Putting up the last bit of the air barrier

... and battens fitted

Air barrier on the landing

The last area to put the air barrier up is in the landing...

Master bed air barrier complete

The completed air barrier in the master bedroom.  Now only the landing to go!

More proclima air barrier

The bit the other side of the ridge beam now completed to finish off this room.

And bedroom 2 completed as well.

Air barrier

The majority of the air barrier is now complete in the next bedroom...

Fixings things to straw bales

This is where the toilet and cistern will go in the ensuite bathroom.  The cistern (propped up at the moment) needs to be fixed into the straw wall.

One way to do this is to use hazel stakes about 250-300mm long, with one end pointed.

Firstly we marked the location we wanted to fix into the straw by screwing the piece of plywood we want to fix to the clay. (Interestingly it actually fixed quite well into just the clay!)

With a hand spray we wetted the clay plaster around the area we are going to bang in the hazel to make the clay soft.  Clay always remains volatile, it is not like lime or cement where a chemical reaction takes place when it dries.  This means clay is ultimately recyclable and can always be returned to its wet state.  The hazel stake was then very easy to bang into the clay.

We could then smooth the clay around the stake.  Clay really is amazing - how many materials can you seal a hole so easily in?!!

The four hazel stakes to fix the plywood to.

The plywood fixed to the straw...

...and the cistern hung.

Fitting the shower tray

We fitted the shower tray today - it took a long time!  It is bedded on a lime mortar.  We thought laying the floor tiles was tricky but getting this perfectly level and in the right place was really not easy!

We had some of the lime mortar left over so we used it to screed in the matwell to get it to the right level for the recessed door mat by the back door.

Setting up the bathrooms

Getting the bath in position in the family bathroom and setting up the waste.

This was a second hand bath we bought and went to collect.

Finishing off the first fix plumbing to the shower.

Lagging the pipework

Fitting all the pipelagging.

Proclima breathable membrane

Still going with the membrane - bedroom 4 now complete...

More membrane

Air barrier membrane fitted in the family bathroom.

Magnesium board in family bathroom

...and then laying the mangnesium board on top.

Progressing the floor in the family bathroom

Doing the same in the general bathroom.  Starting with the acousitc underlay...

Magnesium board down on the ensuite floor

The magnesium board on the floor of the ensuite bathroom.