marshian

Wall mount / spacer complete yes it took me all day - I’m a measure 100 times drill or cut once kinda guy (plus manhandling the beams on your own is hard bloody work) Mrs Alien is 4 ft 10 in socks and has the lifting abilities/strength of a small hen Doubled up beam both are 2940 x 170 x 45 mm in new money. First one bolted to the wall in 4 places with 12 x 100 mm thro bolts. Second beam coach bolted thro both with M8 coach bolts. Now I’ve got clearance for the down-pipe behind the pergola wall mount. Next I need to find some willing friends - it is a three man lift and there still isn’t a lot of wiggle room….

The intention is to have no legs touching the decking (shortened to minimum and then wall mounted is the plan) I can shorten the legs without voiding the warranty but I can’t make any alterations to the roof section without losing the warranty

clearance achieved Finished height will be above them wall mount end is the tricky bit I have to fit a 3000 mm width pergola in a 3070 mm gap and there is a 68 mm drainpipe there too I knew it was gonna be snug but I’ll find a way to make it work

It’s all getting a bit tight here

The video “suggests” doing the wall mount next - so I’m going to ignore that - the decked area has a fall on it for drainage so the “suggested” height might not be right for the location (I already know one of the legs is gonna be in the middle of my garage side door so l’ll need to get creative there (3m x 3m) cardboard is 3m from mounting wall hahaha

it’s been on Mrs Alien’s list of “things I want” for a while so far I’ve got two legs assembled 🙂

Current area For the last 10 years we’ve had a sail over the area but they don’t last long (2 years at best) and the water run off in a downpour soaks the walls so we tried a mesh one which was better for not soaking the walls but not great for sitting under it when it rains Bought a pergola from a well known brand and it got delivered this week - today the plan is dodge the showers and see if I can get it installed un-packing the seven boxes took a while Then clear the area ready to start No written destructions are supplied - no packing list - apparently I have to download an app and watch a video and we all ignore destructions anyway so how hard can it be!!!!

Drove past the cherry tree pub yesterday - wondered how close you were to it - didn’t have chance to do a detour (car collection caper) but next time I go and see my folks in Rushmere St Andrew I’ll give you a message to see if you ate going to be about?

Going for surgery next Friday (sort my finger out - at last) so I’m owt for this month

I think Mrs Alien has one of those she bought for a bird table - I bet the battery is dead tho

Not heard that before - but we can be scientific about that and put it to the test because one is painted the other isn’t (because I only had leftover paint and as the ply had been dry stored for a while it soaked up the paint and took a lot more than expected)

are you doing this for sound reduction or heat insulation?

I was just going to pile a bit of bamboo leaf litter in the boxes (the one that hibernated under it seemed happy with his nest and it’s not like we don’t have any All done now just waiting on preservative to soak in and paint to dry - anyone got any tips on how to encourage the little critters to use them??

First one finished (second one underway in case it brags about the new home to other locals) Decided on a “modern grey” for the interior - apparently we aren’t in the 70’s / 80’s anymore I’m expecting a visit from the planning department to sign off under permitted development rules 🙂

Oh and of course people do like to look over the plans so the original submission can be found here https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-build-hedgehog-home I modified them slightly to suit the garden - cladding and preservative coating will match the fence should mean it blends into the background

TL:DR just a bit of fun - Mods feel free to move if not OK in the section. So my first timber framed house completed, I had some must have criteria for the design. - Open plan - double height ceilings - EDPM roof - OSB walls with wood cladding - no high spec windows - main access will remain open at all times Background For every DIY project you end up with leftover materials - you carefully store them in the hope that they are useful one day I had too much in my storage area…… Why did I choose self build? (Always a common question right?) At the back end of winter I had to replace the last section of original fencing (43 years old so it s done well) so I had some featherboard offcuts. In redoing the fence I discovered a hedgehog hibernating in the leaf litter (at that time of the year I wasn‘t sure if it was alive or dead but apparently if they are in a tight ball it s a good sign) We’ve always had a lot of hedgehogs coming thro the garden they like bamboo leaf litter and we created several entrances and exits that we keep clear so they frequently come thro the garden using it as a short cut to other gardens Anyway with the little critter in my way under foot I had to work carefully round it (gender neutral at this stage) so took me a little longer than normal About a month ago I was glad to see the hibernating hedgehog woke up and I was really happy to see it snuffling round the garden (eating slugs) So last year I rebuilt and re-roofed my shed so had some EDPM off cuts and a fewoff cuts of OSB board from the roof and shed walls So rather than throw it all in the tip I thought I d build a better shelter as a open air pile of leaf litter isn t exactly a great shelter. So here is an almost finished hog house (needs a coat of preservative and I m thinking 70 s flock wallpaper for the interior maybe orange) Anyway enough background here s the pictures I also have so 75mm celotex left over but figured if the little bugger can survive under a pile of bamboo leaf litter it doesn t need an insulated house

Finished all the boarded area now Also core drilled a hole in two of the four gable ends from the inside out and didn't explode the faces (Thanks @Nickfromwales - took your approach of slow and let the cutter do the work Then slotted in a short length of soil pipe and capped it with a stainless steel vent plate Heights don't normally worry me but this was working at the max extension of my ladder Did the same on the other side of the house so I'm now getting a nice thro flow when the wind is in the right direction with an added bonus that loft temps are an average of 5 Deg C lower than they were before for same OAT Humidity levels in the loft have reduced too

Tiles are Marley Mendips "burnt orange" (ie teracotta with black overspray) - yeah I'm not going to be lucky there!!! Sorry OP for the roofjack

Just the one I remember - I'm sure it involved talc rather than flour

The bricks I have blow faces off for shits and giggles - I'll drill a pilot hole thro from the outside then core drill for an inch or so max then revert to inside the loft follow the pilot hole and do the rest from inside Two of the gable ends have Fink trusses so they are fine I can centre the vent in the gable end just below the top of the trusses and have no worries about it looking odd outside The other two gable end trusses one is "King Post" and the other "Queen Post" trusses so right in the centre of the gable end I have an upright so I'll have to drill off centre to the centre (if you get what I mean) and that will mess with my head So I may have to put two vents in those - one on each side of the Post!!!! It's OK I know I have an OCD problem - I just have to manage it

That's the intention - let natural convection or if there is a bit of a breeze it'll help I'm slightly OCD I need to drill from outside to in because the are a red cored bricks with a light buff sand finish on two outer faces - go from inside to out and I'll have a shed load of blown faces which will really piss me off every time I look at it - I made that mistake once in the seating area and I've covered it with an outside wall clock Neck oil is quite good if you like Wingman

Loft has no ridge vents - fitting them would be an PITA and involve a shed load of scaffolding - it will need a roof job at some stage so I'll do that then In the meantime I'm either going to put a couple of air bricks in the top of the gable ends (4 gable ends - stupid T-shaped house) or core drill a 110mm hole the equivalent of bathroom extractor vents and then put mesh ends on them - both would help a lot of trapped heat escape and possibly improved the ventilation / humidity levels in the winter I get you on that - Lemon Gin is way better than IPA - not quite as good as ghost ship mind

PIV works for us most of the heat used to hit the upstairs from a poorly insulated loft (just 70mm of insulation) with a large south facing expanse of concrete roof tiles which really soak up the heat from the sun Yesterday peak day time temp outside was 22 deg C - loft temp hit 34 deg C - PIV turns off at 25 Deg C Now we have 370mm (well we will have shortly when I finish the last areas) I’m already seeing lower upstairs ceiling temps so it is helping My main issue is Mrs Alien refuses to have windows open at night (apparently something to do with eight legged things) Not an issue in winter house doesn’t overheat then but as a result of that “commandment” I’m slightly constrained in spring, summer and autumn In life if someone gives you lemons you have to make lemon gin

We have PIV unit - In the summer we run it flat out during night when air is cooler and during the morning until the unit temp sensor hits 25 deg - then it turns off until temp drops below 25 it’s proved very effective at cooling the house - not AC cool but just cooler than it had been before we installed it. we do adopt a blinds/curtains closed on south facing side of the house which minimises solar gain during the day in the height of summer spring and autumn the solar gain is appreciated and it’s not as big as it is in summer

I’d started a couple of tasks yesterday but not completed finished 2 & 3 this afternoon Boxed in the bathroom extractor fan unit (and insulated around the pipework inside the box) Lid is removable for maintenance or replacement but main purpose of boxing in was to use up some offcuts and insulate plus stop me tripping over the pipe Loft hatch completed This is the top hatch 25mm of celotex glued to a thin ply board original loft hatch also lined with celotex 25mm to help seal up and also improve insulation properties of a badly fitting plywood hatch It’s very noticable the impact on the PIV output, before with just the single plywood loft hatch when it was shut and the PIV was on you could feel the airflow escaping through the hatch into the loft now with the new set up you can’t so the PIV will hopefully reach places it didn’t before Damn it was hot up there when I started!!!! Hatch open and patio door open I’m getting a decent airflow to push out the hot air and it’s down to a much more comfortable 28 deg C