Week Forty-four – Part Two

Today we are going to carry on where we left off yesterday so we are going to build two more mezzanine walls. Yesterday we cut most of the timbers for the wall that faces the living space so we just need to cut a few and it will be ready for assembly. We are adding an extra timber where the frame meets the corner so that the wall that meets it can be fixed firmly to make a strong corner.

Now we need to make the wall above the stairs but this is straightforward and shouldn’t take long.

It’s all fixed in place and as true and level as we can make it. We have three more walls to make for the mezzanines but that can wait for later.

Before the day is done we can finish the detailing where the fascias meet the soffits on the east gable then we can take it easy for a while before Molly heads off for her pilates class in the community centre and Pete can do some yoga in the house.

Andrew is coming tomorrow and because our roofing tin still hasn’t arrived there needs to be a change of plan. We can start installing the MVHR system.

It’s Good Friday and Andrew arrives early with view to finishing early so that he can enjoy the Easter weekend with his family and friends.

We are going to be Andrew’s helpers today because this installation requires specialist knowledge and a qualified installer, which Andrew is.

We have unpacked all the components and Andrew is setting about putting them together. Our job is to fit the plenums, these are the connectors that supply clean air or extract foul air into or out of a room. We have to follow the plan that show where each of the single or double plenums go. Once the plastering has been done we will fit the covers over the plenum.

Most of our ventillation terminals are in the ceilings of our rooms but the air supply for the mezzanines comes through vents in the floor. For these we are fixing the plenum to the underside of the floor but first we need to cut holes in the floor.

It’s time for Andrew to go and he has managed to fit the MVHR unit, the ducting that goes through the wall to the outside, fit the manifolds and silencer and the cover on the outside wall. That’s good progress. It’s a glorious day so Andrew can head home and we can tidy up then have a bbq to celebrate our progress. Happy Easter Andrew.

Even though it is Saturday and we have been quite exhausted for a while, we feel energised by last night’s bbq and glorious weather. It was so relaxing and a good reminder of why we gave up our lovely life in Portobello for something new. So, we are going to work today because we have visitors arriving on Wednesday afternoon and we’ll take the rest of the week off to spend time with them.

We are deperate to see what the house will look like with it’s clothes on so we are going to have a go at cladding around the window on the west gable.

First we have to fit the 75mm larch boards either side of the window, flush to the window reveals.

We have carefully cut a notch where the sill is so that we can use one board from the horizontal drip board all the way up to the soffit.

Our cladding will be made up of three different sized boards: 75mm, 150mm and 200mm. We will have a random pattern and the boards will have a 5mm gap between them. We need to cut the bottom edge at a 15º angle so the rainwater can run off.

Molly selected the sizes and created a pattern for the section underneath and above the window. We have laid it against the wall before fixing to see if it looks good

It hasn’t taken us too long to do a run of boards but we need to move onto making the ends of the ducting watertight because the rain is due to return tomorrow and Andrew told us that no water can be allowed to get into the MVHR unit. First we are going to collect some tree seedling protective netting that’s going free on FaceBook.

We need to tape around the ducting and add some extra membrane to ensure weather tightness. It’s a bit fiddly and tricky but it doesn’t take too long so we can rest easy now knowing the unit is protected from rainwater.

It’s Sunday and we are on a roll so we are gong to get on with the cladding. It would be really nice to have this section done for our visitors arriving and the weather is holding out.

We have finished the section under the window so we are stopping for lunch before taking on the high bit above the window.

We need to match the boards above and below the windows otherwise our cladding would be way too random and probably look quite zany.

We are taking a lot of care making sure the boards are level and the gaps are 5mm. It isn’t possible for it all to be exactly right because larch is notoriously bendy and warpy but we have done a pretty good job and are pleased with the result. It’s great to have this done as it really gives us confidence in our decision on the cladding.

Our last task of the day is to protect some of the trees we’ve been given. The wee rowan that Nicky gave us is in bud and we want to protect it so that when it is grown it can protect us.