Spring Papering

The Bridge

After a lovely weeks holiday i came back to find the beginnings of a beautiful bridge made by my loving boyfriend. He has screwed together such a sturdy bridge base i think it will be longer that the barrel its self :)

Thank you!

Cladding

So, a while ago dad and scott went to a friends saw mill and ripped down the excess timbers cut from the top of the barrel in to cladding boards. I think they got 4 per whisky barrel timber. 

Now, they are being put to use, cladding over our foil insulation. We are using a brad nailer to fire thin nails at each corner of the board and 2 in the middle through to the horizontal cladding. We are using the thin nails to avoid splitting the wood as it is very old timber. Also, vertical cladding as the boards would not take the curve of the barrel. Where board meets board we have cut an angle to lap the exposed joint so water will flow down the edge and water will be less likely to be drawn up. 

Beautiful patterning on the wood from the whisky making process. As you can see the boards begin to stagger as they are ever so slightly tapering timbers so this has a knock on effect. We plan to bridge the gaps with an additional thinner baton so everything is snug. Its a bit hard to keep thing plumb though. 

Here you can see the horizontal batons across the kitchen box holding down the thermal foil and allowing a platform for us to clad on to. 

And all the while as i am cladding there are territorial frogs preparing their pad ( hehe) for the ladies. Pretty loud.

Satisfaction :)

Selfie 

Jazzy looking boards

Younger sisters inspection

That knock on effect of a tapered timber. adds up. 

Other Environmentally Friendly Ways to Heat the Home

Geothermic Heating

KITCHEN :)

The last couple of days my dad and i have been putting up the frame and rafters for our added kitchen. We have been through the process of chainsawing out a hole through the timber of the whisky barrel its  self; putting a lintel in above it so that the now unsupported timber/ roof section would be safe again; digging trenches in the top soil to reach the sad level (2.5 ft deep); getting their placement a bit off so having to dig corrections; levelling out recycled breeze blocks to be our foundations; then the floor came (size of a stirling board sheet 2400x1200, with added triangles at the edges); and now finally the frame has gone up and you can all see some change in presence. We have a real kitchen shape :).

Happy days! Here are some other angles: