Tarp pulling

We've had a few downpours which have soaked the timber since the cruck frames went up. The ply is already showing signs of degrading especially that of the plinth wall plate. We urgently need to get the structure protected from the rain. There have been many opinions as how best to achieve this. We have been limited in what we can do by an inability to reach most of the ridge because of the lack of external scaffolding and because the straw bales stacked inside have trapped the scaffold tower in one corner and are also preventing us from putting up ladders internally.

Back in the summer we bought a 20m x 12m lightweight, woven tarp to cover the cruck frames. We were only expecting to have to use it for 2 or 3 months. Delivery of the timber frame and rib beams was scheduled for 3rd week in June. We anticipated getting this erected and covered ready for installing the straw bales in late August/early September and applying the external lime plaster mid September. Once the lime plastering had been done we would have been able to put on the sarking so rendering the tarp redundant. However the late delivery and subsequent issues with the rib beams has lost us a couple of months. We have yet to start putting the bales between the ribs and will not be in a position to lime plaster this year. Plastering would have to be done around about now to give it a couple of months to carbonate before the frosts arrive .

Not sure if this large tarp will be beefy enough to last the winter but we decided using it was our best option as we needed to put something in place urgently because heavy rain has been forecast over the weekend. Eventually after much pulling and poking (to free the tarp when it snagged) and a few "we were so nearly there" failures over a couple of days we finally got the tarp over the frame yesterday afternoon. We used all the battening we could lay our hands on the secure it to the frame. Apparently strong gusts of wind will be accompanying tonight's rain. I foresee a sleepless night listening to the wind. Hopefully the battening that we have in place will hold. We have more battens being delivered on Monday.

20m x 12m is just sufficient to cover the roof but offers no protection to the gable ends. We can't do much about them right now but will have to come up with a solution before autumn weather sets in.

We do have some smaller, heavy duty tarps but they are really difficult to handle and with our current limitations we couldn't get them up on the roof anyway.

#strawbalehouse #strawbalewoodlands #tarp