Little Maldron Mill nearing completion

Construction continues full steam ahead this month, despite the changing weather. Externally, Gregor is pressing ahead with the landscaping, including the construction of the rear rockery area, which has consumed most of the large granite boulders we had on site, and he has carefully riddled the site excavations to take out the useable stone, which this week we have crushed on site to produce hardcore for the driveway. In total this has produced over 600 tones of type 2 sub base, from material that most likely would have had to be carted off site and tipped to landfill. The crusher was on site only for a day, and in that time, Gregor managed to double crush the rock to get it to the required size we were after. We have about 60 tons of spoil that will need to be removed off site, which is a very considerable improvement over the 600+tons we would have had to remove, and also means we do not have to import material to the site to finish the driveway. Everyone was entranced watching the crusher at work - it is a very impressive bit of kit, hugely noisy, but extremely effective.

The last three weeks have seen the mill take a giant leap towards completion, which is scheduled for the end of this month, culminating with this installation of the main body of the staircase steelwork, which will now be templated for the glass balustrades this week. The yellow treads that you can see are temporary coverings to protect the stair, these will be replaced with oak very shortly. We are particlualry pleased with the overall look of the steelwork, and thanks go to Matt and his team of lads for the quality of the workmanship and the installation, which all went without a hitch.

The joiners are doing a lovely job of installing the gloss red kitchen, which is looking appropriately bold and the general finishings, including making up a number of awkward sized/shaped doors, tiling the bathrooms, and getting ready to fit the oak floors, the timber for which should be delivered to site this week.

The Office building is now completely clad with timber, all beautifully countersunk and pelleted, so that the fixings are virtually invisible, and the effect is stunning. The office has had a lick of paint, and the mill building itself is almost ready for painting.

The Mill lade is complete, and we are now awaiting delivery of the mill wheel, which is in at the powder coaters, and should be on site early next week for fitting.

The boiler has been fired up and the underfloor heating is working nicely, with the floor now dry enough in the mill to commence fitting the oak covering. The stair treads will complement this by being constructed from solid oak, and fitted with LED lights.

One issue that has presented itself this week was the failure of the solar panel flashings during a spell of extremely windy weather last weekend. This wind tore the lower flashing clean off, and following careful inspection we have decided that the flashings are simply not fit for purpose, so they will be removed and we are having new lead flashings procured. I am in the process of taking this up with the manufacturer, Worcester, as this is a new produced they have recently launched, and clearly further development work needs ot be done at thier end, as the flashings do not appear to have an adequate fixing detail to cope with a blustery day on Deeside!