And suddenly everywhere smells of fresh green oak.

I seem to remember saying that the glass was the most exiting thing to happen in a while, how the barn has changed though in cladding it is another matter.
Detail of the South West Elevation, we've had to take some scaffold down as the scaffolders haven't turned up to dismantle it yet.

Showing the oak over Tom's room.
I've started to clad the South East elevation.

Updated views of the lightwell.
The lightwell from inside: Suffice to say we absolutely love it, the light into the hall and landing is fantastic.

Light, and lots of it.

I don't think Kate and I have been quite so happy about a single element as we have this week about the lightwell. The glass fitted almost perfectly, (only one small on site chisel alteration to the timberwork) and the whole landing and hall are again bright and open.

The real surprise to me is just how professional it looks, and when we costed it up, its actually cheaper for its area than the slated roof. The main body of support was made and fitted in-situ by Dave and Jay some weeks back. The stepped support is fairly simple 4x2" timbers. After I had rung every glazier in the yellow pages Dave managed to get the number of the glass supplier his joinery firm use who were instantly both the cheapest and the most helpful to get us just the product we required. The final fixings were from a conservatory fittings firm. The only extra cost will be extra insulation elsewhere in the house to offset losses from the glass. Although the pictures show lots of people up there, in fact we spent a couple of hours getting the first four panes up, then I disappeared on appointments whilst Adam quietly measured up and cut all the fixing strips, he and I fixed all these in place, and then we spent an hour at the end of the day getting the last two in place.

Finished timbers, fixings and rubber gaskets in place.
First two panes in, marking the perpendiculars for the outer fixings.

Last pane.

The finished lightwell, which marries in remarkably well with the solar panels.

Moving Inside

Alas its over a month since we posted, so here's some updated photos.

Its been a month of huge changes, both in the build, and in the working. Firstly we had agreed with Dave that he would move across the way and manage Matt (Paul's brothers build) and yet still be on-site to field questions, check the work, and basically act as a consultant. This seemed to good to be true, as with costs now overrunning this would be a great way to have the very best input from Dave. These plans now seem to be on hold for the time being, yet Dave has quite magnanimously agreed to work for us for a day a week, Paul two and catch up on other works for the rest of the week. This is great for us, and as long as it works for Dave, the most cost effective way forward.

The same great relationship can't be said for our original roofers, after three weeks of really first class slating they went AWOL without a by your leave. The main reason is that after three weeks they realised that on a fixed price they were never going to finish in time, and so with nearly three quarters of their money they were off. However all clouds have a silver lining and thanks to Colt the roofing labourer we had directly employed anyway, he was back with a family friend Mick, who is a thoroughly pleasant guy, works a longer day and is on message to where we want to get to.

The main roof will be finished tomorrow, and then Mick and Colt will be back to slate the lean to when the timberwork has been done.

Dave and Adam constructing the timber base for the gulley, and finishing the brickwork over Beth's window.

The main change has been the first fixing inside, Christian and Kane have ran all our upstairs underfloor heating pipes, and fixed the manifold, and Patrick my wonderful electrician has been running what seems miles of ring, lights and Cat 5 cables around the house.

Uponor pipe and thermal foil to our room.

Last weekend we started laying the floors, me cutting and gluing, Beth marking the joists (essential with underfloor pipes) Kate nail-gunning the boards down, and Tom clearing up after us. Its a slow job gluing them, but it should lessen any squeaks, so I'm guessing we will be flooring for a few weekends yet.

With the underfloor heating you have to fix the sole-plates for the stud work before the pipes can be laid as the film is laid to create separate zones. After such a successful solar panel Saturday I asked Harvey if he fancied doing the sole plates with me, he did, we had a really productive day, and he rashly said he fancied having a go at the stud work. Two weeks later he was back and in a single day all the main studs were up. For the first time we can see the rooms, the landing and the stairwell.

All the windows are now in, including the main full length ones in our room, and Mark and Adam have added all the final timbers to support the glass lightwell, the battens are up ready for the cladding, and the lean to is nearly ready for the wall plate and cut roof timbers.

The Icing on The Cake

In the two weeks since the last post, not only has the weather been yet again so kind (and as always that makes life in a caravan so bearable) but that old agricultural hanger we bought is now finally starting to look like a home.

We knew that the next big push was to be the gables, and as this was one area that I knew I had badly detailed on the drawings we have been looking at every gable we pass in the car to get ideas. Originally we had agreed with Dave that curved detail on the projecting timbers (that I now know to be the purlins) should be curved, but Kate and I had a lovely Sunday walk around Biddenham with Andrew looking at all the details there. I firmly warmed to a protruding diamond style, with a smaller one to the top, and Kate being the diplomat she is let me have my own way. The lads built up the blockwork for the gables up to the top of the trusses (a real task and a half), and I made up the purlins for them to set in to it, and Dave and J then cut and set the ends of the gables onto which the final barge-boards sit. Dave and J have been hand cutting all the 'loose timbers' that form the supports for the glazed lightwells and to support the slates opposite the lightwells.
The blockwork gable with unfinished purlins.

Gable one blocked up, with the ends ready to be matchboarded.

Kate cutting the matchboarding.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the last few weeks is that now Dave is nearing completion on the hard elements (brick and block, lintels etc) there is far more carpentry going on, and that means far more jobs we can help out with. As ever Dave seems quite happy to run through how and why each element needs to be done, and how and when he wants us to do our bits.

We spent a great weekend putting up the matchboarding on the first gable, Kate cutting all 100 odd pieces, and when Seamus and Cathy popped in to see us, rather than wanting to stop us, they both mucked in and helped finish the whole thing.

Seamus fixing the last of the matchboarding.

Alas when Troy showed up on the Monday he said that we weren't ready for him, whether we were or not the lads really got the bit between their teeth and worked up the three remaining blockwork gables, and Dave and J did all the timber work. Alas this week there were more than a few false starts, and I was really beginning to think I was about to be let down, but this has all been forgotten with the results of just two days of roofing. Troy and his slater Mark felted the first roof on day one, and today has been an absolute joy to see the slates going up. We thought they looked good in the pallets, but up on the roof they are a revelation. They look absolutely fabulous, everybody has been walking round with a smile on their faces.

The first batch of slates (at dusk) I'll get a better picture in the morning.
Another truly good bit of fortune is that we have managed to get the cast iron effect conservation rainwater goods that I was so desperate to have, but at a price that really wasn't a great deal more than conventional rainwater goods. Despite much haggling our end supplier couldn't negotiate sufficient discount for it to work out to a point that would have been fair and equatable to Paul and Cathy. In a strange twist of fate I got an email last week from a guy called Richard White who I'd spoken to last year about conservation pipes, simply saying 'Sorry to bother you Rob, do you still want me to quote on your gutters' Indeed I did, when he gave me a few metre rates I knew it was game on. This is great news for everyone. Dave and co. have spent all these months shaping the building with so much care, its seems only right to use these type of materials to finish.

Another good piece of news is that Tony from DTM recommended a trade timber contact who has quoted our oak cladding at £6/m less than anyone else, which is nearly a £600 saving, which will help to offset overruns on other items.

Another view of the slates.

Solar: adj. Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from the sun.

I'll have to add the text later, but suffice to say, thanks to Harvey the solar panels went up with a lot less hassle than expected. The instructions were absolutely dire, almost all the flashing screws were missing and the picture references were not consistent to the parts in the boxes we unpacked, but by mid-afternoon we had them in place.

Its forward march with gables, rafters and all the decorative timbers so Troy (who we've had to put back a week, alas) can start on Monday.

And then there was a roof (of sorts)

Again the weather has been quite fantastic this week. It didn't take Dave and the boys long to get Tom's trusses and the family bathroom ones up on Tuesday, plus strapping those up ready for the crane on Wednesday. We can't believe how tall our ceilings are, after the compromise we had to make downstairs. Tom's ceiling is a revelation, the fact that his vault runs the lenth of his room, (rather than across as with ours) give the most cathedral like effect.

You can see Tom's ceiling on the left.

Come Wednesday Malcolm and his crane turned up. I could see why he was so cheap. His crane looked like it was on its way to a historical vehicle rally. However, appearances are deceptive, and one by one he dropped each truss down with perfect precision.

I'm afraid a couple of my shoes were not in the right place, but by and large the rest seemed spot on. If they weren't Daves been too polite to say otherwise. If we were pleased with our ceilings on Tuesday, seeing our bedroom ceiling was even better. We'd asked Stuart, the truss designer to make our bedroom ceiling as high as possible, by placing more trusses of bigger overall timber size at closer centres he's managed to get a much greater vault. Kate and I are delighted with the result.

This image clearly shows the height of the vault in our room, and behind the quite respectable height of the other ceilings.

Friday saw the resumption of blockwork to bring the gables up to the top of the trusses, and Troy came over to felt the area where the solar panels are to go. Its my intention to try and get the solar panels up on Saturday, and long term colleague Harvey is coming over to assist. I say assist, the instructions that come with the solar kit are far from helpful, so I'm hoping his lateral thinking will come in handy.

A view from the rear, showing the roof end-on. If you look back in the blog, I feel that these steeper pitches are far more flattering than the original.

Swallows, Cuckoos and Nearly A Roof

This week the weather has sprung the most wonderful surprise, it has been unseasonably warm, with sunshine from dawn until dusk. To our delight we've had the company of the swallows for the last couple of weeks, and as suburbanites its the sound you expect to hear on holiday, not every time you step out the door. Especially in the warmth of the evening.

By Friday Dave and crew had put up all of Paul's trusses, and suddenly the barn looks huge (especially from the A47, its great to see the barn now as you come down Wardley Hill, especially as the trees behind are now in leaf).

The only catch it seems is that whilst the lads have successfully put up all of Paul's trusses, (except two that are too heavy to manhandle) each one had an average weight of 27kg. Because we have chosen to have vaulted roofs our trusses are made from much larger timbers, with the single trusses weighing in at 87kg and the huge ones that edge the light-well nearly 300kg they are hardly safe to manhandle. When they arrived 7 of us had trouble moving the large ones around the yard. 'We'll need a crane' said Dave. At first I thought, 'more costs' but it looks like if we do get a crane in we can cut the erection time by a couple of days which is actually a nett saving of some £500 and more importantly for all of us buys us extra time in getting the roof ready for Troy to slate. I rang around all the nearest crane operators until I came across Malcolm who at £280 was by far the best value, and have booked him for Wednesday.

Further to this, as all my trusses sit on a plate and shoe system it means that I could spend the weekend working out the shoe positions and nailing them myself, which again helps to gain a little time toward getting ready for Troy next week.

The shoes went on quite successfully (but we'll have to see just how well when the crane turns up!) and it was great to spend a bank holiday weekend on the barn again. Come Tuesday the lads spent little time getting Tom's roof up and fixing all the strappings to the wall plate.

Trusstration

Well the first major disaster struck last week with the non-delivery of the roof trusses. Despite weeks of careful planning and a carefully promised delivery date the trusses failed to show on Wednesday. This is a pain for many reasons, primarily that Dave had the whole wall plate up and ready, and secondly as any delays now means extra weeks for the scaffold and therefore unnecessary costs.

The finished wall plate, ready and waiting for the trusses.

The Manitou loader that was so kindly lent to me by one of my colleagues, Jason Fox. Thanks Jase.

Unfortunately it seems that the truss designer had promised us one thing but hadn't communicated this to the factory. However to be fair, once the mistake was realised and after many heated phone calls the operations manager agreed to get his lads in over the weekend to push Paul's trusses out on Monday, with ours following on the Wednesday.

Whilst the roof has been delayed, Mark and Dave have finished the front door and the rear window openings.