After a long break (from writing) here’s the next instalment of the saga.  After a couple of months of preparation, installing joists and window frames, we have finally got walls on the upstairs.  At the end of July, Rae from Straw Works and 8 students and volunteers arrived at the farm. From the off, everyone threw themselves into the building, and quickly we had walls rising from the base plate all round.

By the end of the week, we had the walls up all round, and the wall plate on.  One end was under compression, but we ran out of time before completing all the compression.

Just after adding the last bale!

Over the following couple of weeks, whilst I sunned myself in the south of France, at a conference (no, really!), Katie and Chris finished and straightened the final end wall.  When I returned, we completed the compression of the remaining walls.

Pushing back the frontiers of science in the south of France.

Since then, we’ve spent our time trimming and stuffing and then rendering the outsides of the upstairs walls, and have also made a start plastering the inside of the downstairs.  With the help of some of my colleagues from work, we had a team meeting, discussing the merits of mud and straw plastering.

As I write this, we have plastered around 70% of the outside of the house, have almost completed the order of the windows and doors and are looking at quotes for cladding the outside of what actually looks like a house now! Thanks to all those who have helped with getting us this far – next stop, making it all weatherproof!