29th January 2012
Jeff brushes down the cabin before applying preservative
Seven weeks after I ordered a 25 litre drum of wood preservative, it finally arrived. Off-the-shelf wood preservatives have two great disadvantages: they generally are only available in small “home – handyman” sizes of up to five litres, and secondly, they are incredibly expensive. The average price for a five litre can seems to be a paint-brush-bristle either side of a thousand Rand! Most also contain large quantities of nasty solvents – mainly to thin the base oils to make it easy to apply. What extra chemicals they contain to make the wood unpalatable to noo-noos I don’t even want to think about! “Waksol” is probably a by-product of another industrial process like refining paraffin wax, or extracting tannin from wattle, but that’s just a guess. At least it is put to good use and kept out of landfills or rivers. The treatment leaves a dark, waxy courting on the wood, so it is not suitable for interior use. It is also 30% cheaper than Linseed oil.
Jeff applies the first coat, which makes the vood very dark
Jeff is one of the few people I know who reads instructions, so he was absolutely insistent on brushing down the entire cabin before starting to brush on the dark greenish-yellow liquid. He smugly trumpeted the cloud of dried wood and dust he released as vindication of his thoroughness..
Earlier in the week I’d prepared the inside of the front wall by installing battens to support the gypsum board lining. While Jeff set to work on the outside, I gave the interior wood a coat of linseed oil.
Jeff arranged to come again on Friday to complete the last wall and then start again at the front to apply the second coat. (Because the Instructions said so!)
Light aluminium foil as insulation, hopefully quietened by sheets of newspaper
I set about stapling on a layer of SPAR lightweight aluminium foil as thermal insulation on this North-facing wall. After just two panels of foil had been installed, I became aware of an irritating tinkly sound as the wind passed in and out of the gaps in the planking. Although the whole wall would eventually be panelled – sealing of the airflow – I didn’t want to risk living in a cabin that sounded like someone was shaking a Christmas tree in my ear! The solution was to damp the foil by gluing on a layer of newspaper, which would also provide a small extra amount of insulation by trapping pockets of air. When someone eventually tears this cabin down, they’ll also have a snapshot of “The Citizen”’s view of the world as of the 17th of August 2011.
The damp-membrane in place, ready for the gypsum board lining
Next, I had to wrestle a suitably sized sheet of green and black plastic from a larger piece. I soon gave up on keeping it free of sand and twigs. It was bad enough dealing with the wind, which nearly drove me to tantrums! Being black on one side and very dark green on the other, the plastic also became extremely hot to handle. For weeks, Jeff has been amused by my hoarding of match-boxes. He no doubt added another paragraph to his hoard of stories about me when I used the torn-off ends under the staples to prevent the plastic from tearing.
When Jeff had finished the coating and de-greased himself, we wrestled a full sheet of Gypsum board across from the store in the ruin and installed it on the lower half of the front wall of the cabin, After he had left, I fetched a half-sheet and cut the fiddly notches to fit round the roof-beams between the window and the door. The odd shape on the other side of the window would have to wait for Saturday… well, that was the plan… Now it was time to enjoy a rare beer and sit back to admire the new-look cabin, still gleaming in the second coat of very inflammable wax…
After the first coat, the wood is darker, but still has some colour.