I've finally found a cheap workspace in Cambridge! With help from citylife! (Futurebusiness). More on this later.

Cambridge Dec. ‘10

Despite working in overdrive mode a bit I’m fine and didn’t catch the Virus that was going round. True to my INTP type I’ve been up late nights doing a review eco-build systems and getting quite into that though not good for my back or my mood the next day. However I enjoy feeling my passion for this right now, something I’ve followed for many years now is maturing and I feel the satisfaction in contributing something in this complicated world of eco-building. 

Most days I notice the decorating work I did on the Abbey House windows and wonder how many years/decades my ingenious efforts (using new paintable silicone sealant) will stay good and save Windhorse in redecoration or repair work. The Community Secondary Triple Glazing took much longer than the anticipated six to eight months (not having decided on another co-worker at the beginning extended it). I kept thinking someone suitable would turn up which didn’t happen early enough. 

Windhorse was the guinea pig I used for starting the business which is now frustratingly put back to next year. I would not have got to the level of product refinement I had without Keturaja’s input. I’m now very please and think the ‘STG’ is actually what you might call a ‘sexy’ product now and rather beautiful, particularly 9 Auckland Rd’s cute back room twin casements. And they bring the whole window U-value down from around 5-Uw to 1-Uw in most cases.

Now though I feel fairly happy to take a half year off work, after several hard years of slogging it out, and have some head space to focus on Dhamma. I’m excited to be involved in the new Dhammaduta Course and the following Bhante Land Project and spending time with my spiritual friends in Birmingham again. Still I am following the call of a big Dhammic project; to be in the centre of where it’s happening. 

I feel the place is coming for potential new buildingteam-based right livelihoods to thrive; Kalayana Mitrata and a minimum of combined skills are the basis for it. Knowing that I can make good money and enjoy making windows for people by myself (which has its appeal anyway) is a good place to start from, at least;  but managing/training people and setting up something for the movement is something I would need to develop or borrow skills for, based on my experience of taking on an apprentice. 

I realise now why most builders would only take on a tradesman with a few years of experience not even just a carpentry qualification which itself doesn’t mean that much. I, with the little Carpentry skills I have, was trying to train an unskilled man while working it out at the same time. The only thing that made it viable was his high level of enthusiasm and commitment and the longer expected pay off time if he continues in building work. I wanted to set up something available to any young (or old) Buddhist men to join and am just now having to admit how much dexterity and even strength is needed, necessitating long term commitment. 

I’ve also realised how essential it is to maintain a purely emotionally positive approach when managing/training - possibly effecting job output (or having a specific intensive training period rather than mixing training and work) or only taking on skilled tradesmen where micromanaging is less likely to occur; no one likes it - one of the real attractions of being a Carpenter is that you can be your own boss and it requires you to use your own knowledge and skill. I’ve also seen the vicious circle that happens when over management exacerbates mistakes due to a lack of confidence. I don’t like to be told what to do in my work and people are attracted to Building work for this reason, us Buddhists also tend not to like being told what to do, like me these people need a project to get involved in; can we make it work?

My vision primarily is for a partly structured retreat-like setup with a workshop for us to work in a few hours a day perhaps, and a large chunk of the time being dedicated collectively or otherwise to meditation, study or puja, and there being an atmosphere which is conducive to this. I want this for myself and want other men in the movement to have access to a more retreat-like supportive context, similar perhaps to a larger guhyaloka in the UK but with Carpentry and more income. Skills and Dhamma training must be an essential part of it and the basis on which men know they are join it. I would see its main function as being an intensive Going For Refuge context for Mitras and men in Ordination Training, then also as a happy place of Dhammic commitment which Order Members won’t want to leave, ensuring it’s continued Dhammic and skills basis into a Dhammically and financially successful future - something many of our Team-based Right Livelihoods have failed, or are struggling, to do. I want our Movement, not to mention our dwindling Team Based Right Livelihood effort to survive in the form we need it to. Communities arise on the basis of Dhamma team projects, what’s the ‘Movement’ with only one of the three C’s? That’s not my cup of tea.

I have also reflected recently that teaching the Dhamma without offering the Buddha and Sangha can’t be done can it? (I’m thinking of things like MBSR where it’s considered ‘Dhamma’), and that telling someone not to try reproducing ‘insights’ is dubious since can there ever be two experiences of Bodhi? I am sad to hear of people who have decided that Enlightenment doesn’t ‘exist’. It does so keep trying! Infact if one thinks that death is the end to all it makes attaining Enlightenment ‘as the end of all suffering’ obsolete! We need to consider whether we believe this so we can see it’s affect on our motivation to practise.

23/4/10 Time Line of Vimokshadaka’s STG

December was taken up with fitting firedoors at 29Nmkt Rd, delayed because of the loss of the additional helper. I managed to spend a few days working on designs for Abbey house and the window construction, and spoke to technical experts on how to bond using Polymer Silicone. I ordered tools for the workshop and timber milled from Travis. I also helped with other jobs like moving a fridge with Samamati. About a week with the fitting of MDF STG in 19N.

I had some time off over Christmas and on the 10th January I started clearing out and setting up the workshop at Jane’s place and adjusted the old style windows at 19NMKT RD, this ‘German’ design I decided not to use again and I learnt a few things about how to build the windows. Due partly to the stress of starting the new business and an intense health training programme, I was off sick with stress for three days mid January then spent 8 days on Solitary retreat at Guhyavajra’s hut, which was also an intense time. After the NOWE I dropped the whole ‘Clements’ Diet and training programme but maintained my daily Qigong. I spent between one and two weeks in January working on the project.

The first half of February I was able to finish setting up the workshop and built two STG (Secondary Triple Glazing) prototypes for Abbey house, we needed to know if using a single full casement would work with the weight (30+ KG) and it worked. We could now go ahead with the Conservation Submission. I spent several days researching this new application of thermal insulation to windows consulting BRE and the CAT centre among others for explanations, there seemed to be no one authority on this new field and it took me some time to piece things together. This was necessary partly for maximizing energy savings payback for Windhorse Trust and also in the long term for the new STG business – I would have to know my stuff before I could promote it properly. Likewise I spent time researching the dozens of aspects of the window design and materials sourcing for example where I could buy Double Glazed Units for £27m² instead of £40m², and what laws would apply – some would have to be toughened. At the end of February my double sided foam tape arrived and I made the first batch of STG for 19Nmkt Rd.  Turning the front ground floor secondary glazing into quadruple glazing onsite was more fiddly than I had expected taking nearly two days. I was in the house for more than four days with the whole job, I realized that I would have to finish as much of the work as possible in the workshop to avoid this disruption to the occupants, and maximize efficiency - all the going up and down stairs with tools added to the length of the job. I spent a day or two correcting mistakes which showed up on this third prototype.  I changed the design so as not to paint after glazing to leave a tidier finish.

In February and March I spent about six weeks working on the project, for two weeks I was off helping with the Derby takedown with Vidhysiddhi, was off sick again for two days, worked on the Warehouse door closers for two days and helped Dridhkarin with a few jobs like raking the gravel. I appreciated a bit of team work after getting a bit lonely working by myself.

In April I fitted the second batch of STG in 17Nmkt Rd and the finish was much better, with reduced disruption for the occupants (helped by having a spare room to keep the tools/frames while fitting). Fitting to awkward inwardly sloping recesses took many times longer than the straight forward fix to window frame face, one window even taking two hours, whereas others took under 30 minutes. I was still getting the hang of how to fix the frames whilst keeping the frame square and established my technique of how to do this with help from the insightful Bernie.

Conclusion

In total that’s about 11 full weeks spent to date, over a period of 3 ½ months – starting in January, with 23 STG windows fitted (counting the 6 insitu windows in Guhyaraja’s front bay) and excluding direct Secondary Glazing to two front doors (which was quite quick); About two per week. Perhaps only half or two thirds of this time was spent actually building the STG, which isn’t too bad since my German friends who first started the Timber Secondary Glazing craze could spend a week building and painting one window having to charge several hundred pounds for it.  However I feel I’m now over the main hump of the product development and with the systems in place production should be quicker.

Design and Implementation Phases

I’m not sure if I’ve used the full day a fortnight to do new business development, needing instead mainly to work out window design and basic principles necessary for making the windows, as well as implementing improvements on the windows after consultations with Dridhakarin and Keturaja, although this is necessary for the development of my new business also. I have left promoting my new business to the time where I’m more confident in the business. I am now leaving the ‘design stage’ - which took longer than the expected 4 – 6 weeks, although a fair number of windows have been made during this time – the design and implementation phases have mixed.

Outside work

This has been a very useful time for me, not having to start out by myself needing to do all of this while selling to local clients, while gaining the valuable support and feedback of Keturaja, Dridhakarin and Windhorse.

My new Secondary Triple Glazing Business now feels realistic and I am excited to see how profitable it could be, I can see that it will be very useful to gradually build in outside (paying) clients while finishing off the Community STG needed, rather than having to suddenly find my clients at the end. Although I’m confident that this can be done long before the cold weather starts. It would be possible for me to leave Windhorse at this point, it may have an empowering effect! However I think it would be better for the business to continue under the wing of Windhorse during this time while income from clients is paid to the Trust and held for me to go to the new business when it starts on its own feet, after deductions for time/costs on outside work and start up costs is covered fairly. Some of this profit I would like to use to support Saddharaja in his India work. I’m confident that it will make profit and this will be a motivating factor for me as well as a promotional aspect of the new business.

The Future

I am still in need of someone to join me in the project and for a team to develop. I know I don’t have all the skills. In the future I want the project to become a complete training context, perhaps situated in the Bhante Land Project and joining forces with the Dhammaduta Training. I hope it will become another option in the The Triratna Community and Order for an intensive and attractive training context for young and old men.

Vimokshadaka’s Window Painting Guide

Keep aware of security all the time; don’t leave doors and gates open unattended. Don’t leave brushed unwashed. Don’t leave a mess for the occupants of the property.

Put cloths/plastic sheets down everywhere before starting work.

Paint all parts of the window (especially the bottoms of Sashs and corners of sills) only a tiny gap is needed to let water in, in which case it’s better not to have painted the window at all (as it would have been able to release the moisture again through the unpainted surface.

The window must be painted leaving all water to run off againand no so pooling occurs, sills must slope away from the building and must be altered if otherwise. An angle grinder or belt sander can be handy for this job.

All cracks in the woodwork must be sealed with a flexible paintable Polymer type silicone like CT1, The Works etc (not normal silicone), since it is long lasting and flexes with the timber, before undercoating with waterbased undercoat. All such silicone must be painted since it deteriorates under UV light. If cracks don’t open up again after painting water won’t get in causing rot. 

All joints between glass and putty/timber; timber and timber; timber and masonry must be fully sealed with flexible paintable Polymer type silicone, double check after the work that there are no gaps to let in water, especially the bottoms of glass panes and all around the sills.

Check with a moisture meter that the windows are well below 18% moisture content (only paint after two weeks of warm dry weather, not if it’s just rained, it’s best in late summer so the walls are dry too). When over 18% moisture cannot leave the timber as vapour, and too much escapes causing blistering of paint in heat and freezing and cracking of paint in winter. If the timber is wet expose bare timber and wait for two weeks of hot dry weather and test again.

Moisture in the timber is the main problem for windows; a wooden antique sitting in your living room can remain good for hundreds of years. 

The vertical insides where sashes run up and down should not be glossed (hindering their movement), however they must be glossed for a few inches from top and bottom, the rest should be left and waxed.

Make sure the bottom of drip bars/grooves and weather bars are not forgotten; they must be cleaned, dry, sanded, rubbed down, primed, undercoated and glossed as well. They are especially important as water clings here for longer than anywhere else on the window soaking up moisture into the timber if unprotected.

The room side of the windows must be painted in the same way (when dry with Polymer Silicone at joints) at the same time as the outside; with moist warm air condensing constantly on the cold internal surface of windows more moisture will be coming from inside than out.

Several thin coats are better than one thick coat, watch out for drips and pooling.

Print off a diagram, from the Web, on the order in which to paint the parts of a door/window to leave a good finish and follow this when painting.

The most important thing is preparation! The most important preparation is to first completely clean the window and existing paintwork/timber! (Sometimes after cleaning it’s found that the window didn’t actually need painting) Sugar Soap and a course scourer should leave the necessary ‘key’ (slight abrasion for new paint to cling to). Tesco’s bathroom cleaner with bleach, which you leave to work for five minutes, is good at attacking dirt. All dirt in the corners must be removed by attacking with spounge and water; these will be weak spots causing subsequent gaps in the paint coating otherwise. After cleaning the residue must be removed with a towel. And the window must be left to dry fully.

Use a Water-based (dries quicker) Moisture Vapour Permeable ‘MVP’ paint system like the one from Dulux or Ridgeons.  CT1 and other Polymer/MS Silicone need covering with water-based paint first, and take ages to dry in contact with Oil-based paint, but will eventually. 

Old windows need; 1, Cleaning and removing rot/bad timber and loose paint 2, Drying 2a, checking moisture content is below 18% 3, Sanding 4, Dusting and rubbing down with a cloth 5, Priming, 6, Filling with Dulux weathershield flexible (grey) filler 7, 8 waiting a day for filler to dry, 9 Sanding and priming of filler 10, Polymer Silicone sealing around all joints 11, undercoating 12, Second undercoat 13, Glossing. Window must not get wet all of this time – if it does scrape off again and wait two weeks of hot dry weather! (Cover window with waterproof sheet if there’s a danger of rain).

It’s good to remove all old paint with a heat gun and scraper if there is time, taking it back to the bare timber. The heat dries the old timber, taking moisture content below 18%, and the old paint won’t now cause a barrier to moisture vapour exiting the timber after the new MVP paint is on.

 The Dulux Weathersheild system needs two coats of undercoat after primer on bare timber.

Do not seal any timber with wood hardener as it blocks the exit of moisture vapour from the timber, sealing in moisture, as moisture builds up it will eventually cause failure of the paint coating, and doesn’t flex with the Timber. Instead of wood hardener replacement treated timber or preferably hardwood or WBP Ply or should be used, sealed in with a Polymer Silicone so cracks don’t open up (or flexable filler)

Do not use the standard two part wood filler or anything else that doesn’t flex or breath with the timber, it will start cracking after a few years or less. The best thing is to replace with dry hardwood/ WBP Ply and seal joints with a paintable Polymer Silicone type flexible/paintable product.

Old Glossed surfaces must be sanded/keyed to prepare it for waterbased undercoat/gloss, or it won’t stick. Also cleaning is needed to de-grease the surface including around glass pane or new paint won’t stick.

Expanding foam can be used to quickly fill large gaps or fix in replacement bits of timber, some types dry in half an hour. It flexes in large quantities and is durable being Polyurethane.

Avoid painting in direct sunlight, this causes the paint to dry to too fast on the surface creating a shell which will crack later and can create a wrinkly effect . The paint needs to dry naturally in its own time to harden correctly. Do not use heaters to dry the paint faster.

Do not do any painting below 5⁰C, Surface temperature, which is most important, can be checked with a laser thermometer.

If the window has no drip bar/groove or it’s damaged, it needs to be replaced by nailing on another piece of timber to the front of the sill to act as a drip bar. As done on the Abbey house window above the front doors.

Windows close to the ground suffer from rain bouncing back up from the ground. The underneath of sills here is even more important. 

You only need to prime bare timber and filler. Leave paint to dry as long as it says on the tin.

Use the tower scaffold rather than expensive scaffolding if possible, that’s what it was bought for (costing £2000). Work on higher windows first as dust will fall on painted lower windows.

There’s no point decorating windows if the walls around the windows are soaking wet, which they shouldn’t be in summer, but there could be other sources of damp than rain. There’s no point decorating a window if it’s damp inside or will be made damp by the surrounding walls. Painting in such cases will trap in the damp causing more damage. As in the Abbey house laundry room window which was left for that reason.