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Week 8
Filling in the Eaves

The weather wasn't too great this week so we had to work under cover for most of it. The main job has been filling the gap between the wall and the roof. This is to stop any creepy crawlies climbing into the roof space and, more importantly, to stop the howling gales blowing into the upper floor.


We've been using our ever growing stone mountain and chaux mortar to fill the gap. The mortar contains lime instead of cement. This has a number of advantages. It looks great and is in keeping with the local building practices. It also breathes, allowing moisture to evaporate out. Thermically it acts as insulation so it keeps the house cool in summer and warm in winter. Finally if the lime gets wet it can be dried out and reused, unlike cement. Incidentally the technique being used in the pic is known as the humming bird stroke.
Velux Windows

We managed to fit one velux window before the storm hit. We did however get completely drenched. Window fine. I've taken some photos of the process. The first part involves poking out the tiles and somehow dragging them back through the roof laths. Once a few are removed the rest is pretty straightforward and we begin cutting the laths - pic 1 - which makes life a lot easier. After the tiles are removed and the laths cut, the central roof support is cut away and two horizontal bars are screwed in. The Velux frame sits in this opening. After that is screwed into place the waterproofing flashing is fitted around the tiles and the outside window. As I pointed out last week, that's a fiddly business, but we're starting to improve.

Staircase

Because we had to work indoors this week we did undercover tasks such as staining the pine staircase prior to sealing and waxing it. The staircase comes in kit form so we have the assembly to look forward to. We've stained it with a translucent olive green stain, à la shaker-style, so that the grain shows through.