SHIVER ME ROOF TIMBERS

Another blast of hot air is on its way as the hype machine goes into overdrive over the long-awaited monster B movie release ‘Rishi Kong vs Trussilla’.  Audiences are literally fainting at what’s been billed as the verbal clash of the century.

 

Rishi Kong vs Trussilla

Interior designers across the globe are already licking their dry, chapped lips in anticipation of being hired by the victor to re-paper the interior of No 10 in genuine £50 notes.  Who will win this hot-to-trot contest is anyone’s guess at this stage but the conspiracy theorist in me is putting 50p on Rishi. 

Meanwhile in a warm, sleepy corner of West Sussex far from the madding political crowd, work continues on the new extension.  Looks like the giant chopping board has been out again as the builders prepare to make another gigantic sandwich this time for the roof. 

Our flat roof is what is known as a ‘warm’ roof designed to retain heat and is constructed similarly to this diagram.

 

Warm flat roof construction

The roof sandwich begins with a generous row of timber ‘baguettes’ topped with something called a ‘firring’. 

 

Roof timbers spanning the room

Firrings sit on top of the roof timbers

A firring is a thin strip of timber cut along its length diagonally so that it tapers with one end deeper than the other.  Firrings are used in the construction of flat roofs to create a fall so that rainwater runs to the lowest side.

 

You can see the run from the side

As I can’t cut anything in a straight line, I appreciate the skill it must take to cut an ordinary straight piece of timber into one of these long firring wedges.

 

Cutting 'firrings' requires lots of skill and a steady hand

On top of the firrings sits a layer of thick ply panels which are then covered in a black damp proof membrane.

 

First layer of ply panels on top of firrings

Viewed from above

After the membrane, slabs of 10mm thick Eco-Therm cheese are laid to provide lots of lovely insulation. 

Lots of thermal cheese, please

It’s amazing how much heat is lost from a poorly insulated roof and with gas prices currently going through said roof then the last thing we want is to be paying to waste precious and costly energy.

 

Side view of damp proof membrane

Wooden battens have been fitted above the kitchen window.  These will form the support for plasterboard in continuation of the existing brickwork.  More insulation will plug any draughty gaps where the roof timbers join the new structure.

 

Bridging the gap

The remaining blocks have now been slotted into place underneath the timbers so at the end of week 8, we now have a properly sealed room.

 

Sealing the room with remaining blocks

We now have a properly sealed room

All is on track for the electrician’s visit on Monday ready for the first fix on the electrics.

STAGE IV - PLATE HEIGHT

Whenever I hear our builder talking about ‘plates’ I always imagine a nice piece of Royal Doulton or decorated Royal Crown Derby but in the construction industry, it seems ‘plates’ are not something used to dish up dinner.

 

Construction crockery?  Not this type of 'plates'

Our extension is now well on the way to its next milestone but what exactly is ‘plate height’?   According to the internet, plate height is the vertical distance measured from the top of the finished floor to the top of the plates where the roof timbers sit.  With not many more courses of block or brick to be laid plate height is now within reach so another piece of the building puzzle has been put in place.  

 

Keeping brick mortar from drying too quickly

 

Not much more to go before plate height reached

Almost there

I arrived home a few days ago to find a large metal ‘thingy’ laid out in front of the patio doors.  Unbeknown to me, this ‘thing’ was in fact the lintel used for bridging the gap above the new garden facing window and not a gigantic metal pencil.

 

Wow!  What's this?

The lintel comes ready insulated and sits in the cavity gap between the block and brick walls.  It looks very robust and no doubt weighs a tonne but then it does have quite an important job to do in supporting the roof and last few remaining brick courses.

 

Getting the new lintel into position

It's a very large window

Another ‘plate’ in the construction crockery cupboard is the wall plate.  This is a horizontal piece of timber placed along the top of a wall to support the ends of joists, rafters, etc and to help distribute the weight of the roof.  These timbers are also going to act as the anchorage points for the roof structure as everything else will be nailed or screwed onto them.

 

Adding the wall plate and roof timbers

In spite of today’s much welcomed rain, our builder made short work of fixing the wall plate and laying the framework of timber that will eventually become the flat roof.

 

Getting roof timbers into position

Soon to have a roof

Our brick box suddenly looks more like a proper building

Looking good

I’m just hoping for more rain so that I can use the empty structure as a giant outdoor paddling pool!

Fancy a swim?  Always wanted an indoor pool

ASBESTOS DRAMA ENDS

Four hundred and fifty pounds later, my bank balance is considerably slimmer from following the asbestos diet and I now have no guttering or UPVC soffits so if there’s a sudden unexpected downpour (wishful thinking) then things could suddenly get very interesting.

 

Let's hope we don't get a downpour

The asbestos boards under the UPVC soffits turned out to be something called ‘Chrisotile’ fortunately the less hazardous of the various types of asbestos out there.

Back in the day, asbestos was hailed a wonder product and used extensively in the construction of houses.  It was often used as insulation, for roofing sheets or pipes such as outside soil pipes like ours.

 

Asbestos soil pipe

Since 1985, the importation of blue and brown asbestos has been banned in the UK due to the health risks following inhalation exposure to the stuff.  White asbestos was then added to the banned list later on around 1999. 

You should never attempt to remove asbestos yourself – we can’t even touch our flaking soil pipe to repaint it which means that at some point in the future, the asbestos diet will slim even more pounds off my lardy bank balance.

 

Do not scrape, peel or sand flaky asbestos pipes

Meanwhile now that the asbestos drama has ended, its time to crack on with the rest of the build which is to get the walls to what is known as ‘plate height’ ready for roof timbers. 

 

Almost at Stage IV 'plate height'

Walls steadily rising upwards

We’re almost there on the door wall which looks like a poor version of the Brandenburg Gate from inside the extension but with this extremely hot weather, progress on the remaining walls is perhaps a little slower than expected.

 

The BrandenChi Gate

To prepare for the setting of the roof timbers, a section of existing roof tiles has been carefully removed exposing the concrete lintel above the kitchen window which from here appears undamaged. 

 

Carefully removing the roof tiles

The extension's flat roof will join to this section of existing roof

Keeping the old tiles for future roof repairs

If the lintels had been damaged, we might have been facing another unexpected bill as this was not factored into the original quote.  These things only come to light at the point of exposure.  Fingers crossed we’re OK on this one.

 

Lintels above kitchen window look undamaged

As daft as it may sound, I was also a bit concerned about bats.  These warm summer nights have brought out the neighbourhood’s winged population who regularly swoop around the back garden in a nightly display of aerial acrobatics.  Bats in the loft space or nesting under roof timbers would be the ultimate nightmare as being a protected species their presence would have put an immediate end to our project.  Let’s hope they don’t take a fancy to the exposed nooks and crannies under the roof.

 

The perfect bat cave?

To chill out after a long sweaty day locked indoors, a lovely evening swim or stroll along the local beaches of Bracklesham Bay or The Witterings.

Come on in, the water's lovely and cool

Refreshing on the hooves

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes

Sunset over West Wittering beach

PMT - PRIME MINISTER TAKEDOWN

Onwards and upwards that’s the direction our extension is taking unlike Boris who is clinging on to his prime ministerial rock with the tenacity of a sea limpet.

 

Walls getting taller

Slowly getting to ceiling height

Looking more like a dining room every day

It seems he won’t fall on his sword.  Probably denying he’s got one.  After all, swords are nasty, pointy, dangerous weapons that cut people and he wouldn’t want to be associated with owning one let alone fall on one.  Cripes!  Now’s not the time to visit the tailor for a new suit if this one’s ripped on a sword.  It’s clear that only a large sledgehammer is going to smash this limpet off the rock and there’s already a long queue of people rifling through the parliamentary tool bag looking for it.

 

Minister for Back Gardens & Hedgerows steps down

Resignation is not the only thing rearing its ugly head.  There’s a potential fly that’s appeared in the extension ointment in the form of our dear old friend, asbestos.  It’s been found lurking underneath the UPVC soffit cladding, out of sight and out of mind.

 

Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me

The builders have done an ‘asbestos lateral flow test’ to find out if the old soffits are of the highly contagious OMIGOD variety of asbestos or if its one of lesser toxicity that can be safely disposed of down the tip.  Let’s hope it’s the less toxic type as hazmat disposal could put a serious dent in our construction budget if it’s the other sort. 

And talking of OMIGOD - he’s finally gone and done it!  Since starting this post, Boris has actually found an old rusty-looking Saxon sword lurking in the back of one of Number 10’s closets and decided it’s better to die with dignity than under the wheels of the political juggernaut running amok in Westminster.  

Boris bravely battles against the revolting hoardes

Looks like a bad case of PMT to me – prime minister takedown.

STAGE III - WALLS TAKE SHAPE

As the pile of snotty tissues around my bedside increases, the brick and block henges dotted about the garden have slowly decreased in a strange kind of Covid synchronicity.

 

Brick henges are getting smaller

It’s day 8 since Covid came to stay and finally a negative test! 

 

At last, its goodbye Covid

Although that isn’t quite the end of the story because whilst the test may have come up trumps, the fact is I still have a lingering chesty cough and about as much energy as a wrung-out dishcloth.  When the media said Covid was like a bad cold what they meant is that it’s like a really, really, really bad cold.  It’s so bad I can’t even smell Bertie’s stinky poops which while you might think this is a benefit, it just means his litter tray doesn’t get emptied as promptly as when you get a full force nasal attack of cat crap.  Phew!! 

But less of this sickness self-pity and more about the extension.  

To tooth out or not to tooth out the brickwork?  Well, it seems that for us toothing in the brickwork so that the extension appears to have always been part of the existing house is not really an option thanks to the very poor workmanship displayed in the original bricklaying.  

Not that I’ve ever paid a great deal of attention to the exterior walls of the house but our builder was very quick to point out that almost every course of bricks laid has different heights of mortar, some so thin they’re barely noticeable and others almost an inch or more thick almost as if laid by Stevie Wonder.  Imagine if you ripped open a packet of custard creams to find that some had no filling whilst others had a huge slab of buttercream in the middle – it's unthinkable.  In bricklaying, the mortar layers should all be the same around 10mm or so.

 

Uneven mortar joints

Toothing in the new bricks to match the existing courses would perpetuate these errors and perhaps lead to greater ones thus we’ve been given little choice but to go down the wall tie way.  According to the internet, this seems to be the modern way of doing things and undoubtedly easier (for the builder) to join the extension walls to the back of the house.

 

Unable to tooth in the bricks

Wall starter kits consisting of parallel metal bars are first secured to the original wall then a small metallic tie is laid on the mortar between the brick courses to butt the bricks to the wall. 

 

Wall starter kit

Horizontal ties to secure blocks to the wall starter kit

Whilst this may not necessarily look attractive when finished as you’ll have a tell-tale vertical mortar join running the height of the wall plus uneven matching of mortar layers between both walls, the appeal of this method is that not only is it quick but if you have movement between the two buildings then the bricks are not likely to crack.  Not ideal but hey, life never is. 

Mortar joints out of kilter with main wall

As the courses get higher, a protruding metal wall tie is added to the internal blocks.  This is used to secure sheets of insulating EcoTherm in place close to the inside wall plus allow an air gap in the filled cavity.  Again, this is the modern way of insulating cavities.  No more foam squirted through holes in a wall.

 

Metal wall ties

Wall ties used to secure EcoTherm in place

The modern way to insulate your cavities

Already I can see a doorway emerging on one side of the structure and a gap for a long window along the front face.  It’s so exciting!

Gradually a doorway emerges

You can begin to see a room taking shape

Where the window will be on the front face

End of week 4 - great progress made

Very tidy finishing by our builders

Looking forward to next week already