Week Thirty-eight -Part Two

We are expecting Molly’s sister, Ishbel, this morning. She is very keen to help and we love having her around. Before she gets here Pete is going to measure and cut the studs for above and below the windows and doors. We have run our of the 300mm structural screws and have had to order more, they are very expensive as are most of the specialist screws and fixings we need to use, so we can’t fix these studs until they arrive.

It’s a lovely day today and the forecast is for dry weather until the end of next week. That will be amazing if it’s true, time will tell!

That’s Ishbel now and she’s just in time for coffee. She has brought tonight’s dinner with her, that’s something to look forward to.

Ishbel is coating the new straight staircase with Polyx oil, this is the protection we decided on after some research because it only requires two coats and when it comes to recoating, once it is worn a bit, you don’t need to sand it.

While Ishbel is getting on with the staircase we are starting to paint the battens on the south elevation of the house.

It hasn’t taken her long to do the stairs so Ishbel is coming to help us on the house.

We are stopping for lunch because we have finished the south elevation. Molly and Ishbel are going to the local garden centre once we’ve eaten and Pete will get on with the west elevation.

The painting is going much quicker than expected and the west elevation is almost done as they arrive back.

Ishbel and Molly are getting on with the east elevation while Pete finishes the west.

We have managed to get the house done, apart from the north elevation because the timber is wet, so we are going to call it a day. Ishbel is going to cook for us so we can relax a bit before dinner.

It’s another beautiful, sunny morning and we are raring to go. Ishbel is giving the stairs a second coat of Polyx oil and we are now attacking the shed.

Ishbel has just joined us at the shed and we are making great progress but we are fast running out of the protective paint we are using.

A fellow self-builder, Nick has arrived to pay us a visit and to donate some insulation to us. He has arrived just in time for coffee. Nick and Pete are chatting away sharing experiences and talking technical while Ishbel and Molly get on with the painting.

It’s good for us to have people who are going through similar experiences to talk to and exchange ideas.

Nick is off now and we are so pleased he came to see us, we’ll go and visit him when we are down his way next.

That’s it run out now but we have managed to do both sides and almost all the way to the top of the south elevation. We can pick up more tomorrow when we take our weekly shopping trip to Oban and finish the job on Sunday if the weather is still good.

We have moved inside the house and are going to do some airtightness taping. This job is crucial to the success of our building. It is the combination of insulation and airtightness that will keep our heating costs to a minimum and we will need a Mechanical Heat Recovery and Ventilation system to keep our building healthy.

Every point where air can get into the building must be carefully sealed with the specialist tape. It is time consuming and at times tricky but it is worth the effort.

We’ve been taping for a while now but it’s time to stop because Ishbel has to get ready to go and catch her bus.

It’s been great having her around to help and to keep us company. Although we get on really well and enjoy each others company, it is really nice having other people around to share the experience with and have good craik with. Thanks Ishbel.

It’s a sunny Sunday morning and we are finishing the last wee bit of the south elevation of the shed. Now we have to dismantle the scaffolding tower and move it round to the north elevation to finish painting those battens.

We’ve finished doing the shed and the north elevation of the house. Once the screws arrive we can finish the battening and painting on the house, hopefully early next week.

We’ve just had our coffee in the house with the sun streaming in through the French windows, bliss. We now need to go around and check that all of yesterdays taping is stuck down properly. Sure enough we need to smooth down some of the edges, Andrew had told us this was necessary as the taope doesn’t always take first time.

We’re going to spend the rest of the afternoon pottering about in the garden, or more accurately what will become our garden.

We’ve just had a very nice visit from one of our neighbours, Iona. It is great that folk are interested in what we are doing and supportive and encouraging too.

That’s it, another week over and a lot more progress has been made. There is still a lot to do and it feels like time is against us if we are going to be able to move in by the beginning of June but we’ll certainly give it our best shot.