all that going on while the children were running around.
So the morning they left, Brian  and an old mate he used to work with started to build us a verandah.! .

We are using a product called Groove Tube, which comes in 8 metre lengths which have to be cut to size. We had to  attach one beam along the  width of the house first before anything else could be done.

Another friend and neighbour popped in to lend a hand to help get this initial beam up.

To this long beam, brackets are attached at measured intervals to slot the horizontal beams into at a later stage.

One vertical post up and one horizontal and it was morning tea time.  I was the gopher, cuppas, lunches and everything else that they needed.

Brian then continued  slowly on his own,  while this was all happening, he  had helped hi brother next door to load some whether sheep to take to market and while rounding them up at speed on the motorbike took a nasty tumble and was black and blue and very sore for a few days. Luckily no bones were broken.

It's a fairly big area and the front view of our house above  shows  how it sits in relation to the house.
Later that afternoon we wandered over next door and I took the photo below looking back at our house.

Over the next few days  Brian just worked  on the verandah alone, as he found it was easier, and I just gave him an extra  balance or lift as  and if he needed it.
This  system really works well and goes together  quite quickly.

Rather than carrying the big steel  beams up from where our deliverer had left them down in the front paddock, Brian was bringing them up a few at a time on the ute, and then I would help him  place them ready for cutting. There was very little waste here, as all the  cut pieces will have other uses in future projects.

The  rest of the  horizontal  roof beams all went  up  quickly,

I love this photo of Brian, proudly  sitting looking up at what he had built, and I think he has every right to be proud
The next day he got onto attaching all the brackets up the centre to take all the centre beams.

Finally he was able to finish all those smaller central beams and  now the structure is really strong and looks great.

It has been a big two weeks, but I am amazed at what Brian has been able to accomplish in this time as well as all his other jobs and his injuries.
This week we will travel to Dubbo to purchase, support netting,silver thermo foil lining ,electrical wires,switches and lights and all the  extra bits needed to complete the job.
I am so excited that finally it is all coming together.
Then we will need to do guttering,drainage and some minor landscaping.
We had visitors on the weekend and  temporarily put our verandah furniture back and  were really able to visualize what a great space this is going to be for us, year round hopefully.
I will update when the  roof is  fully up.
Until we meet again, take care everyone,
Cheers
Jane.