Zinc Roofing | Marsh Flatts Farm Self Build Diary

Week 43, Day 1:

Another failure of the automated blog posting logic, because the mains power was off for several hours on Sunday and I’d forgotten that the Raspberry Pi computer which is responsible for grabbing the hourly snapshots from the time-lapse camera loses time when the power is off, so it was taking snapshots but not labelling them with the correct time
Delivery of the MDF boards for the architraves and skirtings
Assembly of the solar shading panels ready for installation tomorrow
- These arrived as separate cedar fins, brackets and fixings for assembly on-site
- Cedar is notoriously bad at holding screw fixings into the end-grain so it is good to see the fins held in place with 12mm pins attached to the end-plates rather than screws into the cedar, and also to see a gap between the plates and the fins so they don’t rot at the ends
Installation of the first of the internal doors, which are pre-finished oak veneered fire doors from JB Kind doors in Swadlincote, South Derbyshire – specifically their Roma Diana model
- These are nice looking, solid doors and are available in bespoke sizes at a reasonable price
- They do some more traditional oak doors with raised panels or grooved detailing but those are only available in standard sizes – unless ordering in very large quantities
Installation of the engineered oak flooring in the Dining Room
Installation of the last of the zinc roofing on the main section of the north roof
- Now just the edges and fascias to complete

Week 43, Day 1

Solar shading units partially assembled

Internal Door (to Plant Room)

Oak flooring in Dining Room

Last section of zinc on main area of north roof

Week 42, Day 5:

Today’s automated WordPress posting didn’t work because the Broadband link was down at 16:00 through being moved over to VDSL / FTTC
Various significant milestones today:
- It’s exactly 10 months since building work started, meaning today was the original forecast completion date; it’s currently expected to take about another month to make the house habitable and a bit longer than that before the landscaping and decorating is complete
- The plasterers completed the last room, marking the end of their continuous 11 weeks of work
  - Mostly a two-person team assisted by one or two others on occasions, so something like 25 weeks of effort
  - A really top-quality job including some difficult areas – especially the inside of the curved roof (which looks amazing, even inside the storage cupboards)
  - I’d highly recommend GC Interfinish to anyone wanting quality plastering in the East Midlands
- All the scaffolding on the south side got dismantled ready for the installation of the solar shading next week, meaning that today’s time-lapse photo looks a lot different from yesterday’s
- Thanks to some better weather, the majority of the zinc got installed on the north roof, with just a few sections left to complete – and then the fascias, down-pipes etc.
- The kitchen worktops arrived and the sink worktop and splash-back is finished but there was a mishap fine-tuning the cut-out for the flush-fitting induction hob and the worktop for the island will have to be re-made
  - I think the mid-grey colour (Silestone Cemento) looks a bit odd against the bare plaster, the blue protective film over the gloss-finish cabinet fronts and the cardboard protecting the polished concrete floor but it should look better when everything is finished