Day 470 - more studwork and reed mat test

Rather than using plasterboard on the internal timber stud walls, we are trying out reed mat.  It works in a similar way to laths (as in traditional lath and plaster).  We were quite impressed how easily it went up - so far so good!

We progressed more of the studwork upstairs today (excuse the mess!).

Day 463 - Ground floor studwork progressed

We have not done much work on the house this month - partly because we have been allowing the screed to dry and partly because we fancied a break!  We are now back into it and have made good progress on the ground floor studwork today - just the doorways and noggins to do.  I think we are finally getting better at studwork!

Day 451: Lime screed complete

The rest of the lime screed was completed today.

Day 444 - Screed aftercare

The weather was very hot and sunny yesterday (33 degrees).  To prevent the screed from drying out too fast we will hose the slab down for about 3 days.

Day 443 - Laying the lime screed part 1

The first bay of screed is complete after about 1/2 day.

A piece of timber is used to form a temporary edge to screed up to, where there will be a movement joint in the screed.

The scaffold pole removed and screed being filled in.

The screed progressing...

Leveling out the piles...

The mix is laid very dry.

Loading up with the screed - mixed by the big green limecrete machine!

Scaffold poles are set level with the top of the finished screed, these will be used as a level.

The Limecrete Company are back today to start laying the lime screed.  First step is wetting down the limecrete slab.

Day 437 - Underfloor heating pipes pressure tested

Underfloor heating pipes connected up to the manifold and pressure tested.

The pressure has settled at 1.5 bar.  It was pressurised to more than this but as plastic tubes give a little bit it causes the pressure to drop.  The pipes will remain under pressure while we lay the lime screed.  If the pressure drops to zero then the pipes have been punctured - we hope to avoid this!

Under floor heating pipework is now laid and ready to be pressure tested.

Pipe is sleeved with conduit for 300mm either side of all movement joints (such as in this doorway), to prevent the pipe from being put under stress as the different bays of screed on either side move differently.

We took extra time when we were laying the clip track, ensuring that it was all in the right place and was in line.  It paid off today - laying the pipe was quite straightforward!

It was a bit like doing dot to dot!

We finished laying the clip track for the under floor heating yesterday and are making a start on laying the pipe today.