Don't be alarmed by the title of this blog - the house isn't sinking into the ground. It's just getting harder to spot now all the blue membrane paper has been covered by black cladding (see above). This is what we had hoped for and we are pleased with how it has turned out. We've now completed the majority of the "outside" work which was our priority for this summer and the heat is off... both metaphorically and actually now it's nearly November!
Every now and again when we are working, something makes us stop and take a step back. All the problems, the lists and and the work we have ahead is put out of mind and the wider context returns. We are proud of what we have created and although there are many things we would have done differently, it feels good to have reached this point. I often wonder how we ended up here... as builders, living in a caravan on a remote island. I could not have predicted that a few years ago but neither of us have felt any regret and we are very happy with our lot. It's nice to visit the mainland but it's even nicer to come back to Coll. The house is taking a long time to build but the process is extremely rewarding. We did receive a bit of a blow recently though when one self builder we met congratulated us on being what he reckoned was 30% done! We did think we were over half way but apparently not! ... Hey ho... we will just keep on chiseling away at it. All the advice is to try to avoid too many changes along the way which, so far, we have heeded...
I know we always start by telling you why it's been so long since our last blog but ... We delayed this update as we had a supply issue with the cladding wood and wanted to finish the job first. When we started unpacking the 1.7km of "thermally treated redwood with black stain", we discovered that a large amount of the planks were unusable due to knot holes and cracks. Example below...
We had to wait an age for a shipment of replacement timber before we could finish the job.
The cladding was not as simple as you would think. Partly because the walls are not "true" and also because of all the corners, the windows/doors, the joins and need for installing vermin mesh (see below - bottom right). We are determined to have a vermin free house which is actually harder than it sounds!
It has taken a long time but it is a lot of work. We have put over 6,000 stainless steel screws in and every join is cut at an angle and treated with stain and end grain sealer. Also, it has just been Julia and I doing all the work on the house since June.
The silver stuff below the window is a fire stop (known as intumescent strip). If there is a fire, it expands and closes the gap between the wall and the cladding slowing fire from spreading into the window and giving the occupants a few more minutes to escape.
Before we clad the sea gable, we had to insulate the steel girders and then cover them with OSB (like plywood). This had to be done before we could put membrane paper and battens on and that had to be done before we could clad! Julia also painted the bottom of the steels to protect them from rusting and I made a concrete escape route for any lying water...
And finally, once the gables were clad, we cut and installed the barge flashings...
And thats quite enough on the cladding - here's a photo of the near finished product...
Since the last blog we have also installed the rubber roof on the kitchen/utility. We had to remove the temporary battens and membrane paper first and then screw down a layer of plywood before it was ready for the rubber...
And then the rubber roof... what a nightmare that was. We had to wait for an excellent 2 day weather window which finally came ... except it turned out to be a one and a half day weather window. We hit problems from the get-go ... we could not lift the rubber up to the roof as it was just too heavy. We ended up building a pulley system with a tote bag (sorry no photos) and 2 hours later we managed to get it up there only for the whole thing to slide off when we laid it out. Grrrr... Then, when we finally pulled it back up (super human strength was required) we hit the next problem. As we were glueing the rubber down the wind picked up and caught it, blowing it up off the plywood. The result was a crap job with a load of bubbles....
We could have left it like this but our conscience got the better of us and we pulled it off and did it again a week or so later... phew! Turns out it's an excellent place to sunbathe...
On our quest to stop vermin and birds getting into the roof space under the tin we searched the internet for products but surprisingly there are no such things available. So, we had to design a solution and then find someone to make it. Here is the brief we wrote....
And here is a section of what was manufactured for us...
Perfect if a little too wide and quite expensive but once we install all 37m of the final cut, we can finally put the gutters on.
During the "cladding age" we had a lot of visitors including Neil, who is a good pal and avid blog follower. He spent his childhood in Benbecula which could explain his affinity for the West Coast. The weather rewarded him and he managed to have a daily dip in the sea which was a surprise to me considering he lives on the banks of the much-more-clement lac Leman in Geneva!
Neil was very keen to help so I put him to work with the cladding but after his first screw went slightly adrift he was assigned to scaffold dismantling duties and the saw milling, risking his fingers with the latter! I'm please to report that he left the island on the plane with all his digits and he was actually a great help with the scaffolding.
A bien tot mon ami...
The grounds around the house were quite firm and level through the summer and it was a shame to have to start turning them into an unholy mess again... but the house drainage needed to be installed so this day was coming sooner or later. It was not helped by our decision to put more field drains in at the same time... Glad we did though as rain water was definitely getting under the house beforehand...
Laying "dirty" drains is a curious business. You have to get the gradient right - too steep and the "solids" are left behind and too shallow and nothing moves! We used Hughie (our trusty laser line) to make sure it was bang on and the testing was perfect. We now have the house connected to the sewage treatment system. We also concretted the treatment system in and built the soak away... it was a hard shift mixing and then lifting 4 cubic meters of cement into the wooden form by hand...
So the next steps on the "green mile" to do list are essentially Power, Water, and Fire. For "Fire" we will install the stove and flue, for "Water" we will be installing the underground tank, guttering and rainwater harvesting and for "Power" we will install the batteries and one of the Solar panels arrays. So with any luck, by 2023 the utility basics will be in place! The power is the priority though as the batteries have been sitting in their boxes for a few months and need to be charged. I've bought one of these from ebay to keep the batteries safe...
We are currently off the island on a road trip to Londonium to see family... and to pick this monster up. I suspect the journey home will be a bit cramped with all the materials we are gathering en route. There is a huge pile of stuff amassing in my mother's spare room in Crieff as well... This could be us going home...
The other reason for coming off the rock is for me to see a dentist about my two broken teeth. The good news is nothing has to be done quickly so that can go on the back burner for a wihle longer.
We did have a visit from my family as well last month. This is the first trip for my middle sister (Lindsay) and my 89 year old mother and once again the weather was kind to them all. Lindsay and Ronald (my other bro-in-law) stayed in the hotel with my mum and Gill and Chris stayed in the caravan with us as usual. John and Lucy were back on a break from their round the world sailing adventure and mutual buddies Mark and Carole were visiting them so we all got together for a jolly time on a perfect evening. We had a BBQ on the beach and watched dolphins showing off in the bay. Note the re-purposing of our scaffold tower...
There have also been a few fishing trips of late. I had one outing in Nick's boat in search of flatties but it only yielded a few octopus which were safely returned. We did however come pretty close to a minky whale. Not a great photo but I was too busy enjoying the moment to mess about with the camera...
On a slightly more embarrassing note, there was another fishing competition I entered. It is the "East End" competition for which there are a lot fewer rules than the village one. I was supposed to be in Rob's boat but on looking at the swell I thought I'd probably be sea sick so suggested to Rob he should find a sub. He duly did so with Tasha (his daughter) kindly stepping in. I was however then persuaded by John Fraser to join his crew in spite of my warnings. We no sooner left the bay when the colour drained from me (along with my lunch). John dumped me on the rocks next to our house and carried on. I crawled up the rocks and adopted the foetal position for a couple of hours before returning to the post fishing BBQ. A couple of beers later all was forgotten apart from the inevitable teasing which I suspect will prevail for a while!
Half the winning haul from 2 hours of fishing with 3 rods...
And finally, I had another birthday on the island in August. I was spoilt with pressies and cards including a soda stream from Julia. This is a great present for us off-gridders as it doesn't use electricity. I also received this card from Tillie with a sudoku challenge to
find out what my present was. Very novel and entertaining...
Hope you all had a great summer and are all keeping well!
K&J xx