Floorboards

We purchased the floorboards for the first story:

Carload!

We have been thinking about the upper storeys' flooring for a long time, and finally decided to place massive oak planks over the current conifer floorboards. We bought the boards with no finishing on them. It seems all that is fashionable at the moment is sterile whites and greys, and that will not do.

These floorboards are gorgeous and great value. I love working with wood, and have a lot of fun even though the job of finishing is a little monotonous.

A light sanding is sufficient.

Tinting the oak.

I use a very wide brush which works nicely.

I am using walnut husk dye crystals ("nogalina" in Spanish and "beits walnoot" in Dutch) from which I make my own dye, mixing it with water (I am using distilled water to avoid surprises, unlikely, but who knows), until I get the intensity I want. 

I don't remember where I first learned of this, at art school perhaps. It is an ancient product that has been used to tint wood and make ink for centuries, if not millenia, so I find it a bit strange that I do not find a lot of information about it in English on the net. The crystals, which are very cheap, don't seem to be readily available, or else I do not find the right terms. This is the Spanish wikipedia, which doesn't have any links to other languages. 

I am very glad I could find this in the local drugstore here in Belgium as easily as in Spain. I am pretty sure it was used to colour all of the antique oak furniture I have to a slightly darker and warmer tone. It also goes nicely with our windows. In my opinion it produces the most gorgeous shades.

A batch of tinted floorboards.

Comparing the original and the dyed boards.

A little bit of water shows the colour closer to what the finish will be.

After tinting the switch covers, beech wood, which takes dye badly, it is such a pleasure to work with oak.
Beech is always difficult, but I wonder if I should have given up on propietary dyes and tints and give a go to this natural walnut dye. I know I still had difficulty with it when I dyed my beech workshop desk, though, so perhaps not...

I intensely dislike polyurethane varnishes, so I am testing a waterproof oil finishing treatment. We will place floorboards in the bathroom as well, so I hope it works nicely.

I think the wood is perhaps still too porous after the dye, so I will perhaps seal it a little with shellac. I have to think about it.

Windows &

Much has been worked on since I last posted, but it was mostly more of the same.

Some news though. We got another 4 windows and a skylight placed:

Large window where there used to be a door.
Living room.

Tiny window in the corner were we will install a small toilet.

Large-ish workshop window. Yay.
The plugs and switches and the radiator for this
room are already installed as well.

This used to be the hayloft window in the attic.
It is now a smallish low window in the workshop.
I have window seat thoughts.

Workshop view (windows halfway done here)

Skylight in the living room. 

Skylight from above.

The skylight being blue... that is certainly not an aesthetic choice, I really, really dislike the cold light that it produces. However we didn't know that the skylights with the higher insulating capabilities are blue. We will have to find a way to warm up the light that comes in, with a gel film that we can glue to it or to a glass that we can place from below.

Any suggestions very welcome!

Some more random images:

Aïda working hard in the attic,
placing and finishing plasterboards.

Pim working hard in the driveway, installing
 the copper pin for the grounding wiring.

Pim's dad working hard in the stairwell,
 placing a windowsill.

The neighbours' talkative cat.
Cats don't work very hard at all.

More attic

Placing these heavy boards on
the sloped ceiling is very hard work

The insulation for the attic is all up! Boards upon boards of it. I only have started finishing with plaster, however, but since structurally it does what it's supposed to do, other priorities will come first.

I do really enjoy working with plaster, though, it is fun, although difficult to get it perfect with the little experience I have.

Plaster goo

This is a lot of fun (really)

5 radiators are up, 3 to go

The attic bedroom radiator is up and connected. We still have 3 to go: the bathroom (which will probably be delayed for a long time since the floor and the tiled wall need to be done first); the workshop, also in the attic, sometime soon; and the dining room in the back building, which is hibernating right now.

So we will probably start the heating system when the workshop radiator is installed, to heat the house up, and leave the rest for later.

Installing gas pipes, cool threading machine on the right

In order to install the kettle, the natural gas pipes had to be brought up to the workshop in the attic from the basement. For this Pim got help from a professional and they installed it in two days and then tested it for leaks.

Installing the warm water and heating system

Then he started connecting the water pipes to the kettle and the collectors. A single kettle takes care of the warm water as well as the central heating.

"Library"

I like the above image since it shows all the "layers" of the work we are doing on the walls. You see the wooden studs, the yellow glass fiber sound insulation, the polyurethane boards with plasterboard on top (and first stages of plaster finishing of the joins and covering of screws), the water and heating pipes, the electricity cables, and the gas pipe.

We caught a good deal at the DIY shop on some tiles we had been eyeing for the bathroom, so we bought them:

Bathroom tiles

They are, as it couldn't be otherwise nowadays, metro tiles ;P I could say that I truly have always loved them (several Ferrocarrils stations in Barcelona are covered in them), but who would believe me?

I was actually leaning towards flat oblongs for a plainer look, while Pim liked a bezel more. These have a very faint bezel, and everyone is happy. We bought 44 boxes with 44 tiles each.

I also finally found a suitable, cheap second hand chandelier (originally from Ikea) to use as a base for my bedroom lamp project. I have already started working on it... I'll have a dedicated post for it later!

As usual... the pictures are pretty bad. In fact, slightly more so than usual, since I have dropped my camera and the zoom lens is a bit broken, so we had to use our mobile phones to take pictures.

Attic

Switch/plug covers

There's been some faster progress these last two weekends (at least from my personal point of view ;P), and that is motivating!

Insulation delivery, a truckfull!

We received a large delivery of insulation. We decided to do the roof insulation ourselves instead of letting the roof workers do it, so they can focus on other roof tasks, and we can do the insulation the way we want it to be. We are using different materials, which turns out to be a little more expensive, but we will have a higher insulation value, and a finished interior too (we are again using an insulation foam with the plasterboard attached, plus extra insulation between the beams).

Very fat insulation boards with plasterboard attached, for the roof ceiling.

This weekend Pim placed most of the first layer of insulation between the beams.

First layer of insulation between the beams

Even though there are still some gaps here and there (which we started filling with canned foam until we ran out - messy stuff!), the temperature difference is already very noticeable, even when we turned the little heater off. I even found my very thick woolen sweater to be a bit excessive. We think we were working at about 15° C, which is a great improvement. It was much colder downstairs!

These days are unseasonably warm (rarely under 4° C at night), it is not nice of me to say, but it has been to our advantage. However it is raining quite a lot, so the plaster and paint doesn't dry very well! Saturday I forgot to wash my roller, and I found it all fresh and ready to be washed on Sunday…

White, bare, stained

Saturday I tinted the switch plates. These are a bit challenging since they are beech, a wood that takes stain rather blotchy. I had experienced that before when I dyed my workshop desk, but had mercifully forgotten about it… I diluted my alcohol-based oak-coloured stain to 50% and gave a subtle layer to the plates. After sanding a little bit, especially the end grain which gets a bit raised, it is not too bad.

I lacquered the bedroom plates in white and we really like it. With this lacquer you can still subtly see the wood grain. I had bought it for the staircase balusters, which are gonna have to wait indefinitely.  

For the oak-coloured plates, my plan was to tint, then varnish. The varnish we had bought doesn't satisfy though, so I want to try the same lacquer I used for white in an oak tone.

The two on the bottom right I varnished, this tinted varnish is the
right shade (the wooden swatch underneath is the same than the
windows), but I do not like at all the blotchiness and finish.
It is an outdoor shed varnish, so I guess that's no good for this.

Checking the fit. This wood is bare.
My friend says this is Wall-E.
Our electricity outlets and switches are
from the Catalan brand Fontini.

The wall (insulation + plasterboard) where the attic radiator wiIl be placed got painted (light grey for this room), Pim installed the brackets, and it'll get installed soon.

Progress by the end of the weekend. The brackets on the left are for the radiator.

I also started finishing around the plasterboard joins, corners and edges with plaster. The chimney in particular was very wonky (the attic was a hayloft made without a lot of attention to detail), so the boards went on a little wonky as well. Over a chimney, we attach the boards directly to the wall with sticky plaster. On a regular wall, Pim attaches some timber to the wall first, then the boards to the wood. This leaves extra space for pipes, cables and extra sound insulation.

We decided we didn't need this weird corner in our life.

I am trying to fix the unevenness with plaster, which is turning out better than I though! a lot of work to do, still.

Plaster patchwork.

Some metal bits were sticking out of the wall, so Pim cut them off:

Sparkles!

Roof, windowsills and more

Stuff has been happening, rather slowly due to, among other things, the cold. It is as good as winter and there is no heating at all in the house, apart from a little electric fan thing, and all the heat from it dissipates through the multiple holes all over.

As usual... excuse the quality of the pictures. These are taken in as light as it is gonna get here until spring, and in any case taking pictures towards a window in a dark room is never a good idea...

Finally something major happened, after months of rain and delays: the new roof.

Attic

The old roof was  not salvageable, rotten beams, roof tiles that pulverise with minimum pressure. Insulation, windows and other stuff still needs to happen. Looking forward to being able to warm up the place. The heating guy will come soon to have a look and start up our central heating installation.

Speaking of heating, we finally decided on a bathroom radiator, a spectacular one if I may say so ;) we ordered it from the UK, (we are going very international with our supplies... within the EU however) and had it delivered. It is still protectively packed, and much (wall, tiles, floor) needs to happen in the bathroom before we can install it. Hopefully but perhaps unlikely, before the rest of the heating is started up. Sneak peek:

Bathroom towel warmer radiator

(Full peek) It is white and brass. That's untreated brass :D the sort of thing that happens to you when your partner is an enameller, I guess. Our taps will also be untreated brass. Is this really happening?

Windowsills have also happened, three (or rather, 2 and 1+1):

White Carrara in the bathroom

White Carrara in the double windowsill of the bedroom, as well

Belgian bluestone in the staircase, 0.5 floor, covered in cement dust

The Belgian bluestone is the traditional choice here, a local type of limestone from Hainaut. I know it is difficult to believe, but there are some rocks in Belgium ;) in Wallonia anyway.

The bluestone is impregnated to be nearly black and less porous, and has little sea creature fossils all over. We've chosen this stone for all our windowsills except bedroom and bathroom, where it really wouldn't match at all. Instead we chose a not too fancy Carrara white with grey veins. The bedroom colour scheme is warm grey and white with a little black (and the old fireplace has some Carrara bits), and the bathroom mainly white with sage green and brass.

We installed two windowsills in the bedroom, we ordered the two stone slabs to touch at the center for one continuous windowsill. Like all windowsills we ordered, they are much deeper than usual. They would have anyway due to the extra width we are adding to the walls with the insulation + plasterboard, but we are having them stick out even further. This will probably give me a headache when it comes to curtains, especially in the extra deep and long bedroom one, which must block out the light (there is a street lamp just outside our window, attached to the façade!), but having as I do a plant addiction, and this being a very dark country during winter, plenty of space close to the windows wins every time.

Bedroom windowsill & isolation/plasterboards & cabling

It wasn't easy placing these huge windowsills, especially since one the windows turned out to be a couple of millimetres higher than the other (which is probably pretty impressive, in fact - coming from Spain I think these Belgians work very accurately ;P). We reinforced them with 4 strong metal L brackets, an absolute must in this case. I am proud of ourselves :D a corner chipped a little but hey ;P

We have been concentrating on the bedroom, which is a relatively simple room. We cannot focus exclusively on one room since pipes, electricity cables and so on have to cross many rooms, and the walls cannot be finished until that is in place. For the rest, we are focusing in the bedroom, next in line being the bathroom next door.

All the pipes and cables that pass through the bedroom, towards the bathroom and up into the attic are now in place, as are the cables and outlets from the bedroom itself, so the walls have gone up as well. Now there's a lot of finishing plaster and then paint to be done. Choosing the perfect grey for the walls is giving me a lot of trouble.

Bedroom windowsill & isolation/plasterboard

The floor will be last, and we cannot bring it in and install it until we have heated up the house, or else we'll have wood movement problems. We are quite decided that it'll be untreated solid oak planks, which I'll tint and oil myself. I guess wood is my weak spot and I simply must do something to it before installing it. Plus we like a deep oak tone, like our windows and antique furniture, that doesn't seem to be fashionable right now.

The entire first floor (bedroom + bathroom) will have continuous flooring, so yes, we are putting wood in the bathroom, gasp, and I am not using varnish... gasp!* I dislike the lay-on-top gloss of varnish, and I have found a waterproof oil treatment meant for kitchens and bathrooms. Wood is too beautiful to put a layer of polyurethane over it! call me crazy ;P

*We are however putting a waterproof membrane under it, because we are not completely crazy. We have considered tiles, but we would have had to remove the entire floor (plus ceiling downstairs...), replace the beams, pour a concrete floor... or else raise the floor an unacceptable lot... nah.

Plodding on

I haven't posted in a while… much of the work we have been doing has been repetitive: putting up more of the two kinds of insulation on different walls, mainly bedroom, knitting room and… library? there's only gonna be bookcases and cabinets in there so I guess that slightly pretentious name will have to do.

First layer of insulation

Old fashioned measuring technique

Second layer of insulation+ plasterboard, first stages of finishing

Drilling holes for pipes and cables into the basement.

Fun with power tools

Also in the basement, Pim has begun installing a water softening system (very helpful in this town with extremely hard water) and water pipe bypass.

4 radiators are up and connected: knitting room, hallway, bedroom and living. 4 more to go: bathroom, workshop, attic bedroom and dining room/kitchen. The latter is a monster of a thing and will probably get delayed indefinitely together with the refurbishing of the entire furthest building, we'll possibly move before that and improvise a temporary kitchen (we are experts at that, judging by our current "kitchen").

The last radiator installed, still wrapped up

In the places where the heating pipes aren't coming curved out of the wall, which sadly happens in a few places, we have covered it with brass (coated, sadly) tubing, which looks rather nice together with the brass valves, I think:

We've already ordered and picked up part of the electrical material, since cables, etc needs to be done at the same time than putting up insluation+plaster boards in the places where there will be outlets, switches and light points.

Definitelt the most difficult part of the renovation is figuring out what has to be done before what. Sometimes it gets paralysingly complex, when you feel you're stuck in a loop!

Contractors have started working on our back building flat roof. The thick insulation and asphalt (boo) fabric over it is placed, but the dome for the roof window is out of stock, so we are waiting for that (meanwhile the hole is covered with a board and asphalt). Then guters and finishing will also get done. And soon, hopefully, they'll also get started with the main building roof. Autumn has started and it rains every day, so a dry spell in the weather is going to get more and more challenging… hopefully it won't set us back too far. We need the roof to be placed before we install the kettle in the workshop and get the heating working, and we need to get the heating working because it is starting to get cold! So many contingencies ;)