Roselea

Blog

  • Third Layer of Cement Panels Progresses Around the Building

    Today under a very hot sun and not much wind, we continued with mounting up the third layer of the full size cement boards onto the external walls.

    Cement-boards-Finished-on-Walls-A-B

    Cement-boards-Finished-on-Walls-A-B

    Cement-boards-Finished-on-Wall-P

    Cement-boards-Finished-on-Wall-P

    Cement-boards-Finished-on-Walls-N-O

    Cement-boards-Finished-on-Walls-N-O


    We now have completed wall A (the Kitchen and Great Room) and wall B (the side window of the front door extension) which are the walls facing the Loke. We then completed wall P (the long side of the Great Room) and turned the corner to do wall O, now going along the back of the house. We finished off the day’s work by completing wall N which is the side wall with a window in it and still part of the Great Room.

    We made a helpful little wooden platform, made of two legs with triangle bracing corners and a 89mm CLS laid flat on top. This tool allowed us to hoist the cement panels up 4 feet and then get the ladders and equipment in place so we can then carry on hauling up these heavy cement boards up the final distance into place (You can see it in the last Photo).

    We have used up all our prepared sheets so we will need to cut more grooves into the remaining boards on our pallet, which there are 19 sheets left. We hope that is enough to complete this job!!

    Now there will be a short break from any further work while we have to do other tasks for the next few days.

  • Started on the Third Line of Cement Panels on Walls

    This morning and slightly later stopping due to other commitments, we started putting up the third line of cement panels on the External Wall.

    Cement-Boards-3rd-Row-Day-1-1

    Cement-Boards-3rd-Row-Day-1-1

    Cement-Boards-3rd-Row-Day-1-2

    Cement-Boards-3rd-Row-Day-1-2


    These panels were the pre-formed sheets with the groove and tongue on the two long edges and these 7 sheets went up on the Front Door extension and also up in the Conservatory next to the Great Room. These had the extra tongue edge on top so we can put up another line of cement boards to fill in the gable ends of the roof porch and extensions. We put whole sheets across the windows and doors for maximum racking strength to stabilised the building against wind shear forces.

    Tomorrow, we will continue around the rest of the building using the 13 remaining sheets with just the groove cut in it. All is working quite well indeed!!

  • Top-Plate on Wall Doubled Up

    Today, we went around sticking down the second layer of the top-plate on the wall. It is the 89mm wide timber to sit on the outer post that forms the exterior wall structure. We used the 3D printed glue applicator we made last week and it worked very well!

    Second-top-plate-glued-on

    Second-top-plate-glued-on

    Then after that, we took 20 sheets of cement boards and one by one, routed a groove into one edge on 13 of them and then did both a groove and tongue edges on the next 7 sheets.

    They are all now sitting on our trolley ready for installation tomorrow.

    Cement-boards-ready-for-last-row

    Cement-boards-ready-for-last-row

    We had a a surprise discovery this morning when we came across a nest balanced rather wobbly on a small heap of loose planks of timber, high up inside our exterior wall. It was an open twiggy type of nest with one small pure white egg about 15mm long in it. There was no noticeable bird hanging around but we made sure we didn’t disturb the nest too much and left it there. We hope the bird (possibly a Dove) will come back.

     

  • Second Strip of Cement Panel Now Up On Wall

    These last two days, we have created lots of narrow strip of cement boards, and then nailed and glued them up on the exterior wall to build up the second layer of the weather and fire resistant cement panel coverings.

    Cement-board-strips-cut-and-routed-one-edge

    Cement-board-strips-cut-and-routed-one-edge

    Second-row-of-cement-boards-up

    Second-row-of-cement-boards-up


    We first took 7 sheets of cement boards, sliced them down into 275mm wide strips (producing 28 pieces), and then passed them through the router on both long edges to form a groove and tongue edges respectively. After that, we went around starting at the front of the building in the Utility Room corner, and then worked clockwise round the perimeter of the building, skipping the doors and windows as before. We finished with just one complete strip left over and lots of smaller pieces – that was close!

    Tomorrow, we will go around gluing and nailing the second layer of the top-plate timber on top of the wall, both the 89mm width timber on the outer leg and the 63mm width timber on the inner leg, and at last, we will do the third line of the cement panel to complete the whole wall.

  • Completed Timber Support Framework on Steel I-Beams

    With the wind picking up a bit on this clear Monday morning, we resumed going around the steel I-Beams and installing the timber support pieces.

    Timber Rafter-Supports-on-other-side

    Timber Rafter-Supports-on-other-side

    It is virtually the same as the work we did on Saturday and we now have completed the full circuit.

    We have a line of wooden timber pieces on top of the steel work and a complete loop of special  timber pieces with slots sliced into them, fixed down on the lower flange, ready for the roof rafters to go in.

    Tomorrow, we now can resumed doing our cement board wall coverings, first putting up a narrow strip and then the 3rd line of full height 1200mm cement sheets to complete the wall covering and structural racking.

  • Installation of Support Timber Framework on Steel I-Beams

    Today, in glorious sunshine, we started the task of mounting all the special timber pieces we made in the last week, and putting it up on the steel I-Beams.

    We also put the extra flat pieces of timber on top of the I-Beams as well. Each section of the steel framework was scrubbed with water and a little bit of detergent to wash off the dust and bird poo, then measured and cut each piece of timber to fit into place, using our laser alignment tool to accurately get the special timber pieces down on the lower flange and a regular rectangular timber piece on top of the upper flange.

    Timber-rafter-supports-Fixed-in-place-1

    Timber-rafter-supports-Fixed-in-place-1

    Timber-rafter-supports-Fixed-in-place-2

    Timber-rafter-supports-Fixed-in-place-2


    We used our special all weather construction glue to stick the timber onto the steel surface, using lots of mechanical clamps to squash the joint tight before locking it down with 5mm x 50mm long screws (we had previously pre-drilled clearance holes in the steel ages ago).

    Today we managed to get exactly half way around the steel framework and we will continue on Monday and get it completed. After that, we will build up the Sky Light framework on the newly fitted timber supports and this will provide the structural anchor points for the roof rafters, hence why we are having to do all this now.

  • Timber Rafter Supports for Steel I-Beams Created

    Over the last few days, we have been cutting, slicing and routing a whole series of timber pieces that will provide the fixing points for the ends of the roof rafters up on the Steel I-Beams.

    There are three basic sizes for the different parts of the steel work as follows:

    • 2 ends which has a 40 degree angle sliced @ 61 mm from a 75 mm by 50mm wide timber
    • 6 lengths with a 32 degree angle sliced @ 117 mm into from a 150mm by 50mm timber pieces
    • 8 lengths with also a 32 degree angle sliced @122 mm from a 150mm high by 50mm thick timber.

    The differences is the height of the slots that have been routed in. The end result is that when the roof rafters are placed into the slots, the top edge of the rafter all lines up, thus creating a levelled roof. The steel I-Beams comes in two sizes and thickness hence why we needed to have difference sizes.

    Rafter-lower-supports-on-I-beams-1

    Rafter-lower-supports-on-I-beams-1

    Rafter-lower-supports-on-I-beams-2

    Rafter-lower-supports-on-I-beams-2


    We had to make a template to route the 10mm deep slots, all done at the correct angle, one at 32 degrees and 40 degrees.

    Now we need a dry day to go out and fix these pieces on to all the steel I-Beams all the way around. We will align up each piece using our laser alignment module (this sits on the top of the walls on a leg and the laser sends a beam up to the steel work). But first, we would have to clean the bird poo off before gluing and clamping the timber into place – grin!

  • Odd Jobs

    This afternoon, we readjusted the sun shield over our corridor we did last week. It needed tightening up.

    Also, we reduced the height of the scaffolding tower down by one segment so it can be moved around on its four giant castor wheels easily when we come to installing the rafter beams around the steel framework and down on the walls.

  • Hot Wire Slicer, Router Template, Laser Guide and 3D Glue Spreader

    While half the workforce is disabled, Stephen was busy designing and building several new pieces of equipment and tools to help with various future jobs that will be needed to be done as part of building the rafters and walls.
    The tools were created approximately in the following order:

    Polystyrene Foam Board Hot Wire Slicer

    Insulation-slicing-Triple-hot-wire-cutter

    Insulation-slicing-Triple-hot-wire-cutter

    Hot-wire-power-supply

    Hot-wire-power-supply



    We needed a tool to slice our pile of 8 foot by 4 foot 120 mm thick boards into much thinner sheets (38mm thick) and a few different heights (between 248mm and 265mm). We couldn’t buy the correct thickness of sheet (only 35mm or 40mm) and 120mm thick boards were much less than 3 times the price of the the thinner sheets so we decided to slice the thick sheets down.
    Using high resistance wire to form the basis of the machine, we can have 1, 2 or 3 wires, fully adjustable to different heights and separations, and connected to a high powered electrical generator to heat up the wires to melt the polystyrene foam.

    Router Jig to Cut Rafter Slots in Cement Boards

    Rafter-end-slot-cutting-template-1

    Rafter-end-slot-cutting-template-1

    Rafter-end-slot-cutting-template-2

    Rafter-end-slot-cutting-template-2

    Rafter-end-slot-cutting-template-3

    Rafter-end-slot-cutting-template-3



    This template slots on top of the wall, at each rafter and leg position, to guide a router to slice out a vertical slot in the wall cement boards. These slots allows the top flange of the rafters to pass through the wall and stick out to form the eaves.
    It is adjustable to accommodate the different angles of the rafters.

    Laser Guide for Wall to Steel Framework Alignment

    Laser-Rafter-alignment-jig-1

    Laser-Rafter-alignment-jig-1

    Laser-Rafter-alignment-jig-2

    Laser-Rafter-alignment-jig-2



    We needed to transfer the position of the Wall Legs where each Rafter sits on, up to the Steel framework so the rafters will be exactly in the correct orientation and be locked into place. The steel framework will have planks of timber glued and screwed against the webbing and flanges of the steel i-beams, but also these timber pieces will have a series of 10mm deep slots sliced in, at the regular 612mm spacing. We need to make sure these slots are perpendicular in relation to the wall legs that the rafter will be joining onto. The laser is aligned to a leg and projects a line at right angles up to the steel beam.

    Glue Spreader

    Glue-Spreader-MK1-2

    Glue-Spreader-MK1-2

    Glue-Spreader-MK1-1

    Glue-Spreader-MK1-1



    Using our 3D printer, we designed a glue spreader to help us lay down a thin film of the glue on to the timber and stick down other materials like plywood etc. The glue is pumped into a the open space via small tubes, the chamber has a notched side to allow a controlled amount of glue to be spread as the tool is dragged along. The first version was drawn on the computer and then converted into a multi-layered object for the plastic extrusion printer to build, layer by layer, into a solid object.

  • Summer Bug Brings Down Half the Workforce!

     We had an incident where half of our workforce was struck down with a nasty Summer cold virus, from last Monday (29th May) to today (5th June). All outside work on putting up cement boards, rafters and other work needing two people had to be postponed.