Intumescence and Illuminations

The team from Blok Build CNC returned today to finish off some details below the floor.  In particular they filled some gaps in the galvanised steel strips covering the joins between the insulated floor panels.  They went on to fill the edges of those strips with intumescent sealant which will serve the dual purposes of sealing the floor from air ingress and acting to suppress any fire from below.

Another milestone was that I was able to declare the Heat Recovery Ventilation system operative, turning on its power and getting it running.   When on 25% power it is virtually inaudible but at 100% boost (used for drying out the building after plastering) it is a meaningful roar.

The day length being short they were working in underfloor floodlights which showed off the almost half-timbered appearance of that space.

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When things settle down and we are seeing to lighting and so forth we shall probably make something of a feature of the impressive underfloor space with good lighting and interesting ground cover.   The steel columns supporting the building are un-missable so might as well be featured.

A start will be made on fitting the windows on Thursday.  When finished we shall have an airtight but ventilated building ready to be plastered, dried out and second fixed with electrics and plumbing.

Windows Delivered and Foundations for Stairs Dug and Laid

Activity today as Aire Valley Glass have delivered the windows.   Here they are stacked in what will be the kitchen area:

Meanwhile Hopleys builders are digging the staircase foundations the old fashioned way, not helped by frozen ground:

By the end of the day we shall have three substantial concrete pads on which the heavy steel stairways will be anchored.

And - - by the end of the day four reinforced dead-level concrete foundation pads are laid, ready for the stairs:

New Villiers Engine for the Geest Truck

A fantastic drive out this morning up and over Pendle Hill and through the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty towards Burnley to pick up a Villiers stationary engine won in an EBay auction for a mere £45.   Why? I hear you cry.  It will replace the Villiers engine on the Geest three wheeler truck which is a bit temperamental in the sense that it won't start!

It would have cost more than £45 to have the other one looked at.   The new engine is in running and restored condition and at 250cc is a good deal more powerful than the 98cc existing engine.  Something to do in the summer.

It's Christmas Time in Settle

Jack Frost is about.   Here is Ruswarp the dog at Garsdale station wearing his winter coat:

It was FoSCL's Christmas lunch at the Golden Lion followed by the lights switch-on and fireworks on the Castleberg.   Stars of the show were Gunner and Ribble - Thwaites Brewery shire horses.

Settle really does Christmas well.

In case you are wondering Gunner and Ribble were tucked up in their stables in Lancashire by the time the fireworks went off.

Staircase Under Way

Recent posts have waxed eloquent about the galvanised steel external staircase.   Today we had a second visit from staircase makers John Robb and his son Shane to take precise measurements on site and to brief Hopleys on where the concrete foundations need to be.  These guys do not hang around either.   The foundations will be cast on Monday and the actual tread-plate stairs will be bent today!

The three-landing dog-leg staircase will have a total of 17 steps, each 185.29mm deep.   The middle flight will follow the exact line of the existing stone retaining wall seen in the picture below, which is at a slight angle to the tower and to the extension.  This will look a great deal neater and made-to-measure for the site.   Which it is, of course.

 Above, Shane (left) and John make sense of the unusual site.

Below, John commits measurements to paper on one of the big rocks.

The Architecture the Railways Built

Can't say too much just yet but this upcoming series on Yesterday Channel features a certain water tower.   Early in the New Year.

Super New Mapping Tool

Just discovered this amazing mapping tool from the National Library of Scotland:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/print/#zoom=18&lat=54.0672&lon=-2.2801&layers=171&b=1

It enables you to search the maps of any location in various formats and dates.   The link should take you to the Ordnance Survey map of the area around Settle Station of 1910, including the water tower.

It has all sorts of facilities to enable such tricks as measuring any area of land.  For interest, our plot is 1,112.676 sq m or 11,976.74 sq ft.  So  now we know.

When we bought the place Neil Wright's estate agent details showed the area as approximately 1/4 of an acre.  I asked Neil how he calculated that and he said he had guessed it.   Not a bad guess either - it works out at 0.27493112947658 of an acre.

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