Yesterday, we started the process of asking for prices for our material we need.
The timber quotes have gone off to lots of suppliers, mostly in Norfolk as timber is common. But for the more specialised pieces like the fibre cement boards, we are having to send requests for quotes all over the country.
One supplier in Kings Lynn was very helpful as they are major timber house builders and a piece of valuable advice we picked up, was to use treated timber for all our outer skin that faces the weather, because insurance firms do not like the idea of untreated timber, even though designs are very careful on this aspect and plenty of fresh air is always allowed to circulate around the timber to keep it dry and free from damp and rot. But insurers are a paranoid bunch!
It seems that the price different between untreated and treated is about fifteen percent (15%) so this would add, for example, another £500 on a £3000 order of the 89mm CLS timber.
We don’t need to go any further in the use of treated timber for the inner walls and floors as it is well protected from the weather and besides, we do not wish to live in a closed environment with chemicals impregnated in the walls and floors!!
Some early numbers coming back are as follows:
- £17 per sheet for 10mm cement boards
- £12 per sheet of 12mm plywood
- £1 per metre for untreated 89mm CLS timber
- £0.70p per metre for untreated 63mm CLS timber
- £1.15p for treated 89mm CLS timber
- £0.83p for treated 63mm CLS timber
- £5.80p per metre for 200mm wide LVL structural beams
Today, we have send more requests for prices on glazing bars, I beams, more timber and laminated glass for the Sky Light.
One surprise we discovered is that the structural LVL beams are made in 12metres (37feet) long single pieces! Wow! That’s one long lorry! We will have to walk each one (there will be 9 of them!) down the Loke and each will weigh about 45kg each but that nothing compared with the Steel pieces we have already staggered around with!! The LVL beams are so long that we will have to halt the traffic so we can swing around to line up to the Loke! We might end up bringing the battery circular saw and a tape measure to slice some of them into smaller pieces. Phew!