Maintenance and repairs

One of the frustrations of taking so long on the build is we've found ourselves having to do maintenance and repairs... on a house that we haven't even finished building yet.

The Cornish winters are not particularly cold, but are very wet and windy, and after a series of particularly bad storms, we found the balcony doors in the main bedroom had started to leak.

Despite trying everything to block off the rain, water still managed to get in and was starting to cause some damage to the oak flooring.

We tried everything to stop the leak. We covered everything in plastic, stuck waterproof tape both inside and out, wedged the doors tightly closed using wooden props, but no matter what we did, the rain still managed to seep in and the oak gradually got more and more damaged. After all our hard work laying the boards, it was pretty soul destroying to just stand by and watch the floor slowly getting wrecked. 





It seemed to be some kind of drainage issue; the rain was so relentless that it was filling up the bottom sill and then getting blown back every so often into the room. All the drainage holes and channels underneath the sills were clear, so this appeared to be some kind of manufacturing/installation flaw.

The floors were getting badly water-stained, but the worst issue was an area near the centre of the doors, where the oak had got so damp that it had begun to swell and warp causing a big lump to form.

It didn't take long before the oak had swelled and cracked so badly that it blocked the door from opening. We complained to the company who originally supplied the windows and they agreed to return and implement some (free) repairs (this mainly seemed to constitute drilling additional drainage holes inside the sills to prevent the rainwater from pooling).
 

Through the following weeks (and weeks) of stormy weather the water seemed to be staying outside, so once everything had completely dried out and we were absolutely certain that the doors were no longer leaking, we decided to try and do something about our mangled floor. 

First, in order to remove the water stains, we had to sand all the oak back down to the bare wood.

Removing the buckled section was a bit trickier. Our underfloor heating pipes run directly below the floor so we could not risk cutting through the full depth of the boards. Instead, we decided to try and remove just the top 4mm layer of oak. It was a delicate operation.

Underfloor heating requires the use of engineered oak (i.e., a thin layer of oak glued onto plywood for thermal stability) and this worked to our advantage, allowing us to cut away the damage without risking any punctures to the underfloor heating pipes.  
 

Once the oak layer had been carefully trimmed away from the plywood base using the multi-tool, we needed to cut a replacement slice of oak from one of our old off-cuts. (Luckily we keep a small stock of house spares, like floorboards and tiles, up in the loft in case of any damage).   
 

Cutting a slice off a new board and sanding it down to the correct height took a fair amount of time, but once it fitted in the gap perfectly, we could glue it firmly into place.
 

It was a messy job sanding in our bedroom and sawdust got absolutely everywhere, so the doors were left open as much as possible. 

Once all the sanding and repairs had been completed, all the affected boards (about a quarter of the room) needed to be re-oiled. 

Once two coats of oil were applied, it looked like new again. The repairs are not noticeable and even better, there were no discernible lines where the existing and newly-oiled sections overlapped. Hurrah! 

The elements were also playing havoc with the outside of the house. Here's how the house looked when we first finished the shell...   

... but five years on, those crisp white walls were tinged with green and brown algae stains all over that made the whole house look rather tired and grubby.

Being surrounded by trees is lovely but it does contribute to the growth of algae and lichens that really mess up the exterior.  

Again, here's how crisp and white it looked when first finished...

... compared to its rather shabby-looking appearance after several harsh Cornish seasons.

Rather than repainting the whole thing, we decided to test out some algae-killing chemicals. We tried to get the most eco-friendly one we could and applied it at a time of year when there weren't many insects around (we didn't want to inadvertently poison any birds that ate any sprayed flies or spiders).

We used a brush and sprayer and doused the front of the house. This type of chemical doesn't react immediately but is supposed to gradually remove the green algae over a number of months. We will see... 





Here's how it looked before its chemical bath...





... and by comparison, two months later. Not perfect but much, much better.