Roof

Robert — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 20:40:20 +0000

The roof is nearing completion now. For a "belts and braces" approach, we've installed vents at eaves and ridge level, to ensure a good through-flow of air above the insulation envelope and thus reduce the risk of condensation/timber decay. The ridge vents proved difficult to source, being a special order item from the usual merchants - with lead-time and cost accordingly. In the end I found one in a salvage yard, and the builders offered to make others to match, by cutting up a spare ridge tile. The result is not great aesthetically speaking, but I'm sure will function OK.

Here's a picture of the reclaimed ridge vent, and the replica finial in position:

And this is the builders' copy:

Unfortunately, whilst working on the roof, a few slates have got damaged; obviously we need to ensure these get repaired before the scaffolding gets taken down.

Roof finial

Robert — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 20:13:00 +0000

Sprinkler guy came back to the house with a revised drawing, everything has now been agreed and they will be doing first fix a week tomorrow (Fri 5 July). He also brought sample ceiling- and wall-mount sprinkler heads, not just for me to see but also to be left on-site for other tradespeople to be able to look at. I have to say the communications and customer service from the sprinkler company has been excellent throughout.

Unfortunately I can't say the same about the window company. At the last meeting we agreed their joiner would make an appointment with me to come back on-site to measure up etc. I'd had no contact for 2 weeks, so phoned them on Tuesday - person I spoke to didn't know anything, person I had been dealing with was unavailable until today. Phoned again today asking for that person, he was unavailable to speak to me and neither was the joiner who has been assigned to my job. Later in the day I got a brief email giving next Tuesday as the appointment day (no time specified). I wrote back asking what time and also expressed my concern at the lack of communications, and why this is unsatisfactory for this project.

Meanwhile on the roof, all the Velux openings have been trimmed out now, but we're waiting for the windows to arrive. The builders asked me a question about how to fix the insulation (given its larger than average thickness), which indicated to me that they might need some technical support when we come to doing the insulation. So earlier this evening, I phoned Pete, the guy who designed the thermal envelope specification, to see if he could come to the house for a day to work through this with the builders.

At the front of the gable there was originally a ridge finial - still to be seen on neighbouring properties. Some Googling lead me to this website, where believe it or not this guy specialises in making reproduction finials - amazing what you can find online! This one is a close match to the one our house would have originally had:

People think I'm a little bit crazy putting so much emphasis on details like this, but what's the point of working on a Victorian/Edwardian house if you're going to ignore its architecture? You might as well do a new-build Passivhaus, and save yourself an awful lot of hassle.

Withington Co-operative Eco-house - finial

Roof

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Roof finial

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