Thanks Glenn. I think that is indeed what I have; the 100mm version. Definitely metallic as it sliced my finger clean open. Ouch!
After finally getting the structural engineer approval to go ahead with the bespoke inner ceiling joist frame design, it was onto the next big job of getting it all assembled and installed, at the same as the finished silencer boxes.
As you may notice from the previous post, the moisture barrier (MB) layer I had painstakingly installed on all walls, that would eventually join to the ceiling MB, had to be removed. As I have a good size room but limited height, I decided to go with the weird combination of normal inner walls with an inside out ceiling design (which I really liked from Gareth’s build). Which cerated a bit of confusion as to where the moisture barrier should be. Unfortunately I realised only after it was up that the moisture barrier needs to be on the ‘warm side’ of the inner leaf wall, not the outer leaf stud, which is where I had originally put it. Thankfully, I had the brainwave that I could cut the existing MB around a foot from the top, remove the rest, and then fold it over the inner stud wall, still joined to the new MB of the ceiling, ready to be joined to new sections around the walls. I think I could have left it but it may have caused damp issues in the inner lear insulation and wanted to do it properly. I realise that this probably makes no sense as text but this rough sketch shows what I mean:
Onto the inner ceiling frame and silencer boxes - Day 622 - 653 (working on and off in-between work)
Once all the ceiling was connected together, it would create one complete frame for strength to hold the inside out plasterboard sections.
Firstly I cut the long joists and ends, and screwed them together on the ground. Then I Installed the first Joist and ends of the ceiling inner frame first and secured and sealed them onto the inner studs. This pic shows what I mean hopefully. You can also see the MB removed but the top section down around the ceiling frame and over the top of joist:
We then installed the silencer boxes.
I had the boxes built and a friend came over and helped me lift them as they are so heavy. I had the idea of creating temporary mounts so that we could lift the box nearly into position, resting on the mounts, and then I could secure the ducting while it sat on the mounts, then we would lift for the final push into position. It worked really well but boy are those boxes heavy. Also I had so little wiggle space (should have allowed for more of that) and some things were very tight. Thankfully it all came good in the end!
Then we installed the silencer box on the other side (left Box) along with the associated ceiling frame section to hold it up.
Next was to connect the other joist of the frame ‘section’ to the first silencer box and rest of frame. Obviously I Couldn’t fix the box to the end joist but the actual boxes sit on the edge of the inner stud walls and then is secured to the noggin joist and the next joist holding it all in together with the end noggins. No pic at this point but I then built the next frame section, in position, and connected it to the first one (making sure to use sealant in-between the joists) with the box inside. See here:
Attached and screwed together:
All of the remaining joist frame sections (except the last one) had to be built ‘in position’, on top of the stud walls, as there simply was not going to be enough space to assemble on the floor and then slide up into position; I wanted the ceiling joists to be ‘full length’ for support. This made it very hard assembling the Frame together; screwing 100mm Screws into the joists, noggins, and end sections nearly broke my wrist and has no doubt probably given me chronic arthritis in the future.
So, As I have said, all ceiling frame sections were assembled in position and slid across to be connected on top of the inner leaf walls. However, obviously the last one could not be done like that because there would be no space to do so. So I had to make this once frame section slightly shorter so that it could be built on the ground and lifter up into position. Shorter so that it would not hit the inner leaf wall when lifted into position up over the inner leaf wall, here it is just before we lifted it up and in:
This was completed late one night and no final pic was taken. Next post I will show the final result when I cam back and properly screwed everything together and took pics.
It was such a massive relief to get this part of the build complete and felt like another huge milestone passed. I lost many nights sleep thinking about this and at times wasn’t even sure if it would work…