An update on the walls

I thought a bit of a progress update would be a good idea this week. We have been working hard on the walls and the verandah, and I am glad to say that things really seem to have started moving along again. Most of our time has been spent lime plastering the internal walls.

Getting the internal walls right has been a bit of a journey for us all. We are all hoping we have got it right this time. I quite enjoyed the lime plastering in the end, it was quite a forgiving substance to work with. A base coat which is mixed with animal hair was applied first, then left to go off for a few days prior to being scratched to provide a key for the top coat to adhere to. The top coat was left to go off as well, then while it still had some give it was rubbed down with a slightly damp sponge.

This gives the wall a textured finish by evenly distributing the particles in the plaster. It also helps smooth out any trowel marks and other dents and marks that were created during the plastering. The finish is still a long way off a modern plasterboard wall, but that wasn’t what we were trying to achieve. The lime on the straw bale walls is full of curves and bulges, the internal panels are hand cleaved sweet chestnut laths and are a lot flatter, bit still have plenty of character in them. The next stage is numerous coats of limewash, this creates a protective, but breathable skin over the surface of the plaster. We are still in the midst of limewashing, as well as decorating over the remaining splatters of mud.

The other progress that has been made recently is outside on the verandah, where we have been starting to cut out and screw down the oak floorboards.

When we were sawmilling beams for the building last year we kept the falling boards from the logs and stacked them to one side. These are now being re sawn to make our verandah floorboards. The oak for them came from the woods at Swan Barn Farm, when the verandah is finished you will be able to sit on it and look out over the woodlands that provided the timber to make it.

Its one of my favourite features of the building, its a big space and is really going to come into its own on a summers evening, when it is going to be a lovely place to sit out in the sun.

The boards are still pretty green, so we are laying them tight against each other. As they season over the next year or so they will shrink a bit forming gaps between them to help shed the weather.

Meanwhile on Black Down there has been a bit of a stir caused this week by the arrival of a particularly rare bird. I didn’t manage to get a picture of it, but Matt did take this photo of the people who were watching it.

There have been up to 60 people up there all with their binoculars and telescopes trained on the pine trees at the top of Boarden Door Bottom. The fuss was caused by the arrival of a parrot crossbill. There are lots of common crossbills on the hill, they feed on the seeds from the pine cones which they use their specialised bill to pry open. The parrot crossbill is a much rarer species, I’m told the last recorded sighting in Sussex was in 1870!

 

Limewashing and apple picking

Another group of working holiday volunteers are staying here this week. The main focus of their week is on our two small orchards, but they are also helping our with a few jobs on the Speckled Wood building as well.

Now the third coat of lime plaster has been applied to the outside of the building its time to start on the limewashing. This is a traditional form of paint, made of limestone which has been crushed, burnt and slaked with water to make lime putty. The putty is matured for several months before being thinned with water to make the limewash.

It has insecticidal and anti bacterial properties as well as being breathable, the perfect finish for our timber and straw bale walls.

At least four coats will be needed, with each one adding greater protection to the surface of the building. We have also been busy cleaning off any excess lime plaster which was spilled on the timbers. I have really enjoyed the effect on the appearance of the building as the coats of limewash go on and the timbers are cleaned up, escpecially when the morning sun shines on it.

The guys have also been out in the orchard collecting apples and pears.

The aim of this weeks holiday is partly to help with management of our orchards, but also to show people what can be achieved with their produce. We will be pressing apples with them later in the week, as well as teaching them how to make cider and perry.

As well as picking there was a fair bit of tasting going on.

Many of the varieties of tree in our orchard are pretty rare these days, and they have flavours the like of which you simply wouldn’t ever come across on a supermarket shelf. This year our Worcester Pearmain was particularly good, it was perfectly ripe and really sweet.

Don’t forget we have a public apple pressing event on October 1st from 10.30 till 3,  you can bring along your apples and apple or orchard related questions and learn the secrets of apple pressing and cidermaking.

More lime and the sarking boards

The second and third coats of lime render have now been applied to the outside of the building, the walls have taken on a terrific sculptural quality as the layers were applied. The walls have attracted quite a bit of comment already, ranging from medieval, through bumpy all the way to marshmallowy. I really like them, they add masses of character and look great against the roundwood frame.

The second coat was what is refered to as a hair coat. It contained animal hair so that it could stay strong whilst also having an element of flexibility. using lime rather than a cement based render will allow the building to breath and move over time.

The third coat created the final effect, allthough we still have a number of coats of limewash to apply before these walls are finished.

There is still lots more plastering, both with lime and clay based plasters to do inside the building, but there is something comforting about seeing some of the exterior of the building being completed. We are all very aware that autumn is upon us, and winter only just around the corner, the next few weeks are going to see a lot of work on the roof, those shingles everyone has been working so hard on are going to start being put into place.

In preperation for the shingling we had to get the sarking boards up last week. They are the boards which create the ceilings of our verandah’s.

On top of these boards will sit a waterproof membrane, then counter battens, battens and the shingles. They are feather edge boards made out of larch from Boarden Door Bottom on Black Down and processed on the sawmill here at Swan Barn Farm. In the finished building they will only be visible from below, but it was nice to see progress on the roof.