October was a busy month at Lackan, tackling all the regular jobs that we’ve been putting off too long. The cottages have been limewashed, repairs made to flashings and everything made generally weatherproof. Three years after we bought the lime-hemp plaster,...
Part of the joy of doing everything yourself is what we politely call ‘learning from experience’, or more commonly, ‘f**king it up’. Yesterday was a ‘learning’ day. First, I discovered just how close to a hot stove flue you can put...
An amazing days progress on the roundhouse – Helen, Michael, Alexey, Jim and Edie got almost all the slate floor laid and very fetching it looks too. I fitted the last of the flue, and the fire was lit. Suddenly the little house seems to have come to life. Next...
The cob fireplace gets its first proper layer Today I thought I’d try and get the heating sorted out in the roundhouse, and so several barrow loads of cob mix later and here are the results. It’ll need a fine finish layer, but its getting there. The actual...
With the weather on the turn, I thought it would be a good idea to fit a front door to the roundhouse, even if it ends up being temporary. The handle comes courtesy of some of the ivy growing on the neighbouring trees. It’s amazingly hard stuff.
This weekend we had lots of help here at the roundhouse – Jim, Mark, Helen, Michael, Alexey, Steven and Denise did a fine job and we finished off all the lime-hemp plaster that we have, so 3 out of 5 wall panels now have a scratch coat of plaster. Michael and...
Many thanks to Steven, Belinda, Denise, Alexey, Jim and James for helping out today. It is great to see the inside ready for plastering – it looks fantastic, and to have got the cladding under way. Several people have asked what the roundhouse is for.. Well,...
Today we reached a milestone with the roundhouse as we put on the straw, then the pond liner, and finally began to cover the whole lot with earth. One more days work and we should have it all covered up. Today’s crew was – Susan, Simon, Brian, Bert, Brian,...
Our first attempts at a slate wall, using a cob mix as mortar, have turned out rather well. This will act as a damp proof course for the strawbale wall above. Evie has laid out the lower course for the next section – below – and with any luck we’ll...
Another extraordinarily wet volunteer day on Monday, but undaunted, the team made a start on the cob and cordwood wall at the front of the roundhouse. In the morning we learned how to cut wine bottles in half, using a glass cutter and hot and cold water, and then...
After six days work, the roundhouse is really starting to take shape. Three quarters of the roof has been boarded out, and will be the visible ceiling from inside. The outside will be covered with old sheet or tarp, then strawbale, then pond liner, then more old...
Well I never thought we’d do this as quickly, but today the roof frame went on with surprisingly little fuss. In the morning we completed the henges and finished the wallplate – below and had a practice run with the reciprocal frame at ground level so...
Day three on our roundhouse build, and we have made excellent progress. Today we prepared the supporting posts by charring the ends of them in a fire, before dropping them into the post holes dug on Monday. Clinton, Chris and I backfilled the holes with slate,...
After the success of our recent treebog building weekend, we’re moving on to slightly more ambitious things, and the construction of a little post and beam timber framed building, which will have a reciprocal frame roof.Today we began by marking out and digging...
