Day 142

First rooflight framed out...

Day 141

The tidied internal first floor space.

Day 140 -Drying the straw (hopefully!)

A very windy day with gusts up to about 20mph.  Although very noisy with the tarpaulins flapping, it is good for drying out the straw... fingers crossed!

Day 138 - Rafters in

The first floor space...

The exposed rafter feet.

All the rafters now up with tarpaulins battened on top to give some protection from rain, just the trimming of the rooflights to be done...

Day 137 - RAIN!

Since midnight last night until 6pm this evening we have had 35.4mm of rain - this brings the monthly total for August to 111.8mm!

To put this in some context - in the whole of August last year East Anglia had 34.3mm.  So in the last 18 hours we have had more rain than in the whole of August last year.

The average rainfall in August in East Anglia in the last 30 years is 55mm, so we have already had double this...

...and our bales are now getting wet!  We have been desperately trying to keep them dry, particularly on the top but there has just been so much rain in a relatively short space of time.  We will now wait until it has stopped raining and we have got the roof complete before carrying out an assessment to see what the damage is.  Until then sadly more heavy rain is forecast tonight...

Day 136 - rafters started

...about 1/4 complete!

But the rain is back...

First rafters fitted...

Day 135 - ridge beam in place

The west elevation with ridge beam.

... it is then supported on the 3 trusses.

The ridge beam is supported on the east gable by a post, linked into the timber frame.

Ridge beam in position.

Day 134 - RAIN!

There was 20mm of rain between midnight and 6am, and then more rain all afternoon.  Big puddles formed on the tarps and collected over the top of the bales.  The weight of the water proved too much in some places and the edges of the tarps gave way and spilled water onto the plywood on top of the bales.

We have spent a lot of time sponging water off the tarps!

When it is drier we need to see how wet the bales are and in particular how deep the water goes into the bale.  If it is just on the surface the bale will probable dry out (particularly with the strong wind we have been having) but if water has got into the centre of the bale, it will probably not dry out before it rots.

Day 132

Guarding around stair void constructed to save us all from mishap!

Day 131

Three completed cedar trusses!

Completed cedar truss...

... and cedar eaves beam cantilevered from the east elevation (softwood head binder cut out).  Beam approx 3 times longer than distance cantilevered.

Cedar eaves beam half lapped over the softwood frame and supported on external cedar truss on the west elevation.

Day 130 - cedar trusses complete

The completed trusses!

External truss completed.

Internal trusses erected today.

Day 129 - external cedar truss begun

West elevation - cedar posts in position ready for truss.

Galvanised shoe supporting external cedar truss, fixed to blockwork using threaded rod and resin.

Plywood rimboard fixed to the end of the floor joists, between the posts to close off the floor void.

Day 128 - Lifting

Last up - some of the rafters, the rest stayed on the ground.

... touches down.

The plywood...

Next up, the three ridge beam sections...

The cedar external truss on the scaffolding.

The cedar external truss being lifted up onto the top scaffold...

The second beam lowered onto the temporary floor.

... then finally lowered into the slot in the temporary floor onto the 4inch posts.

...lowered onto the temporary floor...

... rising over the timber frame...

Lifting the first steel beam into position...

(unfortunately the weather was miserable)

Day 127

More restraint straps.

Steel restraint straps fixed in position.

The blocking all in place.

Blocking added between all the I-joists to keep them square.

Day 126

The inside space!

Final section complete apart from the top bale course.

South west corner complete apart from the top course of bales.

Last section underway...

A dry day forecast, so all hands on deck to try and get the last section of straw bales in.

Day 125 - temporary floor complete

Temporary floor complete.

Temporary floor screwed down.

We started to fix the timber ladders located under first floor straw bales to the joists.

Day 124 - FF joists complete

View towards the front door.