
Before the above wall is wrapped Sam and Deek will add some knogs between the uprights.

Some parts of the framing were too warped to plane and had to be rebuilt. First they had to take bits of wall like this that have been out in the rain for a couple of months and using a straight edge and electric planer, plane them dead flat again so that the underlay wrap makes perfectly flat surfaces with no bends in them. It took Sam and Deek two days this past week to get the house ready to wrap completely in this underlay. The downside of this wall underlay wrapping is that until the cladding goes on, our house turns into a giant advert for a building supply company.Īlthough I don't like the house becoming a massive billboard, I am a big fan of cladding products named after American political crises: I think the Bay of Pigs weatherboards are my favourite, and I definitely made sure to specify Irangate flashings. When he draws up the house, the draughtsman follows rules for nearly every single detail of the house construction. The curious dachshund is sniffing the wall underlay.Īnd of course it isn't just the wall construction that follows guidelines and rules like these.
#Do def people play eenie meenie miney mo how to
This is just one diagram from a 24-page Dept of Building document specifying how to construct a watertight drained cavity wall.
#Do def people play eenie meenie miney mo code
The building code specifies how and with what all walls must be constructed to avoid any leaky building situation (you have to say that very quietly like 'Voldemort') and this plastic wrap is an important and approved part of that. The bigger picture is that part of our house will be clad in what is called a 'drained cavity system' where the outside is cedar weatherboards, behind which there is a cavity of 20mm constructed by nailing the weatherboards onto narrow battens about 20mm thick, under which is the wall underlay - stapled over the joists and nogs etc. It acts as a temporary raincoat until the cladding goes on, after which it provides waterproofing under the cladding, as well as being fire retardant, stopping any draughts and air leaks that would compromise the insulation, and still allowing the house to 'breathe' (I'm not 100 per cent sure what that means - certainly hope it doesn't breathe loudly while I'm trying to sleep). They've chosen pretty ugly paper, but I don't mind. Sam wields an awesome builder's version of a stapler, a sort of staple hammer. So Sam and Deek have been busy wrapping the house like a Christmas present. That certainly made me feel good because although we're really happy with our builders, when you've only ever had one building company you've got nothing to compare them with (it's like spouses). Floors swept, wood stacked, plans stapled up on the wall = good builders. As a developer who works on building sites every day he says you can measure how good a building company is by how tidy their sites are. On the midfloor, looking south from the guest bedroom through the hallway to the entranceway.Ī mate of mine came to visit and was impressed with the tidiness of the site. Sometimes it seems like it's flying by like an episode of X Factor (oh, no, it's over already?!?) Sam and Deek (the Jackie and Whenua of our build) have also done a lot of cleaning and tidying - picking everything up off the floor so that the plywood can breathe to dry. Now the builders are sealing all the other gaps in the building envelope so that it can dry out after all the rain it has soaked up in the last six months.Īnd it has been exactly six months this week since the build started. I'm thinking of building a little platform for roof picnics. The best view in the house will def be from up here.

Last week we were excited to see the roof go on the house: At the end of this post I will announce the final two excellent prizes in my big "Guess our Move-In Date" competition (I suppose it's also kind of the "Guess how Old this Blog will Live to" competition, but that seems morbid) and give you one last chance to enter. I didn't think my blog would live this long because (like everyone who builds) we planned to be in our new house ages ago.
