Decks Finished

With three decks in five separate sections covering 56 square meters it took a while to complete them. As with any building work we got more efficient and better the more we did. We had done the straight section of the curved deck and the whole of the L-shaped deck outside the hallway and rear bedroom.

L-shaped deck with two coats of decking oil

Boards laid out for curved deck

The next deck to be tackled was the two straight sections of the front deck, outside the front door and front bedroom. Before this was sufficient decking was temporarily laid out to complete the curved deck in single lengths so that we did not have to join any boards. As no power tools were required this was a job that could be performed in the cool of the evening, out of the hot summer sun.

The thin sections of the front deck posed no difficulty was their spacing was the same as the deck outside the back bedroom, so we know how many boards to use. As before we oiled the underside and sides of the decking with Intergrain natural oil before we laid them. Pieces of the iron bark decking were bowed and twisted and needed persuading into position with the assistance of a crowbar.

Freshly oiled deck outside front bedroom

Deck outside front door

Deck wrapping around corner

As we had completed the first part of the deck together, my friend Martin, came back down to Culburra to finish the curved deck. Cutting the boards around the sliding doors was easy, having already done it for five other sets of doors however, for this deck we had a down pipe protruding through the deck. Extra packers at joist level had been attached to support the cut out and with a paper template made up the boards were cut out neatly with a jig saw to fit snugly around the down pipe.

The next challenge was that the deck spanned between two sections of the house and as the case often is with building the two sections of the house were not perfectly parallel. A little bit of measuring was required and some additional spacing on one end of the boards and slightly tighter spacing on the other side of the boards fixed this problem. We worked out from the rear door of the main room toward the decking we had completed earlier. Having roughly laid the boards out it was difficult due to the bows and twists in the boards to be able to tell if they would fit neatly of the spacing would have to be adjusted to completed the deck in full width boards.

We were using 3.2mm window wedges as our spacers between the decking boards. When we only had six boards left we jammed the spacers in between the boards and used them and the boards themselves to straighten out any bows. With exceptional luck the boards all fitted perfectly, the last spacer just being persuaded into place with a hammer.

Curved deck laid in single lengths

The next challenge was to trim the boards to the curve. On the plans the curve was measures from a centre point 900mm in from the top and side of the deck however one side of the deck had been made longer to fit a full board along the door and had also been made slightly wider. We also made the horrible discovery that while all the boards had been allowed to hand over the joists to allow for some cut off, in two spots the boards were a little short. This meant that after some time trying to locate a suitable centre point and radius we came to the conclusion that the deck would be a complex curve consisting of several centres and radii. Even this proved difficult to produce a smooth curve. The solution came in the use of a garden hose, just like a flexible ruler, which with together with some curves drawn using string was able to produce a smooth curve which to the eye looked like one curve.

This was cut off with the jig saw. The cut was a little rough and lumpy in places, but all this was smoothed out later with the belt sander which was also used the take off the corners of the cut boards to give the pencil round look.

Rough cut curve

Edges all smoothed out

This left only the large front deck to complete. My sister helped me get the large deck ready, laying out the protect-a-deck black plastic over the joists and stapling it down. Although my sister has no building she is good at maths and this proved very useful as once again in the cool of the evening (and into the night) we laid out the boards for the large deck. This was a bit like a giant game of Tetris as two or three boards had to be joined to form each length. Each of the boards had to be joined over a joist and as the two ends of the deck were sloping each row was not identical. We were a bit short of timber and so wanted to make the most efficient use of each board, minimising offcuts.

Protect-a-deck stapled in place

Decking boards laid out

With a bit more ironbark decking ordered and delivered from DIY Timbers in Bomaderry another weekend was spent cutting the boards so that they joined precisely over a joist and oiling the tops and bottoms so that they just had to be screwed down. We only had just enough timber to finish the deck, with nothing but short scraps left over.

Decking boards cut and ready to be screwed down

On the weekend before Christmas I put in 1,800 stainless steel decking screws and finished the deck. I estimated that the deck would be 42 boards wide. I attached the first two boards against the house and the last board on the edge then measured out the distance of every fifth board. The plan was to measure out and attach every fifth board then evenly space the remaining four boards in between. I put in half the length of the first fifth board, then decided it would be quicker to do the fifth and tenth board at the same time. I then abandoned this as too time consuming and because the inside and outside boards were parallel I measured the distance for and pit in the middle board. I then used window wedges as spacers to space out the boards in between, by jamming the boards between the spacers the pressure from the adjoining boards corrected any bows in the wood. This was much more efficient and each half width of deck fitted quite well with only a few sections being a little tight as the newer timber was fractionally wider, presumably it had not shrunk as much. After a day and a half I was three quarters finished.

Window wedges spacing out the decking boards

Three quarters finished

The last quarter of the deck was only attached by one screw as I knew I would run out of stainless steel decking screws. A quick trip to the nearby Culburra Home hardware, who had a box of 250 stainless steel decking screws in just the right size on special, and I put in the second screws to finish the deck. I then used a string line to mark off the end and cut it with a circular saw, the cut edges were then rounded off with the belt sander. We then attached a cover fascia board to the end joist to make the deck look nice.

End of deck cut off

Fascia board ready to attach

Half way through the second coat of decking oil we ran out, having used 10 litres of oil on the deck. Finishing touches were then done by adding a fascia to the curved deck curved deck using the left over offcuts. The fascia was made up of several pieces to follow the joists, but we ran out of timber with two 500mm pieces left to attach.

Finished deck with second coat of oil to half

Fascia added to most of curved deck

All up we used 4,650 decking screws. We broke five drill bits. Thankfully the Smart-Bit combined countersink and drill bit comes with three replacement drill bits and after we had broken the first two drill bits I ordered a second one from Fasteners Galore just in case. As it turned out the countersink had become blunt after so many holes and for the last 1,500 screws I used the second Smart bit which was sharper and was therefore quicker and less effort. My Makita cordless drill and impact driver were fantastic. They each took the same battery and I had a third spare battery so I could have one on to charge while using the other two. With almost continuous used over the weekend I only once had two batteries needing charging at the same time and this was a good excuse for a break.

Finished deck in use

Tiling on Hemp Walls

The second bathroom was the last room to be finished, it could not be rendered because thee tiling had to go in first and I had not finished the mosaic tiling behind the toilet and sink. With the shower tiled in a mosaic pattern I wanted to follow this scheme through the rest of the bathroom. So as soon as I finished my TAFE Diploma in Building Design in November several evenings were dedicated to mosaic making.

Mosaic laid out upside down ready to go on wall

As with the earlier mosaic I chose and put together, and cut a little if they did not fit, the pieces of broken tile. I laid them out on a paper patters then as I completed each section I stuck clear contact to the front. I then cut the now stuck together mosaic into pieces about 300 - 350 mm square. These sheets of mosaic were then adhered to the hemp wall with tile adhesive. I pressed them against the wall with my rendering hawk so that the whole section would be flat, rather than having uneven areas where pieces of the mosaic were pressed down more than others.

Mosaic adhered directly to hemp wall

 The bathroom had been waterproofed and the waterproofing came up the walls just over 50mm. The waterproofing had no problems adhering directly to the hemp wall, care just had to be taken that no stray pieces of hemp got stuck in the waterproofing as this would have left an uneven surface for the tiles to be adhered to. Except ensuring that there was no loose hemp no special technique was used to adhere the tiles to the hemp wall.

White Adhesive

Grey Adhesive

I used a white flexible tile adhesive called "Gripflex" This worked well on both the hemp wall and the Magnesium Oxide Board. Unfortunately I ran out of this product, which had been recommended to me by the professional tilers who had done the floor tiling and wall tiling in the front bathroom. The same product was not available at the chain hardware store and so I tried to match up the properties of the product, but in doing so did not check the colour and ended up buying a 20kg bags of grey adhesive. I did not find out it was grey until I opened it at which time it was too late to take it back. Grey adhesive is not recommended for use with white tiles and white grout as any adhesive that oozes through to the top of the grout gaps has to be scraped back to prevent it showing along the edges of the grout.

Tiling with white grout

Tiling with grey grout not so good

Once the adhesive had set (and both the adhesives I used were quick setting meaning they could be grouted in 8 -12 hours after adhesion) I removed the contact on the front of the tiles and grouted them with a flexible white grout called "Kemgrout Flexible". By choosing both a flexible adhesive and grout I hope to avoid any cracking due to movement, although any cracking will be harder to see due to the mosaic pattern.

Flexible white grout

Along the top of the tiles where they abutted the hemp wall I ran a line of grout so that if the render did not match the width of the tiles exactly the bare top of the tiles would not be seen. However I had laid the tiles on the adhesive so that they would match the thickness of the render and for the tiles beside the window frame I ensured that they finished flush with the window reveal. The area between the window and the wall was tiled as we planned to install a mirror and shelf unit where the shelves were open to that wall and it would be easier to clean spills from tiles than a rendered wall.

Grouted mosaic

Finish along top adjoining hemp wall

With the tiling finished and the wall behind the toilet rendered we were able to get Len, our plumber, to come out in the week before Christmas and install the shower, toilet and basin. The only thing left was to render the last two bathroom walls.

Toilet and basin installed

Earth Building Association Conference 2014

While not technically related to hemp building I am reporting on my attendance at the 2014 Earth Building Association Conference at Bamarang Bush Retreat, just outside Nowra on the NSW South Coast. I have a strong interest in natural building and this includes building with earth - mudbrick, light earth, straw/clay, cob and rammed earth.

I was particularly interested in Martin Freeny's talk on Earthships and listening to the amazing research he had done. As well as Peter Hickson on the various Building Energy rating schemes and how earth buildings perform under these. This fitted in well with Fei Ngeow's discussion of how earth buildings measured up under a life cycle analysis and the use of e-tool. Steve Dobson also gave a very informative talk with lots of great pictures on rammed earth.

But more fun was to be had getting your hands dirty with the construction of a small outdoor shelter, using mud brick and a clay straw mix, supported like wattle and daub on a bamboo structure. As well as a demonstration rammed earth wall and earth filled pounded tyre wall. A protruding mud brick and a suggestion to do something "creative" led to a flight of fancy and the construction of a "Where the Wild Things Are" style monster, at least it was hidden on the back of the structure, ready to surprise and unsuspecting explorers.

Monster in the wall

Mudbrick and clay/straw walls

More sculptural elements

Rammed earth in formwork

Completed rammed earth wall

Pounded tyre wall

A few attendees also took an impromptu tour to the nearby "Make It Mudbricks" site to pick up a few extra bricks and to see how mud bricks were made on a commercial scale.

The mudbrick making machine attached to the back of a tractor

Corner mudbricks in their molds

Half and full sized mudbricks drying out

For anyone interested in earth building I would strongly recommend attending one of the EBAA Conferences. The Conference had a good mix between presentations, hands on building and house visits and the people in attendance were very friendly and knowledgeable and happy to share their experience.

Rendering and Eaves Lining Finished

After a break work resumed on the rendering with the last two of the large walls done, including the longest window header.

Last two large walls rendered

Small wall around front door finished

With one wall, above the awning on the main pavilion, left to go, bad weather and other commitments meant that  it was several weeks before we could line up a date to get together with Brett the renderer and finish it off. With the date scheduled in it rained the night before and looked like it might not be able to be done. Then it stopped raining overnight. It rained again at about 6am but had stopped by 7am. Brett arrived on site, the sun came out and dried the roof and the decision was made to go ahead. Now with lots of practice the final wall presented no real difficulties, beyond it location above the awning and the need to do both the window headers and the wall in the one day (previously we had left the window header dry for at least a day before doing the wall).

The wall was just finished, and before we had a chance to clean up, a brief thunderstorm rolled in. Most bad weather comes from the south west, which would have not been an issue, but unusually the storm came from the north. The awning protected most of the wall and it only got a few spots of rain on it. Climbing on the wet roof to clean up was tricky, but it was a great relief to have the rendering
finished.

Last wall, above awning, rendered

Internally the finishing touches were also being added with a second coat of Livos Ardvis natural oil to the window reveals and door frames and the installation of the internal cavity sliding doors.

Second coat of oil on window reveals

 In the mean time work continued on the decks. A friend, Elle, and her children visited for the weekend and between the rain and swimming at the beach we squeezed in a half a day of decking, finishing off the narrow deck outside the hallway. Careful selection from the random length decking meant that the decking could be done in single spans. We sanded off the burrs around the screw holes and gave it a coat of Intergrain Natural Decking Oil. As the deck was built by two women and was finished so beautifully we like to call it the "girl deck".

The beautiful "girl deck"

Deck outside the hallway

The following weekend we completed the deck around the corner that joins to the hallway deck. The narrow decks provide a transition between inside and outside, also a nice place to sit and look at the garden (when it is planted, or now just imagine the garden). The design of these decks was influenced by the Japanese "engawa". This deck is yet to have the fascia added and a coat of decking oil.

Deck goes around the corner

Apart from the decks the eaves lining was the other big job remaining. Originally I had wanted to not have any eaves lining and have the roof beams exposed and be able to see the underside of the corrugated roof sheets. Unfortunately, when trying to save money on the framing I did not get timber that was durable enough to be exposed to the weather, some being made of laminated timber. I would also have had difficulty detailing the joint between the wall and the roof. So, the decision was made the have Colorbond fascia and to line the eaves. To minimise the need for painting and maintenance I chose to use corrugated Colorbond for the eaves lining.

Corrugated eaves lining on front pavilion

I chose to run the corrugated sheets parallel to the fascia an fitted the edge of the sheet into the slot at the bottom edge of the Colorbond fascia. I then mitered the corners. This meant quite a bit of cutting of the sheets as the eaves were less than one sheet wide and the awnings were over one sheet wide. Luckily this meant that I could use the offcut from the eaves to make up the extra width needed for the awning lining. I bought some Metabo electric sheers to cut the sheets and they have proved worth the $230 cost.

Electric sheers cutting sheet on angle

The junction between the rendered wall and the corrugated sheet will be covered by an angled flashing and the miter corner by a cover strip, however the change of pitch between the two sections of the front roof may prove a little difficult to finish.

Eave with change of  roof pitch on right

Eaves lining at change of roof pitch

A weekend of two ten hour days of work was put in to finish all the eaves lining so that I could measure up all the exact sizes of the flashings and have them delivered the following weekend. The flashings were made up to go down the wall 25 mm then across the first ridge of the corrugated sheets and feather up along the corrugation. Each eave section was measured separately with different angles required for the top, sides and lower edge of each roof. My measurements were a little too accurate and did not leave a tolerance for the bend and fold down against the wall. This meant that the flashings were a little too long and sat a bit too far across the first ridge of the corrugated sheets, but once they are all installed it is not a detail that anyone but the builder will notice.

Eaves lining finished

Corner flashing put on between wall and eave

The longer awnings had sagged a little and had been temporarily propped up with some timber. This timber had to be removed to finish the eaves lining to the awnings, but I could not measure the exact, tin to tin, measurement for the length of the awning stays until the lining of the roof was installed. Thankfully I was able to e-mail Stainless Steel Worx and within a week they had made up the stays in 5mm stainless cable with turnbuckle to allow it to be tightened. We got three made up to make sure they worked. They were a success and so got a further three made up the following week for the main awning. The stainless steel cables are barely noticeable and it means that there  are no posts coming down from the awning.

Stainless steel awning stay

With the house being nearly finished it was appropriate that we got rid of the piece of reo mesh we had been using as a gate and install a more residential and easier to open gate. I am planning to weld up a decorative gate in the future, but in the meantime some generous neighbors have loaned us some spare farm gates and so the property now has a civillised and easy to open entry.

Front gate