Week Thirty - Hot Air

The Queen’s birthday is marked by an RAF flypast over Buckingham Palace. We chose to mark current progress with the barn by  arranging a flypast of three vintage aeroplanes over the Barn. 
(Just kidding.)

We're having Heat Recovery Ventilation installed. The idea is that the barn is designed to be pretty much airtight and all ventilation ducted in and out via a couple of heat exchangers. As the stale air is pumped out of the building it warms the air coming in. That way the air is changed regularly (way in excess of building regulation requirements) while the heat in the air is retained in the building. Cool huh? Or should that be Warm huh? The HRV kit was delivered this week. We had a last minute change of heart concerning the ducting. The original design was based on rigid ducting, essentially 4 or 6 inch diameter pipes rather like drain pipes. We couldn't see how to route that kind of ducting round the barn given the contraints of an old timber frame with beams and trusses all over the place, not to mention steel beams in the ceilings. So we opted for a system using flexible ducting, the red stuff.

Another view of that diagonal timber across the doorway which had to be cut to let us get to bed.

The plywood on the first floor is fixed to the joists using something called ringshank nails. Whereas ordinary nails have smooth shanks, these things have raised rings along the length of the shank. I think the idea is that the corrugation makes it difficult to get the nail out once it's driven home. Bit like the twisted square nails used to fix joist hangers. Bet you didn't realize that nails could be so interesting? Personally, I find them quite riveting.

The chimney in the centre of the barn is going up. The brick and blockwork will be covered by plasterboard and there will be a facing of bricks visible from the double height area.

The internal domestication of the barn took another step forward with the delivery of the door linings. More learning curve stuff - door linings, architraves, door stops. Not to mention door furniture (handles and locks to you and me) and of course not forgetting butt hinges, washered or ball bearing.

Timber frame against the OSB. Some people choose to put all the insulation on the outside and keep the frame exposed internally. The problem with doing it that way is that the barn tends to bulge. The insulation pushes the weather boarding outwards by the thickness of the insulation deployed, say 100mm or even 200mm. We’ve chosen to have some of the insulation outside and some inside between the studs. There are pros and cons to both approaches and who knows what’s the right thing to do. Still struggling to decide whether to use sheep wool or rock wool between the studs. Probably come down to cost in the end.

King post over the central doorway as seen from the outside. I think it looks great. You can see the original carpenters marks on the timber.

New studwork in the roof space over the back stairs. As if there wasn't already enough timber in the barn, we're adding loads more - for new walls and ceilings.

Partition walls and ceilings over the back hall and staircase. What staircase, I hear you ask. Good question. Watch this space.

And finally