Another thing we did in August was lay the concrete slab floor. Of course there was no hope of getting a truck with a hose in to send the however many cubic metres of concrete in the easy way, so we hired a cement mixer and shovelled gravel and cement and lime like serious professional shovellers (Hey, what do you do? I'm a professional shoveller.) and then wheelbarrowed the mix into the rooms and dumped, levelled and smoothed until it was done. 
The whole thing would have been near impossible (or at least it would have ended less wonderfully) if it had not been for Ivan the Catalán (seen here with Lisa learning) who came along one day with a group of interested architects to see the house, and offered his services as a great builder if we ever needed any help. Which of course we did. He came and showed us how to lay down the concrete guides and level things off nicely. He also spent a couple of days doing just that and getting us off to a good start. We then felt confident enough to finish it all ourselves. Another friend, Xuli helped out with the shovelling - I can level and smooth like a pro but the shovelling does me in every time. Here I am trying not to step in the concrete I am levelling.
Anyway, the ceiling is suddenly a lot lower (but it isn't too bad once you're used to it) and Luka can now wag his tail all he likes without raising clouds of dust. Starting to look more livable by the minute!
The whole thing would have been near impossible (or at least it would have ended less wonderfully) if it had not been for Ivan the Catalán (seen here with Lisa learning) who came along one day with a group of interested architects to see the house, and offered his services as a great builder if we ever needed any help. Which of course we did. He came and showed us how to lay down the concrete guides and level things off nicely. He also spent a couple of days doing just that and getting us off to a good start. We then felt confident enough to finish it all ourselves. Another friend, Xuli helped out with the shovelling - I can level and smooth like a pro but the shovelling does me in every time. Here I am trying not to step in the concrete I am levelling.
Anyway, the ceiling is suddenly a lot lower (but it isn't too bad once you're used to it) and Luka can now wag his tail all he likes without raising clouds of dust. Starting to look more livable by the minute!
