Progress, of sorts

Progress has been a little slower than hoped with the new office, mostly because of work commitments and travelling away a lot, but I've managed to catch up a couple of days this week.

The electrics are still something of a work in progress, as much of the installation is 'temporary' pending other work. The bulkhead lights were hung at the top of the wall in their approximate positions just to give me some light to work by, but are now moving into their final positions as interior work progresses.

You can see the kWh meter to the right which allows me to monitor and track consumption...ultimately I intend to pay for my share of the 'leccy bill! To the left is the 4 way consumer unit. 2 ways are taken up with the RCD, and the remaining two ways are occupied by a pair of MCB's...6A for the lighting circuits and 16A for the power.

The tatty and partially rotten back board has finally been removed and the 'dot and dab' silicone rubber used to fix it to the back wall has been scraped off. You can see the difference in the state of the wall above the 'tide-mark'.

I've used 25mm Recticell board (the same insulation I used on the interior of the front wall) to form a reasonably level and hopefully warmer ceiling at the back of the body. The U section curved braces that support the fibreglass translucent roof panel are about 50mm, or 2", higher at the centre of the span than they are at the junction with the wall extrusions, so a piece of 2"x2" timber along the length of the centre of the roof not only strengthens the roof a little, but allows fitting of a pretty much horizontal inner ceiling.

The rear of the truck body, with two ceiling panels in place (2.4m, or roughly 8ft of cover) screwed along the centre 2"x2" 'beam' and glued with frame sealer around the perimeter. The rake on the left of the picture is being used to prop the panels while the sealer is setting. The bulkhead light fitting has been moved from the side wall and into the middle of the ceiling about 6' 6" from the back wall. Allowing for a four foot deep washroom and a five foot wide kitchen area, this brings the light to approximately the middle of what will become the kitchenette.

Spring has sprung early

New Lodger

Came home from Portishead to find that Hobbit has taken in a lodger.

Happy New Year!

It's 2015 and the start of a New Year, What's happening on the office front?

I have the first ring mains installed and now have two double-sockets in the office area wired up and awaiting comissioning. There are still a few condensation issues to resolve but there isn't any real water ingress from rain and wind, so I'm happy enough with the integrity of the box itself. I needed to shave 3mm from the hinge edge of the door because it's swollen a little and needed some adjustment to get it to close properly.

Apart from that, not much to report. I'm currently designing the kitchenette, lavvy and some partitions.

Electrical Woes

I'm pretty good when it comes to electrics but I confess I don't know it all. Regulations have changed recently, and what used to be accepted practice has changed in recent years. Good then, to do a little R&D before attempting a job.

The van bodies are going to plug in using Commando connectors and as such have a similar hookup to a touring caravan on a campsite. Most pitches are provided with a weatherproof 13A socket or a Commando hookup and are protected by a RCD device. This is all well and good with a short run of interlink cable, but in our situation the extension from the Stone Barn is significantly longer.

A consequence of this is that the loop impedance (resistance) of a L-E or N-E fault is too high for a RCD to trip in the required time. The whole house protection of RCD's in the split-load consumer unit will protect the sockets in the barn, and will give an element of protection to the cable itself because we have separate MCB's in the barn, but at the other end of the cable, the situation is not so good.

The earth conductor in the 90m of extension simply isn't sufficient to protect against earth faults in the bodies.

Ah well. I'll need to implement what is known as a TT earthing system on the bodies themselves, protect the entire system with a separate RCD in each body and have separate protective earths at the body end of the link. The earth from the house, while sufficient to protect the cable itself from faults, won't handle the earthing correctly. Each body will need it's metalwork grounded using an earth spike as well as main bonding on the entire electrical system. Not an insurmountable issue, but to do it 'by the book' is going to cost another £50 or so per installation. On the upside, it does mean that when we go for a fully installed permanent supply, the systems will be compatible. Phew.

Front Wall Finished

I bought three more shiplap planks and managed to finish the front exterior today. It still needs a couple more coats of stain and some sealing strips around the edges, but the construction work is complete. Solid as a solid thing, and looking good.

Next comes the internal cladding, but I'm putting the electrics in first so that I can chase the cables into the insulation before fixing the internal surface and sealing it all up.

A two-way consumer unit with 16A breaker for ring mains and 6A breaker for the lighting circuit has been fitted just inside the door and the incoming supply to the temporary socket needs to be fed via a kWh meter to the consumer unit so I can keep tabs on 'leccy usage and pay Eco for the power I use. I don't anticipate a huge amount of imported electricity as I shall have the solar panels for lighting and low consumption circuits.

I even fitted an exterior bulkhead light to illuminate the entrance and the area outside the door. I'm debating whether to fit an awning/porch over the front...I shall see how it goes once we get bad weather. For the moment, the exterior is as finished as it needs to be, bar the final staining.

The Dihewyd Deli

I have just acquired an Andrew James food slicer. I've debated one for a while but the fact we can get a 1kg smoked gammon joint at Lidl for £3.99 and the fact that 100g of deli meat in Morribobs is £2.00 made a convincing arguement.

It's a big beast.

Post-roast gammon remains

Sarnie meat

Sarnie-thickness cooked ham. Delicious!