Sorry, I’ve been very slack in updating the site over the last few weeks – very busy at work (my proper job) at the moment with a system implementation.

Rest assured my usual slow and steady service will be resumed shortly…

Picture with measurements of the yard side window.

Click on the picture for a larger version hosted by Picasa.

I’ve really enjoyed Roger Deakin’s ‘Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees’, the book takes you on a gentle journey, part biography, part manifesto, part travelogue.

As I expect to be spending substantial amounts of time sourcing, collecting, cutting, splitting and stacking logs to keep us warm over the winter, one particular quote struck me as good advice – advice that I’ll try to apply whenever I get around to building that wood store …

…a mosaic of cut log ends that wall the whole of the south-facing end. The summer sun will dry out the end grain, drawing out the sap until the wood is pure energy for the fire.

Anthony Watts’ recent comment on external insulation on my Insulation post (damn, I’ve still not finished that series of posts!) also reminded me of other passages in the same book, where when travelling through eastern Europe, Roger saw houses with great stacks of logs against the house walls, drying whilst improving insulation. Perhaps not a whole solution but potentially a partial, practical, low cost (assuming Anthony burns wood) one.

Straight in this month, no excuses and no delay…

I’ve managed to spread the load on finishing the untreated oak stairs and banisters having roped TC into treating the stairs with white foundation paint prior to waxing. I completed sanding and filling last weekend and the bannisters along the landing have all been whitened & then waxed. We’re using Osmo Polyx White Foundation as a base coat before applying wax. The white foundation coat keeps the oak nearer to its natural colour after waxing – without this foundation the oak would be darkened to the traditional waxed & polished caramelly oak colour that I’m not too fond of. Applying it is pretty tricky as any wayward brush strokes placing paint against the grain of the wood standout horribly (at least on close inspection). But I think the eventual finish will be worth it when done. I can however feel a regrouting repeat experience as I spend hours sanding and rewaxing areas I’m not happy with.

We’ve got on pretty well with the kitchen now with all the units assembled, the wall units up and holding (touch wood!) and the largest shelf in place. As the walls are plasterboard I used ballooning cavity wall screws to hang the heavy wooden wall cabinets. Although I was dubious to begin with, they seem to have worked well (touching wood again!), although I’ll not be putting too much weight in them any time soon.

I’ve installed blinds that fit neatly and tightly within the Fakro roof lights in the main bedroom. Pretty easy to get in and they seem to effectively shut out the light – hopefully they will keep the baby asleep for an extra half hour or so (but somehow I doubt it).

I’ve also been spending quite a lot of time collecting and splitting wood for the fire – I can feel a long cold winter ahead. If only the horses would leave me alone I’d get on much quicker! (There are two horses from the Gower now resident in our field trying to keep it under some kind of horticultural control, I think they must be bored as they love nothing more than nosing around anything I’m doing in the field.)