Permaculturing in Portugal

This week the roof is really starting to look like a roof from the outside as well as the inside. Monday we laid the insulation (50mm cork) on top of the boards of maritime pine, followed by the waterproof breathable membrane. No sooner had that gone down than the weather decided to test it out. We haven’t had a drop of rain since we took the roof off back at the beginning of July (well, apart from a 15-minute shower of dirt) and it waited until the very moment we got the waterproofing on. Considerate weather! Damn! When you’ve lived in Scotland for more than half your life, that’s a real novelty.

(more…)

Today’s progress …

Wayne laying planks, Chris behind him

(more…)

Roof is really coming on now.

(more…)

Big progress on a Big Thing (the roof) over the last couple of days.

The cleaned, preserved and oiled chestnut rafters, beams and wall plates are now all leveled and in place and work has begun on fixing the wooden planking to them. These photos are from this morning. By the end of the day, the planking had been completed up as far as the middle beam.

Michael, Wayne and Chris lay the first planks

(more…)

Renovation work on the roof has been progressing. All the chestnut timbers have now been removed, cleaned, preserved and oiled and are ready to be put back on the roof, as is the timber boarding to go on top of them. Next will come 50mm of cork insulation followed by a breathable membrane, then the original schist slabs.

The chestnut timbers have a satisfyingly rich colour after being cleaned with a draw knife, treated with an ecological preservative and coated with linseed oil

(more…)

We’ve made a start on re-roofing the larger of the two buildings on the quinta. As luck would have it, Chris has a brother who’s a roofer, and he’s come to join us and help out with replacing the roofs on both buildings since neither in their present state are watertight. Welcome Michael!

Removing the large slabs of schist

(more…)