plastering complete .....

The plasterers finished work with us a week last Monday. It says a lot about the way that this project has made us 'time poor' that I've had no time to get to the computer to bring the blog up-to-date. Anyroadup, back to the plastering. Outer walls and ceilings had been 'dry-lined' with plasterboard prior to their arrival. These surfaces had a thin coat of plaster,

with the plasterboard adding yet more insulation to the building. Interior walls and their plaster finish perform a different function, forming the 'thermal mass' of the house. These heavy blockwork walls have no insulating role, but serve to absorb the heat of the house, giving stability to temperature. The plaster on these walls is 'Hardwall' and has a u value of 0 - no insulating capacity. Like night storage heaters, the walls will lock in the heat of the house, slowly releasing it back should temperatures within the house fall.

As with almost all of the trades we've used, our plasterer (Adey) came to us through our friends at Newtec. And what a great job he and apprentice Brendan did. I had never seen a plasterer do a ceiling finish on stilts until Adey arrived. Using his own vernacular - he and Brendan - did a 'bob-on job'.