Bungalow Barn Update 2

[Snowbeetle]

Greetings fellow builder bods, 


Having solved the problem of how to secure footer plates to a friable lime slab floor (with the marvellous help of you brilliant people) we have rocked on with putting the start of the stud walls up and dry lining the barn. Sheeps wool insulation (from Cosywool) will go between the uprights. 

We will also be studding out the roof rafters in order to give us the depth for the insulation we need to achieve building regs U-values and for our own warm home wishes, so we are holding off the internal partitions until we have done the first part of that so we don't have unnecessary scaffold faff.

We have framed up all but one of the 9 windows, but still got 3 of the 4 doors to do. But not bad progress in one week especially when one of us was poorly and should have been in bed really. Self-build fun and games!

Handling wood is SO much warmer than handling stone which is a welcome change in this weather! It sort of seems a shame to cover up the stone walls which represent a good few months work for me. But they aren't the prettiest of their type given that we have kept the old lime wash on in places where it was sound and didn't need attention, and we do want the house to be warm when all is said and done. If I want to see stones I'll have to go outside. ?

We had to choose between setting the footer plate further out from the stone wall and losing more floor space but not needing to trim anything... or tailoring the uprights around the irregular lumps and bumps if they protruded too far. We picked the latter, of course, so the uprights are truly bespoke fitted in places! We did have one run of a few meters where we didn't have to use the jigsaw at all - we liked that bit.

We are currently 2 years into this build and it is nice to be doing something so immediately visually obvious. Up until now we have mostly been altering/making good existing structures / features which isn't the same. I spent a fair chunk of a year repairing the stone walls (while the kids were at school mostly, so not the same work rate as a full time labourer would be able to do) and when I was done it didn't look a whole lot different (though structurally certainly was)! But now everything we are doing from this point is adding fresh new stuff and as such feels like more progress. 

If anyone is curious or thinks a question about any of this would be useful please feel free to ask. ?

[Cpd]

Looking great ! Are your walls waterproof or do they get damp ?  Apart from the wool between the studs what is going over them ? Great space, what’s the floor plan ? 2 years in..... I am hoping to kick start my project again this year but have got seriously distracted rebuilding my shed.......   

[Snowbeetle]

Seriously distracted with the shed! ???

The walls don't get any wet coming in! there are no doors on currently so we do get a lot of condensation on them at this time of year with the temperatures meaning we have 99% relative humidity. 

The pointing on the outside is a bit dodgy in places and yet the walls are dry on the inside. They are two leaves of stone with loose stone infill so I think there are enough capillary breaks and that is even on the side of the prevailing weather! 

Prior to us working on it the walls were wringing wet through, but that was because the land drainage was terrible and gutters in a state so the building was sat in a puddle most of the time. Then the concrete slab floor and wall render just forced all the wet up the walls and into the stone with no escape. as soon as the drainage, gutters were sorted and the concrete gone it dried up a treat - was lovely to see it come back to life like that. ?

Walls will be boarded over with wood wool board (breathable equivalent to gypsum plasterboard). Then lime plastered. 

Floor layout is open-plan lounge kitchen diner at one end and three bedrooms and a bathroom down the other end