October 8th & 9th - Taping, verandah & porch

The one aspect of the build for which none of the team has any appetite has always been the taping or plastering. I've therefore brought in a couple of proper tradesmen, Stevie and Rab from Edinburgh. They rocked up yesterday morning, took a leisurely breakfast then got stuck in. They work a short day with generous breaks, but my goodness they rattle through the work when they're actually on the job!
I was feeling absolutely horrendous yesterday, with a racking cough, no strength and a bit of a fever. A fair bit better today. I've spent the two days plodding through the plumbing in the kitchen bulkhead. Melvin carried on with the final bits and pieces of sheeting, trying to keep ahead of the tapers.
Mal beavered away outside on the verandah, installing the remaining floor joists, then starting on the roof. I had him reduce the pitch from the 30 degrees he initially set it at to about 20 degrees, which I though looked a bit better. Today he switched his attention to the porch, which he's been wanting to do for weeks and weeks. It seems to be his pet project, and I must admit it's something I've given almost no thought to, other than ordering up posts and sockets for it. He worked with a will all day in the rain, and by day's end had the posts and ring beam in place and the first couple of rafters nailed, so you can see the outline below.
The tapers will be by themselves tomorrow, as I have a pub to alarm in Jedburgh, Mal is packing for Australia (gulp!) and Melvin is away gallivanting.

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