Fifth Column

Mark and his guys came to our house in Daveri the other day. Finally, finally all five of the old wooden pillars or columns on our terrace have been replaced with new ones. They are stained and have long grooves on them, so they look very smart and stylish. 

On the first day, the scaffolding was erected and the old columns were removed. The columns actually went down some way below the stone surface of the terrace, so the wood had to be removed and the holes were filled in with concrete. 
  

Of course, once the old columns had been removed and the concrete had been put into the holes, there was not much else that the workmen could do. That is why they had to come back four days later to finish the job, after the concrete had hardened.


Well, I must say that the new columns do look rather splendid. The columns are mounted on metal "stirrups" that are embedded in the concrete. The whole operation cost 7,000 leva (about three thousand pounds). This sort of building work seems to me to be quite technical and risky, as the five columns support the upstairs balcony and that in turn supports a significant part of the roof! 



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