My Extension

[RonnyRaygun]

Final front panel into position, first door and window in, and a few roof joists into position to restrain the front panels. I was slightly concerned about potential lateral loads on the front panels pulling the joists out of the hangers, so I installed restraint straps behind the ledger board and nailed them to the tops of each joist.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Flitch beam in and more roof joists installed. You may notice that the flitch is bolted either end into a shoe. I decided to stiffen up the 100x100mm post either end of the opening with a 100x8mm plate, effectively creating a flitch post. This was because I was concerned about lateral deflection due to wind forces on the door, and when the door gets slammed. I welded a shoe to the top of the plate that the flitch beam could sit into, making the connection between the beam and the posts more robust too.

In case anyone is wondering, the plywood sheathing was all second hand and was formerly hoarding sheets. This explains the paint of different colours.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Trimmers in. Breathable membrane and battens going on:

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Rooflights in, tiles going on, and insulation going in between the studs:

The rooflights are Dakea, and are apparently made in the same factory as Velux, but are about half the price. I've got no complaints with them at all.

With the tiling I made the schoolboy error of nailing each of the first row of tiles into position without checking I had the correct gap between them. Oops. I ended up having to take the first row back off breaking each of the tiles in the process. This left me about six tiles short, and it was like searching for a needle in a haystack trying to find somewhere that would sell me a few individual tiles. I found somewhere in the end though.

The insulation was whatever I could pick up second hand, as PIR insulation is damn expensive and I needed a lot of it! Luckily there are always people on eBay and Gumtree selling sheets they didn't need. I think I paid between £20 and £30 a sheet for my insulation, thicknesses between 100 and 150mm.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

More insulation, stud partition in:

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Bifold door in, fascia board on, and battens in place ready to receive renderboard:

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Vapour barrier and insulated plasterboard going on:

I was sat at work one day thinking about the next job of fitting the kitchen and radiators. I suddenly realised that the 50mm insulated polystyrene plasterboard wouldn't leave enough room to fit the radiators and still be able to open the closest kitchen drawer! All the 50mm insulated plasterboard on the rear wall had to come back off and was replaced with 25mm Kingspan. Bit annoying, but at least I realised before I came to fit the kitchen!

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Rear elevation rendered, insulation going in between roof joists.

The render is a thin coat silicone render, and despite the inherent flexibility of a timber frame, especially around the openings, there is not an single crack in it. One of the plasterers who came out to quote wanted to do a sand / cement render. It would have been cheaper, but I very much doubt it would have survived without cracking.

The insulation in the vaulted ceiling varied in thickness between 120 and 150mm, basically down to what I could pick up for the best price. As the 120mm insulation complied with building regs, I didn't see the harm in putting thicker insulation between the joists and improving the resistance to heat loss in some areas. The air gap was maintained, and there was also 50mm polystyrene insulated plasterboard screwed into the joists.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Roof nearly finished except for the few tiles I was yet to source:

It was quite a job getting the tiles to sit nicely over the flashing around the rooflights.
I ended up having to grind a nib off the underside of each tile to ensure they sat flush. I did have a look at my next door neighbour's tiles around the rooflights and they didn't sit flush. Mine do though

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Tiling finally finished and gutters and downpipes installed.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Thinner Kingspan attached to wall and radiator hung in position:

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Insulated plasterboard fixed to ceiling. Even with a plasterboard lifter that is a pain of a job!

You will notice to the left hand side of the photo some slots cut above the window and door openings.
Unfortunately, in the 1960s it was commonplace to build the outer leaf off the window / door frame. Which is a problem when you want to remove the window and door! I decided to put three layers of helibar into slots at 225mm centres to create a beam above the openings. I chased the bottom slot into the middle of the soldier course to ensure there was no risk of the soldier course dropping. Seems to have worked.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Second layer of plasterboard on the ceiling. Fireboard on the wall as I didn't have the space to fit the required two layers onto that wall and still have space to open the kitchen drawer.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Plastering or jointing? I decided to do both!

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Plastering a ceiling was too big a job for me. Sanding it wasn't much fun though...