A few frame measurement issues

It always pays to double check any measurements. We marked out the frame dimensions on the brewery slab; 100mm in from the edge just like the extension after we corrected for the larger slab. MB Pre-fab built the frame to the size we marked out. Except that the brewery slab was poured to the correct size, so should have been marked to 50mm. Now the frame will only half sit on the Clinkablocks. To top it off, the frames for the extension were changed from the drawing to sit on the slab rather than the blocks, and due to a miscommunication, the brewery frames were extended as well.

Solution: I had to cut the frames down by 250mm and Nick decided to glue "soldiers" around on the inside to support the frame. So the wall's will now be 50mm thicker, but the problem is solved.
 

Soldiers glued in place on the brewery blocks

The double stud bracing wall- This made the timber portal frame possible

The concrete step up into the extension with creases from the plastic sheet - nothing a demolition saw can't fix

Running the feed wires for the solar panel

Looking up into the box gutter

The frame is looking lovely

I know it would be cold and wet in winter and hot in Summer but there is something quite pretty about a frame without any hard walls, beautiful shadows. I'm glad the polished concrete was covered as we had rain early this week. That lovely earthy looking floor is in fact 'earth'. Nick and the rest of the team from Caedman Construction should be back on deck this Monday.

Preparing for Hempcrete

Look at the trusses, some were put up today. We had the weekend to do some painting before the trusses went up. Hempcrete is made up of hemp and lime. Lime and steel are not compatible. The lime will cause the steel to rust, even galvanised steel is not protected. What this means is we have to paint every nail plate, nail and every bolt with bituminous paint, that's a lot of painting. You can see below the black paint on the trusses.

Another thing we have to do to prepare for the hempcrete was to tilt all the noggins on the frame. We had to cut through one of the nails on each side so that they could be tilted at around 30°. If the noggins remained horizontal it would be difficult to infill hempcrete under the noggin, whereas when they are angled the hempcrete should fill more easily. There is quite a lot of preparation!

The noggins have been tilted and renailed

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Tilly helping to paint the nail plates

Frame walls starts to take shape

It's been a very exciting week at our place. By ordering pre-made walls, the speed of erection (Kelvin Cunnington reference) has been very quick indeed. All this was done on the same day as delivery.

Friday afternoon drinks, one of Grant's homebrews.

Truck with walls and trusses arrived this morning at 8

Taking up most of the road, we were given prior advance of the imminent arrival of this truck by a neighbour in another street, as the truck took a wrong turn. It was hard to believe that the whole frame of the house could fit on the truck. Mind you, as soon as I saw the truck I couldn't believe that the load was for only one house! It was huge. Thankfully we had the full team of 6 builders on site as it took nearly all day to bring the frame on site.

As the builders had to bring the frame through our lane to get on site, they
used a piano trolley with chunky tyres to manage the bluestone lanes.

View from the window of a neighbour's home

Portal Frame is up

Grant painted the hardwood with an oil based primer that will form part of the portal frame. Although the wood will be completely surrounded by hempcrete the reason for painting it was to reduce the risk that tannins would leech on to the concrete and stain it. Any steel surrounded by hempcrete has also been painted to avoid the steel being corroded by the lime. Nick our builder (Caedman Construction) recommended a double paint treatment to protect the steel, Dulux Weathermax and Durebild.

Builders have covered the concrete with some plastic to avoid any (...further) damage.

Nice to see the scaffolding being used. We bought this a number of
months ago and it has been stored under our house until now. We
figure it was better to buy it and then sell it later rather than rent one
as we will need scaffolding for an extended period.

The portal frame was put up today. After a number of weeks of very little happening it has been great to see action happening at the back of our property. I'm a little stunned by the size of the frame. More things are to come tomorrow as the wall frames and trusses are to be delivered.

The footings that will form part of the link between the old house and
the new space.

Cripes....it looks huge!

Dogs on concrete

Toffee and some other local dogs have been enjoying running across the cleared back yard, from dirt piles to concrete, they haven't cared. I may have made a mistake letting them run on the newly polished, yet unsealed concrete.  Time will tell. I probably shouldn't have trampled over the concrete with muddy boots either..or jumped in the puddles.

Molly did a face plant in some concrete dust from the polishing.

Juney and Toffee discuss who's ball it is...it's Toffee's obviously!

Threw some water over the concrete to get an idea of what it will look
like, needs a little more work.

Meeting like minded hempcreters

We have recently had the joy of visiting some like minded people. Grant and I visited Neil and Sandy at their hempcrete home property in Violet Town. As a side note, their property was recently published in an article from ATA's Renew Magazine. You will be able to find out a lot more from the ATA article.  We visited them during the Sustainable Day open day, apart from the fact that we arrived at their house a week early everything worked out swimmingly. Neil and Sandy have used a lime render on the exterior of their house and traditional ceiling insulation. Neil created a very useful tool out of guttering to give the edges a rounded look.

Render finish at Violet Town

Exploring lime render colours in Violet Town

Hempcrete with some lime render, Violet Town. Apparently lime
render is much easier to apply on hempcrete than on straw bale.

You can see the rounded edge of the hempcrete and
 lime at the top of window, Violet Town.

Last week we also visited Joe and Deb at their hempcrete renovation in Kyneton. Attached to their very old property is a 2 story hempcrete addition. Jo is a builder and plans on building in hempcrete for others. Jo became very interested in the product many years ago yet only recently has he found the right property to explore the world of hempcrete. Like any other 'club', those that have experience in hempcrete become total converts and enthusiasts, happy to share their experiences. It is a small but inclusive club that we are happy to become part of!

Joe and Deb's property uses timber cladding on the outside, lime render on the inside walls and MgO boards for both the ceiling and the upstairs floor. Jo has found the MgO boards very easy to work with and is impressed by its breathability.The boards also have very good fire retardant properties.

The ceiling has also been insulated with hempcrete, this creates a really good seal for the inside space.

Timber reveals to complete the window, Kyneton

Downstairs area is still used as a workroom, Kyneton

View from the upstairs room, Kyneton.

Deb and Joe out the front of their hempcrete renovation.