Getting Plastered.

Monday morning and the plasterers are on site. The main plasterer came last week but his assistant didn't (got stuck somewhere between Manchester and here). So we had a week's delay which was good because R and his apprentice carpenter could get more work done to get ready for them.

At the last post R was battening the walls and putting render board - a special ecoboard called Heraklith - onto the battens, ready for the plasterer. He has been having quite a time because the timber frame is not nearly as accurate as we had thought. It may have settled a bit since construction, especially with the weight of the roof. Not a structural problem and for most other houses the discrepancies woudn't be an issue, but this is a vastu house and size - exact size - matters.

Now in sthapatya veda all dimensions are crucial - both internal and external. And the thickness of the walls. So if a dimension - let's say the length of an outer wall - isn't correct, then you can alter it but you can't usually then keep the internal dimension without altering the thickness of the wall. All clear so far? So we have to compromise a bit with wall thickness. R has had to make battens of different thicknesses in order that the render board attached to the first floor is in the exact same plane as that attached to the ground floor. The priorities are to get the internal and external dimensions exact. Possibly we'll do our next house(!) with a cavity so that the two sets of dimensions are dealt with separately. Or, even better, the cost of Hemcrete will have come down a bit and we can have a solid hemp and lime house.

We live and learn. What is this mythical Next House anyway? It's the one we invoke after any conversation about how we could have done it better.

Anyway a few pictures. What is happening in the last few weeks is a gradual filling out of the shell of the house. Guttering, painting of bargeboards and eaves, plaster beading, window sills, filling in round the foundations. All work on the outside to get the place weatherproof and so that we can - as we say in the trade - offhire the scaffolding and stop having to pay rent on it. I am getting to know all the jargon.






Some very special visitors, with a very special car