First glimpse on the first floor of what will be our living room

The shape of the big window that overlooks Smerwick Harbour is emerging. Exactly what we hoped for. If only the wind would drop and it stops blowing over newly laid blocks. Sigh

A better lit view of the front

The original front door will be a window in the main bedroom. We are making the window to be  the approximate size and shape of the door. The idea is that we will have a facade that echoes the original symmetry of the front of house. 

And now the first floor walls start to rise

At first sight there does not seem to be that much progress in the two weeks we have been in Dublin - but then the weather has been a tad difficult.

The view road across the road - it was a very grey day. The big window in the living room is starting to come clear

The view from the side - which will be the new front of the house. The aperture on the left on the ground floor  will be the entrance door

The steel that will form the apex of the big window is now on site

The stud-work frames that form the downstairs rooms is now complete and the joists have all been boarded with (what looks like) OSB. There is supposed to be a site meeting later today so I might get a chance to get on to the first floor but we have 30mph winds just now, so perhaps not.

Stud work appears on the ground floor

Major Steel Fabricator in Dingle

Sheila writes a follow up to the last post...
We were told by Sean, the possible staircase manufacture, at least in wood, that if we were considering a steel/iron staircase or a steel/iron balustrade, we should talk to Tommy Lennon in Dingle.
"Grand" says us, "where can we find him?" "Go up the road up to the Conor Pass, turn left at Creans and go right to the top and it’s up there."
Off we head, up past The Dingle Brewery, brewers of Creans Irish Lager, past some of the new estates now surrounding Dingle town, until the road literally runs out.  Well when I say the road runs out, technically it doesn’t, it becomes a farm track.
OK, so we clearly missed it we decide, as we drive slowly back down the road until we are nearly back at the brewery. Um, OK let's go more slowly and considering more options which means that it doesn’t take us long before we are turning into a farmyard which might just be a steel fabricator.
There’s no one about and we decide that this is not the right place. Off up the road we go again, and we park up where the official road ends. Himself says "oh let's go up the farm track and see what's up there". He can say that cos he is navigating, and I am driving.
Up the single dirt track, past a derelict farmhouse and fields. As the hedges become lower over on our left I spot what looks like a very large farmhouse and outbuildings. The road turns left and voilá we think this is our destination. What’s also amazing is that up close, it is a very large and incredibly well-maintained steel fabricators with a four-story office building. Well when we say four story, what makes up the four floors are 40ft cargo containers piled on top of each other.

And there we meet Tommy Lennon, or TOL Engineering as the business is called. He hands us over to Padriag who confirms that they can help you, and we go up to the office and meet the team.

The office is fitted out with high tech equipment, high spec PC’s with the latest technology and we look at each other and say this is a serious operation. We are taken through what they could do for us and then they say to us had we considered a steel staircase... because I have previous experience in an engineering company that made steel staircases. Himself says "Would that be O’Carrolls by any chance?" and Padraig smiles, as do his colleagues and confirms that it was. Peter replies by saying we’d been to O’Carrolls and the quote we got is way out of the ball park and that’s why we’ve begun another search!

The long and the short of it is that we’ve left our drawing with TOL Engineering in Dingle and asked them for a quote on a stairs. Time will tell what happens next.

The Day We Discovered a Staircase Manufacturer in Ballyferriter

Sheila writes...
We thought we knew most, if not every, building in the village. After all there are only just over 70
buildings, so how hard can it be to work out what’s what.
Then last week over a casual conversation in the village shop we discovered that there was a person
in the village who makes staircases.
How did we miss that we wondered?
What happened?
Last week himself potters out, as is his want, to buy the morning paper and then on up to "the site" to
find out what’s going on.
In the shop there’s the regular chat as Nikki asks how the build is going? It makes for a good
conversation because most people in the village are up to date with the works. It should really be
the other way round as we get updates from them as to what is happening on site.
Anyway back to the conversation last week. Yer Man says "oh fine".
The conversation moves on to the renovation of the upstairs of the shop, which Colm, Nikki’s husband, is carrying out. She says that theirs is going okish… "Sure why not come up and see what Colm is doing with our build."
Being a friendly chap, and a man who wants to feel part of the village, he says yes. I know readers, he is an amicable guy, and so up the stairs he goes.

Nikki and Colm have done an amazing job on the renovation of upstairs, according to the "Ballyferriter Dermot Bannon", the renovation is on course to be a super home for them. A conversation then takes place in which we discover the staircase manufacturer...
Himself “Oh who did your stairs”?
Nikki “Sean in the village”
Himself “eh Sean? Where is he? Because we need a stair building”?
Nikki says “oh he is over the other side. Head down the road towards the golf club and before you
get there take right. (surprisingly we know which road she means) Then go along a little bit past a
clump of trees and behind those there’ll be a workshop. Sure, isn’t he home before you know and saying to me, guess what there’s a place in the village that could make our stairs!

Off we head in search of the Ballyferriter Staircase Manufacturer. Down the road to the golf club,
turn right and find the clump of trees. We turn into the yard and we know it is sort of occupied
because there is a guy sitting in a white van by the front. He sees us and nods, as he eats his
sandwich – lunch we think.
We pull up and I walk over and say “we’ve heard that you make staircases, is that true”? Oh yes say
he, hang on a minute and I’ll call Sean. He calls Sean and tells us the main man will be here in five
minutes. We hop back into the car, no cushy waiting room here and within 5 minutes a larger white
van comes screeching into the yard as if the gardaí are chasing him.
"Sure come in" says he and into a very large workshop with all the manufacturing equipment you would need to build a staircase. And to confirm this view there is a beautiful wooden staircase in the middle of the floor.

"Oh that’s mine" says he, "I’ve been working on that for seven years so I might get around to finishing it soon."

We have a very fruitful discussion with Sean. Turns out Sean will make anything as long as it is in
wood and he specialises in stairs. We mention to him that we are considering a iron or steel balustrade depicting a local or Celtic symbol but are unsure where’d we go for that.
"Oh" says knows and tells us about the steel works at the other side of Dingle.  Another possible gem of local knowledge more on this later.
We find out, again, through a chance conversation with locals that we don’t need to travel afar for
what we need.

And this is the entrance hall in development, at the end of which the staircase will rise.