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[Badder]

2 hours ago, PlaStix said:

although how much it will have changed (or been demolished for that matter) by the time of the next update is anyone's guess!

Kind regards,

Stix

Hi Stix,

Always a pleasure to have your supportive comments.

Of course, you are quite correct about the end wall, it will change in character somewhat - just like the quote above where I changed 'thart' to 'that'!

This wall is going to have a fair bit of ivy on it both inside and out, as I imagine that the wall and the roof collapsed here first and exposed the interior to 'nature' earlier than elsewhere.

 

BTW, I'm looking forward to filling this part of the building with debris. Rafters, tiles, floorboards, joists, building stone, plaster, mortar and a few red bricks should make for an interesting pile!

 

Rearguards

Badder

[Badder]

I forgot to say before, but I prior to starting the construction of this gable wall, I did something unusual (for me) ACTUALLY PLANNING WHAT IT WAS THAT I WANTED TO PORTRAY.

So, I found myself pondering the physics of a gable wall and roof collapse - the cause and the effect.

I had to decide which happened first: the collapse of the roof, or the collapse of the gable wall, and how far apart in time they occured.

I also had to decide whether the gable wall fell inwards, or outwards, because that would affect the debris pattern.

 

I plumped for the gable wall collapsing first and falling outwards, leading to the near simultaneous collapse of the roof and the upper floor.

 

With the wall collapsing outwards, physics says that the innermost stones were put under tensile stress, whilst the outermost stones were placed under compression. In other words, the innermost stones had the weight lifted off them, whilst the outermost stones were pushed down/outwards. The result of this is that the innemost stones were less affected than the outermost, and were left standing the highest (on average)

 

I've now carved the innermost FTINFBISS to reflect this. I also carved the interior stonework pattern, the pattern of the stones within the wall cavity, hipped some edges and corners off of some stones, and have added a couple of loose ones. 

 

 

With the wall spun around to show the interior:

 As you can see, I gave this side of the wall my customary plaster-dust wash. Here though, I've shown an intermediate stage where the plaster-dust wash has dried, but I've rubbed the dust from the surface of the stones with a wet brush. The plaster dust is still present in the mortar grooves though, and will reappear once dry again.

 

I have yet to add the stonework for the window surround, and cram plaster of paris into the wall cavity. Next though, I'm going to build and add the return wall.

 

TFL,

Badder

Edited November 21, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

Today, I've mostly been farting about with money, increasing my stash,  replacing worn out tools, and replacing used-up/spilt acrylic inks. On the last note, I did rescue some of my Red Earth ink using the handy pipette in the lid, but despite careful sucking-up, it will now be contaminated with cigarette ash from the ashtray,

 

Aside from that, I haven't progressed much on this project.

I have trimmed the inner wall a bit, slicing a vertical strip off the left hand side so that the wall will fit snuggly into the corner with the existing return wall. Having done that, I got distracted by the prospect of making a collapsed floor and decided to work out where the floor joists and other beams would go in their undamaged state.

I used bass wood for the joists - bass wood being a first for me - and cut holes in the interior wall into which these joists slot.

 

I imagine that all barring the joist under the door will have snapped, or dropped, and that the floorboards will have done similar. For now though, I have temporarily fixed them in their proper location and have made one 'joist hole' in what remains of the collapsed wall to support the other end of that one undamaged joist.

 

The coffee stirrer is only present to check the horizontality of the line of joist holes, and will be removed and replaced with floorboard remnants..

 

It might seem odd to some, but I'm going to add the cross beam at this end of the joists, and then add the floorboards, thus making an undamaged floor. Once that's been done, I will collapse the floor by applying heavy downwards pressure on the floor and then pulling the end wall away. A photograph of the result will be kept as a reference photo for later. 

 

TFL

 

Badder

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Prop Duster]

Badder.  Really quite like how you have arrived at this point.  A most impressive journey.   The idea of "push me-pull me" for the new floor should make for an interesting "debris flow" 👍👍👍

 

🙄I have just now caught up with your adventures, apologies  for my recent absence.  The issue of the faulty lock on the cellar door has been resolved. My wife has explained how she could not possibility have heard me these last few weeks as she had been concentrating on her knitting.  I am now back to normal and able to get about, though at the sound of butterfly wings I crawl under the bed to hide with my invisible friend.   😋🤪

[Badder]

43 minutes ago, Prop Duster said:

Badder.  Really quite like how you have arrived at this point.  A most impressive journey.   The idea of "push me-pull me" for the new floor should make for an interesting "debris flow" 👍👍👍

 

Hi Steve,

Thanks. I know I could search for images of ruined buildings, find one similar to mine and copy the damage, but I figure it's quicker and will be more accurate if I just damage my own.

 

Your story about the cellar door reminds me of when I was a very, very young child. We lived in a very old house. I can remember this strange door in my room which I tried to open several times, but failed. My parents caught me one day, and told me off, saying 'Do not open that door. Ever!' And so for several years, I obeyed them. Then, one day, I thought 'what are they hiding from me?' and I tried once again to open it. I had grown stronger in those few years, and managed at last to wrench it open. There was a ladder the other side, and I climbed it and saw many wondrous things that I'd never seen before, like trees and grass and sky.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

[Badder]

The last of the coffee stirrer floorboards then:

 

 

I'm going to add nail holes and will paint the floorboards before collapsing them into the room below.

 

 

I have to make the return wall before collapsing the floor though. This is because the floor will be supported at that end by a beam, affecting the way the floor collapses.

 

A beam will also run along the interior of the gable wall, just above window height. This beam though, will be dislodged by the collapse of the wall and will allow the collapse of the joists.

 

 

I need to add a lintel above the window. I might dislodge that as well. Or snap it.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited November 25, 2018 by Badder

[Prop Duster]

Badder' 

Good looking floor. It looks to be good for a hundred years...barring war, roof leaks, indigenous plant life. 😁

 

Thank you also for sharing your truly heart freezing😨 story of your fabled youth. I can only imagine the horror you must have felt as you saw trees, grass and sky.  🤭

[Badder]

On 11/26/2018 at 5:48 AM, Prop Duster said:

Thank you also for sharing your truly heart freezing😨 story of your fabled youth. I can only imagine the horror you must have felt as you saw trees, grass and sky.  🤭

Hi Steve,

I'm still scared of trees. It's their bark more than anything. Touch wood, I will never come into close contact with one.

 

Thanks for your continued support for my floor(s) Without you, they would all have collapsed. I'm sorry that I had to nail you into place though. I just had a feeling you'd wander off otherwise. Still, when you are finally freed from your 'bracing' duties, you won't need to pay for having your ears and nipples pierced.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

Edited November 27, 2018 by Badder

[Badder]

I've not done much in the way of physical work for the past day or so, other than painting and sanding the floorboards.

Mostly i've been preparing to make that last return wall: setting the building up on lined paper to get it sitting square and true, and dry fitting and marking the exact position and orientation of the gable wall.

 

I say all that with a pinch of salt.

 

The truth is that my building isn't built along perfect lines, what with it having been altered and extended on several occasions since the very beginning. Most of the 'trueness' was measured by the eye, oftentimes with a ruler and a pair of dividers, sometimes with a square and spirit level, and more rarely, graph paper. But I figure this old building was measured out using nothing more than hands and cubits and a beer-bottle plumb bob, and inevitably then, drunkenly.

 

Anyhoo, I've managed to find the median postions of the remaining components, when compared to each other and the rest of the building, and it all looks to be set up 'square and true'. In actual fact, there's a slight variation of a couple of degrees from a 90 degree angle, in a couple of places (guess where? The corners, dumbo!)

And there's a discrepency of about 3mm between the length of the front and rear walls. Again though, I don't think that's really noticable and probably way better than could be expected in the 'original building'.

 

I now know the length of the return wall though,  and I've roughed out a piece of FTINFBISS to fit. I'm toying with the idea of making this section part stone, part brickwork, and with a very large window - more of a work area, than anything.

 

Here's the floorboards after a few washes and goings over with sandpaper.

 

TFL

Badder

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Badder

[PlaStix]

Hi Badder. Hope you are well. Interesting to hear your thinking behind the collapse and how this impacts on how you decide what you are doing with your project. This is the kind of thing that will make all the differnce when the building/project is finally complete. (Yes I know it will be a while yet!) And - it goes without saying really - very impressive work on the floorboards so far.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Badder]

9 hours ago, PlaStix said:

(Yes I know it will be a while yet!) And - it goes without saying really - very impressive work on the floorboards so far.

Kind regards,

Stix

hI Stix,

Continuing to do well with my insulin levels. Pat on the back from my new nurse.

The building won't be finished in its entirety until it's sat on the dio and the snow is being added! But I hope to have the last wall section, the window frames, and maybe the roof on/off before the PzIV GB begins!

I'm just about to put nail holes in all those floorboards, doing it now when they are all nicely lined up, rather than later when they are strewn haphazard!

 

Hoping you and Mrs Stix are well,

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

 

[Badder]

Forgot to show how the floor is mounted.....

 

Cutting the holes for the floor joists was easy, what with FTINFBISS being a lot softer and vastly more pliable than plaster of Paris. A scalpel point, pushed progressively deeper into the wall, created each side to each square. A nice realistic side-effect was that the plaster coat around these holes flaked away (due to deformation of the surface of the FTINFBISS)

Okay, the holes are all different sizes, but then the wall stones are all different, so I doubt that the builder(s) could have made every hole the same. Packing would secure any 'loose' floor joists.

I also rubbed some areas of plaster back, exposing more white. This is only temporary though, as, after the roof and floor collapse, the area would have been exposed to nature moreso than the other rooms, and will therefore be getting much greener due to algae/mould/moss.

 

TFL

Badder

[Badder]

Nail holes added to floorboards.

A wash with black ink and a rubbing back with sandpaper helped to show them up better.

 

 

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Badder

[Prop Duster]

Badder      Once again  you have  created a "silk floor out of a stir stick"  uh, so to speak. Bravo 

I think that the floor boards are coloured to the perfect hue, for boards finding themselves in such conditions.  Oh, have a care for the splinters that are all about and the rusty nails as well.

     [aside to self- so Why did he add a pinch of salt?  Could it be a preservative to keep the mold at bay?- one can only wonder] 

I also want to complement your dedication to continuing to construct a structure that even the most starry eyed  renovator would turn and run screaming back down the lane to the Pub.  Good Job!

[Bill.B]

Very convincing!   

[Badder]

On 11/30/2018 at 7:11 AM, Bill.B said:

Very convincing!   

Thanks for that, Bill,

I hope you stick around and maybe find something of use here!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

[Badder]

On 11/30/2018 at 6:12 AM, Prop Duster said:

Badder      Once again  you have  created a "silk floor out of a stir stick"  uh, so to speak. Bravo 

I think that the floor boards are coloured to the perfect hue, for boards finding themselves in such conditions.  Oh, have a care for the splinters that are all about and the rusty nails as well.

     [aside to self- so Why did he add a pinch of salt?  Could it be a preservative to keep the mold at bay?- one can only wonder] 

I also want to complement your dedication to continuing to construct a structure that even the most starry eyed  renovator would turn and run screaming back down the lane to the Pub.  Good Job!

Thanks for your comments, Steve!

I do feel as though I'm delving into a slightly warped mind though! (warped as in 'a length of poorly seasoned wood which was used to make a flooboard, and ultimately lifted from the joist at one end and now squeaks whenever someone stands on it' - rather than the Norman Bates type warped.)

 

As for the floorboards, these latest ones are darker than the previous ones - deliberately - because they will have been exposed to the elements for longer. As it is, they will all be damp to some extent as this building will have have a covering of snow which is now thawing. I did make a damp floor ealier in the build, but that was replaced when I decided to switch the floorboard direction by 90 degrees.

Ultimately though, even these floorboards will change. Obviously they will be collapsed, but they will be rotted and dampened and have more in the way of organic growth on them. 

 

Rearguards,

Badder

 

 

 

[Badder]

I've added a lintel above the window. I used FTINFBISS, and carved a large chip along the top edge where falling debris struck it. I figured that a lintel spanning both the exterior and interior stonework would have been rather heavy and cumbersome for the builders, so they'd have covered the window aperture with two lintels. I'll be cracking and collapsing the second (interior) lintel.

 

I am now in the process of making the return wall, again using FTINFBISS.

Prior to this, all of the previous corners were plaster-to-plaster, or plaster-to-plastic, or plaster-to-FTINFBISS, and awkward in respect of hiding the join AND getting the stonework patterns on each wall to match.

Here though, I am fitting FTINFBISS to FTINFBISS, and it's the first opportunit I've had to match and interlink the stonework patterns of each wall.

 

 

Plaster will be used to fill most of the mortar gaps at the corner.

 

With both walls interlinked in this way, I can impress the stonework pattern into the return wall.

I am still pondering over whether to include some red brickwork, or not.

 

 TFL

Badder

Edited December 1, 2018 by Badder

[Prop Duster]

All kidding aside (well nearly ) You're doing a masterful job. I do like the result of the  FTINFBISS to FTINFBISS looks just fine.  

Looking forward to your next installment  and what it will bring. 

[Badder]

Determined to prove Prop Duster's eager anticipation a fruitless exercise, I'm going to bore everyone, and once again sing the praises of Foamboard That Is Not Foamboard But Is Something Similar. .(FTINFBISS)

 

For those who read the earlier appraisal, you may want to skip the rest of this post!

 

For those who didn't, I sourced this FTINFBISS from a supermarket. They were disposing of some large promotional signs which were stuck up on walls or hung from ceilings, and I asked a manager if they were going to bin them or what? He said they were going to be binned, and couldn't be recycled. And he was happy for me to have some. I returned for more at a later date, and now have several square metres of the stuff. I had thought it might prove useful for substrate for raised ground on dioramas. I didn't even think about its use as an actual building material until I discovered its properties.

 

 

Anyway.......

 

 

 

 

I am currently fitting the return wall to the gable wall, and as you know, I've interlocked the stonework at the corner.  In the photo below, you will see the gable wall face down. Face up then is the interior wall, painted dark brown, but in the photo most of that is hidden under the steel ruler. Here, I am in the process of cutting a slice from the end of that interior wall, so that the inner of the return wall can slide into that slot and fit neatly in into that corner. In truth the stonework of this interior wall should interlock with that of the interior return wall, but that only needs to be modelled where the walls are damaged and the interlinking is exposed. 

 

So, you'll see that to remove a strip of this FTINFBISS, I simply laid a steel ruler along the desired line and sliced along it with a sharpish scalpel. (Yes, the tip snapped off some time ago) Despite the missing point, the scalpel is easily capable of cutting the material. Three, or four, medium-pressure runs along the edge cut off a 9cm long strip to a depth of 4mm, The fresh edge did require a trim, just to square things up across the depth of the cut.  In the photo you can see a few slivers which have just been shaved off, again running the blade along the ruler, but keeping it more vertical this time!

 

When cutting out the interlocking stonework - also visible in the photo above - I didn't bother with running the scalpel along the lines anywhere. I marked out the required cut lines then simply pressed the blade-point down into the corners (with the back of the blade on the vertical and the cutting edge facing out to the edge) and once the tip hit 'bedrock' I tilted the blade and pushed down at an increasingly flattened angle, thereby increasing the length of the cutting edge until it cut to the edge of the wall and down to full depth. Imagine the action of a guillotine blade.

On the 'cutting front' then, FTINFBISS, is superb; much softer than any 'kit' plastic. If I had to explain the force required, and the 'feel' of the cutting itself, I can only compare it to slicing through a block of a very firm, very dense, cheddar cheese.

But there's also the opportunity to score a line across the FTINFBISS and then bend it back on itself until it snaps. A straight line scored to a smidgen over half depth is guaranteed to give a clean and straight break, but even shallower scoring will suffice in 'roughing out' cases, such was the case when I 'roughed out' the inners and outers for the return wall, gable wall, and the last interior supporting wall.

 

Another plus point is that his stuff is way lighter than plaster - I'm guessing less than a quarter of the weight - but it has great tensile strength. I've tried snapping a 6ft by 3ft sign made from this stuff and I had to, more or less, fold it in half and stamp on it. At that point it did 'shatter' unevenly, but the shards were large and few in number.

Given it's strength, and lighness and it's excellent CA gluing properties, I'd be quite confident that such a building as mine (but built entirely from FTINFBISS) would survive a bounce down my (carpeted) stairs.

A trip down bare concrete or metal stairs would possibly result in some surface dents - but that brings me onto yet another plus point.

FTINFBISS is very slightly spongy throughout, but surfaces do deform permanently if compressed over small areas; a finger nail, pressed hard, can leave a crescent; a ballpoint pen, a dimple or groove, the flat end of a file, a rectangular dent. There is a slight amount of 'spring-back' but nothing so bad as to make the imprint vanish. So it's extremely easy to impress a stonework pattern into the surface.

 

This spongy property does create one problem (though not an insurmounable one) and that is its resistance to sanding and filing. Sandpaper, emery cloth etc, will scratch away at large surfaces, but the spongyness prohibits much else. Edges are easier to sand, using an emery board, but this produces a fine, fibrous dust - not something you'd want to breathe in, When it comes to filing, I've found that normal files tend to clog up with this dust and become blunt, so I've switched to diamond-impregnated files and they are much more effective. Having said that, I suspect that a significant percentage of the material 'removed' is actually down to the aforementioned 'permanent deformation' under compression.

 

Finally, FTINFBISS accepts enamels, acrylics and acrylic inks, though the latter requires that several coats be applied to create a 'solid' base.

 

Congrats to anyone who read all of this waffle, but I've sung its praises again hoping that someone 'fresh' knows what this stuff is - what it's made from. I have a large supply of the stuff, so it's not an issue of finding another source, I just really want to know what this stuff is called, and what it is chemically.

 

TFL

Badder

 

 

 

 

[JeroenS]

13 hours ago, Badder said:

Foamboard That Is Not Foamboard But Is Something Similar. .(FTINFBISS)

Ah, I must say I have been wondering what the acronym meant... I was surprised Google didn't seem to know it either 😄

 

Can't help you as to what it really is though

[Badder]

18 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

Ah, I must say I have been wondering what the acronym meant... I was surprised Google didn't seem to know it either 😄

 

Can't help you as to what it really is though

Oh well, but thanks anyway Jeroen!

 

I'm surprised google can't find FTINFBISS. I've posted that acronym scores of times, so it must be out there in the ether!

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[Vince1159]

I've just googled it as well and the only thing that you get is your work so not only have you got us all on fixed to this thread you've also added to the english language,lovely job Badder....

[Badder]

2 hours ago, Vince1159 said:

I've just googled it as well and the only thing that you get is your work so not only have you got us all on fixed to this thread you've also added to the english language,lovely job Badder....

Hi Vince,

I didn't believe you, but after searching with Bing, yes, there are just 7 results, all mine! Shame I got the acronym wrong. Foamboard is actually 2 words so the acronym should be FBTINFBBISS.

I will correct myself and get that 'out there' as well! 😧

 

Hope you are well

Rearguards,

Badder

[Badder]

A bit of progress today.

 

First, I got the window surround done, using thin plasticard rectangles, and rounded off the stones' edges by sanding and filing.

Then I added some loose stones along the top of the collapsed wall, and followed this up by sanding, washing and more sanding of the entire wall, just to tidy up some messy areas.

 

 

With that done, I set about fitting the return wall to the gable wall. This required a fair bit of fiddling about, with cutting and filing, to get all of the components interacting correctly, whilst remaining as true and square as possible to the rest of the building. Eventually, the return wall was CA'd to the gable wall, and with that dry-fitted I cut the floorboards to the correct length. I also roughed out the interior for the return wall, and have dry-fitted that in place for photographic purposes. It will be removed so that the stonework pattern can be impressed.

 

I cannot fix the gable wall in place yet, not only because there's a bit of work to do to the interior of the wall, but because the floor has to be fixed in place first. (One floor joist slots into the gable wall)

 

The next job then, will be to decide whether the return wall is made solely from stonework, or brickwork, or a mixture of the two. And then to decide how much of it to collapse.

 

TFL

Badder

Edited December 2, 2018 by Badder