13/09/2021
NBAU Blog Takeover – Week 11

Self Reflections

 

With this being my last week on site, I couldn’t not pause, look back and be proud of what we have achieved over the past 12 weeks. I came on site with little knowledge and experience, clueless as to what I would have to do. However, as time flew by and my journey came to an end, I can confidently say that I have gained a lot of hands-on experience and technical knowledge. From understanding how timber works and behaves under various conditions and how it can structurally be integrated into a very unique and simple U-Build system. Being heavily involved in the electrical first fix and learning a great deal about how wires are installed in a house, it will always be a unique experience that I would otherwise not have gained from my university education. Right to my last week onsite where we installed a green roof, something I never thought I would get the chance to do. Not forgetting conquering the challenge of camping for 12 weeks together with a bunch of amazing new friends I made and creating great memories with everyone I met along the way. These are just some of my highlights from this experience.

Thank you, Studio Bark, for this once in a life-time opportunity!

-Jay

Week 11 – Green roof, doors and internal walls

30/08/2021 – 03/09/2021

Monday & Tuesday-30/08/21 – 31/09/21

We started the day with a quick tidy of the house and workshop, while planning the location of the septic tank and soakage trench which was done by Daryl, Mark, and Peter. A couple of hours into the day we started work inside the house putting in place some internal walls and internal door reveals. In addition, some of the external doors were fitted as well.

Wednesday – 01/09/21

As the digging of the trenches for the septic tank continued, besides the West face of the house, work on fitting in the external doors and internal wall and ceilings continued. In the morning we also put the first coat of paint on the medite mdf strips between the decking and cladding. After lunch, we completed the installation of all the external doors and applied a second coat of paint to the medite mdf strips, while work on fitting the internal walls continued.

Thursday – 02/09/21

We started the day by rearranging and clearing part of the workshop and prepping the house for the following week, before shifting all our focus to the green roof, while work on the septic tank and soakage trenches continued. When installing the green roof, we:

 

Ensured the roof is complete and watertight.

 

Cut to size and laid out the protection fleece.

 

Put in place the drainage board with a filter fleece.

 

Added a second permeable membrane around the outer and inner perimeter of the roof, which ensures that the water drains out while preventing the substrate from being washed away.

 

Placed Riverstone on the outer and inner perimeter of the room onto the permeable membrane.

 

Poured on the substrate and used a rake to ensure an even spread of substrate, continually checking that the substrate is at or above a minimum depth of 50mm for the sedum blanket.

 

Finally unrolled the sedum blankets onto the roof while cutting them to size to ensure the roof was fully covered. We completed the installation process by watering the sedum blankets.

 

After a long and hard shift, we managed to install the green roof in one day.

 

 

Friday – 03/09/21

The septic tank and soakage trench was in its final phase today, while work began on the continuation of the trellis and preparation for the installation of the first cladding boards. Inside the house, more internal walls and door reveals were put in place. After lunch, the first few cladding boards were put up on the South elevation of the house.

 

 

A note from Studio Bark

No Building As Usual is an ambitious student build project running for 10 weeks over the summer of 2021. The programme addresses the climate emergency, diversity in the built environment professions, and the need for cross-industry collaboration.

Many thanks to blog and NBAU project collaborator NMITE

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