May 2020 – Rõika 15

Walls in and out

In between the insulation I also put PVC pipe in the wall for the electricity cable before closing the wall with plaster plate. Once that was done Mo and decided it would be good to take out the wall under the roof to create more visible and practical space. This went pretty smooth, after that Martijn came to help and put in the plaster plate under the tilted part.
With this in it was time to start building the wall that would divide, the room from the stairway, as part of the wooden wall that would be staying was 13 cm think, I opted for 2×6,5 cm metal studs. This turned out nicely and made a smooth surface with the existing parts. I also put in a little ceiling in the hall ways so the chimney sweeper hatch would be easily accessible.
In the mean time Marc helped to take out the wall that had been closing the stairway from the downstairs wall way. More air and visible rest. Mattias helped taking out the nails and sorting the reusable parts and future firewood.

Wall insulation and garden play

Since the second bedroom is not really a room yet, the plaster plates need to be extended into the stairway. For this the scaffolding is very handy. Soon the ceiling and wall are covered as well.
As it is nice weather, the garden is also asking for some attention. I planted the soaked peas.
Earlier I had started to dig out one of the tree trunks, which was a lot of work. Marc stopped by this week and took it upon him to finish the first trunk. Towards the end I remembered I have a tirfor that might be useful pulling out the trunk. That worked great, so the other trunks where out in no time.
Back in the bedroom I needed to build a metal stud frame in front of the wall for the insulation.

Start of the second bedroom

Now that we found the right colour, it was just a matter of putting it on the rest of the walls. With the white base coat it worked easy and every finished wall convinced me it was the right colour. For the final touches like the skirting boards and finishing slats I need to get a router, but after 5 weekends of 25% discount at ABC this weekend there is no discount, so a bit of patience. Good thing there is plenty of other jobs still waiting.
One of the things I had pushed forward for a while already was to rewire the pumps of the heating system. For some reason they where connected directly to the mains, so they are all running 24/7. The heater has been designed to also control the pumps so it can also prioritize the hot water to either the boiler or the heating systems. I discussed changing this during the last visit of a mechanic and now I finally did it. Likely the big difference will be noticed when the weather cools down again, so that will take a while.
Since the first patches of our vegetable garden where easily filled we decided to clean another piece for beans and peas. So lots of time consuming sifting of dirt, but with the weather getting nicer and nicer it is good to be outside.
In the weekend Mattias and I put in the plaster plate on the ceiling for the second bedroom. So nice to see the big changes a bit of plaster plate can bring to a room.

An herbs greenhouse

May has started with nice weather, and with the vegetable garden being planted we decided to focus on planting the herbs and flowers as well. Sure there will be other days we can work inside and in the mean time they all can grow.
I started with a small greenhouse I thought up based on an old Dutch sunshade I also have at the house in Leeuwarden, the markies. I first needed to make a planter, so I could practice my masonry skills again. I created a small foundation and worked my way up.
Once it was done I put in a good layer of the hydro granules we found last year when opening the floor in what now is the bathroom. This will be a nice layer to regulate the amount of water in the green house. On top of that the dirt I had dug out when creating the foundation and last some dirt we got from the garden center. Next step, the cover.
For the cover I got some wood to make three frames (I figured for this size the normal 5 frames would be a bit of overkill) and with the help of the mitter saw, some glue and some screws I quickly had the frame down. On top of that I put some thick plastic I saved from the mattresses. The greenhouse was ready for the herb seeds. A nice job for Mo.
After this we started the tedious work of removing the ground elder from the plant border and from some big patches in the grass. I used a time consuming but sure way to remove as much as possible by sifting the dirt with an old crate. At the end of the day a few meters where ready to be planted with seeds and bulbs. Very exciting to see how it will look once the flowers come up.
On Sunday I did a similar thing around the fence in the front garden, where we planted some more seeds.

Floor, paint and gardening

With the materials for the floor in, I could hardly wait to start putting it in, but I had to be patient and let it acclimatize. At least I could put in the underfloor.
A next important step will be the painting of the walls. This is always a challenge, what colour to choose. As the rest of the room is already white washed, we decided a RAL9010 pure white would be a good start, but once the colour was on the wall it did not look as nice as we hoped. It just did not fit for some reason.
Anyway, the waiting was over, so I could start putting in the floor. Unfortunately I could not start using my mitter saw as Mo had online calls, so I started with the hand saw. Still as the panels where very long I quickly advanced.
Now the floor is in and the walls are painted, it is time to do some brainstorming on what finishing touches need to be done. Mo and I took a cup of tea and sat down on the floor in our soon to be bedroom. While we where talking Mo noticed the main colour of her cup and then we soon knew the right colour for the walls. So off to the store to get it. Already halfway the first wall we saw it was the right colour.
Meanwhile the weather was very good so we decided to finish of the first patch of vegetable garden, so we could sow the first seeds. Between the rows whe put a path of hydro granules that we found last year under what is now the bathroom floor. Once they where in we felt very accomplished.