Spray foam insulation install

This week sees the spray foam insulation installed for the roof and flat roof interiors.

This foam is sprayed between and over the rafters, and where we will plasterboard over its shaved back to the rafter level so the board can be affixed to the wood.  The great thing is that both between the rafters and at the wall plate the foam expands into all cracks and gaps fully.  With rock wool or cut insulation you'll never get a perfect seal, with this it forms an airtight (but breathable) layer that stops drafts entering through the roof areas.

Its a messy business, and the good companies clean up after themselves.  I hope so as its like Les Arc in January in some sections.

Suspended Ceiling Started, Electrical finished

The electrical first fit is finished, with a maze of cables and conduits around the house.  With the majority of the plumbing and electrical in we're almost ready to start plaster boarding the inside of the house, and certainly ready to start plastering the outside of most of it.  Getting this done Sep/Oct is vital as temperature is important, too cold and the water in the plaster can freeze destroying the finish.

The Ceiling hangers are installed now, key was getting these in before the areas that require spray foam, such as the basement.  Also installed for spraying is a stud partition on the retaining wall in the habitable areas of the basement the spray will flow in behind the stud and up 50mm on it, leaving a 20mm airgap behind.

So spraying starts today, and will take approx 4-5 days to complete.  We had forgotten the Alarm 1st fix and scrambled to get a quote and fit this week - should be starting tomorrow, the spray foam contractor and the alarm fix will need to work around each other slightly as there are areas that have cable runs that need to be sprayed.

This week while that's going on, the priority is to order the outside render and inside slabs, to get a contractor to finish the job the other builder made a mess of and to get a steel mesh for the ICF where we're going to fix stone, as well as tidy up a list of snags before plastering..  Should keep me busy.

Electrical Fit

Electrical first fit is under way, all the socket, light and switch locations are marked, chased and cables are being pulled.  We spent a number of walk-arounds outlining where all these should go, having an experienced electrician is very useful to help with the better locations of these, from both a practical and aesthetic perspective. The fit-out should be finished this week, with the dropped ceiling slated to go in next week - the metal is being delivered on Sat.

The week following then I have spray -foam insulation lined up, then the house will be sealed (barring 1 window and the front door).  With insulation in we can install the plasterboard, and then we're ready in and out for plastering.

The front door section is still unfinished.  At this point I'm very unhappy with the builder - his efforts and attention to detail has slipped to zero and has cost me a lot of time and stress on the build.  I'm more than happy to give an anti-reference at this stage to anyone looking for ICF work done in the south-east.  We're meeting Friday with the engineer to discuss the work and we'll see what comes out of that.  The detail around the tanking and concrete of the flat roof sections are appalling - the concrete is not level or sloping from the house and cracked while drying.  Also the tanking membrane sticking out is not flush to the corners - I could put my fist down there.  Overall not good work, and while the entire job should have been completed in 2 weeks, 5 weeks later its still 1/2 finished.