The progress of our renovation
The next weekend was nice a sunny. Perfect weather to work in the garden. Mo and Mattias worked on the vegetable garden, while I put in the ground anchors and the standing parts to make the greenhouse at least standing height.
Once this was done, I could start tacking on the greenhouse foil we got from Mo’s mother. By the end of the day the greenhouse was ready except for a window and the door.
On Monday night we went to Mo’s mother again. She had ordered a truck load of horse shit an we would take part of it for our garden. Unfortunately Jan had just taken the trailer for a trip to the Netherlands, so we improvised with a plastic sheet in the van.
During the weekend work on the the greenhouse continued, by now all the parts had been made to fit, so it was time to put them in the linseed oil, as it gives a nice natural finish and as a bonus it smells pretty nice as well.
In between a shaped a new handle for the old ax from my grandfather. I had gotten a slat of beech from a friend, which I glued together to be big enough to make a handle out of it. With the used of the miter saw, a grater bit on the drill and the sanding machine, it was a quick, fun job.
The next day when the linseed oil had dried, I started to put together the first parts of the greenhouse. After I got the hang of it, it went surprisingly fast. Within a few hours I had a construction I could stand on.
As I already mentioned earlier, I saw a great greenhouse at Nastja and Rainers place on my way back from the Netherlands. After I showed the picture to Mo, so was instantly convinced this would be a good idea for a greenhouse, way better then those straight forward, bought things.
While checking out the design I can across a very handy website that calculates the exact measurements of your dome depending on how you want to make it. With these exact measurements with double angles to saw and a lot of them, I started by making a sawing jig. After the first test cuts I could start the 130 double angled corners. For the entire project I created 3 sawing jigs.
And then the days start getting longer again, the sun gets more power, so time to prepare the garden for the next season. On my way from the Netherlands I had gotten a lot of seeds from Nastja and Rainer (together with a great design for a greenhouse, which will sure be copied this spring), so time to sow. Mo took care of that while I ordered the border garden next to the fence on the side of the house.
The next day we went to see Mo’s mother to get some cut offs from plants and while we where doing that the neighbor lady also offered some plants, so plenty of stuff to put in the garden. Excited to see how they will grow.
With the lessons learned from last week, the second part of moving the bigger part of the machine went smoother, but also because it was heavier, it still took an afternoon of playing outside.
As the scrap yard was closed already we went there the next day. With the 20 ton crane it was easy to lift the machine off the trailer. The main part was just over 350 kilo and the total was good for around 80 euro. Let’s not count hours, just enjoy the little extra towards the building budget.
With this big heavy thing out of the way I could finish the last part of the drive way. It really is another finishing touch.
With the house we also got some old machine that was standing in the garden in front of the garage. I was very heavy, so it had been standing there ever since. It seems it has been standing there for years, as I have seen glimpses on old Google maps images.
Together with Martijn we planned a day to lift it and move it onto the trailer, so we can bring it to the scrap yard.
Long story short, we had a lot of fun, it took ages, but in the end we got the first piece on the trailer just after sunset (which is around 15:20 this time of year, but still.) Next week the second piece.
If you search the internet for Morovian workbench you will get a lot of information on how to build one yourself. I started with making the countertop and once I had glued the two pieces together I could already use it by putting it on some supports. Then the real work started, making mortise and tenon joints, bridle joints and dove tails. One of the reasons I picked this workbench is to get back into wood construction.
During the weekend we decided to pick the apples that had not fallen yet, so we can store them. After that I figured it would be a good idea to extend the electrical system from the garage to the train roofs, having a light and a power point there will come in handy. Doing this also was a good excuse to clean another piece of garden, so next season we will have grass there and not weeds.
As a last thing this weekend Mo and I moved all the light armatures and cover from the garage kitchen to the train roof, so we can look through that later on and getting more space in the garage at the same time.
There is still a lot of small things to finish in the second bedroom. So this week is dedicated to that. First I finished the cabinet under the roof with plaster plate. Then I found out some material we got from Mo’s kindergarten this spring would make excellent doors and while I was at it, also a nice desk.
When I took out the outside windows, I would out that the bottom part of one of them was in pretty bad shape. I decided to try to make a new part, as these window frames are made without glue it was easy to take it apart and after that is was a fun exercise to recreate the part using the table saw.
In between I also found the time to finally sand the garden bench that came from my grand parents and oil it. It looks like new again is ready for the winter.
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.
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