Day 374

Cladding progresses on the south elevation...

Day 373

The pair of sliding doors were fitted into the frames on south elevation today... just the glass to go now!

Day 371

We started putting in the sheeps wool insulation between the battens.  This is the final bit of the insulation in the roof, bringing the total depth to 250mm.

We also built the frame around the twin-walled chimney.  This will be enclosed with magnesium board.  It is important to keep all combustible materials at least 50mm from the chimney, and to maintain a 50mm air gap around the chimney.  This boxing will achieve both these things.  When we put the magnesium board on, we will need to ensure that we put in air vents to allow any heat to dissipate.

Insulation and rafters in the roof also must be kept 50mm away from the chimney.

Day 370

We completed the battens to the underside of the rafters today!

Day 361

...and put more sheeps wool in.

This weekend we fixed more battens to the underside of the rafters...

Day 357 - More sheeps wool

More sheeps wool arrives for insulating the roof.

Day 356 - Electricity supply put in

New electricity supply put in...

Day 353-355

The last 3 days we have been continuing to fix the battens on the underside of the rafters.  These will increase the depth of insulation by an extra 100mm (4 inches).

Day 351 - Frames for the sliding doors fitted

The aluminum frame sitting behind the cedar cladding.  It is a triple track, which allows all three of the doors to slide, two one way and one the other.

The frames for the sliding doors were fitted today.  These are bedded on a lime mortar (NHL5, mix 3:1).

When we ordered the windows we asked for them to be 12.5mm smaller than the structural opening on all sides, so the windows were overall 25mm narrower and 25mm shorter than the hole they were fitting into.  When we ordered the doors we were advised that 5mm on all sides, so 10mm overall was sufficient.  However, while the frames do fit within the opening, the gaps on some of the sides are now very small, once the frames have been squared up.  This is going to make it much harder to adequately seal the gaps against weather and achieve a satisfactory airtightness and thermal performance.

Day 350

What will be the walls of the utility room have been covered with smart ply, to enable mechanical and electrical services to be easily fixed to them.

Day 349 - Internal studwork begun

Internal partitions to the utility room were begun today.

Cedar lining to the rest of the windows complete...

Day 348

Cladding continues on south elevation...

Day 347 - sheeps wool roof insulation begun

The battens fixed below the rafters, and the sheeps wool in place.  There will be more insulation running between the battens.

We started battening the underside of the roof yesterday and putting in the sheeps wool insulation today. The wool is soft and smells very 'sheepy'!.

Day 345 - cladding complete on north elevation

The completed north elevation.

Street view of the completed elevation...

Cladding on the last elevation started...

Cladding on north elevation complete!  (and downpipe half put up)

Day 344

North elevation almost complete...

Day 343

Day 342

Day 341

Day 340 - Hemp and lime insulation complete

We finished off the hemp and lime insulation to the eaves void, above the straw bales.

Day 339

Second coat of plaster put on the utility room wall.  This is also the last coat on this wall as it will have timber studs in front of it lined with plywood.  This is because it is our mechanical plant wall and we needed to be able to fix to it easily.

Day 338

... and another.  It almost looks like we have finished from here!

The street view...

The cladding in the brief late afternoon sun.

Half the cladding complete on north-west elevation!

Day 337

Cladding has now passed the stair window...

Day 335

Battening begun to south elevation.

Cladding progressing...

Day 334 - Cladding to north elevation begun

Battens completed to north elevation, and cladding begun...

Day 332 - Climbing plants planted

The front elevation (north-east) and north-west elevation are intentionally quite blank.  This is to prevent excessive heat loss through openings / glazing facing north, which receive little sun / heat gains.  The majority of windows are designed to face south instead.

To add interest to the front and north elevations we are planning to grow climbing plants up them, so in time they become 'green walls'.  As the cladding is now complete on the front elevation we decided to give the climbing plants a head start (as they will take time to establish), and plant the 'Parthenocissus Henryana' (virginia creeper).

Day 330

Battening started on north elevation...

Cladding finished on the front elevation!

Day 329

So close...

Day 328

Getting closer...

Day 327 - Cladding continues

Putting up the cladding on the front resumed on Friday.  Nearly half way now...  The 'hit and miss' boarding over the bathroom window is also complete.

Day 319 - More clay!

More clay rendering this weekend.  Yesterday rained again, which is becoming the norm for Saturdays!  Good progress today, we have now completed stripping off the frost damaged render and just need to patch in some cracks which have appeared in the render as it is drying.

Day 317 - Cladding the front elevation underway

Cladding begun on the front elevation yesterday.

Day 309 - Guttering complete

Guttering complete on both sides.  The downpipes are yet to be fitted, once the cladding has been fitted.

Day 307

Guttering erected on 3/4 of the other side.

Day 306 - Guttering begun

...one side virtually complete

Putting up the aluminium guttering started today...

Day 304

More external rendering today.  We finished the south elevation yesterday, and today we got from the road to the stair window on the north elevation.

We think the clay on the east (road) elevation has held up well under the poor winter weather conditions and does not need to be replaced.  We will do some final inspections next weekend, but our fingers are crossed!

Day 303 - external clay finished on south elevation

Where we had to knock the render off, we took it back to the clay slip coat.

We have now finished rendering the south elevation, hopefully it will have a chance to dry this time!

Another example of where the frost has blown off part of the previous coat of render.  Whilst some of the render is still on the wall, it has lost its key to the render below.  It was sole destroying but we had to knock a lot of it off, particularly at high level.  If we hadn't knocked it off, it would have been pulled off by the application of the next coat of render.