Month: April 2019

Now the pipes are insulated, we can finally close the floor. Since the floor was very uneven, we decided to put OSB as floorboards. The first part went pretty smooth. The second row needed a bit more work. Since we had moved the water meter, we can place the wall different then we first anticipated, so we decided to change the location of the canalization pipe to upstairs.
When this was done and we where about ready to put in the first board of the second row, my dad cracked through the underfloor. Oh well, tomorrow there will be another day.

In between I also made a new handle for one of my hammers.
As it is also Good Friday we had a short day, so we could attend a concert.

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As the winters here in Estonia can get very cold, it is important to insulate the water pipes. Next to the garage we found some more Styrofoam strips, which we cut in half and then with a butterfly drill created a hole in it. This we put around the water pipe.

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Wednesday, so Martijn came over to help. I had to work half a day and drive around Mo. Also, I had to do some shopping so I could connect the new water pipe, which succeeded towards the end of the day. In the mean time Martijn took out the second small window next to the front door and my dad took out the last plastered wall.

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With all the floor heating in, it is time to get the side insulation in, so the concrete has some space to expand. I also still needed to make a wooden frame around the chimney. This was one of those jobs that took way more time then you would imagine.

In the mean time my dad took off the old layers of the wall and floor.

Today we put in the last floor heating group. Since we had to get more pipe we ended up with a different colour, but the size was the same (16/2). We put it in and then put in the last woodwork, so we can put in the insulation tomorrow to be ready for the concrete.

When I showed the picture of the water pipe to Mo last night I suddenly had the idea that this deeper part of the pipe was still in a good shape, so we might be able to connect a new piece of pipe to it without the need to dig up the old pipe to see how and where it enters the house.

So while getting the floor heating pipe we also got the right connectors for the water pipe, which turned out to be a good idea.

In the morning my dad cleaned a piece around the gate, so when the concrete floor comes and we have some concrete left over, we can use it there, to improve the path.

All in all a very productive day!

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Yesterday was good practice for today’s big part of the floor heating. While my dad and I worked on the floor heating, Kaspar, one of my coworkers stopped by to help dig up the water pipe.

The floor heating went in meter for meter and Kaspar dug the hole around the water pipe centimeter for centimeter. Twice I cut off a part of the pipe so he had more room for the ground drill to take out the dirt, but when he was at the end of the ground drill there was still no sign of the bend in the pipe towards the wall.
We decided he would give the outside part a try, where the main valve is, but this was near some trees, so there where roots all over the place.

Since today we would stop early so my dad could go to the John Passion and I could attend another concert.

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After a couple of days of rest we started again on Saturday with planning the pattern of the floor heating, as we got the advice to do it a bit different then we had planned at first.

When this was done we started the first part of the floor heating. It was getting used to laying the patterns and fastening the tubes, so the first part took pretty long, but it was a good start of the weekend.

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Today, my dad started his little break, which will last till Saturday. I stopped by at the house after work to meet with the guy we met at the fair last week to talk about the heating system and to finish the reinforcement mats. It was one of those things that actually went fast then expected. By the end of the afternoon it was all done
I should get a quote for the heating work by the end of the week.

The rest of the week, I will also take it easy, so more updates can be expected around the weekend.

In the morning the neighbor of Mo’s mother stopped by to check out the wood stove. Marc stopped by to translate. It turned out the wood stove was fine, we just needed to put two bricks and some thick sand to cover a hole in the top.

After that we did another shopping round to some specialized stores. An earth pin at the electrics store and some wood beams of 4m20 from a wood store.

For the concrete floor we wanted to make a wood frame we can use when leveling the floor. This turned out to be more work then expected as the old foundation had a few centimeters difference between the front and the back of the house. Therefore the wood strips we cut did not fit all around the room, so we had a lot of extra work to make them fit and perfectly level.

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After the adventure of last night, we had concluded that it was actually a good thing that the rusty pipes broke before we closed the floor. This way we can replace it and while we are at it move the meter to a more convenient location, and since there is still 25% discount at ABC we might as well get it during today. Besides last night we have made a design for the floor heating in the lower part of the house, so we know how much pipe to get, also nice with the 25% discount. Plus we decided to get a simple self leveling laser. to help getting floors and walls straight.

But before more shopping, we put in the floor insulation, so we could put the PU-foam around the edges to dry during lunch and shopping.

Mo came to join for lunch. she brought some nice breads. After we got the pipes the other stuff on the shopping list, Mo continued on the garden, while my dad and I puzzled the reinforcement mats in place. Tomorrow we should have the floor ready for the floor heating pipes and then we can order concrete!

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