SIPS structure is up

Its been several weeks since I have found the time to get an update posted but over that time work has continued to progress at a good pace and the whole SIPS house structure is now up and covered on breather membrane. This is a big step for us since we are now able to really visualise the size of the house and how a majority of the rooms are going to feel when we are complete.

We were very lucky with the weather during the 6 week period over which the structure went up with only a few rainy days and a couple of very windy days towards the end. With the membrane now up the structure is now fairly water tight, apart from the big gaps where the windows will be installed!

The following pictures show how the last of the structure came together

 

One of the big glulan purlin beams is lowered into position

Roof panels on the south side being installed

The roof panels installed were the biggest done by SIPs Industries to date with some panels weighing 2.5 tonnes. Lifting these into postion on the back of the house required a 60 MT crane to be able to boom out 30m and still be capable of making the lift.

One of the big roof panels being installed on the north roof

 The triangular bathroom dormer proved especially tricky to install due to a pitch change in the roof about half way down it. This ultimately required some onsite modifications to resolve the problem and allow this feature dormer to be installed sucessfully

 

The tricky bathroom dormer being put together....

.....and finally finished!

Roofing membrane has replaced roofing felt these days. The membrane has the advantage of allowing the structure to "breathe" while still preventing water ingress.

The south side

The guest & master bedroom wing

The recreaction room

 Inside the room shaps are starting to take shape, especially on the ground floor.

View from the front door

Lower hall looking towards the kitchen door

Upper hall from the guest bedroom door

Work on installing the roof will get started either this week or next week. There are over 4000m of baton and counter baton to install before we can even think about getting started on the slates. Before that happens though we need the joiners in first though to shape the end of the rafters and install the OSB cover plate beyond the end of the SIPs and the larch fascia boards

Continued progress

After two weeks of being on site this week we have been focussing on getting settled into life in Copenhagen and the house planning has been on the back burner - but not totally out of mind.

We have had another week of good weather and continued progress with erecting the SIPS house structure. The chipboard flooring has been laid and the first floor walls have started going up. A couple more weeks and the structure should be almost finished

Floor down and first wall going up

Internal walls start going in

Its really starting to take shape now!

After basically having a week off from managing this project  it will be back to it again. Solar panels and light tubes along with the roofing are next on the priority list.

Moving on up

Good progress has been made over the last week with all the ground floor interior and exterior SIPs being installed along with the joists.

West wing joists in place

 
With so many of the seperating wall on the ground floor being SIPs we are really starting to get an idea of the floor layout and the room size. I also manage to measure the structural openings for some of the windows and doors to confirm the windows sizes before they go to manufacture - eveything looks good on that front.

Utility & boiler room from the kitchen

Master bedroom

The scaffolding around the exterior of the house to allow access to erect the first floor and roof was also started to be put in place during the week.

Scaffolding on west side of house

The weather again co operated with us staying sunny and dry all week. If we get everything up before the weather changes it will be a miracle but we certainly can't complain about the way it has treated us so far.