Let's Take a Look in the Toolbox

Dad helped me to build some of the studwork early in this project and was obviously not over-impressed with the array of blunt hand-saws that I supplied to do the job. In fact, he was so un-impressed that he took me shopping at Machine-Mart in Gloucester and bought me this baby :

At this point, I could hark back 12 years or so ago, to a time when I bought him a new tennon saw after trying to cut off the bottom of a door to clear a new carpet with what appeared to be a cheese knife ! It is obviously a family thing !

Anyway, I digress. The above is a beast of a circular mitre saw, with travel rails for extra wide cutting capacity. It made a huge difference to the time taken to prepare the studs and noggins, and of course every cut is perfectly square. The other thing it does really well, surprisingly for such a large machine, is trim small amounts off. It is possible to trim half a blade width off the bottom of a stud, if it doesn't quite fit, and you still have a perfectly square cut. It really has made a huge difference and I am very grateful. Thanks again Mum and Dad !

So equipped with the new saw, short work was made of the remaining stud-work yesterday, thus enabling some of the wall to be boarded. The ceiling was finished first. As you can see from the photo that follows, the door lining is now also installed, so that the remaining wall boards can butt right up against it :

The ceiling height is about 3" taller than a standard sheet of plasterboard, so there is a slight gap at the bottom. Unfortunately this also meant that the base rail of the stud wall had to be doubled up so that the bottom of the full board could be attached to something. A thin strip of board will be attached in the gap, just so the skirting boards have a level surface to attach to.

On the other side of the room, remaining to do, are the soffits and the window reveal. The soffits in this room are only small, but there are many other similar areas in other parts of the house :

The soffits have to be insulated, and this has been delayed as my materials supplier did not have the sizes of insulation board that I need. This is in fact another area of discrepancy between the academia of the structural engineer, and the reality of a builder. The specification sheets prepared by the structural engineer require 150mm thick insulation board to be installed between the roof rafters in the soffits. The depth of the rafters is only 150mm, so this insulation would completely fill that void. However, when I tried to order some of this, the builders merchant said there was no such thing, and suggested I speak to my builder. The builder said it was necessary to maintain an air gap between the insulation and the roofing felt, and recommended I fit 90mm thick board between the rafters, flush with their lower face, and then a further 45mm to cover the whole thing (rafters included). The plasterboard is then screwed or nailed through this insulation layer. This seemed like a much more sensible idea, so I have ordered appropriate board to do it this way.

The window reveal is quite awkward in this room, and I haven't quite decided how to handle it. The sloping sides of the dormer meet at the very top corners of the window structure, and this will make the fitting of a curtain rail awkward. You can see from the below photo that the builder has installed some horizontal joists for a high ceiling into this window area, but it might be better to make it lower, in order to be able to hang the curtain-rail directly from it. This is a decision that hasn't quite been taken yet.

Finally, just to return to the topic of the day - the toolbox. I was very impressed with my Black & Decker 12v rechargeable screwdriver. I must have bought it 12 years ago, when a previous one was stolen, and I have not used it, or charged the battery, for the last 5 years at least. However, after an overnight charge it survived a whole day driving 50mm drywall screws through plasterboard into timber and only at the very end did it run out of puff. I was fully expecting to have to put it in the bin and buy a new one after just a few minutes !