As we mentioned before on the last blog this is Rob's first attempt at roofing a building so he sought some advice from our local builder's merchant. Basically we had two options, one being an aluminium roof or another being a traditional rustic tile roof. We much prefer the look of the terracotta tiles so after doing a costing we decided to take that option. It did, of course, mean more expense and more work but they do look so much nicer on the eye! We really wished our house had these terracotta tiles on but sadly it doesn't and I'm afraid at the moment the funds aren't there to be able to have the roof re-tiled but ...... maybe one day ............!!!
So, once the decision was made and the order for the concrete beams and tiles had been delivered from the builder's merchant and were on site, we realized that between us we didn't have enough strength to pick up the larger of the concrete beams. As always though we muddled through and luckily our good neighbour came to offer us his help and between us we managed to carry and elevate them onto the roof. It wasn't an easy task but we achieved it and managed to get them in the correct places for the tiles. Once cemented and pointed in we began putting the tiles on. Not too difficult was this one and the summerhouse started to look the "part"!
After more (and more) pointing and cementing in they were finally done!!!!!!
Concrete roof beams in place
First two rows of tiles
Nearly there .............
To clad the pillars we wanted to use the same pedra which we used in the Adega but this colour stone is only mined down in the southern region (the Algarve) so to buy it here it costs more than double the price than it does on the Algarve but we bought a couple of metres locally to get us started and will then bring the remainder up from the Algarve on our next trip.
If you look closely you can see the inside back wall has had some work started on it but this will be the subject of our next blog. Also keen gardeners will notice the potatoes sprutting up in the adjacent veggie plot. Our dear neighbour, Joakim (aged 82), kindly offered to plant up for us as we had just started building the summerhouse and it was time for the potatoes to be planted and it was only 3 weeks ago! I still cannot believe how quickly plants thrive here. Bless him, so kind, as we certainly didn't have the energy to do the planting up!!!!!
