Bumpy ride

Bumpy left this morning, but while he was here a lot happened. Here is the latest:

The rest of the clay pipe was removed and the old concrete "tank" was dug out and replaced with a shiny new septic tank with 2 x 200mm risers.

The Septic tank soakaway was dug and filled with 40mm stone. The rodding eye will give us options in case of a blocked  perforated pipe in the soakaway.

The first casement stay was installed on one of the windows.

Plumbing first fix, using 22mm and 15mm Hep2O was installed and lagged. 22mm was for the mains hot and cold, and the 15mm for the central heating. Then the final first fix electrical wiring was completed and labelled.

Snow came, and finally the gable end frames were installed thanks to some help from Tollstension's Thomas, and Ben as well:

Then, some actual real life 28mm pine floor was installed on the first floor!

The night before Bumpy left, we cut a sill out of the 25mm ply using a circular saw, hand saw and router:

Finally - here's another great sunset over Lochnagar

Windows in, more framing, some wires

We have now fitted all the windows and the door, mortared all but 3 windows in place making them watertight, and even fitted the door handle, so we can now lock people out (or in?)! We have received all the window furniture as well but still need to install it.

Bumpy & Jaimin spent a freezing cold Saturday mortaring the south face eaves, sealing the gap from the weather. Bumpy did the mortaring while Jaimin mixed mortar in the barrow, and in between mixes, mortared under the window drip sills and around the edges of the windows.

The gable end frames needed to be built, but before fitting them they need to be Tyvek'd ans insulation fitted above them in the rafter space. Because of the tight space they are going in to, they had to be built in 2 halves, which will be fitted and then joined in the middle. Despite some tricky maths, we got their in the end, with Bumpy building the frames and Jaimin fitting the insulation.

Some light mathematics

Frames built & ready

Insulation between the gable and first rafter

We received wiring cable for the 13A, 5A (lighting) and 30A circuits. and last night we managed to run a "cable tray" of sarking boards in the small triangle space at the edge of the trusses, along which we managed to run the 13A kitchen and 1st floor ring mains.

First big window

The latest episode was to measure out, cut sills, square up and put in place (not "install", yet) the east front main room window. This is the "least good" front window, with the other one (west) being fairly intact with no broken panes. 

The windows were supplied in 2 separate casements, requiring us to install our own mullion as well as make the frames "read" well against the stone (basically, make them look good/normal/proper, with even borders from an outside perspective). The mullion was, quite by chance and again by a stroke of luck, the width of a 2 x 4 and the depth of two 2 x 4's ... Wow.

Below is the sequence in photos:

Window removed, fitting the mullion, mullion installed, window offered up, (inside & outside perspective).

Window removed

Installing the mullion

Mullion fitted

Window(s) in place!

Outside view... It was wet & cold, so out of focus

Bathroom windows & frames

Here are some nicer daylight images of the bathroom windows.

Construction of the bathroom frames continued last night. Both east and west frames were fixed in place having been Tyvek'd, and the south wall also framed but not yet fitted with membrane. The time lapse below shows the south frame, we had to move the camera half way through hence the change in perspective.

Closing some openings!

On Thursday Bumpy and Dodo arrived, with Bumpy preparing to help Jaimin as much as he could.
The priority list has been established as windows, door, electrics and plumbing.

On Saturday they managed to fit the main room north window and set in place the bathroom north window, as well as work out the door plan. The door is a really tight fit and we needed Thomas's SDS to fix it to the granite blocks. Here it is being ceremoniously unveiled.

Bumpy chipped away all the concrete around the front door revealing a lovely old granite stone door step. The door was installed with 7 hammer-in fixings , 8 x 120 mm (4 on the hinged side).

To fit the windows, frames were needed which were measured and built from 2 x 2 treated timber. The windows were fixed in place using 100mm or 120mm x 8mm hammer fixings, as well as being screwed to the timber frames.

Main room north, inside view

Main room north, outside view 

We unpack the window, set it against the wall opening and get it positioned. All the window drip sills needed to be cut to size which was done using the oscillating multi tool. The window is then propped up again, this time slotting nicely in the gap, and DPC laid underneath it. The timber frame is measured out then made, the window is fixed to that, and the frame fixed to the stonework with hammer-in fixings.

Preparing the sill on the bathroom north window

Bathroom north installed. The one with the wonky lintel...

On Sunday we finished installing the door, with Bumpy mortaring the gap around the edge.

Once the the windows were in place it was time to address the very worrying 2 remaining internal lintels, above the east and west bathroom window openings. At first we thought this could be a disaster but in fact, the stonework held well and it was a simple replacement job after clearing out the debris. We used 4 lengths of treated 2 x 6 C16 in each, as well as a 2 x 4 in the east one (along the front face above the window) and a piece of 2 x 2 in the west.

Jaimin shot the videos below on a new app which works pretty well!

Tank Delivery

A very foggy day saw the delivery of the new septic tank and 3200 litre water tank.
With no forklift on site (!) it was lucky that Travis Perkins was (by chance) available having just delivered a load of plywood and timber, so the driver helped us offload it with their Hi-Ab.

Hopefully these will be installed next week, pending farmer negotiations for the water tank...

Septic tank on left (green access ports); underground water tank on right.

Bathroom Frame Progress

As the title suggests, we're still framing, with the bathroom half complete.
For the north wall of the bathroom, the top rail of the frame needed to be square/level, so the sloping rafters had to be cut with a birds-mouth cut. This was tricky with the saw, so Jaimin used the Oscillating Multi Tool which he was gifted for his birthday. It was a good tool for the job, as it was easily controlled and made clean cuts.

The side walls have both been cut out, one has been assembled and Tyvek'd, the other one is yet to be assembled.