Off grid house build Orkney

Those clouds are AMAZING. This article shows how they gave rise to UFO sightings: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/06/documents-reveal-how-mod-played-down-ufo-thesis-in-x-files-study

Haha, I love it, It’s quite a reach to claim ufo but you could have definitely said there was something hiding behind them!

Got a beautiful couple days forecast so hoping that might lead to the rest of the cement board and possibly the windows and doors being fitted in the workshop.

We’ve been down in Glasgow the last few days picking up some bits and pieces for the house and visiting friends and family. Used to work at Dulux so managed to get a discount on our paint which took a huge chunk off. Can’t believe the price of things these days, for that pile of paints, a few rolls of wallpaper and some other painting supplies it would have cost a grand full price!! Good quality paint so should only take 2 coats at the very most and will be nice to start seeing colours on the wall. Going to try getting at least one coat on before any finishings to save the cutting in around skirtings and door frames. We bought some internal tongue and groove cladding for in the porch too so wet jackets aren’t sitting right against the wall.

The guys have finished off the cement board on the outside of the house and fitted the doors and windows in the workshop since we’ve been away. Once the roof ridge is on we should be able to transfer all the boarding out of the house into there and start on tiling the floor. Everything is taking longer than we thought and reckon this next few months will be a slog but it’ll be worth it.

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And here’s some workshop pictures now the windows and doors are in, to be honest it feels way bigger than expected, but lots of batteries, inverters, bikes and tools to fit in there

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That workshop is about 3x as big as my house. Looks amazing

Yeah it’s taken us a bit by surprise too, now we’ve seen it up we’re second guessing whether we should have gone down the tiny house route and no mortgage.. I think we made the right decision though, and might as well build before we go to part time and can’t get a mortgage for any kind of large scale extension in the future. I’m sure 20 years down the line and after years of island detritus accumulation we’ll appreciate the space!

I’m picturing half the main house dedicated to driftwood when you say “island detritus”. House looks amazing though. Well done.

Painted in washed out pastels with 'amusing' sayings on them in illegible fonts?

This is starting to sound really like something out of Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways. I swear he has a friend on the islands who's a shaman/artist that works with drift wood.

Love it.

Haha, I wish! Unfortunately not many trees here so not much driftwood..that idea blew my mind when I first realised it. Do get some good stuff occasionally and plenty of bones and nice rocks but mainly ghost gear and fish farm equipment..

We’re kind of sheltered by other islands too so generally any good ocean stuff from the Atlantic has hit another shoreline before it reaches us..

@si_mon628 haha are we aiming for some “quarter past gin” or bleak existential statements that carry a bit of dark humour instead?

@PeteJChurchill I can see us embracing that kind of thinking in time. Embedding ourselves into a proper relationship with the weather and the seasons and the ground has to force out some of our civ focussed understanding I’m hoping..

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The weather has meant its been a bit of a fight for the joiner recently, but he got outside the workshop all battened for the cladding and on the inside days he dwanged the trusses and cut a bunch of the larch to height so cladding should go quickly when he can start.

They got the ridge on today as the wind had finally died enough to allow it, not quite the heatwave here.. they’ve also made plans and started on the step between the cement board and the wood cladding.

Also started getting some colour on the walls (albeit some aren’t really colours..) which is feeling pretty great!!

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That larch is dreamy

I love this thread so much.

How are you treating the larch, by the way.

Oh it’s just amazing, isn’t it?! The grain on some of the lengths are out of this world! Going to use offcuts for the kitchen cabinet doors too.

They’ve started on one of the gable ends of the workshop, really strong winds again so that was the only side they could hide from it haha.

They’ve also figured out the seam between the cement board and the larch which I think is pretty lovely..

@TW thanks so much, we’re getting there.. we’re not doing anything with it, everyone we’ve talked to says don’t start treating or you’ll never finish doing it..” looking forward to it greying!

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Your home looks stunning, these projects are such a great learning process, thank you for sharing.. larch is a wonderful cladding choice, I agree with the advice not to treat, let nature do it’s thing.

That’s really kind of you, thank you! I’ve done cash in hand labour and landscaping and things before for fancy folk so it still feels like I’ll be handing this over to someone when the work is finished. Reckon it will take a good few months of being in there to truly believe it’s ours and not some kind of long let air bnb we’ve stumbled upon!

Working over on the mainland today and just waiting for the boat home, hoping for more of that gable end being clad when I get back.

It will take time to sink in, great detailing by the way, reminds me of houses we visited bike trekking across Norway a few years ago. With a panoramic backdrop dominated by nature, framed by window views inside the house.

A blessing to live lightly on this earth, on your own terms… many joyous moments await, once you move in and start living within the landscape, a home for all seasons to reflect and celebrate your achievement..

Much admiration, keep us posted.

^This.

Those are some really thoughtful words and beautifully articulated, so much so that I read them to my partner this morning and she welled up a little, thank you.

@JurekB That is exactly the spirit in which we intend to live, trying to limit our consumption and engaging with the land and the annual patterns in a way that works with them rather than at odds with. I know managing the off grid system will be a learning process but am also really looking forward to the points where we don’t have enough power and instant gratification and everything always just isn’t an option.

Came back to the cladding on that gable finished off and the scaffolding dropped on the north side so imagine they’ll be starting that today. I honestly couldn’t be happier with the cladding choice.

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Such awesome, many wow.

Quite literally the project of a lifetime, this. Very very cool.

If you ever need to consider preserving the larch cladding.. research rhubarb leaves which are toxic to humans and bugs btw.. boiled up mixed with mild detergent and water, is a good way to go ;-)

I think this might have been the treatment for the Lee Valley Velodrome timber cladding

Thanks so much, and will be the project of a lifetime as I’m never doing this again haha. It’s been amazing and stressful and exhausting and exhilarating, and I only want to do it once!!

@almac68 that’s a great tip, thank you, we get loads of rhubarb up here if you can shelter it a wee bit. I wonder if that’s a treatment that wouldn’t need topped up too regularly too? Really interesting to hear it’s been used on large scale applications like that. Always looking for ideas or options like this, both for cost efficiency and for the fact there’ll then be no horrible toxins running off into the land!

Came back to the gable end finished off, the ridge bit closed off on the ends and scaffolding down, they’ve also dropped the scaffolding on another side and imagine they’ll be cladding that today. Seeing it clad and finished on one side with no scaffolding there makes it look even prettier than yesterday!

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I am so achingly jealous.

I am not sure island life would be for me but I admire you for it and I would quite love to have this house deep in the mainland countryside somewhere

https://plantcaretoday.com/natural-pesticide-rhubarb-leaves.html

i think this more as an insecticide, rather than a preservative.. larch might be hardy / resilient.. where as some timbers are prone to insect boring.. worth finding out.