We had been in contact with Knauf for some long time. Anke in particular communicated at length with a senior person based in Brussels, whom we met in Belgrade at a Green Building Council conference last year. We are visited by a representative based in Podgorica and have a very positive discussion about the insulated facade. Elisabeth’s original recommendation was for mineral wool. This is dodgy here because of the extremely wet conditions. Knauf though reckons that their covering will be sufficiently weather-proof to survive. It needs a firm experienced in the thickness we need, and the representative sends us contact details for three Montenegrin-based companies for us to follow up next year. There is no way the facade can be put on until the weather is sure to be dry and the building itself is dry.
We have to go to UK for a brief 6 days in the middle of the month while work starts on the interior. When we get back, the first coat of paint has been applied to the walls, the electrician had tidied up the switches and sockets, plus the two fuse boxes, and air-tightness tape had been applied to the windows. This last followed a recommendation from VH Montenegro, but actually done by Vasko’s people.
The floors are prepared for the underfloor pipes for the heating system to be installed. James had a query about some pipes which were coming out of the walls in both bathrooms. The answer is that these are for the heated towel rails, which are part of the underfloor system.
At the end of the month, we are away again, this time for a meeting on the IPA LEGEND project in Koper, Slovenia. Very interesting event. While we are away, Ening start on installing the underfloor heating.