Sealed lips

The tarp has only been a partial success. It was still covering the roof after last Friday's gusty winds. These fortunately came from the south west. The south-west is our 'best' side as we get some shelter from Eight acre copse. On Friday night and for much of Saturday we also had torrential rain and the tarp was found wanting. We had expected rain to get in through the open ends but it also managed to find its way in along the screws with which the tarp had been battened down. The battens along the plinth wall plates are horizontal and water pooled along the top of them. From there it ran down the back of the batten and along the screws through the tarp and down the tarp's inner face to pool at the base of the rib beams. Rain also ran into the building along that bracing timber which slopes downward from outside to inside.

Once we had dried out I put duck tape along the tarp bridging the junction between the tarp and batten. By the following morning the tape had come away from the timber batten but it did stop the rain which accompanied some dramatic thunderstorms on Wednesday morning from getting in. Next I tried taping some waterproof breathable membrane over the batten but the duck tape wouldn't stick to the membrane. Now we have put sealant along the top of the batten. We won't have long to wait to see if that is a success as we are expecting more rain overnight and tomorrow. In fact there are Met. Office warnings in place for heavy, thundery showers and surface water flooding.

We've managed to get a couple of hastily created 'rain chains' on the lower of the downward sloping braces. The idea is that they will stop the rain from running down the timber and into the building. We can't do much about the higher timber or closing off the gable ends until we get the scaffolding up.

#strawbalewoodlands #tarp #tarpbattening