Heating update

The heating engineer arrived onsite for the first time to do a quick survey. A minor change to the kitchen has had a(nother) slight unintended consequence - we moved the back wall out a foot or so, and this has reduced the area of the roof we had set aside for the solar panel array.  So we now have nowhere for an optimal south facing collector to be positioned.  We can still position East-West but it won't give us as high a return in energy as otherwise.  It's still worthwhile, if we switch from a flat-plate collector to an evacuated tube collector the mirror lens under each tube will focus the incoming rays to the centre of the tube from a wide range of angles.  Pity.

Apart from that, the cap-stone fro the chimney is now causing an issue - its very heavy and our builder has bailed out of the offer to manhandle it up to the top.  A crane willbe very expensive to hire - I'm wondering if we can go old school about it and construct a block and tackle frame against the rafters, with the A frame above the height of the chimney and haul it up.  If the Greeks could do it, then so can we.  Thank you Archimedes.  Of course it may well be rubbished by the experts.  Happens a lot.

Progress

With the thaw and a bit of messing on stairs measurements and window measurements, we're now tipping away again.  The stairs is being formed in situ, which looks quite complex due to the spiral.  Wooden formwork is up to shutter the concrete, with steel rebar into the walls and through the stair structure.  Since the stairs floats away from the walls at places, its quite an interesting feature overall.  Here is the basic formwork for the 1st flight beginning to take shape.

The wood forms the base of the steps, and the centre drum the centre of the spiral.  All the wood will be removed once the concrete sets leaving space in the middle.

Apart from the stairs, we have the window openings measured by the supplier and contract signed.  We need to bverify a couple of details tonight and they start to manufacture the windows.  In preparation for the fitting there was a bit of work to do over the weekend - where the doors are placed in I needed to cut out a step for the frame to sit in.  This allows a proper damp-proof-course layer to be placed in, and prevents water collecting where the door and house meet at the bottom (the water collects, but below the level of entry into the room).  It also reduces the step over the frame at a later time.

First I cut out the markings with an Angle Grinder - this was to promote sharp defined edges for the next stage of hammering out the concrete.

It's not muc concrete to be removed in terms of quantity, but it takes a long time to hammer out this stuff, even with high power tools.  I'll level off these cuts with a screed to bring it to the right height and level and then install DPC before the doors are installed.

We also attacked the interior tip that our house has become, with hours of sweeping we now have a very clear main floor and basement areas.  Roofers have yet to finish and upstairs will then be tackled.