Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Three Single Car Garages, Thatched Cottage: an inefficient use of space!

[BiTurbo228]

Thanks man! It definitely feels like one of those sliding piece puzzles!

Yeah we weren't actually all that interested in a thatch, but everything else about the house lined up perfectly so we went for it. Luckily we've only got one close set of neighbours that own all the fields around our house...and they've got a thatch too! So they'd be just as nervous about fireworks as we would be (and they've got enough land to do it miles away if they still wanted to).

Do you mean the flue? If so then yes it was plated up to stop drafts (and mosquitoes, which were terrible with it open). It had a couple of manky old ply boards in it previously, and about a foot and a half thickness of twigs the various nesting birds of 20 years had dropped down it. But now it's capped on both ends with a little vent tube for expansion.

I'm not sure it ever had a proper inglenook sitting-place within the fireplace, though it's certainly big enough for one provided your fire's not too ambitious. That's not really necessary with the stove, that thing's ferocious! Though it would mean I could keep a closer eye on my bannocks and rice pudding I make on the top plate

 

[BiTurbo228]

Next couple of jobs done on the garage.

First one was finishing cladding the back face.



I wanted to get everything buttoned up behind the garages before cladding the back of the corridor as I've been using the open studwork as a thoroughfare, and this is the access once it's buttoned up:



So I spent a little while finishing the soffits on the far side, which I can only really access from the back.



Because I'm not wholly convinced there won't be differential movement between the two garages I've left a gap between them and the corridor studwork. I can close it on one side by overlapping the cladding, but I'll have to come up with something to sort the other closing faces. Open to suggestions!



But either way, cladding at the back sorted:



And finished the front with offcuts:



Then it's back to lugging tiles up onto the roof whenever I've got a helper around to work the bucket at the lower end. I'm up to about 15% so far, which probably means it'll be a couple of months of evenings at the present rate. Still taking it somewhat easy while the back heals.

I am very excited at not having to do anything on the back of the garages anymore though. Working halfway into a mix of hawthorn and blackthorn hedge was getting a little bit tiresome!