After the diversions caused by the slight alterations to the plan, the weekend landed today and with it the chance for me to properly begin Litlington (again!)

As mentioned I have decided to go along the foam board route, and this afternoon purchased the required parts. The foam board itself is Knauf Space Board Eco - which I recently found out is now discontinued in the UK, however fortunately our local Wickes still had some in stock. They now have two less!

General consensus is to add timber around the edge of the foam board, in order to protect it from knocks etc, and I decided the easiest way of doing this was to buy some suitable PSE at the same time.

The material itself is nice to work with, certainly easier than the Celotex I used in landscaping on a previous layout. The Space Board came in a length of just shy of 4', hence the second board which was cut to size using an old bread knife. Freehand cutting like this is not my forte, but by the time the PSE is in place and after a little tidying up, it has gone OK this time.

Below is the two boards cut to size, with the PSE offered up to it for marking out. Excuse the mess on the lounge floor, I've tidied up now! (One advantage of the wife working evenings is I can get away with this kind of behaviour - well, 4 nights a week anyway!)

In order to attach the PSE to the foam board, I've used Solvent Free Gripfill - it needs to be Solvent Free as the typical impact adhesive will do the foam no good whatsoever! As recommended by Re6/6 in his blog here I've screwed the timber to the foamboard too, whilst the Gripfill sets, to save having to use clamps.

This final picture then shows the current state of play

I'd love to claim it is complete, but for the want of 4 screws, unfortunately the end pieces are still awaiting fixing. Opinions are mixed on if bracing is required - the board itself is 60mm thick - but I think for safety's sake I will add some 2x1, just to be sure.

Despite the minor annoyance of running out of screws meaning it won't be finished tonight, I'm very pleased with the way it has gone - this is my first experience with foam baseboards, and so far I would highly recommend it.