Busy, busy, busy…both inside and out.
We started the week by farewelling one of Terragong’s Norfolk Island Pines; following a lightning strike a number of years back, the top third of the tree was dead and the base of the trunk had substantial rot where the bark had blown out; two independent arborist's reports (including a consulting arborist engaged by Kiama Council) confirmed that it was on its last legs and in danger of coming down in a high wind - either onto Jamberoo Road or - in the other direction - onto the surrounding trees in the garden. We called in the team from Burnett Trees to safely remove it. As the felling required the use of a cherry picker, we took the opportunity to prune the six large walnuts on the western boundary of the property at the same time.
The cherry picker also came in handy for removing the old analogue television aerial that was attached to one of the chimneys.
Inside, work continued on identifying and removing rotted foundations under the weatherboard guest wing, creating new doorways from two of the guest rooms into their soon-to-be ensuite bathrooms, as well as repairing and/or replacing damaged floorboards throughout.
The highlight of the week was the installation of the exposed hardwood trusses in the new kitchen extension, with our builder Alan Jurd and Chris and his team from Traditional Timber Frames on site to crane the pieces into place and finely shape and adjust to slot perfectly into the new framework. They look absolutely fantastic - it seems a shame to cover them with a roof, but they are going to make a wonderful feature in the new interior.