Leaderboard

Checked - it's as I thought, they are going to fix a strip of the ash to the cross batten, they have already done this on the tall window (photo looks a bit odd due to it being an angled reveal + the camera perspective). We are not going to worry about weep holes because: ventilated cavity, small gaps between the half lap boards, and its a relatively sheltered east facing wall. The window itself is set back from the cladding and very well sealed.

I have been messaging @craig about this and he has suggested possibly replacing the current striker latch for a day latch on at least one door. It doesn't look that straightforward but may be doable.

That's actually a really smart idea!! Thanks!!

Maybe keep a spare remote for a Velux roof light in the glovebox! Not ideal but better than the brick-toss through the cheapest one.

Left hand diagram looks very similar to our wall build-up. Right hand side: we haven't used an angled timber head drip but we don't have very much clad wall above the window, as single storey but I can't see any reason why your design won't work fine. IANAE though.

No we haven't rendered that top reveal - too fiddly. There's a cross batten behind the vertical cladding and I think they have added, or are going to add, a strip of ash to cover that batten but that strip will only be visible from below - the vertical cladding comes down further. I need to check tomorrow. Also I am now unsure how any water that gets behind the cladding will drain, so I need to check that too but I'd be surprised if the chippies haven't already considered and addressed it. (There's a ventilated cavity behind the cladding of course.) I'll report back.

Such great progress and blog. We are at least few months behind this build and I (J) am using it as a bit of a touchstone. Couldn't agree more on the points quoted above, they really do help, including people being happy to make recommendations for follow on trades and offer advice. Also of course, as mentioned, keeping people updated on progress (or delays!).

They are doing a great job, I was only being pedantic. It is great seeing the progress through your blog. The local timber is special but quite challenging to work with, shrinkage was inevitable ( air dried in the garage for 3 months but not enough) but the half lap compensated for it. I also used about 150 sqm of local Douglas fir for the garage, no half lap as horizontal shiplap. Quite similar to Cedar, not as knotty, feels a bit denser. Weathering well and might stain it next summer. Onwards......

Yes it's Brimstone Ash from Vastern timber. Expensive but really excellent quality - straight as a dye, virtually no knots, and it came really well packed. It cuts cleanly and we haven't experienced any splitting, despite Vastern warning that it can be brittle. We originally intended using western red cedar but discovered that cedar reacts with zinc and we have some high cladding above our zinc roof. The Brimstone Ash is inert (so we are told!). It's about the same price as Canadian cedar but has the benefit of going silver quicker, and it's British, so lower transport CO2 costs. Stainless nails are an absolute must. We're using Timco FirmaHold 16G 50mm Stainless 2nd fix nails through the face - very hard to see. Regarding the edge above the windows. Although it doesn't really show in the photo all the bottom edges are cut at a 30 degree angle to leave a drip point at the outside edge. This was recommended by Vastern. The same for any joins in long verticals, though incredibly I think we have only needed 2 or 3 due to lots of long lengths being supplied and careful selection by our carpenters. For the bottom edges they have fixed them slightly over sized then run a rail saw. Anyway we feel the angled cut at the bottom should stop water pooling on those bottom edges. Further progress on the cladding today:

We bought everything through them: design, kit, commissioning, and installed it ourselves. I am sure we could have done the design ourselves but we had too many other things going on. You would have to give Patrick Chester a call or email patrick@heatspaceandlight.com to see if they would just commission.