weeks 36 to 39: scaffolding comes down

Front of house

The big reveal…after an interminable wait for the scaffolding company, even to pick up the phone, they finally get them to come to take it down! But, it’s worth the wait. With the sweet chestnut cladding and steel Lindab gutters, the house looks great (completely unbiased opinion of course!). There is still a fair amount of finishing off to do: painting; render below DPC; roof profiles; sedum roof; etc., not to mention landscaping. Some of these works should be happening over the next couple of weeks.

Rear of house

The balcony is now usable. It is good and solid and almost thermal bridge free. The balustrade has been fitted: it looks okay, but not quite what we would have chosen (planning condition to match existing). Overall, though the rear of the house looks smart, and the rear extension, clad in the chestnut, smartly encloses the balcony at one end.

We haven’t quite decided on whether we should leave the chestnut to naturally silver, or whether we should lacquer it to retain the new-look colouring for as long as possible. The intention was to let it silver, but it’s nice as it is right now. I think we’re likely to leave it.

4 thoughts on “weeks 36 to 39: scaffolding comes down

  1. The house looks fantastic, i expect you are very pleased with the results. What will you be doing with the top of the porch – it looks like it needs some kind of finishing, but Im not sure what?

    Have you insulated below the DPC or will you just be rendering the block/brick work to make it nice and tidy looking?

    • Thanks for the comment. The top of the porch is to be finished with an aluminium flashing, as is the rest of the extension. Yes, we have insulated below dpc, but switched to XPS (KIngspan Styrofoam) and reduced the insulation to 100mm (120mm above dpc) to allow a drip for run off. The XPS will be rendered too – same colour as above dpc (over-order for the main rendering so have to use it now). This may prove to be a mistake (muddy splashes), but we can always darken the colour afterwards if needed.

    • Thanks Liz. A lot of positive comments from neighbours so far, but I’m sure such an intervention has raised some eyebrows too!

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