11. The steel arrives.

The big steel lintel which will span the opening for the folding sliding doors on the rear elevation. At 6 metres long and weighing in at 400kg, it's a monster. It took 3 of us to push it up the drive (Thanks, Jim A).

A bit of adjustment [with a sledgehammer] was required to the wall of the old garage to manoeuvre the lintel to the back of the house.

It's a tight squeeze.

After the best part of a day levering the lintel around, it's finally onto the hired genie lifts.

Nervous moments as nearly half a tonne of steel teeters above my new brickwork. And my head...

The two 60kg universal beams are a walk in the park in comparison.

Steelwork in place, genie lifts back at the hire shop, and no slipped discs or squashed toes. Result.