Month: October 2013 (Page 2 of 4)

Insulation is expensive

October 24, 2013 / stephen

Or rather the materials for insulating a property are expensive. And we have lots of it!

There is 50mm insulation between the roof rafters which is then insulated with plasterboard that has a further 50mm of insulation on the back. The walls are dry lined with insulated plasterboard and then is insulation underneath the underfloor heating.

I have spent a couple of days this week putting insulation in the ground floor ceiling. This is more for sound proofing, however, it does help ensure that the heat from the underfloor heating goes up (heating upstairs) rather than down (heating downstairs). This consists of putting 100mm of rockwool between the ceiling joists. This is pushed above the wires and pipes already in the floor. This helps ensure that the insulation does not fall out before the ceiling is plasterboarded.

It is a pretty horrible job – arms constantly above your head with itchy fibres dropping on your face. Strangely enough, everyone seemed keen for me to do it. Strange that.

One thing I have learnt is to shop around for insulation. Everyone knows the big names – kingspan, rockwool etc. But with the big brands come a big price tag. Have a look at some of the lesser known players and you will find products that are just as good, but a fraction of the price. Our insulation has been purchased from Tyne Insulation Supplies (www.tyneinsulation.co.uk).

This stuff is itchy. Having spent a day insulating the ground floor ceiling, you need to have a shower. Big time.

This week I have spent a couple of very itchy days putting insulation in the ceiling on the ground floor. This is more for sound insulation than anything else, but it does help ensure that the heat from the underfloor heating upstairs go up rather than down! I have made sure that the insulation does fall out by putting it over the pipes and wires in the ceiling.

More ashlar

October 24, 2013 / stephen

Yesterday it rained, so we made the best of it and took the opportunity to pick up more of the remaining bits of ashlar from the quarry. Some of these peices are seriously big and will need a crane to be able to lift in them into position.

These are amongst the largest pieces of ashlar that are going into the extension. Some of the larger peices are over 3/4 tonne and will require a crane to lift into position.

This is the last batch of ashlar and some of these pieces are seriously big. Far too big to manhandle. We will need to use a crane to lift some of these.

Wet weather

October 23, 2013 / stephen

The wet weather has really affected us this week. Although you can build blockwork in the rain (it doesn’t matter if the sand and cement was down the front of the blocks), the same is not true for stone work. Even with blockwork, if it gets too wet the sand and cement starts to slump and the blocks move.

It is Wednesday and we haven’t been able to do much work outside – despite trying! But sometimes it is just better to give in to the weather.

The steel has arrived for the spans above the bi-folding doors. These are going to be manhandled into position and we won’t be doing that until the mud subsides.

Much of the ashlar stone surrounds are now on site. These are for the cills, heads and sides (called jambs) of the doors and windows. Every door and window has a number on the architects plans. These are marked up on the ends of each piece of ashlar.

Parts of the site are now very wet and muddy. This makes getting around difficult unless you have a 4x4. More wet weather is forecast this week. Ho hum.

Parts of the site are now very wet and muddy. This makes getting around difficult unless you have a 4×4. More wet weather is forecast this week. Ho hum.

Although the weather has been wet, we have been able to get some stone work up. Because the stones are large, each course really makes a difference. You can see one of the ashlar window cills has been installed.

The steelwork that will bridge the across the bi-folding doors has arrived. Later this week, it will be manhandled into place.

All of these bits of ashlar are for the door and window surrounds. There is a lot of it!

These pieces of ashlar are for the heads, cills and sides (jambs) of the windows in the extension. As the stone work goes up on the outside of the extension, these surrounds are built in.

Each piece of ashlar is marked up according to whether it is for a door or window. These two peices are for the head and cill for window 43.

Internal kitchen wall

October 19, 2013 / stephen

The internal kitchen wall will be built using stone that we reclaimed from a couple of internal walls that we demolished a couple of months ago. The walls (and thus the stone) was original and dates to when the cottages were first built. It is nice to think that this stone will remain on site and be re-used.

The lower part of the wall is built using blockwork. This produces a flat, even surface. This will help when fitting the kitchen. The work surface has an upstand that will act as a splashback. On top of the upstand, there will be an ashlar string course. The reclaimed stone wall will then be built on top of this string course. The string course has been installed and we will start work on the reclaimed stone wall next week.

Like the exterior reclaimed stone work, the internal stone work will be sand blasted before it is pointed. This will even up the finish and remove any paint or discolouring. The intention is that the internal reclaimed stone wall break up what would otherwise be a large wall.

Looking from the lounge into the kitchen. The feature wall in the far wall in the kitchen will be built using stone that we have salvaged from demolition work elsewhere on site.

The reclaimed stone for this internal wall has come from two internal walls that were removed when rennovating the existing cottages. It is piled up here on a pallet ready to go.

You can see here very clearly the ashlar string course that separates the upstand on the work surface from the reclaimed stone wall (yet to be built) above.

Stone work on the extension

October 19, 2013 / stephen

Despite some poor (wet) weather this week, we have made some good progress on the stone work on the extension. The stones are big so each course really makes a difference. Each course starts at the lowest point (the porch) and goes right around the extension.

We are coming up to window level so some of the window cills have been installed. The door cills have already been installed.

If we get some good weather in the next week, then we are going to make some great progress on the stone work. However, it is October!

This is the front wall of the extension. The window cill has gone in. We will start building the interior wall of the kitchen shortly.

We have been competing with the wet weather this week, but significant progress has been made this week. As the stone is so large, each course makes a real difference. Two of the window cills and one of the door cills have gone in.

Progress on the porch

October 17, 2013 / stephen

The porch is the lowest part of the new work that we are undertaking as part of the extension. The exterior stone work starts here and eventually the courses of stone will start to go right around the building. Once at that level, a single course will go right around the porch and then follow on around the new extension.

The reclaimed stone that we are using is fairly large so each of the courses makes a big difference. This is going up much faster than I was expecting.

We have made good progress on the stone work on the porch. When sandblasted this will fit in with the rest of the house.

With the hessian removed, the stone work is revealed! This will be sandblasted and pointed when finished to fit in with the rest of the house.

Building a new roof the old fashion way

October 17, 2013 / stephen

The roof to the new extension is being built-in a near-by industrial unit. The three large oak trusses are hand-made and assembled at ground level. The timber is then numbered, disassembled and brought to site.

All of the joints are made the old-fashioned way – tenons and oak pegs – to fit in with the existing cottage.

The current plan is that these will be on site and in place in the next 2-3 weeks (weather permitting!).

These are the two oak trusses for the lounge. They are being built in an industrial unit near-by before being numbered, taken apart and shipped to site.

The third oak truss has been disassembled and is being sanded. You can see here the tenon and peg joint on the end of one of the purlins (under the wire brush next to the sanding discs).

Close up of the joints in one of the trusses. This truss has been taken apart and has been sand. There is only one screw in each of the trusses.

One of the new tenon joints on the end of one of the purlins.

Progress on the external work on the extension

October 16, 2013 / stephen

I have been away from site for the past couple of days and it is great to get back to see that some real progress has been made on the extension. A lot of progress has been made on building up the external walls. This can be slow as it involves reclaimed stone rather than concrete blocks.

Unfortunately, when I arrived on site today, so too did the rain. This means that the stone work is all covered up with hessian to prevent the sand and cement getting too wet.

We will have to wait until another day to see what lurks beneath.

The new stonework is hidden under the hessian, but the external wall to the front of the kitchen and the porch is starting to take shape.

This is the side wall of the new porch and we are starting to get a sneak preview at the stone work that lies beneath the hessian.

Painting the internal window reveals

October 13, 2013 / stephen

We have panelled the inside of the windows – in a very similar way to how they may have been done origninally, albeit in waterproof MDF. The window frames are the same colour inside and out. We thought that the best colour for the internal window reveals would be a very pale green. The walls will be an off white colour. The architraves around the doors and windows will be painted MDF, as will the architrave around the windows. Not sure of the colour yet. However, we are sure that the colour needs to be light – there seems to be a lot more little in the room once the reveals were painted white – even if it was just undercoat!

At first sight, painting the internal window reveals a pale green has produced some large areas of green. However, we are going to paint the wall around the window (once the plaster dries out) before making any final decisions. This will also give us an opportunity to get some “prototype” architrave and skirtings fitted and painted.

The inside of the window reveals have been primed and have a coat of white undercoat. Tomorrow, we will paint them a pale green to match the window frame colour.

The internal window reveals have been painted a very pale green – a colour out of the Dulux trade Heritage range. I suspect that it creates too much green in this room, but we will paint the walls off white being making the final decision. Notice that the plaster is much drier in this photo than the one above.

Plastering starts

October 10, 2013 / stephen

The end bedroom upstairs is now fully boarded and we have started plastering. This is mainly around one of the windows so this will allow us to get a window finished and painted so that we can make sure we have chosen the correct colours. We will also put up the architrave and skirting boards, so that we can check these too.

For some reason, we have always used the window in this room as our “prototype”!

The rafters are hidden underneath the insulated plasterboard, but the roof trusses and purlins will remain exposed. The exposed timber has been waxed and it should be easy to get off any dust or plaster marks.

Cutting around beams with the insulated plasterboards was difficult, plastering around them is even more difficult. But they are doing a great job.

We are having to use small tower scaffolds internally to be able to reach the ceilings. This makes getting around in here difficult while the plasterers are at work.

We have always used this window as our prototype. As soon as the plasterers are finished in here, we will paint up this window and get the architrave added. We will also put up a strip of skirting board.