25th January. All things predicted last week have come to pass - horahh!! The weather has been good and the roof man has started work. The build which has recently been more reminicent of a cell block is finally beginning to look like a house;

Yet more storage space in the roof area.

 More impresively, the basement is dry and waterproof and the doors are being fitted tomorrow.

 We have 2 huge tanks so should never run out of water, even when the local council shut it off as they do frequently in high Summer.

 The electricians were working today and there are wires and pipes everywhere.  How they ever make sense of it all is a mystery to us.

Our builder says that once the electricians are finished - hopefully this week - the suspended ceilings in the kitchen and bathrooms will be installed. The foam cement will then be put down on the floors, ready for the under-floor heating mats to be laid.

 The officer from the department which gives permission for wells has visited and says all is in order.  The paperwork should be completed this week and then the drillers can start.  The cess pits will be dug at the same time. The next big thing will be to have the electricity connected.  Despite having paid several thousands of pounds to the authority over a month ago, there is still no news on when this will happen. We hope it will be quite soon as when the roof is finished, we need to have the Solar Panels installed. Our challenge this week is to try to get a discount on the roof tiles we have chosen.

January 18th. The weather, once again has been awful. Cold and almost continuous rain. Good weather for rendering, apparently, although I suspect there has been a lot more sitting around drinking coffee and chatting in the room the workers have made their own.
However, today the sun is shining and we now have rather lovely window sills. White marble with grey running through.

Kitchen window sill.  Picture doesn't do it justice.

The electrician has been and laid some pipe work and delivered 'back boxes' and other materials to site. There are some holes in places we didn't expect, but I am sure he know what he is doing.There has been some work in the basement but we struggle to imagine that in one weeks time, this will be watertight and secure enough to take all of our furniture, which has to be moved from our friends house.

There is quite a bit of standing water and the walls still need some work.

If you have ever had major work done, you will probably feel as we do sometimes, that things move very slowly.  When looking at some old (pre-blog) photos this week I came across one taken from the hill behind, last January.  I thought it would be interesting to climb back up today to remind us of how far we have come in a relatively short space of time;

So then, this week we are expecting the basement to be finished, the electric work to be moved on and the elusive roof man to make an appearance. The weather forecast is good so, fingers crossed, we will see a lot more progress when we visit next weekend. 

Wild spring flowers in the hills above.

January 11th.  This had been the coldest we have ever been in Cyprus.  There has been snow on the mountain behind us and and the local newspaper says that temperatures have been the lowest since 2000. Despite this and a lot more rain, there has been some progress on the house.   Most of the ceilings that are not to be suspended, have been plastered, the plumbing work is finished, the walls that the roof will be attached to are almost completed and the basement is also nearly ready for closing in.

Hall ceiling plastered

Covered patio ceiling plastered

Yet more rain in the pool. Up to the meter mark now.

Roof terrace.  There will be a door leading into the roof area.  This is where the water tank will go and will also be used to store up-stairs furniture. The air conditioning fans will go in front of this wall, hidden by trellis.

The house from the furthest corner of the garden.

Basement/second garage.

 So, this week, we are told, the electricians should arrive on site. There is a strong possibility that the roofer will also make a start. The very cold weather should pass and, with luck, the basement should be finished. We need to find and order doors for the basement area.  We have decided that, due to it's size, we should put in an 'up-and-over' garage door as it will make a really good second garage. Quite a selling point in the future, don't you think?

New Year's Day 2015.
Happy New Year all. Although it is only a few days since we last went, there have been a lot of workers on site so we though a visit today would start 2015 on a positive note. The renderers/plasterers are still in evidence but the dog has left the building. We assume that the workman who was feeding it took him home for New Year.
This week we finalised the kitchen, paid and signed contracts and brought ovens, dishwasher etc., so that feels like progress. The plumbers have been working this week and knocked great big holes in the walls - sometimes it feels as though when we take 2 steps forward, we then take one back. Work has finally started on the roof and the Electrician is due to start after the holiday break.

The roof work begins.

Up on the roof. This will one day be part of the terrace.

Roof terrace.

Roof terrace again.

Pool filling up nicely.

The basement. It runs the whole length of the terrace and  will have doors on it quite soon as it is where our furniture will be stored.

The profile for the wall on the stairs to the terrace. 

Our builder says work should recommence tomorrow, which would be nice, but if past experience is anything to go by, we don't really expect to see any workers 'till Monday. However, another payment has been requested so, you never know!!