The progress of our renovation
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
This weekend ABC had 25% discount on all their products. A good moment to buy some of the materials we need in the next week or two. In a flyer of Espak we say a circular saw by Makita on sale and it turned out the same machine at ABC with the 25% discount was still 20 euro more expensive as at Espak, so we first went to Espak, that wah we could check out the prices of some of the other materials we where planning to buy
It turned out ABC was (with the 25% discount) easily cheaper, we we just bought the circular saw and then went back to ABC. The lady at the cash register was more then Estonian friendly, like it makes sense to me that I first pay for the loose stuff I bring to the cash register and then have them make a bill that I can pickup and pay from the warehouse.
Anyway, the guys at the warehouse recognized my car from before and where very helpful. They loaded the OSB, insulation material and concrete reinforcement mats on top of the car with the help of a fork lift. It fitted nicely, but I guess it was be bit to heavy. Good thing we only needed to drive about 2 kilometer of mostly straight road.
In the afternoon Marc can to help again. He and my dad did a great job making the ground around the yesterday finished sever pipes level, while I picked up some last stuff we forgot and then fixed the floor around the water meter so it could be closed down. Mo worked on the garden.
When she left to start preparing dinner, I was about done to put the floorboards in, I just needed to move the flexible pipe from the old sever system a bit down. While I worked on that the rusty water pipe broke just before the main tab and started a fine spray of water, which got bigger quickly. I put a piece of wood in front of it so the water would not spray all over the room. My dad came to help. I called Mo so she could call the water company to close the main tab in the street. Then i got some duck tape from the car to cover the hole as good as possible.
About 15 minutes later a car from the water company stopped in front of the house, they found the main valve quickly and shut it down. I found out that unlike the Netherlands, where all the pipe before the meter belongs to the water company, here everything after the main valve is your. Which means we are responsible for the replacement of the rusty lines. Oh well, two steps forward, one step back.
After a good start on the sewer system yesterday, today we spend again digging the last trance towards where the toilet is planned. My dad was not disappointed, as he could play with the pick again to get through the top layer. Then we puzzled the pipes together and where able to fill the holes again. To pipe where the toilet will be connected to sticks proudly up from the ground. A small step closer!
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