On Thursday and Friday of last week Gregor and Gavin installed the floor joists in the Great Hall. Things have definitely moved on from the end of last year. You can see the "before" here. The paradoxical thing about floors is that despite the scale of the operation, laying them is unexpectedly quick. In contrast, clearing out the Great Hall in preparation took a full fortnight of effort.
The joists were laid 16" apart in the Victorian manner i.e. roughly 400mm. This contrast with modern floors which are joisted at 600mm centres.
Gregor and Gavin seem to be currently fixated upon creating runways in the castle, which may suggest budding careers in modelling, or perhaps simply an interest in moving materials about more easily. Certainly, the new catwalk in the Great Hall, as of Friday, will enable things to be moved directly between the north and south sides of the castle for the first time.
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| Great Hall: looking south |
The view of the Great Hall below shows that, strictly speaking, only 75% of the joists have been laid, due to the grot in one quadrant of the room. The sub-floor is being constructed of 2400mm x 600mm tongue and groove 18mm plywood - the runway is just the start. This will provide a firm foundation on which to lay the reclaimed strip hardwood flooring.
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| Great Hall: looking north |
What a great emotion to finally be able to repair the large hall and 15 days to prepare it and 2 to have it ready, suddenly everything takes speed and shape, your heart must be so happy and excited
ReplyDeletethank you for technical detail :)
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