Hearth

My builder paid his first return visit since last August to deal with a few things for me. He did the stonework under the double doors to the basement, and tidied up the stone around the boiler flue (which will be the subject of another sorry tale in the next couple of days - watch this space). He also took a look at the water ingress problem in the upstairs mullions, but could not find anything seriously wrong. He suggests we may have to treat it with water seal as there are no mortar gaps, and all the correct dpc's are in place. he did fill a couple of hairline cracks, but doubts it will make much difference. maybe I will get up the ladders myself at the weekend.

The main purpose of his visit was to build us a hearth for the bedroom. When the floors were laid no account was taken of a hearth, with the floorboards going right up the chimney breast. From underneath it looked like this :

And from above :

The floorboards were cut away, and a section cut from the joists, to make a box into which a concrete slab could be poured. Again, from underneath, it now looks like this :

Concrete was poured to half thickness, and some steel mesh put in place :

Before pouring the rest :

This slab finishes about 1/4 inch below the top of the floorboards, the idea being that when we have the stone or tile top layer in place it will be level with the top of the carpet. No trip hazard, and no need for those nasty fake brass carpet grippers. (My apologies if you are a fan of those - I am not !).