Updates: casing the doorframe, preparing the outside walls, spraying

It's been awhile since I posted an update here. The last time I wrote, I gave details on the concrete casing that has to be installed about the doorframe in the bedroom. The reason for the reinforced concrete casing (rather than standard lentils) is that there is considerable weight bearing down on the opening due to two 18x15cm ceiling joists. The engineer calculated the force bearing down to be in the order of 5-10 Kilonewtons. To the left you can see a sketch that the engineer prepared which shows how the concrete needs to be reinforced to properly take the weight of the joists. Instead of simple steel rods, a steel case is proposed. This has to be made of a steel grid/mesh which is bent numerous times. I had a bit of trouble sourcing this. The steel grid was quite easy to find - R188 is a fairly standard grid size and many building suppliers have it. Getting it bent properly was not so easy. It didn't look like a DIY job. I finally found http://www.inn-stahl.de in Mühldorf. They will provide the steel and bend it for €23,80 - which sounds quite reasonable to me. I have to pick up the steel cage on Monday at 08:00.

Giving that it looks like the roofer will be able to start in the next couple of weeks (providing the engineer signs the Baubeginnsanzeige and providing that the weather is favourable), we now have to start making preparations for the scaffolding. You might remember from some of the photos I posted a while back, that there are a number of timber "features" attached to the outside of the house. The main one, and the one causing most concern at the moment, is the large door/gate/bay on the west side. This door hangs on rails and can be pulled down to open it. It has two heavy buckets (full of concrete) as counterweights. In order to build up the scaffolding properly, all of these will have to go (otherwise it won't be possible to get the scaffolding close to the wall). However, it isn't as simple as just getting rid of the timber on the outside. Once we take off the counterweights, the door will fall (it is already badly rotted). Thus, we will need to remove the door too. Yesterday, Uli and myself put up a provisional windstop in the big window. We bolted timber on the left and right reveal of the window opening and screwed three chipboard (2000x600mm) boards onto these. This leaves a triangular opening at the top, which lets wind and rain in, but (i) this is temporary and (ii) the existing (rotted) door did not stop much wind and/or rain anyway.

I'm pretty much finished spraying the timber for woodworm now. It took three full days and I didn't do up to the ridge in the living room area because the scaffolding I had didn't reach up that far. I expect that it will be ok(ish) though. The advantage of doing all the spraying was that I got a good look at all the timber. The rafters are in (surprisingly) good condition. I didn't find a single one with evidence of either woodworm or rot - in either the exposed living room area or in the existing house attic. One thing I did find in the existing house attic was severe woodworm in the ridge - which is problematic. It was actually by complete accident that I discovered the damage at all - I was swinging a hammer, aiming for something else, when I hit the ridge and promptly tore out a piece. From the outside, the ridge looked fine. It is, however, absolutely riddled with woodworm and will have to be replaced.

There are a couple of other things being done concurrently - I need to remove a concrete plate on the ground so that proper concrete feet (800mm deep) can be poured for the feet of the outside steps and for the supporting poles for the roof overhang on the south side. Also, yesterday (2013-04-03) the Vermessungsamt came to measure the property so it can be divided.