Week 7 13th Sept - Frame nearly there.

It's week seven of the project and week four of the frame erection. We are back to 2 guys on site as the majority of the erection is completed, but we are expecting a further guy on Tuesday to assist with the weather boarding. We decided to employ Timber Construction - who erected our frame - to provide the first fix carpentry and to fix the weather board. As first time self builders, we think this was the best option for us as all the trades seem to interact with the other trades at this point (eg roof, weather board,  brick plinth, chimney); getting everyone in at the right time seems to be really important otherwise delays will be suffered.  We were concerned that our lack of knowledge and understanding would have led to delays, all of which will impact upon our eventual moving date.  Timber construction can put on some of the weather board now where it does not require the roof to be up so we ordered the weather board and battons for the corners of the house and for around the windows last week and it has arrived now. The weather board is pre painted but the battons require painting so we have been hard at it all weekend.

The big window frames at the front are in and the dormas are being finished, so the end (of this phase) is in sight.The troublesome sun room trusses are complete although the scaffolding is stopping the trusses be nailed in exactly vertical so will have to remember to do this when we raise the scaffolding this week in preparation for the roofers.
There is quite a bit of space in the roof void above the sun room so we have asked Potton to send us a eaves door so we can access it from the spare bedroom. There is quite a bit of space flooring kicking around so we have gathered it all up and are slotting it together.

We have also decided we would like to add a window in the family room if we can as it feels quite dark so we will have to talk to planning up it should not be an issue.....he says....

The roofing firm has been round to look and have advised what scaffolding changes they need. Also we need to put in noggins (supports) either side of the valley to support the GRP valley. This is not part of the frame erection service so I'm going to give it my best shot....Should be interesting.