Insulation

By the time last Friday morning came around, I had not heard from my supplier about the insulation order, so I decided to shop elsewhere. I needed some foil-backed plasterboard anyway (the foil acts as a vapour barrier and is specified for the soffits) so I strapped the roof rack to the car and set off for an alternative supplier. I returned with 2 8'x4' sheets of 12.5mm plasterboard, 2 8'x4' sheets of 50mm "Ecotherm" insulation board, 1 8'x4' sheet of 90mm insulation board and a box of 75mm drywall screws.

There are a few things to comment on here :

1. The "system" said there were 25 sheets of the thicker insulation board in the yard, but front-of-house could only find 1.
2. 200 x 75mm screws were priced at ~£9, whereas 200 x 100mm screws were ~£48. I made do with the 75's. After 50mm of insulation and 12.5mm of plasterboard, there is only 12.5mm left to pull into the wood, which is not as much as I would like, but the price difference seemed excessive.
3. The thick insulation board is really expensive - £66 +VAT for one sheet. Yikes.

Saturday was spent finishing the awkward studwork around the alcove, completing the fitting of the door lining (good job I used the spacers between the lining and the studwork - achieving vertical sides and a horizontal top would have been a nightmare otherwise) and a little more boarding.

Sunday, we turned our attention to insulation of the soffits. The decision was taken to leave the space above the window open, so several pieces of the thicker insulation had to be cut to peculiar shapes to fit in the various gaps. The soffits to either side of the window were relatively easy :

I was impressed to find that the other half of the triangular piece fitted perfectly in the equivalent location on the other side of the window. The insulation board cuts easily with a normal saw, but is rather nasty smelling. I am sure it's green credentials in terms of insulation properties don't stack up particularly well if you take into account the manufacturing process !

Doing the window reveal was more of a challenge and took a surprising amount of time. I was hoping to have all the insulation, and plasterboarding completed by the end of Sunday, but we didn't get that far (though, to be fair, a little further than in this picture) :

I have contacted the plasterer today and he is coming on Monday to look once more at what he needs to do with this room. Hopefully the room will be ready by then and he will be able to give us a firm date.

Speaking of dates, the conservatory roof is scheduled to arrive Friday week, hopefully with installation the week after; and the remaining windows and doors are also to be fitted starting that Monday. It could be busy here during the week beginning 1st October !