frame cont.
Almost at the roof!
Over the last fortnight the upper storey has progressed well, with all of the wall framing now virtually complete, and the rim beam fitted at the roof level.
Last week began with the construction of the external wall framing, which is built 'table-top' style on top of the chipboard floor covering. The next job was to set out the first floor sole plates, after which the internal load-bearing partitions could be erected. Finally, this week ended with the construction of the substantial 300mm high rim beam that runs around the whole perimeter of the building, much like at the intermediate floor, to support the edge of the roof construction.
The east elevation was erected first...
Then the north… Then the internal sole plates were set out and fixed… Then the internal framing started to take shape…
This is the view from the home office over the half-height wall towards the void…
From the internal glazed slot in the master bedroom you can see down through the double-height space, and out through the large window below… The second image shows the large feature window in the master bedroom takes in a view to the field beyond; the third shows that at the end of the hallway on the first floor there is a glimpse of the Trossachs to the north; and the fourth is looking back up towards the home office from the dining area.
At the end of last week we took a walk over the field and looked back towards our house sitting in the landscape.
This week we also had several deliveries to ready us for the next stage in the frame construction. The 1290 plywood gussets that tie our twin wall frames together arrived!
We also received a delivery of wood fibre insulation from Germany. We are using wood fiber both within and over the external walls as it is vapour open, made from a natural material, is safe to handle and work with, and has a good thermal conductivity, which means it will help to protect against heat loss in the winter and over-heating in the summer. Unfortunately this delivery arrived rather unexpectedly, and was a little more than a week early, so we had to do a large amount of unloading by hand!
Finally, by the end of today the upper floor construction was largely complete, which means that next week the focus will turn to the construction of the flat roof and the parapet wall.