Moving up…

A busy and productive week, though not without a heart stopping moment when Andrew told me there was a mistake in the rafter manufacture, they were too short…  The moment passed as it turned out raising the walls with a couple of battens would take up the shortfall – the cut to form the horizontal bottom edge that sits on the top of the wall must have been wrong – phew!

The scaffolders come back to finish their work and from the Northern gable the roof structure is becoming denser, rafters rapidly working their way south.  Rafters snug to the gables make them appear thicker, the glulam ridge looks more in scale. 

‘Glulam’ is a proprietary name now used generically, for a laminated timber precisely engineered from smaller pieces, cut and glued into one.  Like plywood it has a consistent performance and also helps avoid the use of steel or enormous old trees.

The little triple-glazed window for the house’s north gable is standing in the garage.  It will frame a view of the oak woods from bed but somehow, between me, Andrew and the engineer the opening crept up to standing eye level – thankfully dropping it to the right height is not a problem. 

As the roof progresses it becomes apparent the rafter fabricator omitted some of the timber work round the skylights so our ever resourceful team gets busy some spare components from the depths of Andrew’s barn.

In my design memory the landing skylight, looking east, is large like those looking east from each bedroom but that’s not what has been prepared for.  Neither Andrew nor I can remember the drawings for sure but when we check back we definitely agreed to order the smaller size.  

Probably prompted by the relatively high cost of the windows and doors all together.  Is this bad decision on my part?  Does it compromise the utility or delight of the space?  Possibly, but not a disaster.  Over the next few days I revisit this landing space and on reflection conclude that it will still be a cosy and snug place with a view, somewhere to settle into a comfy chair with a book, or somewhere to sit and write.

As I go to work I notice the honeysuckle blooming in abundance and the percussive rhythm of a machine breaking rock somewhere across the loch.  At nine the electrician Iain Miekle comes with Arun, his junior, who will do most of the electrical installation.  Last night I made preparatory marks and notes on the walls.  We talk for about an hour, agreeing where lights, switches and sockets will go, not always in accordance with the drawings I supplied, he marking them with felt pen as each decision is made and Arun already spooling cable from a heavy drum on a metal stand.  He is easy to talk with and happy to discuss options or suggest solutions. 

I tell people where I’ll be and drive my mobile office (car) to the spot. Common spotted orchids wave in the verges and bell heather shows pinky purple.

Already the team has started sheathing the inside of the rafters with 9mm OSB, to support the glass wool insulation – with the wood fibre sarking board (120mm) the house will be wearing a 400mm thick thermal cap.  Cool in summer, warm in winter…

Leap-frogging the plumbing(!) my next task will be filling the workshop walls with glass wool then sheathing the inside with 11mm Oriented Strand Board.  

The board is an inherent part of the building’s structure, as well as a good surface to fix things to (shelves, hooks, pictures).  It’s part way between chipboard and ply wood, almost as strong as ply, but significantly cheaper as it uses wood that would otherwise be wasted.   The recycled glass wool is a friendlier version of the glass fibre insulation of my youth.  Summer days wearing masks in tight sweaty roof spaces spring to mind, sweat making the airborne wisps of glass stick to your skin causing a prickly rash.  Horrible. 

I’ll have to slice the glass wool so it encapsulates the wiring and pipes in the space it fills, a mask is a necessary precaution and I do the cutting outside on a sheet of old OSB.

I try a penknife, a Stanley knife and a specially sharpened billhook.  The Stanley, leant by Patryk is best, the billhook effective but a bit too heavy for my wrist.   

As I slice open the wrapping on the palette the whole bundle heaves and expands then expands even more as I cut the plastic of each pack, the compressed stack of individual batts breathing in deeply. 

Before Friday is done the builders are lining the roof with 9mm OSB, enclosing the space within, light coming only from the window openings.  This lining is an integral part of the breathable airtight layer and all the joints will later be taped.