Week 27, Day 1

Week 27, Day 1:

  • On Sunday I’d carefully cleaned the areas of the concrete floor that are going to be polished in readiness for the Ram Board protective covering which was installed first thing this morning – this allows the concrete to continue curing while protecting it from damage
  • The main photo shows some external wall insulation over the SIPs panels at the top right – see below for a clearer shot
  • The cavity wall insulation is due to be installed shortly but the cavity hadn’t been closed so a lot of time was spent carefully cutting and installing insulation boards between the windows and the outer skin of cavity wall blockwork
  • There were some small gaps between the plywood frames supporting the doors and windows and the blockwork, which are in the process of being filled with airtight foam – they will also get an airtight tape covering
Week 27, Day 1

Week 27, Day 1

Ram Board protective cover over to-be-polished concrete floor

Ram Board protective cover over the to-be-polished concrete floor

The starburst shapes mark the location of the electrical floor boxes which have had their lids removed and hence won’t support any weight. Each sheet of Ram Board is roughly 1m wide.

50mm Reticel insulation boards on the outside of the SIPs

50mm Reticel insulation boards on the outside of the SIPs

This extra 50mm of insulation was included in the design before the SIPs were manufactured so it intentionally brings the outside of the SIPs flush with the outside of the masonry.

Insulation boards closing cavity outboard of the windows

Insulation boards closing the cavity outboard of the windows

Week 26, Day 5

Week 26, Day 5:

  • Boarding out the floor of the balcony (west end of the first floor)
  • Building the wooden cavity wall at the north end of the balcony
  • More electrical first-fix, running mains cables on the second floor
Week 26, Day 5

Week 26, Day 5

Gradient to balcony floor formed using wedge-shaped strips under boards

Gradient to balcony floor formed using wedge-shaped strips under boards

(The above photo taken rather later, after some of the cabling was in place, when I spotted that one of the darker-coloured wooden strips clearly showed the wedge profile.)

Wooden wall at end of balcony

Wooden wall at end of balcony

The wall at the north end of the balcony is effectively part of the cavity wall structure but there’s no supporting masonry underneath so it’s framed in timber in order to be lightweight but it will get filled with cavity wall insulation like the rest of the walls.

Mains and data cable ready for electrical first-fix

Mains and data cable ready for electrical first-fix