At long last we have a floor! And a front and back porch as well.

The concrete was poured this morning and it is already firm enough to walk on. It should harden over the next few days and then the work can start on the interior walls. We went there after work today and poured some water on the concrete and covered it in plastic. That stops it drying too fast and cracking. Weather is pretty good for it at the moment too, mild temperatures and occasional rain to keep the humidity up.

Some pictures of the floor today, inside, on the front porch, and covered in plastic.

Another day, more problems.

The guy who was supposed to lay the floor today decided that he didn’t really want to do it after all. Grrrrr. Olavi (our rakennusmestari/building engineer) managed to eventually find someone else who can do it, but they don’t have time until next week. Double grrrrr.

As I mentioned last time, the reinforcing had gone down. That was laid on top of the water pipes, electricity conduits and polystyrene. Just after that the floor heating hoses were put in place and tied to the reinforcing. The rest of the reinforcing has been put in place on the front porch as well and the last of the boxing made. So now it is all just waiting on the concrete floor. Once that goes in the interior walls will be done. Which brings us to another story. Because of the delays the house company didn’t want to complete the interior walls (their builders are busy for summer now), so they wanted us to find our own builder for it. Luckily enough Olavi had found one already and he can do the walls and gibboard. Of course we have just paid the bill for the house (or the bank did), so now the house company owes us some money back.

Looking further ahead, once the floor is done the walls will start to go up within the next two days. Then all the interior measurements are finalised for the kitchen and all other cupboards. And in July the earth moving contractors come back and flatten out the yard and do the trench for the water pipe to the well.

Have been a bit slack for the last few weeks, so here are a whole bunch of pictures starting with a few panoramas. Front yard/driveway, back yard (from north east to west, section continues down the middle), and the floor ready for the concrete.

Floor heating distribution point, reinforcing on the front porch, back wall covered in plastic to stop the concrete splashes, and a visitor we found hiding in the yard.

Some quick news.

The work on the floor has started. The reinforcing is down and the floor should be poured later this week. Busy most of the time, but will be at the section during the weekend to check things out (looks like a hot weekend as well).

Sorted out the electricity installation contract as well and the kitchen, laundry, bathroom fittings selection is done as well.

A hot day and another one coming tomorrow.

Went to the section today and cleaned up some of the branches and offcuts lying around. Used our super choppy uppy machine that we got last week. Remember to get a power cable that fitted it as well. Didn’t make as much noise as I thought it would, but crunched up things very well. We got our very own wheelbarrow as well, in a matching shade of yellow no less.

Hot days work though, about 25 (the car said it was 35, but it was sitting in the sun). Will go out again tomorrow and finish off the bits and pieces left down the back.

Not much happening with the house at the moment. I think we are going to have a bit of a schedule crunch soon. Things have been slipping, what with people not turning up, etc. Hopefully it is sorted out a bit this week. A couple of things were done during the last week, the embedding of the water pipes in the polystyrene and some insulation around the edges of the walls where the concrete floor will cover. Also the steel reinforcing was done for the back patio.

The pictures, from the left two of the now recessed pipes, the insulation foam around the wall and our yet to be assembled wheelbarrow.

Everything has really started to turn sprout now. Compare these to two weeks ago.

Not so much happening in the last week. The most visible thing is that the ventilation pipes in the roof have appeared.

We bought a shredder machine last week, since we have so many piles of twigs lying around from the trees we have chopped up.

Finnish lesson

Leave/twig shredder = oksasilppuri

So we went to the section today to clean up and shred some twigs. Only problem is that the machine has a rim around the power plug and it doesn’t fit any of our extension cords… Grrrrrr. Plan B was to cut up some more trees and create more piles of twigs for next time. It was also quite hot today as well. In Helsinki it was about 15, but our section is further inland and quite sheltered from most of the wind, so in the yard it was about 20 and the cloud didn’t hide much of the sun, so working in the yard gets quite uncomfortable fast. Hopefully there is a bit more shade when the trees come out in leaf. Shouldn’t be long now, they are covered in buds and some leaves are appearing already.

Some pictures from last week. The ventilation system, poking through the ceiling and in the roof space.

Spring is making itself known now, with buds everywhere. Our snow pile was still surviving though, so we gave it a helping hand. Have to wait to next week to give the shredder a go.

Not so much to do this weekend. Went out to the section on Saturday, another fine day, but a bit cold at first.

Only thing we had to do was to cover the windows on the inside with plastic sheeting. Probably this week the concrete floor will be poured and the plastic is to protect the windows from any splashes. Once we did that we cleaned up a few of the trees still lying out the back. Then we headed down to the lake to see how the spring thaw was getting on. Have a look at the pictures below.

Nothing happening on the outside of the house at the moment, but work is continuing on the pipes and floor. The hot/cold water pipes are in place now and during the week the rest of the floor heating system should be in place and then maybe the concrete will be poured. If not then that should happen next week. Currently the pipes are just lying on top of the polystyrene, but as far as we understand they should actually be embedded in it a bit so the mesh can lie on top.

The crushed rock that fills the foundations has been covered with two to three layers of polystyrene and the water pipes laid on top of that. Next will be a reinforcing mesh and the floor heating is wired to the mesh and the whole lot covered with concrete.

Coming up this week we also have an appointment with a kitchen/bathroom design place.

Some interior pictures from Saturday. The pipes are all in place for the bathroom, sink, showers, etc. The rooms are all marked on the polystyrene, not that it is visible on this picture though. The pipes all meet in the “technical” room where the heat pump is located. The open area is where the fireplace will eventually sit.

In the yard things have dried out quite a bit already and spring is in the air, although some snow can be found it you try hard enough.

The lake has thawed out as well now, only a trace of ice left in the shadows to the right.

Another weekend, more aching muscles.

Lauri and Tapio, the guys who did the foundations, are also doing the concrete floor and have been working off and on the last few days. Before they could finish the floor all the underfloor pipes had to be put in place, so during the last week the sewage and water pipes were put in. But that left the radon pipe. For those who don’t have a clue what radon is, it is a radioactive gas that slowly escapes from rock. It is a problem in all houses, but especially those with a basement or foundation where there is a way for the gas to leak from the ground into the house. To avoid this there is a permeable pipe placed under the floor, embedded in the rock fill, which is then connected up through a wall and out the roof. So we had to dig a trench around the entire house, about a metre away from the wall and deep enough to bury the pipe about 5cm under the fill (the pipe is somewhere between 10-15cm in diameter).

Spring has definitely sprung now as well as it was sunny and hot on Sunday. Actually about 17 degrees, but after winter that feels like 30+ :-). In the sun it was almost unbearable, but it was a bit cooler in the house, but it didn’t make it any easier. While I dug the trench inside, Pia go on with clearing up all the offcuts around the outside. I’m not sure which would have been worse, being in the sun or digging up the rock fill.

Anyway, as I said, spring is in the air, only a little snow left in the deepest shadows and temps up to around 18 at times. The birds were doing spring things, there were bees and butterflies and rabbits running around as well. Obviously there are other things going on during the long evenings now, but I suggest that they take parking lessons before heading out again (see the pictures).

A few piccies to catch up on the goings on. From the left: water pipe leading to the well (not yet connected and has to be put in a trench yet). Water and sewage pipes in place. Radon pipe ready to be buried. Eaves on the south side completed. Eaves on the north side still being done..

South side of the house. All weather boards in place now. Our section to the south (to the left of the drainage ditch), just a little snow left in the shadows.

Parking lessons required. We think someone had a little too much spring fun Friday night and almost took our powerpole out. Luckily for us they missed it and our driveway and ended up on the other side of the road.

Busy time this week. So not much chance to add anything here.

Last weekend Pia’s parents were visiting and we were at the section Saturday and Sunday doing some cleaning up and chopping up the trees and cutting down some more. Seems to be a never-ending supply of trees at the moment.

House exterior is going up fast and work has started on the floor. But before the floor can go down all the water/sewage pipes have to be put in place. The holes have been dug for those and they should go down this week.

Were there again today as well. The weatherboards are almost completed now and the cladding on the underside of the eaves is half done as well. The builder is going to take a break for a couple of weeks once the exterior is finished and while the flooring is done and then he comes back to do the interior.

The pictures from the weekend. The house with most of the weatherboards up. The water/sewage trenches in the floor. Risto cutting more of those paju (willow) down and a panorama from the road side

Went to the section today to clean up a bit and to meet with the guys doing the floor. They are the same ones who did the foundations (Lauri and Tapio). They should start quite soon, but first the water, sewage and radon pipes need to be done. Most of those pipes run under the floor, so they should be done as soon as possible for the rest of the interior work to start.

At first look the outside doesn’t seem to have changed much.

But around the back the framing over the boarding has been finished and some of the weatherboard put in place. It is all pre-undercoated in white and green. So sometime we have to paint it properly. The ground is drying out, but still quite soft, especially where it has been dug up. The snow is rapidly melting as well. Looks and feels quite odd. In the sun it is warm and the ground dry and there are still piles of bright white snow lying around. In the fields and other ground nearby, where it hasn’t been touched, there is still a blanket of snow several centimetres thick.

Quite a lot of destruction is apparent now that the snow is clearing. Summer will be busy clearing these trees from the section and doing a bit of landscaping. Probably put everything down in grass at first to hold down the dust and then worry about it again next summer (2005).

House show was a bit of a disappointment as well. Almost no kitchens there or anything like that. It was technically a house building/yard/cottage fair. We are sure that last time there was interior things as well, but this year there were house building companies, heating installation companies, whiteware/TV, etc and wall fitted vacumn cleaners. Very strange. The next show that we know has interiors/kitchens, etc will come too late in the year for us.

Well, we have a roof now too! I was thinking that the roof would take a while to put up, what with carrying around all those tiles, but obviously it only took a couple of days.

Some framing has appeared on the outside of the house as well, ready for the weatherboards to be put in place.

From the left, picture from the road and one from the back yard. A close up of the roof and what happens when you drop roofing tiles!

Next week work is supposed to start on the interior floor. There is also a house show this weekend, so we will be on the lookout for some nice kitchens and bathrooms amongst other things.