Category: self build

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Plastering, wiring, ducting & kebabs

Now is a really busy time for the build. We have two guys (the two Dereks) busily and speedily installing battens and erecting plasterboard panels, with husband wiring and ducting alongside them.

It means long days and not much in the way of breaks. He’s shattered when he collapses in front of the fire each evening. A good tiredness, I think – one born of a long days manual labour and visible progress, but certainly tiredness. We’re neither of us as young as we were!

The best I can do is provide tea and food as it’s needed, and finalise the many remaining decisions on bathroom and kitchen finishes from the caravan.

When I’m not browsing tile sites and bathroom fittings catalogues, or calling Home Energy Scotland for advice, I spend much of each day making flatbreads, cake, quiches, stews and soups.

My latest attempt at urban food is kebabs! Sliced leftover roast lamb, shredded red cabbage, garlic and mint yoghurt, harissa paste and baked soft flatbreads. When you don’t have a takeaway on the island, you make them yourself. Probably much healthier too.

I’m not even pretending that the pear frangipane tart was anything other than an indulgence…we need yummy things right now.

I’m also reading this. An excellent book, if slightly terrifying. It’s about the disappearance of insects due to pollution, pesticides, chemical runoff, changes in farming practices and climate change, and is written very accessibly and compellingly. Dave Goulson is well qualified to write about this, being a Professor of Biology, an expert on insect ecology and an Ambassador for the UKs Wildlife Trusts. Get a copy if you can.

So progress on the build is steady as we move through the highland winter. I’m starting to think about seeds and have ordered seed potatoes, onion sets and garlic. We’re still eating red cabbage and kale from the croft, at least what the deer haven’t eaten.

Soon, now. Spring is coming. Not long now.

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We have underfloor heating pipes…

Things are progressing slowly but steadily now. We now have a flooring membrane throughout the house laid over the insulation sheets and edged with foam strip to allow for the screed expansion.

Exciting times, although the smell of the plastic was overwhelming for a bit!

We had originally thought to use a grid to lay the pipes onto, but as we’re tight for depth to the window base, husband decided to lay them free-form to save a few millimetres extra for the screed.

The cryptic markings which appeared mysteriously overnight apparently direct the traffic for the underfloor pipe layout.

These will be laid throughout the ground floor with the exception of the small room that we plan to use as a pantry, which we want to keep as cool as possible.

With a bit of luck we should be ready for the screed in the next few weeks.

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Flooring in the house

The house ground floor is now fully covered with 100mm thick celotex insulation boards. These are cut and fitted neatly together to form the underfloor on which the screed will be poured.

Insulation boards down and taped

As the concrete subfloor beneath this is not entirely level, we have laid sand to compensate and to ensure that the boards sit as evenly as possible.* readers note – when I say WE I actually mean Husband…

Insulation boards down

The joints between the insulation blocks have then been taped securely to make sure that there isn’t any movement.

Finally a plastic membrane is laid and sealed on top of it all. This is the layer that the underfloor heating pipes will be laid upon prior to the screed being poured.

Membrane down

And I thought it was just popping a few boards down and running pipes over them… I guess this is why people often get surprised at how long seemingly simple jobs take. Like me 😬.

We live and learn.

We crack on.

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Sea Haar

Sea Haar, or ‘sea fret’ as it is also known in the North East of Britain, is used to describe a cold fog that accumulates at sea rather than on land.

Over the last week we’ve had some spectacular examples over the Sound, with layers of cloud, or fog, lying low over the water like a blanket of snow.

It’s usually burned off with the rising air temperatures by about lunchtime, but it has created some amazing looking scenes that we’ve watched from the house.

Every month brings different weather conditions and changing vistas. Every day this view looks different.

Who needs television?

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House build update

I can hardly believe that we’re in July already, but that seems to be where we find ourselves. The house build progress has been slow, but at last we are through the bulk of the sealing, taping, foiling and re-taping of the house walls and have moved into the next stage. Thank the stars that my husband doesn’t give up easily through what has been a marathon of a process.

Floor insulation slabs

He has been laying the insulation slabs on the internal floors in this past week in preparation for the underfloor heating pipes to go down. Then it will be the screed pouring before finally we have a level, warm floor for the house!

Work in progress

We have the plasterers booked in for September, so we need to complete the floors and basic pipe and wiring installation in the next two months to make sure that we secure their time. I know how quickly eight weeks will go, so it will be another busy time.

Our tinfoil-wrapped sitting room!

In parallel, I’m re-examining all the kitchen and bathroom material choices we made over a year ago. Prices and suppliers have all changed, and we need to get selections finalised and fresh estimates in so that we can secure fittings when we’re ready.

We’ve also sourced an excellent local lady joiner to make us custom built wardrobes and bookcases for the main bedroom, hall and sitting room areas at the end of the year. Hugh could build them, but having done everything else by then I suspect he will be on his knees. And the quality of her finished work looks excellent.

I’m especially excited by the prospect of the extremely high bookcase taking up the whole of the back wall in the sitting room. We’ll need a ladder to gain access to the upper shelves! But it will take a huge quantity of books. Just what we need.

Onward and upwards! We will get there.

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Caravan food

The caravan has a tiny kitchen, with three working gas burners and a very small electric oven. It’s lack of storage space has meant that we have no room for electrical appliances like mixers or blenders, making everything a manual process when it comes to food preparation . So, meals have to be simple.

But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be good. We’re working hard on the house and croft, and we need sustenance. An army marches on its stomach!

I’ve looked back at some of the meals that we’ve produced in the caravan with our one baking tin and I’m pleased to see that we’ve actually managed OK.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that we seem to be heavy on the sweet treats! No apologies for that. It’s true to say that this build is being fuelled by cake…

Bakewell tart
Sourdough from the Mallaig bakery with homemade houmous
Strawberry slab cake
Lunch butties with crispy chicken
Turkish bean salad
Chocolate cake
Teatime flapjacks
Cheese and chive scones
Local rope grown mussels
Lentil, garlic & veg soup
Pear pancakes with Greek Yoghurt & Honey
Soy marinated sesame salmon
Cranachan
Lentil dhal
Baklava
Thai salmon ready for baking
Local langoustines
Breakfast of champions
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Flying insulation

A friend commented that there had been precious little recently in the way of house build updates. Which is very true. Progress has been slow, and we are still taping and foiling some months into the process.

A number of things have conspired to make what should have been a relatively quick job a complete marathon.

Husband has had to fill and tape all wall, door and window seams throughout the house BEFORE foiling, as well as taping everything again AFTER foiling.

This has turned into a huge, time-consuming undertaking which he felt was necessary because of gaps left by the builders. Gaps that if left open would have compromised our structural water and air tightness.

His faith in the quality of the work by the builders has been severely dented as these are not cosmetic problems that we felt could be covered over, sure to cause us issues some years down the line.

He has been doing this work alone, and other time-critical work has taken weeks away from this process, such as installing the house guttering and the start of work on the croft as Spring approached.

However, the end is in sight. The floor insulation for the next stage has arrived.

It arrived on a thankfully dry day, but a windy one. About 50 huge sheets of insulation which blocked the drive on arrival and which we had to manually carry between us into the house.

These sheets are big, requiring two of us to manoeuvre, but very light in weight, only 10kg each. They exhibited impressive aerodynamic properties as the wind caught them, acting like a sail, taking both our body weights to counter their desire to take off down the croft.

It took a whole afternoon to get them wrestled safely under cover into the house.

They’ve also provided me at least with a bit of a morale boost. They are a nod to the promise of progressing onto the next stage, which is laying these, then the underoor heating pipes, then screed, and us being a few steps closer to this being a house.

We will get there. Courage, mon brave!

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The Pair of Ravens

I’ve mentioned before that we have two Ravens on the croft. Ravens are solitary birds, but they are said to pair-bond and mate for life.

*photo credit the Raven Master, Tower of London

As mating season approached this Spring, we noticed the morning calls from the old pine tree start to change.

In addition to the rough croaking song of the male raven each morning, there’s a more softly pitched, warbling call that comes a few seconds afterwards in response from the female. This is repeated many times over the course of the day. We think that they have nested somewhere in the large trees on the western boundary.

We often see the two birds flying over the croft together throughout the day, hovering and wheeling through the skies before disappearing over the hills to the north of us. They are skillful flyers.

I personally think it’s fabulous to have such birds on the croft, but many of the crofter locals think otherwise. I’ve had darkly muttered comments about Ravens taking newborn lambs, and whether or not this is true, or how infrequently it happens, there’s no allowance given for the fact that even Ravens have to eat, and that this is sadly Nature’s way.

I appreciate that there has to be a balance. But to demonise an intelligent bird that is doing no more than trying to survive can’t be the way.

We’ll continue to enjoy our Ravens.

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Guttering

We’ve been waiting for a break in the weather in order to fit the guttering on the house. Standing on a ladder in fifty mile an hour winds is no-one’s idea of a good time!

At last. The weather for the last few days on the island has been dry and clear with light winds, and it looks like it will hold for a good few days more.

My job is holder-of-the-ladder and passer-up-of-tools, brackets and gutter lengths. And maker of tea.

Husband is doing all the technical stuff like measuring, drilling, aligning and connecting.

All the easy stuff 😊…

We’ve gone for Lindab galvanised steel guttering.

It goes well aesthetically with the wood cladding, is solidly well made, can cope with the vast amount of rain we have on the island – as it’s extra wide and deep – and isn’t plastic. Not that there’s anything wrong with plastic, but we preferred not to use it.

We have lots still to fit, and are working our way around the house starting with the back. Let’s hope the weather gods smile upon us.

I was standing holding the ladder today, listening to the silence of the afternoon on this exposed island hillside, the only noise occasional birdsong. And I thought to myself, how life has changed.

How lucky I am.

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The first raised beds

The first three raised beds are built and in place. Hurrah! Another small but significant milestone on our croft journey.

There was a short gap in the weather this morning which husband took advantage of. The timber was cut, positioned and screwed together to create three high sided, solid boxes.

The challenge here is the exposure of the site. We receive the full force of the South Westerlies which whip over the croft, with only limited tree cover to the west. The flat land that is cultivable is close to the house and right at the top of the hill.

In terms of positioning I wanted the beds close to the house for ease of access and proximity to water supply. They also needed ideally to be oriented east-west to maximise exposure to sunlight, and if possible be sited on flat land. The perfect (and only really viable) place here is going to need good wind protection.

We will put up a heavy duty mesh windbreak whilst we plan what type of hedging should be planted here, get the basis of the hedging in, and that will be it for this year. I can start with basic, small scale vegetable production in between house building.

We’re also keen to get compost piles started, so timber to construct a couple of adjacent compost bays is on its way.

Behind this row of beds I’m thinking of trying a hugelkutur bed, which I’ve read great things about. We will have wood debris that can form the core of it from fallen branches from the existing trees, and we should have home grown compost by next year.

First things first though.

Tomorrow I will line these beds with cardboard as a weed suppressant and start moving and de-stoning soil to fill them. This huge soil pile was excavated from the croft when the builders dug the parking area the caravan is sited on, and it will form the bulk of the growing material in the beds, topped off with compost mulch.

It feels good to be preparing for growth.