A Christmas miracle

They fulfilled their promise. Windows in before Christmas. 28 windows and two doors fitted in two days. Some small stuff to do in the New Year, but we're really pleased with how this looks, and the fact the house is now sealed.

It's hard to get a good photo with the scaffolding still up, but this should give an impression of the shiny newness.

South (front) facade.

West gable.

 As the window openings on this side were open to the elements overnight, I'd covered some with plastic. Forgot to take it off after the windows went in!

Living room, looking at the west gable from the inside.

North (back) facade.

The way out to the (distant future) patio.

I'll try to get better photos once the excitement of Christmas has passed.

Having a blast

Corny, but literal.

We borrowed a rather ancient-looking sand blaster on the advice of a neighbour, even though every instinct screamed against using such a thing on wood. Having done some research, we got fine-ground nutshells as the blast media, as well as fine sand to use on stone walls. The reasoning was that sanding every beam by hand is an extremely slow process, and it's difficult to get old plaster out of cracks and pits. So, only one way to see if the neighbour was right.

I never knew this is what a sand blaster looked like.

 Suited up with a disposable overall and a full face particle filter mask, it felt rather Ghostbuster-ish, but dirtier. A diesel-powered compressor provided ample power, but regulating the flow of blast material from the old device was quite tricky. However, the first results on the beams in the kitchen were really good

Six-metre oak beam spanning kitchen, before.

And after cleaning with ground nut shells.

There is some fine stippling on the surface, but I think it did a fine job at clearing off smoke stained areas, old plaster and dirt. The other beams cleaned up well, but they aren't the smoothest to begin with, so we're considering plastering over them, as it was in the original design. I'll do some work with the brush sander to see if the surface can be improved.

After this success, I collected and sieved the material to reuse on the beams in an adjoining room. Maybe not the smartest, as the now dust-loaded material basically created a smoke screen that was neigh on impossible to see through. Well, that and blasting parts of old clay plaster. The results were ok though.

The next test was to use fine sand on the exposed stone wall in the living room. This had been proving difficult to clean by hand, with large chunks of plaster on an uneven surface. Visibility was dreadful while doing this, at times being less than a metre, so some spots were missed, but it was considerably faster and, well, better! I'm not exactly happy using sand due to the risks of silicosis, so am hoping the P2 filter on the full mask is sufficient!

Left: before. Right: after.

Almost complete.

I tried the sand on a painted beam in the living room, but I'm not happy with the results as it ate into softer parts, leaving a surface I didn't like. I'll consider solvent-based strippers to finish it.

In other news, the guys are back putting paper lining inside the roof as preparation for the cellulose insulation getting blown in.

And after rerouting some piping at the back of the house, the water issue in the cellar seems to have abated, while the roof water issue has been discovered and will be soon resolved (it was driving rain getting behind flashing, as the dormers are not plastered yet.

Rising tide

Our shiny new concrete floor in the cellar was finished a couple of weeks ago. I'd been meaning to take some photos, but not under the circumstances I found tonight. For the past three days we've had rain for the first time in over a month, following the driest November since 1920. While doing a quick inspection tonight, I found that there is water rising around the walls of the cellar, getting over the damp proof membrane, and coming out onto the surface. Not good!

Photo is a little poor, as auto-focus doesn't like the dark.

I'm hoping this is temporary, as there is a rainwater down-pipe on the other side of this wall that is not fully connected. I'm hoping this is contributing, and not that the lower level of the new floor has somehow gone below a water table we were as yet unaware of. It is over a metre below ground level at this point, so it could well be, and the fact there is now hardcore, topped by a membrane and then 15cm of concrete might just be fording water up the wall more than before, when it was just clay and stones. Frankly, I'm worried, as this just cannot be good for the foundations or the walls.

Small pools of water at foot of wall, coming over damp/proof membrane.

 In the same cellar, towards the front, one of the walls is completely wet, not just damp, even a metre up. It's possible that a broken gutter on the adjoining barn is splashing onto the outside wall and it is coming through and down, rather than from the ground, but it's a lot of damp.

East gable, south end, and a big patch of wet wall.

See? Wet, not just damp.

Meanwhile, this is the first real rain test the finished roof has had. The inside is still not finished with paper and laths for the insulation, so we can see the back of the fascia boards, insulation boards and everything still. Which is good, as it can be seen that just below the small downpipe from each of the dormers, there is water somehow getting under the tiles and flowing down the inside of the fascia boards. Definitely localised to each of the four downpipes. From the outside, it can be seen that water has come out from under the eaves. I'm pretty sure that at least this is fixable, but not sure if it's a problem with the flashing or the tiles, or splashback from the main gutter (unlikely). Tomorrow, I'll ask for the tiles to be removed to we can see where it's coming in. This definitely has to be fixed before cellulose insulation is blown in in the next couple of weeks!

Water coming down under the tiles, and over the fascia board.

Really don't need these issues now.

Windows finally ordered

Some progress on the windows front. We met with Herr Sauer (the window man) and Herr Keller (our architect) yesterday evening to finalise details for the windows, after weeks of toing and froing.

We've decided on six panels per window for the most part, except the smallest of them, which will have no muntins (now there's a new word for me. I knew what they are called in German - Sprossen - but just had to check the English term), while the slightly smaller windows on the west gable, second floor will have four panes.

We've gone for French door style from the kitchen to the back garden, with a secondary entrance looking a little more like a cottage door. I think Herr Keller would have preferred more glass, but the Irish in me stuck to what we felt we liked best, for good or for worse.

The best part is that Herr Sauer said we should have them in before Christmas! Originally the plan was to have them a few weeks ago, but if they can do it before Christmas we'll be delighted. My wife gave him a big hug, so maybe he'll stick to his promise.

This is what they should look like:

South facade, planned.

Note we haven't selected front doors yet. I'm thinking two that should be usable, and two should be false doors (four front doors would be pretty expensive!), but we definitely want them to be a bit rustic looking.

West gable, planned.

North facade, planned.

The windows and doors, especially at the back, will be have additional security to bring them to the so-called WK2 standard (or is it KW2?).

East gable, planned.

Special delivery

I haven't been able to get a good look at the results of today's work (too bloody dark, and I can't walk on wet concrete), but it was a nice surprise to see this truck outside the house at lunchtime. That'll be the new floor of the cellar going in so!

Now there's been some discussion on whether the floor is too high, not leaving enough room for a screed and tiles, but it's a bit late now! Will just have to see how it looks tomorrow.

They also started breaking up the remaining half of the old kitchen floor, over the vaulted cellars. That'll need to be relaid carefully, as we definitely need room left for underfloor heating. It's going to be a tight fit, as the top of the vaulted cellars aren't that flexible.

Hardcore cellar

Last week the guys finished excavating two of the cellars and laid the pipes for the waste water. These have been covered with 15cm of hardcore (not yet finished), and we'll have 15cm of concrete to go on top of that, hopefully next week. The waste water pipes go as far as the wall, and another crew will come and dig a trench to connect it to the main sewer. Not very exciting, but it's a step towards having a new floor in the right two cellars.

Looking towards the back, cellar 4.

Ignore the pipe sitting on top, it's a spare. The upright one on the left is the main downpipe for the new bathroom and kitchen.

Looking towards the front, cellar 4.

Due to the way the old floor sloped (it used to be a cow stall), we'll have a step half way across the room.

Looking into cellar 3.

Cellar 3 also has a down pipe (not pictured) to accommodate the guest bathroom on the floor above. At the back left, the new door between the cellars can be seen (the one I broke a sledge hammer on while breaking through).

Meanwhile, we thought we'd waited long enough for the revised offer for our windows (7 weeks), so we paid them a visit and told them precisely what we want. A new offer was to be submitted on Friday, so hopefully we'll get that on Monday. If we accept that, it'll still be another 6 to 8 weeks before we have windows. Just in time for Chrsistmas! :P

Down down, deeper and down.

While away on a business trip last week, my wife called to say the general builder had sent two people to start excavating our cellar. I had to sit down. Today was the first chance to look at it (thanks Iberia!), and frankly, it's almost scary.

The idea here is to dig down enough to lay a layer of gravel (though I'd prefer expanded clay pellets or similar) followed by a concrete floor (though I'd prefer limecrete*) without undermining the foundations, which are likely to be more like a gesture, and not very deep. This is to break any capillary action, and keep the room as dry as possible, although we know moisture will climb the stone-built walls which are resting directly on moist clay.

The guys have excavated up to 40cm or more in places, as the previous floor had a slope to drain cow and horse urine out. As a result, the ceiling feels very high indeed! I'll be checking the footing tomorrow, as if they have gone too deep, settlement could be a serious issue, even over a few days.

Some pipes will be laid here, connecting to the main sewer line outside, and this will take all the waste water from the house.

The old floor level can be seen in the photo below as a dark line on the left wall, sloping down along the front wall towards the door.

Looking to the front of the house.

Looking towards the back.

Brick support for former feeding trough still hanging in there!

The clay under here is wetter than I expected, and is pretty elastic. I have the urge to clean as much as I can off the wall surface to minimise moisture creep, but I reckon that'll be futile.

*I was talked out of my ideas for a fully breathable limecrete floor, despite being something recommended by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings as it reduces the need for water to creep up the walls. The current thinking is that if the floor is at least dry, it'll be better for the heating equipment will go in here - though it seems the main problem is what final covering to use on such a breathable floor. I'm not 100% convinced, but at this stage we'll go with the path of least resistance.