First Frame Fitted

Tuesday 7 January 2014

After the tree-trimming, Dave moved on to hacking away a rogue bit of re-bar that has annoyed me for a long time, especially when building this section of the wall.  Phew - glad that's gone.

 Then we cut and fitted this adjustment to our window boxes.  We had thought it would be a good idea to put top and bottom protrusions on the boxes, to make it easier to fit a top drip-lip and a window sill, but Rowan felt this would create water penetration points.  Apparently most damage to straw bale houses is around windows, so we're being obsessive about trying to get this right.  First step - trim some of the lower edge, and exend the sides.  Then paint wood preservative.

 Meanwhile, we also cut and treated this long board to box in the area between the bales and the rafter on the west wall.

 This is the relevant space - the bales are of varying dimensions and don't all touch the rafter.  We will gouge out a channel in the straw and jam the board into the bales before screwing it to the rafter.  Dave can then plaster up to the boxed rafter for a good finish.  The lime-heavy plaster will discourage insect intrusion if we get a good seal.

Next stage for the window fitting - Rowan arrived and after attaching waterproof breathable membrane to the back of the frame - there is a little plywood surround to facilitate stapling - he levelled, glued and screwed in the first window frame. 

It's an amazing colour combination, isn't it?  Orange frame and pink membrane.  Especially with the blue mesh and yellow spirit level.  Perhaps we should keep this in mind for the top coats?