Plasterboarding at last…

The first thing I must remember is that I can’t get straight on with it.

I want to plasterboard the horizontal ceiling first so the sloping ceilings’ plasterboard helps support it, but before plasterboarding the horizontal ceiling I must deal with what lies above – air ducts supplying the living room and the bedroom and electric cables for lights and smoke/heat/carbon monoxide alarms. The ducts for each room come together in a ‘plenum’ box and that then feeds the air through a ‘valve’ into the room.

In Bedroom 1 there are two of these boxes to fit and one is going through the wall to feed fresh air into the apex of the living room, except I don’t understand the pieces I have – how on earth do they fit together?

All four plastic ducts need to be trimmed to length and secured to the rafters and before securing them I adjust where they lie, so that when the electrician cuts holes in the ceiling for the downlighters he doesn’t cut into the ducts. Cables need to be moved so that nothing interferes with anything else. I measure up and decide exactly where we want the three lights.

Living room air supply – there is a weak butterfly clip on the ‘valve’ that appears not to have any power to grip; I am mystified so get on with drilling and cutting the hole in the wall to accommodate the spiral metal duct…

The ‘plenum’ box (two plastic ducts feed in, one metal duct feeds out) has to be fixed, so I work out where it should sit and how to hold it there permanently.

The three piece ladder is extended almost fully in the living room so I can get to the protruding metal duct and work out how much to cut off so the valve will sit snugly against the wall when its plastered.

During a tea break I phone the designer of the mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system then send him my photo of the components I don’t quite understand, then I jump on the internet – the bits are made by Lindab who also made the guttering system -and true to form I find a helpful diagram and table. It mentions a connector with a groove for the butterfly spring and I hurry back to the house to play. It works first time – you push the spring’s wings into the connecting tube first so that each catches in the groove (which I hadn’t really noticed before); keep pushing and the valve snaps firmly into position. I email the designer telling him to ignore my email – the penny has dropped.

At lunch time the post van scrunches down the track and delivers two heavy L-shaped metal straps (for holding the flue to the wall) and a tin of pigment for staining the concrete. The postie says I’m making a nice job of the house. I could make the concrete hearth now but I’m on another track; it can wait.

The plenum box to supply fresh air (forty cubic metres an hour) to the bedroom must also be fitted; it’s the same as those for the other rooms (kitchen extra excluded) and its components are straightforward so I do that next…

…and while I’m at it I move on to Bedroom 2. With a rubber sealing collar slipped over the end of each grey plastic duct, they push into the sockets of the air box and a lightweight metal strap screwed to the rafter holds them in place so they can’t come out.

Now, some plasterboarding? I have a thousand screws which should get me started.

The horizontal ceiling in Bedroom 1 is 1220mm wide; the plasterboard is 1200. Hadn’t realised the discrepancy… so I must cut pieces from two whole boards, hoping I can use the remaining pieces. Plasterboard is just a plaster sandwich with a layer of card on each side; heavy but fragile and easy to break if its not fully supported. With a temporary batten screwed to the end walls as a ledge and a ‘T’ pushing pole (more battens), I manage to wedge the first, smaller piece in place and measure the remaining space.

I cut the wider piece, carefully measure where to cut the hole for the air supply tube, then mark and cut it. Enough for the day, it’s late.

Thursday: I take the second piece of plasterboard upstairs. The hole is in the wrong place, next to the wrong rafter. So much for working late! For some reason the mistake makes me laugh and I fish the cut-out disc of plasterboard from the waste sack and glue it back with a patch on the back then remark and cut the board correctly.

Both bits go on and I drill holes to feed the lighting cables through. The electrician will cut bigger holes when he fits the lights during 2nd fix. I think my patched hole will be fine with some filler…

Skylights: these need plasterboard round their sides before the sloping ceiling boards go on, so with plasterboard I repeat what I did a few months ago with ply.

Tash lends me a hand and we get some plasterboard on the sloping ceiling. Our technique is not developed and it’s a struggle.

To finish the horizontal bit of ceiling in Bedroom 1 I must decide how I’m going to construct the new doorway and the cupboard, so to avoid a repetition of yesterday’s late mistakes I sit and draw, realising I’ll need a sheet of OSB as none of my left-overs is large enough.

Stored materials and belongings are in my way – I feel as though I’m working in someone’s attic… a clear-out is in order.

Friday: Lochgilphead for more OSB, a trip to the dump and the Co Op.

The OSB was a shock. Less than a year ago I paid seven quid a sheet, more recently fourteen; the cheapest now on offer was twenty eight pounds (including VAT). Back home I continued drawing what I planned to build – the free version of Sketch-Up suits me fine.

I need another pair of hands for the plasterboarding so it looks as though I’ll be taking Chris (last Saturday’s visitor) up on his offer rather sooner than expected, but to make the most of his help I need that doorway built, the ceiling resolved (conceptually) and the skylights lined so we can concentrate on the metaphorical meat and potatoes of the job.

Saturday: Tash helped me clear half of Bedroom 1, I finished drawing the doorway and started to build it.

So, when I get back to the wood stove and flue I’ve worked out I need less than thirty litres of concrete for the hearth. I checked with Aly, our local masonry expert and on account of the hearth’s minimal thickness (45mm) he identified its drying out too quickly as my most likely problem. To counter this I’ve sealed the concrete screed as well as the shuttering. I’ll cast it when the current cold snap has passed.

We went to see the seals but the seals weren’t there.