Day 250 - Scaffolding struck

The front elevation

The roof overhang on the west elevation.

The west elevation post scaffolding.

The frozen scaffolding ready to come down...

Day 248

We need to cast a limecrete sill under each of the sets of sliding doors, and the quicker we can get this done the sooner we can order the sliding doors.  The freezing weather has not been very helpful, as lime likes a minimum external temperature of 3degrees C.

To try and get round this we had an idea that we could build a straw bale tunnel over each of the sills and put an electric greenhouse heater in each one, with the aim of keeping the internal temperature above 3deg C.  We constructed one of the tunnels to see what sort of temperature we would be able to maintain within the tunnel, to see if the idea would work...

...we found that the temperature was on average about 4 degrees higher within the tunnel than the external air temperature (there were a few gaps between the bales we couldn't do much about).  This was simply not enough when the external air temperature is between -5 and -10, as it is at the moment!  So we will have to wait until there is a break in the weather before casting the sills.

Day 246 - the roof is finally complete!

... the last roof sheets were fitted!

The temperatures are still very low here but as the scaffolding is due to come down next week we were desperate to get the roof finished.  So we dragged up hot water and towels to thaw the ice on the roof and finally... 

Day 241 - clay disaster

Some of the larger cracks and what we think are salts brought to the surface by the cold weather.

If anyone has experience of clay render they can share with us, we would be very interested to listen...

More pictures of the frost damage to the render...

The temperature was forecast to drop to +2 degrees last night, however when we got up this morning it was -3 degrees.  Significantly colder than forecast!  This was not good news.  The render we applied yesterday had frozen already, and the clay in the pit had frozen once again.  One area of render had fallen off, pictured above, so not the best start to the day!  We took the difficult decision not to do anymore rendering today and are questioning whether we leave the rendering until next Spring.

Day 240 - the big rendering weekend!

The weather forecast for this weekend was a break from the extremely cold weather so we planned a big rendering weekend, and called all hands on deck to help!  However, on Saturday morning we did a thorough inspection of the render and discovered some frost damage had occurred, particularly on the north-east elevation which has fronted a lot of the cold weather we have had recently.  The frost appears to have frozen the water in the wet render and expanded it, and then once thawed the clay has stayed expanded leaving it aerated like an aero bar.  The render has also not really dried in places and in others has lost its key.  The good thing we discovered about the clay was that this process was reversable and it could be returned to its original state.

We carried out some remedial work and decided we had nothing to loose by trying to get as much of the remaining high level rendering done (on the north and south elevations) before the scaffolding is struck in about a weeks time.

Day 239

2/3 of the ridge sheets are now fitted. We are nearly there with the roof!  ( I appologise for the night shot!)

Day 238

Cladding battens set up on the east elevation.

The replacement ridge sheets have arrived and...

... they fit!

Day 237

Close up of the horizontal cladding around glazing on west elevation.

Horizontal cedar boarding on the west gable is complete and looks really good!

Many thanks to our carpenters, Steve Jarvis & Sons, who have done a fantastic job in very cold conditions (some mornings it was -6 degrees!).  They have also put up the whole timber frame, done all the metal roofing and fitted all the windows.  Their attention to detail is amazing and they have been very enjoyable to work with.  Many thanks to you all.

Day 235

Another weekend when it has been too cold to progressing the clay rendering so...

More cold weather jobs... putting a 15 degree angle on the top edge of the cladding battens...

Day 233 - First cedar boards fitted

The first boards...

First cedar boards fitted on west gable around the first floor glazing (above the sliding doors).  These are the only horizontal boards, the rest of the cladding will be vertical.

Day 232

Balustrading fitted on the west gable in front of opening glazing (you won't see the fixings once the cedar cladding is fitted) and cedar lining around sliding doors fitted today.

Day 231

Cladding battens fitted on the west gable.

Day 229

Breather membrane and black battens fixed on west gable, ready for the cedar boards.

Day 228 - cold weather jobs...

The cold weather has hampered progress somewhat and has limited the amount we can do.  One of todays projects was making a temporary front door to keep the cold north wind out!

Day 226 - winter arrives early!

We wanted to finish the clay rendering this weekend but it doesn't look like the weather will allow us to.

The weather changes... the snow and ice has arrived early.

Day 222

All roof sheets complete, except the ridge sheets.

Second coat of clay render complete on the south elevation.

Day 221

... and second coat started on the south elevation.

Second coat of render complete on the north elevation...

Day 220

... the last bit to go... and then the ridge sheets to fit

South side of the roof nearly complete...

Day 219 - north side of the roof complete

The completed north side of the roof...

The roof overhang on the west elevation.

Roof sheets complete on the north side of the roof.

Day 217

Roof sheet progressing on the south side of the roof (the north side was too icy to continue with and didn't really thaw before it re froze!).

Day 215 - clay render on front elevation complete

Our weekends work - completing the clay render on the front elevation.

Day 213

Yesterday was too windy to fit any aluminium sheets, today was boarder line.  Damn weather!!  We managed to finish off the cut sheets around the rooflight but it was too windy to fit any of the full length sheets.

Day 211 - Aluminium sheet begun

The first day's progress...

The complicated junction with the roof light flashings and roof sheet at the bottom of the roof light.

Starting to go round the first roof light.

What the view from the underside will be like...

First aluminum roof sheet fitted.

Day 208

Render complete on west gable and 1/2 complete on east gable.

Day 207 - clay render begun

3/4 of the render complete on the west elevation.

The first rendered panel...

The clay render mixed up and ready to go.  Mix is 1:2:1 (clay slip: sand: chopped straw).

Emptying out the chopped straw.

We found a leaf collector a quicker to cut the straw (to go in the clay render) than the garden shredder.

Street view

Day 202

Bars and brackets fitted on the other side of the roof, along with insect mesh at eaves and gables.