Interior lining

I have tonnes of other things to be doing, but I've made a start on the lining and so I'm keen to get it finished before I move on.

Lining the walls in plywood is miles, miles easier work than using plasterboard. The trouble with plaster is that it's heavy, fragile, and has to be stopped up with multiple coats of plaster, then sanded smooth, then done again, sanded smooth, etc. I've done that before and it's the sort of job that you do get good at - eventually. And in the meantime, the walls that you've done look like crap. The only positive about working with plasterboard is it's trivial to cut.

The ply is harder work to cut, but I've got it down pretty well. My little cordless circular saw makes easy work of it, and I just clamp a guide fence to the panel and cut it perfectly in next to no time. Accurately, too!

The only down side to the ply is what to do with the joints. I'm being as careful as I can to keep all the joints perfectly flush, but inevitably there are some which don't quite line up or leave a small gap. I'm still not sure how I'm going to deal with these, but it's not a huge problem. I just need a flexible ply-coloured filler I think, which can be painted over.

The walls upstairs are all 2.7m high, which if I was using plasterboard wouldn't be an issue as it is available in sheets 1.35m wide. The ply however, is not - it's 2400x1200 or nothing and so I've got 300mm of wall to finish off above the two full sheets.

I'm using this to my advantage - normally you'd line the ceilings first, and then the walls. This is because it's easier to manoeuvre the ceiling linings when there are no walls to damage, but as usual I'm not as organised as I need to be. I already have the ply on hand, but I've not organised the ceilings which are going to be zinc corrugated, "miniature orb". So the 300mm of bare wall above the plywood will be useful :)

These are built-in robes between the two bedrooms.

Because the kids will probably have these rooms, I'm going to cut a "portal" in the wall between the two wardrobes so they can sneak between the rooms :)

Ugh.. insulation.

I spent the day today putting insulation in the external walls. This place is going to have more insulation than anything else - our specification, against which the energy rating was done (7.6 stars, by the way) specifies that we use R2.5 insulation in the walls, and 2 layers of R2.5 batts in the ceiling.

However, I found a supplier of R3.9 fibreglass batts who only wanted $10 per bag - 8m2  coverage - and so I couldn't resist such a bargain and bought a stack. However, it's cheap for a reason - the loose fibre in this stuff is incredible, and so it's nasty stuff to work with.

Anyway, I'm using these in the walls! They're really too thick for a 90mm cavity, but they're way cheaper than the proper R2.5 stuff and even compressed slightly, they'll still perform the same. It's incredible how quiet it is inside the unit now with the insulation in the walls and the roof structure. It rained earlier today and I didn't hear it!

I don't know how the R3.9's will affect our energy rating - but we'll have R3.9 in the walls (probably R3.0 compressed) and R7.8 in the ceiling, in addition to the R2.0 in the roof structure. I don't think we'll have to worry about heating or cooling :)

I'm nearly finished with the internal lining now - both bedrooms are done, the bathroom and kitchen are done; all I need to do is the walk-in pantry and the rest of the living area. Then it's on to the ceilings!