The Thin Tank has been installed. These tanks are a great option when wanting rainwater but not having room for a tank. The 5×4 building has about a meter between it’s wall and the neighbour’s, which is all the Thin Tank needs!
Installation was not a walk in the park, however once installed the tank melts into the design.
Today Creative Earth Landscaping planted the edible plants into the planter boxes provided by Décor. They then assembled them into the window sills according to a plan worked out by Phil Withers, a landscaper who focuses on edible plants.
Our little building, the 5×4 Project, is starting to look like a home!
Water has been added to the hot tub, completing the final step of the installation.
The tub, crafted by Ukko, is designed to leak for the first few days until the wood expands and fills in any gaps.
With water in the tub, the smell of the wood is filling the top level of the build. The tub has a corona discharge ozonator and an ioniser which means the water will have minimal chemicals.
It’s finally time for the glass on the east facade to be installed!
With the help of a scissor-lift, the Audsley Windows installers attached the 10 ft pieces of class to the frames, while Grand Designs got it all on camera.
Another truck driver did extremely well to reverse down the lane and deliver the Fiberock Aqua-Tough plaster boards from USG Boral.
Once the measurements have been taken, these boards are being cut to size and then installed over the building.
It was time for the pressure-treated exterior cladding from ASH to go up as the final section of our Wall System.
Long 5 meter planks were passed up the scaffolding to be nailed into place, interlocking each other to create the water-tight finish.
The process of air-tightening the building has begun!
On top of the external layer of Spaceloft insulation sits the Pro Clima, the exterior airtight layer as advised by Passive House Australia.
This was boarded roughly in place, and then taped at all the edges and joins to create an airtight wrap around the whole building.
On the exterior of the building we tacked a layer of Aerogel‘s Spaceloft, a compressed insulation blanket capable of protecting against temperatures between -40 and 200 degrees Celsius.
The windows have been installed on the rear (west) side of the building. The windows, made and glazed by Viridian, and framed by Paarhammer, are built to be airtight, like the rest of the house. This means sturdy latches and tight seals.
They will endeavor to keep the afternoon sun at bay, but will need some help from the blinds that will be installed in the next few months!
Due to our incredibly small square footage, a garden looked impossible to incorporate. We decided to have garden boxes on the west facing side of the building, utilising the space in the wall.
Having it on the west wall served two purposes:
Firstly, the plants need sunlight to survive, and the afternoon sun will set over Melbourne and during summer they will get full sunlight for about 6 hours a day.
Secondly, whilst the sun brings life for the plants, it also brings unwanted heat to the building, and the inset garden boxes help with absorbing that sun as well as shading the windows from the direct sunlight.
