Didn’t manage to get to the section during the week, but did make it at last on Saturday. We were expecting to have lots to clean up again, but when we arrived there was actually nothing to do!

So we spent a couple of hours taking pictures and picking up loose nails and bits of insulation fluff.

Anyway, a few changes from last week. The windows are all in place, although not all seemed to be fixed permanently yet. And the roof tiles have turned up as well. The forecast for the next few days is quite good, so hopefully that can go up as well. Although I’m not sure of the schedule for those things at the moment. All the interior insulation has been done, including the ceiling. The whole lot has been covered by plastic film.

A couple of pictures from Saturday. On the left, the roof tiles on their palates. On the right, the house from the back yard. A bit of snow/sleet during the week, so things are a little more frozen than last weekend. Everything is definitely thawing out still though. Today the temperature was up to about 7 degrees or so and it is quite hot out in the sun.

The current state of the interior. All insulation in place and covered by plastic and held in place by batons.

The spring thaw has started during the last week. Rain off and on as well. So at the moment we have the water from the melting snow and the rain. Both make for lots of mud, especially around the back of the house where all the dirt and clay has been dug up. Driveway has quite a lot of loose sand as well that is quite wet, so hopefully no one gets stuck there.

Things have been happening quite fast since Thursday. The exterior of the house has already been covered in the sheeting (which really is the same as gib board) and all exterior wall insulation is in place! It’s starting to look like a real house now. The roofing isn’t in place yet, although the material covering the roof at the moment is a paper/plastic sheeting and is quite waterproof, so the interior is dry.

Spent Sunday picking up all the off-cuts and other bits of wood lying around. Also cleaned up other bits of rubbish, plastic wrapping, etc as well. It was nice not having to clear snow away, but the mud soon took the shine off that. Plus of course it started snowing again tonight :-).

Some pictures of work so far starting with a big one of the outside from the back of the house. And by the way, if you have noticed that the house looks a bit bent and curved at times the reason is the panorama software for the digital camera. The automatic Olympus software doesn’t seem to do such a good job at it. If I get around to it I’ll probably find something better.

From the left, looking from the road. The joys of mud. And the attic space marked in red.

A shot of the whole interior with the insulation in place.

More deliveries this week. The insulation and some Gyproc sheeting (gib board) have turned up, so went to the section yesterday to see what was happening.

Apart from the deliveries there is a lot more of the framing in place now, including the roof and window frames.

A couple of pictures. The left is around the back with the back porch. The right is the western end of the house. All the stuff inside is the packs of insulation.

Went out to the section today, but not much to do. Cleaned up the off cuts of wood and other bits and pieces lying around. Weather is supposed to be getting worse for the next few days, but no sign of it today apart from some cloud. Should still be warmish — relatively speaking though, it will be about 2 degrees 🙂 — but some rain or sleet.

Not so obvious differences in the house since Wednesday, but a lot of smaller work going on. The beginnings of the roof are up as well. Not so many pictures today, just an outside view and the current state of the roof from the inside.

As it turns out we did have to go to the section again after work. Pia got a call that the exterior doors would be delivered after 5pm and they wanted someone there to take receipt. Don’t know why since everyone else delivered stuff without needing anyone there. But anyway, it is a good reason to go there and take more pictures!

Three panoramas today, outside and two inside looking west and east.

Looking west.

Looking east.

Building has started!

The builder started on Monday and has done quite a lot already. We went to the section after work today to see what was going on and took a few pictures. Pia got a call this morning to say that the well has been drilled as well, so everything is happening now.

We had a chat to the builder since he was still working there at 5 tonight (its even still light at that time now too) and he said the roof trusses will go up tomorrow, so we might have to have another look after work then.

The well seems to have gone okay too. They had to drill only 60m and they said we have enough water that we could sell some to the fire brigade as well (could have been something like 3500 litres an hour water flow).

Anyway, some pictures starting with a small panorama.

We took Monday and Tuesday off work since the builder was supposed to start then. Also Pia’s Mum is down as well. So, Monday morning and no builder. Turns out he was still busy elsewhere and wouldn’t be there until Wednesday. Still, quite a lot happening.

Monday, it snowed. Again. It is now official as well. This winter sucks. The weather service said that to the end of February there has been twice the normal snowfall. Up to around 70cm so far in the south of Finland. So we spent the day clearing more snow and generally tidying up.

The guys with the excavator were busy all day putting the sewage and waste water tanks in. They started with the sewage tank, which turns out to be the bigger of the two. They dug the hole and then placed a large slab of concrete in it as an anchor and then placed the tank on top and tied it down. If it wasn’t anchored down it would probably be sitting on top of the ground again by next winter. Not a pleasant thought :-).

Next they put in the waste water tank. This is only for filtering the water on its way to the drainage system. Next each tank was connected to the outlet pipes from the house. During the day there were three truckloads of fill put around and over the tanks.

Here are the pictures from Monday starting with the panorama.

Then, from the left, putting in the sewage tank and then adding the fill and checking the level. Next two are the smaller tank going in.

Also, did I mention it snowed? I think the foundations are under there somewhere. And a winter BBQ.

Tuesday it snowed again. Surprise, surprise. So more clearing snow and cleaning up. It was a strange day, most of the time the sun was shining and it was snowing at the same time. Meanwhile the guys installed the waste water drainage system. This is where the water from the washing machine, shower, etc drains through the smaller tank and then into the ground.

The guys doing the foundations finished a few days ago, but they ran out of polystyrene for around the outside of the foundations. The extra sheets didn’t arrive until Tuesday, so we had to clear the snow from the eastern side of the foundations and lay the sheets. Same in the carport. The sheets are about 1.2 x 0.8m x ~6cm and are placed two deep (three deep in the car port). Once we laid them the guys with the excavator placed a couple of pipes through the carport for power/phone lines and then covered the lot in fill. After the inspector from the council turned up to have a look at the drains they were all buried again.

Tuesday pictures from the left. Pia inspecting the drainage system. The lid says “No entrance”, but we couldn’t get it open anyway. Clearing space for the drainage system. The drains in place. Another truckload of fill arrives.

Our snow covered carport, then all cleared with the polystyrene in place and then covered in fill. Finally everything is buried again.

Wednesday, after being back at work for the day, raced out to the section to see what was happening. Nothing, no builder again :-(. There was more snow though!

Snow, snow, snow, and more snow. That about covers the last few days.

The builder is supposed to arrive on Monday, so the order of the day was to dig out the building materials from the half metre of snow covering it. Needless to say it takes much longer than we thought. Luckily though, Pia’s parents arrive during the early afternoon and help with the digging. It goes much quicker after that and we actually managed to uncover most of the wood piles. There are still some to go, but we can probably do that Monday (we have a couple of days off work).

As for building progress, the guys with the excavators have cleared some of the snow away as well, which was quite useful. They have also brought the sewage/waste water tanks as well and have started on the holes for those. They have also buried the drainage ditch that marks the boundary of the land as well, so have to mention that on Monday.

The pictures for the day starting with the panorama.

The first two pictures are the sewage/waste water tanks, not sure which is which. Third is the hole for one of them. Seems to have filled with water already. Then the freshly unburied house parts and Pia’s Mum, Lea, helping with clearing the snow.

The foundations have been filled in now and the drains almost completed.

It snowed all day after we uncovered the foundations, but a bit of snow won’t make any difference now. The main problem would have been if the ground was frozen when the fill went in, since that could cause some settling later. Monday and today the fill was put in and the area around the foundations cleared so that the sumps and drains could be put in place. A couple of them are still to go in and that should be most of the foundations finished. Next week the construction of the house will hopefully start.

During the coming weekend we will have to clear the snow off the exposed concrete blocks and also off the stacks of wood for the framing.

As you can see in the panorama, the inside of the foundations are filled.

On the left, one of the sumps still to be done, sewage and waste water pipes as well. On the right, the back of the house with some of the polystyrene sheeting still exposed.

Did quite a few things today. First we managed to cut down the two large trees that were standing in the middle of the water drainage area. They took a bit of cutting with the chainsaw since it was quite small and the trees quite large. Both were about 6-8 metres tall. So had to dismember them before cutting down the trunk. We managed to save part of one of the trunks and it is currently doing part time work as a seat in the hut. It will probably become a chopping block at some stage.

Next we cleared up the deep piles of snow in front of the hut. The excavator is supposed to be going through there during the week and we wanted to make sure there was nothing buried there (like the power cable). Also had to clear the foundations. As mentioned previously, the steam heating was done earlier in the week and the ground covered in the polystyrene sheets and tarpaulins. So those all had to be lifted and stacked and the tarpaulins cleaned and folded. They weigh a ton as well, so it isn’t an easy job. Even managed to pull up the one still lying in the carport. It was frozen solid and half stuck in ice which made it very pleasant.

Some pictures from today with the obligatory panorama.

The foundations themselves are now wrapped in black plastic sheeting on the outside and the base covered in tar and sheets of asphalt (left most picture). Also, the hut could do with a clean :-). And some nice parking…