Blogs from Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 4

Firstly we hope you have all recovered from your Christmas celebrations and wish you and yours a healthy and prosperous new year. Last blog didn't mention that the first fit electrics is now done - thanks Douglas & Robert. We're still looking for suggestions as to what to do with the gaps in the bedroom walls. Does anyone know of any good stained glass courses? The gaps are approx 2 metres vertically and at their max maybe a metre wide (see previous blogs for photos). But to our tale Ae market nicht Tam had got planted unco richt, Fast by an ingle bleazing finely Wi' reaming swats that drank divinely Oops sorry wrong tale ..... though quite appropriate at this time of year. (For our English readers, the verse is a tiny bit of a very, ... read more

This is all about insulation.... and the faster we can get it in the better, cos our electricity bill was £200 last month in the straw house. We're running a couple of electric heaters and a couple of de-humidifiers 24 hours a day to try to dry out the plaster on the straw walls and in the block walls and soon in the screed too. I am hoping that once we get the insulation all in, then lighting a candle for a couple of hours at night will prove adequate in the super-insulated house, but I fear that this will not be the case. We had a nice break in Haarlem, though we didn't do a lot - a little bit of Christmas shopping and long walks in the scrub/woodland just inland behind the dunes. We ... read more

We have walls! It's been a long time since we had much real progress to report. The last couple of weeks have been a steady slog, cleaning lime from windows and frames and continuing with limewash plus general tidying up as we try to get ready for putting in floor insulation, first fix plumbing and electrics, internal walls etc. This last week (since Tuesday) we've started on the internal walls (Ewan doing the stud walls and Bounce the block walls) and Wendy has sorted out insulation and screed and we have plumber and electrician lined up for first fix so all being well we'll have a floor by Christmas! The stud wall is up between the living room and the bedroom/office, though there's no plasterboard on yet. It does make the living room look a bit ... read more

Having made the most of our weeekend off catching up on sleep etc. We returned to Tombreck on Tuesday. Continued stuffing roof and completed both west and central sections (now 5/6ths done) but ran out of mesh. Then to Manse for birthday bash for Bryn - the usual enjoyable if chaotic melee of music and mayhem. Also farewell to Tasha and Marcus who were departing the following day for London and Sweden respectively. On Wednesday, Wendy started stuffing and trimming the straw walls on the ground floor (with scissors) and this continued on Thursday - between meetings with Douglas to talk about electrics and John Rennie to discuss floor insulation . meantime Willy kept Hamie company as he drilled holes for posts for balcony and woodshed/veranda Went to Lawers Hotel for dinner only to meet Ian ... read more

Monday - Hardly seemed to be there then back up the road after calling in at screwfix in Livingston. Delays all the way, either roadworks or slow traffic took over 2 hours so Ewan made a temporary door while he waited for me to turn up. Ended up spending evening with Tober and a bottle of wine. By Wednesday the top half of the gable was clad and from the west the house resembles a Swiss chalet. It was the last night at Tombreck for Lea and Christine, our German woofers, so we went for dinner at the Ben Lawers Hotel then back to the manse for a small farewell party with Ewan, Marieke, Marcus and Tober - ending up as yet another late night with Tober. Thursday I ran the girls into Killin to catch ... read more