Going Upwards

After a couple of weeks where most of the work has been largely 'invisible' (electricity supply going in, more work on the floor structure etc) things have really progressed in the last 7 days.

What is immediately apparent now is just how the building is going to sit amongst the trees. It is also possible to gauge the real height of the building which was very difficult when looking at the design on paper without anything to provide scale.

This is the view of the building as it is approached from the car park. A gentle ramp will take visitors to the entrance (where the 'gang plank' is currently lying).

The stud walls are being built in sections or panels which are then stood up and nailed to the adjoining section. The oak superstructure that will take a proportion of the weight of the roof will be built around the stud walls which are also weight bearing.

The wall panels are made of Douglas fir frames clad with OSB. The original plan had been to try and use oak for all the timber framing but the shear quantity required was way beyond what could be sourced from Trust woods. Therefore only the larger visible structural timbers are oak and all the unseen timber in the stud walls is Douglas fir.
In keeping with the objective of trying to source wood locally the Douglas fir has come from Hampshire. While not as local as we would have liked, at least it isn't Canadian!

The cavities in the stud walls are 200mm deep which will allow for a good thickness of insulation.

Making a start on the floor

In keeping with all the timber used to date, even the floor joists are quite mighty at 75mm x 200mm (3"x8"). This floor could probably support the weight of elephants!
The joists are fixed in stainless steel hangers as mild steel (even if galvanised) would react with the oak and corrode.

The big success of the last week has been finding a solution to how to make the building rodent proof underneath. After looking at various options we have settled on a perforated zinc sheet (0.7mm thick with 3mm holes).