Bad Blogger

February was a month with loads of building activity. Sally kindly took lots of photos while i was away surfing in Costa Rica so unfortunately not much has happened with the blog. Yes, yes, i agree, it does sound a little unfair but the itchy jellyfish stings have helped in some way as payback for leaving Sally in a cold caravan on a building site while i'm off on a lads jolly.

The surfmobile! How could I turn that opportunity down?

Felted and Battened?

Can something be 'felted' or has the roof been 'felt' and battened? I know Womble loves his job but I don't want to confuse anyone about what he was doing while he was up on the roof. He certainly wasn't feeling the roof although he may have been feeling the cold. Anyway the roof is now covered with a breathable membrane which probably isn't even called felt anymore (so I'm not sure what I'm worried about) and the membrane has been secured with battens.

Anyone still paying attention who is knowledgeable about roofing will know that fixing the battens means we've decided which slates to use. Yes Brazilian, Sally is not too happy with the Brazilian as they look a little too trimmed and tidy and she prefers the natural English variety. The main argument against going for a Brazilian is obviously the pain that is involved... indeed, the pain of all those miles that the slates have traveled. While it does gnaw slightly at my conscience we have to remember that these slates will last a lifetime and the house is going to have an extremely small carbon running cost. Eventually the slates will weather and we'll be able to absorb the carbon costs through the running of the house and the planting of trees. In short... Sally please forgive me for not finding suitable Cornish slates in time.

Our solar thermal panel has arrived and fitting has been re-scheduled from today to Monday when the wind will be less severe. The coast is getting battered by a big swell with wind and rain and the solar panel can act as a 2m wide sail when up on a roof so there is a degree of understanding that the installers needed to re-schedule for Monday.

Structural timbers for the front door and patio doors are arriving on Tuesday next week. This means that we can complete the extension of the main roof and fit the new slates. In the mean time Stuart, Dave and Womble are doing the stud-work on the the first floor so we're starting to get a better idea of room sizes and locations.

Speaking of trees, we've applied for a grant as part of the Woodland Trust's MOREwoods scheme. Basically we agree to plant 2.5acres of trees and look after them while they grant us around 50% of the cost. Thank you Katie & Mark for putting us on to this.
http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/plant-trees/plant-a-wood/Pages/morewoods.aspx

Brazillian or English?

We've ordered our kitchen, we've also ordered our log burning stove. We now need to decide if we want Brazillian or English slates for the roof.

Rika Tavo Aqua log burning stove with back boiler

The stove will apply 70% of its heat output to water. The water is then fed to an insulated central store. The central store which is also heated via solar thermal panels on the roof will then feed domestic hot water for baths and showers and underfloor heating downstairs with radiators up stairs. Simples. We're not going to have any other form of heating apart from an immersion heater within the 500 litre thermal store, hence the need for lots of insulation and passive solar heating (sunlight) to keep the building warm.

Our Kitchen is from Wickes, it was heavily reduced in the sales, its white with a wooden work top and we're hoping we can make it work with everything internally. With the room being open plan its really difficult to make everything blend and work together especially when we don't even have a finished room to imagine things in yet.

Maybe not red but induction for sure

So the roof is off and we need to make the call... expensive local reclaimed slates that don't quite match what we have already or cheap Brazillian slates that are good quality, look the same but newer and come from such a long way to get here?!

The roof has gone

A great picture showing the gallery area from the lounge

The roof at the back of the building

Sally by the bedroom window with the new finished floor height

Broken

A number of recent changes.... I snapped my surfboard and have an ear infection which means that i'm well and truly out of the water for the time being. This is probably a good thing as it means I no longer have any distractions from all the decisions that need to be made with regard to the barn.

Simon Anderson Surfboard RIP

Custom ear plugs being made

 We now have a timber first floor. I've clambered around the building and taken shots from the first floor and the scaffolding.

The top of the stairs

View over the balcony

Small extension from scaffolding

Living room from the scaffolding

Up on the roof

Internal Timber Frame

Block work continues, lintels are being put in and now work has started on the internal timber frame. The frame is thick so that we can fill it with insulation and use it to support the timbers for the first floor. Here are the latest piccies...

New steel in place to support 1st floor (sat on reinforced concrete pads)

Blocking up by office window

Timber studwork

Window to be opened up on right

View through the office window

Utility area and downstairs shower room

View from the kitchen looking out to the windows by front door

Sunny Block Laying

It's been close to too cold but just warm enough to get some work done in the middle of the day (them not me). Here are the latest photos.

The middle is a window, to the right double doors.

Wall on the right at finished height.

Looks like I'll be helping next week. The first floor timbers are being put in place, scaffolding and then on to the roof.

Block Laying

If its too cold you can't lay blocks because the cement will turn to dust rather than going off to form a strong bond... But on the other hand you can't lay blocks if its raining either because the rain will wash out the cement and the wall will fall down. It just seems a little unfortunate that over the last few weeks its either been freaking freezing or ruddy raining.

So at last I'm pleased to say that it looks like we might have a good spell of weather available to us. I'm keeping my fingers crossed when i write this as it might turn out to be a little bit too cold, lets hope not.

Brick base, blocks clad with timber to be added next.

Blocks being laid... these will be timber clad

We're starting to get a much better idea of the true feel of the size of the extensions. Stuart the builder believes that he will be finished by May. The majority of the block work should be finished this week and the roof will be started next week. The roof may well be completed by the end of next month.