Bale-raising the West Wall: Day Two

29 September 2015

My Mum, Dad and two brothers are all coming to visit tomorrow, so my contribution to the bale-raising was minimal today, as I struggled to put some parts of the house back in order.  Bale-raising invariably coats the whole house in dust and loose straw, and those rooms directly affected, like the bathroom and bedroom, suffer the worst.  So I was cleaning and washing rugs most of the day.

 Luckily, the rest of the team were on form

 ... running mostly on tea at regular intervals.

 Dave was splitting bales as fast as Rowan and Tusc could jam them into the wall

 Mostly baled by 3pm, time to make soffit boards to protect the top edges from rain.  The boards are pushed hard into the bales under the end rafters, with membrane and plastering mesh to help with weather protection and adhesion under the plaster.  Dave managed to put one piece of membrane on back to front, hopefully it won't make any difference!

 Stuffing the last spaces over the big window in the living room - Tusc treating it as a climbing frame.

 Jade came by for a singing lesson with Rosa in the music room, then offered to help me with the cleaning - she did a wonderful job on the bathroom.  Paris also arrived, after a hard day's villa cleaning, but was also willing to help clear and brush up some of the internal loose straw.

I was in the little space at the end of our bedroom over the entry, fixing batons to hold the straw so it could be shoved in hard from the outside.  I started creating the final one of my stuffed mesh corners, but Tuscany soon took over and did the top.

 All the bales are in.  Hooray!!!  That's it for the bales now.  Still loads to do with plastering and whitewashing and cobbing, and for Rowan - lots of window and door frames.  But still a major milestone.

The bale-raising dream-team: Jade, Paris, Tuscany, Dave, Rowan (and me, behind the camera) sitting up the slope, admiring the fluffy house and having a beer (some of us).