It’s Thursday morning and, after a nice bowl of porridge, we are feeling fit to take on the task of fitting the outer layer of insulation, the Steicospecial dry, onto the west gable wall.
Before we can get properly started we have to trim the excess expanding foam from around the windows then tape them up. With that done we are foaming in the groove along the bottom of the insulation panels on the first row to maximise its insulation properties. These panels are tongue in groove so they snap together tightly giving good continious insulation and waterproof protection.
It’s dry today so there is no need for us to move the unwrapped panels indoors, this saves us a lot of time and energy.
Ther panels are going on easily and we are up to the level of the small window for our en-suite so we need to measure carefully to get a good fit.
It’s lunch time and we are pleased with our progress as we are up to the midfloor level. After lunch it’s going to be more challenging because we are going to have to lift the panels onto the scaffolding platform at roof level.
After a lot of effort we have managed to get the first two rows done at mezzanine level but it’s getting dark so we need to cover the wall with the tarpaulin and tidy up.
It’s a beautiful sunny morning and we are going to try and finish fitting the insulation panels right up to the apex of the roof. The forecast is good and the sky is cloudless so we are taking the tarpaulins down to give us more room to work.
We are making progress around the mezzanine window and are up above the level of the right hand side of the window. We are working on the left hand side but we have realised that we have made a mistake. Normally we would start on the right end of the wall with the groove on the right and the tongue on the left and then fit each new panel in tongue in groove. This doesn’t work because of the angle that the roof creates under the eaves.
To make it work we will need to take the panels out then fit the angled pieces first and only then refit the panels next to the window. This is the opposite of how we would normally work but there is no other way as far as we can see.
We are above the window now and near the top of the gable so we need to get the panels up to the top level of the scaffolding platform. More heavy lifting!
We need to measure carefully and cut the angles correctly and then work out how to get the last few pieces in.
Luckily we don’t need many panels at the top level which is just as well as we are pretty exhausted from all the heavy lifting.
We are quite pleased with what we have achieved since coming back from the festive break and very pleased that the timber frame is now protected from the rain on the north and west elevations. A couple more weeks of this heavy work and the house should be completely insulated and we can get onto the next stage but for now we need to take it easy and let ourselves recover.
Super progress indeed. You both must have developed so many muscles you never knew you had. It is all looking great .
Thank you for all your very positive comments. We may be building up our muscles but sometimes spending more time ‘thinking things through’ counts far more than strength.