Stone Fireplace, Stone Staircase, Limestone Fireplaces

Sadly no snow, just sleet and very cold. Had to come to the stone yard this morning as a client changed their mind and decided they wanted to collect their fireplace, as their builder has suddenly decided he can install it for them before Christmas! They’re very excited and drove down to us from York this morning.  So we’re not actually doing any work at the stone yard this morning, but while I was here waiting for the collection, I did a bit more work on some computer drawings I’m doing of a stone fireplace for a friend’s house. They’ve just moved house, and the sitting room has a really grim faux stone fireplace with a fibreglass oak beam on the top. It’s so bad that one is tempted to think that it’s some sort of Jeremy Beadle joke, but it isn’t! Someone actually invested time and money on this ‘thing’ and no doubt they we’re delighted with it (but maybe not) As they say, there is no accounting for taste, and we all have our own!

I’m going home now. To do the last of my Christmas cards and maybe even wrap a present which are both real chores as far as I’m concerned, but I promise I’m not a scrooge! It’s just that Christmas is so commercial these days, and I think it means there is a lot of pressure and hassle that doesn’t really fit with what it’s all about. Still, not going to change the World in that regard am I!

See you all monday.

What a great thing a proper pizza oven is! We’ve got a reall good pub not too far from here, and the owner is very forward thinking and has worked very hard to give good service, and get a good regular customer base. In the summer, he installed a proper brick, wood-fired pizza oven: The real thing that you light the fire in, then you push all the wood round the edges, and the pizza is put on the brick base in the middle, with one of those big iron lolly pop things. The taste is incredible, and just watching the oven is mesmerising. The kids love it, and he sells a LOT of pizzas!

All grey here this morning. Despatched a fireplace to Carlisle first thing, and now we’re all out in the stone yard. We’re a couple of men down this morning: One has a bad cold, and the other has gone Christmas shopping. We’ve got all the farmer’s chickens with us this morning, there are about 40 of them, and about 6 ducks; they obviously think we’ve dropped a lot of scraps because they are in, around and under everything!  It looks very rustic!

The weekend beckons. No one working tomorrow, and the forecast is snow!  I hope so, as I love it, and there’s nothing like a good old walk throught snowy fields to a good pub lunch! fingers crossed!

Not all related to stone work, but I went to meet a client today, and he runs an injection moulding company in the midlands  www.goodfishltd.co.uk  They make anything and everything from car components to building products to ice buckets: You name it, they make it? It’s so unlike our business, as it’s all high tech modern machines run by computers and robots. They have an engineering department that makes tooling which are the ‘moulds’ that the plastic products are made in.  The tools sit in these massive presses that vary from 50 tonne pressure to 800 tonne pressure!  It’s fascinating to have a tour round, and it makes one realise that nearly everything (plastic) comes out of these massive machines, and they just keep popping out of the end of the machine day in day out. Very interesting.

Back at the stone yard now: Nice and sunny and even a bit warmer!  We’re busy as ever trying to tie up all the loose ends before next week. We’ve just had a new stone saw delivered, and we’ve got a fitter coming in over the holiday to install it. It will enable us to handle larger blocks of stone, and mean we can make bigger stuff easier. It’s not brand new, but it’s new to us, and has had very little use, and we can’t wait to get it into action.

The farmer is very busy next door. He’s selling lots of Christmas trees; while doing all his normal stuff with sheep, cattle and horses. I don’t expect he’ll have much time off at Christmas. He’s going to come to the pub with us when we finish next thursday though, as he loves talking to the masons.

We’ve just finished glazing some stone arches that we made for a converted village hall in leicestershire. The project has been a long one for the client, as he’s had lots of hold ups with builders, and has only done the job gradually as he can afford it, rather than incur a big loan (very sensible) Anyway, we cut holes in a big oppresive wall at the rear, and made each into a stone arch: We then cut a groove in the stone, and that is where the toughened glass has now been fitted. It looks amazing, and all that is left to do is seal it in with special coloured silicone. I’ll post pictures on here as soon as I can.

It’s not got above 2 degrees here today, and much like yesterday, we’re working outside in the stone yard, but are very well wrapped up. Our E. German mason (well he’s from what WAS E. Germany) is taking the mickey, and saying it’s not at all cold, as when he lived at home, they would get regular temperatures of minus 10-15 at this time of year. Truth is, he feels the cold more than most, and in fact was only saying today that he wants to start spending the winters somewhere warmer, like morocco perhaps.

We had a lorry here early today, to deliver some stone blocks and an old fireplace that a client would like us to alter. It’s not one of ours, but is one that he’s bought at a salvage yard, and he wants us to do some modifications to it so that it fits his property. We can do that easily now that we have it here at the stone yard, and I expect it will look very good when it’s done.

We’ve been in business nearly 35 years, and over those years have dealt with many companies from many sectors. We’ve therefore experienced every level of service, from the very best to the very worst.  Hopefully our little business leans towards the good end of the scale rather than the bad, and certainly we try our very best to do that, although it is impossible to please everyone all of the time.

We’ve had a meeting with our accountant this morning, and he’s looked after our books for all but the first couple years that we’ve been in business. He’s always given us good advice; helped us comply with all our vatt; paye; allowances; tax reliefs etc. etc. He’s always at the end of the phone and always answers queries without delay.  He’s also always been very reasonably priced. We’d have to say that his service is unbeatable, and we’ve recommended to many people over the years.

Likewise some of our suppliers: Some of course aren’t still in business: Either retired, or closed down or any one of many other reasons.  But some are still in business, and have always given fantastic service, and continue to look after their customers as they’ve always done.

It’s very cold here today: We’re all outside, as it’s dry, but we’re all very well wrapped up, and at lunch and tea break, we all had to huddle around the space heater to warm up a little. We’ve finished off a stone staircase, and palleted it up for collection, but the client has told us he’s not fetching it until after Christmas now, as several delays on other parts of his job means that they’re not about a month behind schedule. He is however, living in the house with his family, so they’re going to going to be up a ladder for a few weeks yet. We’ve have offered to come and put a temporary wooden staircase in for him (as we have an old one here in the stoneyard) and he says he may take us up on the offer, as the family are fed up with the ladders!

Blimey, the roads were icy this morning! I don’t know if the low temperatures were unexpected, but there didn’t appear to be any grit on the road up to the village where the stone yard is, and it was very skiddy! I won’t be surprised if someone ends up in the ditch!

We were here quite early today, as we had a lorry coming early to deliver some stone blocks. We were here at seven, and he was already waiting to be unloaded: I think he may have slept in the truck on the stone yard?  Anyway, he’s all loaded and departed now, and we’ve have an early cup of coffee to warm us up, and now we’re all working out in the stone yard. It’s nice and sunny and a stunning clear blue sky, but having watched the forecast, I think we’re in for some horrible weather this week.

Talking of weather and nature: I watched the programme last night about the japanes tsunami. It was all video clips taken by people who were caught up in it. It really was terrifying, and makes one realise just how insignificant and helpless we are when nature releases its power! There were some amazing bits taken by people whose cars were picked up by the wave, and floated along like little toys. One particular guy just stayed in his car and kept filming and survived. He seemed incredibly calm. Others who managed to reach safe higher ground, had to see the horror of those less lucky who had left it too late to run, and who were swept away. That must be a terrible thing to live with.

Only two weeks to go now to Christmas, so although we’re busy, no orders taken now will be done for Christmas. We have a couple of stone fireplaces to deliver this week to houses that may just be finished in time, but as ever with building works, they will have to work very hard to have everything finished.

We’re all in here working for the morning. It’s a frosty start but a nice day. We’ve loaded a lorry with a stone staircase, and now we’re just working on some fireplace stone blocks and then the masons are all keen to finish, as they are going on a gang christmas shopping trip!  I think they’re as enthusiastic about Christmas shopping as I am.. meaning they’re not at all, but it has to be done, and it’s better than leaving it till Christmas eve!

It’s all go on the farm next door. They sell a few Christmas trees, and there seems to be a lot of customers today. Perhaps this is Christmas tree saturday, or the day when on average most people buy their tree? I’m amazed at the prices too. An average sized tree is now about £25 to £30 and I’m still so stuck in the past I thought they were about a tenner! Mind you, they are the Rolls Royce non-needle drop variety apparently, so perhaps they cost a bit more?

Well I’m lighting mine every day now, and so I’m using up my logs but somewhat reluctantly! This may sound bizarre, but there’s something very attractive about a pile of well seasoned logs; like you see stacked round chalets in the mountains for example, and it always seems a little difficult to start ‘dismantling’ that lovely pile of wood!  However, warmth is more attractive, so needless to say, the log pile is shrinking!

It is fairly indisputable that some logs are better than others. Ash seems universally accepted as the best, followed by oak; beech; thorn and other very hard woods. However, I have found that even things like leylandi, and other ‘pines’ can be really good, as long as they’ve had at least a couple of years seasoning and are not cut too small so that they don’t burn too fiercely.  In the end, any log is too valuable (heatwise) to throw away!

It’s a much nicer day today: We’re all out in the yard, and the sun is shining, but not surprisingly for december, it’s very cold! We’ve got a lot of stone in the yard today, as we’ve been having our monthly sort out with the forklift and moving stuff around. There’s not so much need for drawing straws for that job today!  We’ve just had a load of pallets delivered, because we do seem to use quite a lot, and occaisionally need to get a new stock. Our stone fireplaces are very heavy, so we need fairly heavy duty pallets!  Unfortunately, our customers rarely have fork lifts, so it is usually necessary to unload the stone by hand, so at least we do keep the pallet for another order!

I’ve been to a site this morning to measure up for some mullion windows, and stone door surrounds. It was so windy, that the electric gates leading into the site could not work as the wind blowing on them was so strong. The client said he used to have iron gates but because it compromised their privacy as people could see through them, he’d replaced them with fully boarded gates. What he now realises is that the wind was able to blow through the iron gates too, and now that it can’t it stops the gates working on windy days. So remember; if you’re having fully boarded automated gates, then make sure your operating motors are pretty powerful!

We’re all crammed into the stone shed today, as the wind is terrible and it’s raining too! We’re working on fairly small stuff today though so we’re not to congested!  We did have a collection due for a stone staircase that was being taken to South Wales, but the client has just called to say that they’re delaying collection until next week, which is great, as we were just about to draw straws to see who was going to be on the forklift!

It’s amazing how many houses have got their Christmas lights up and running. On my drive to work, I pass two Santas in sleighs and one very big snowman, and numerous trees that are covered in flashing lights. I love them actually as it definately lifts the grey gloom of this time of year.

I could never have been a roofer! I’ve just been on to a site to look at some stone copings that a client would like to have replicated on a new extension. The building was fully scaffolded, but it was very high, and I’ve realised that I really don’t like heights! I was clinging to the hand rail very tightly, and would not be able to do much work on any roof, as I’d be using both hands to cling on to the scaffold. The roofer they had was the reverse: He was running around on the tiles like a monkey, seemingly oblivious to the height, and certainly happy to be doing the tiling work with both hands! Maybe he’s one of those Mohawks that used to build the sky scrapers in New York, and who apparently had a genetic abnormality that meant they weren’t bothered by heights!

Have just been to take a load of stone samples to the post office: We send out little chunks when requested so that clients can see the texture and colour, although we do emphasise that no two pieces of stone are identical, as it is a natural material.  Anyway, outside the post office was a friend i hadn’t seen for three years, and so we had a little coffee break and caught up on old times. (well three year old times anyway)