It has been a pretty busy day today, though I am not exactly sure what I accomplished other than tearing stuff down. I did take some shots from outside the house too, as the painting is going to begin tomorrow which means that the rough cast will never look the same again. Which is probably for the better as the brown doesn't do it for me and reminds me of a school, or a prison.
It should look pretty good in the white we have chose, which is a neutral white. We were going to go for a painter's white, but the "closest" was too grey and was leaning toward blue, something that my wife is dead against. The other option was a lemon white, but I felt it would look too yellow against the winter snow - never eat the yellow snow. Plain (hopefully) white it shall be.
We can't do all that we want yet, so the drains will remain brown - and the roof will have to wait until it can be replaced. I am hoping by the time we are ready to change the roof, solar tiles will be affordable in Finland as they will work nine months of the year and a lot in the summer. They are out of budget reach for the foreseeable future though.
We also had an earth-moving company evaluate to quote on removing all the soil from the side of the house (where the picture was taken) as it is far too soggy and has some nasty plants with deep roots that will block the hidden drainage channels around the house. This has to be done before the autumn and while they are going to rip the garden up, we will also get them to add an offer for removing the entire hedge, on the two roadsides. Channels have to also be dug for the roof runoff, as that hasn't been done properly. If the quote is too expensive, I will hand dig these though, but I won't do it happily :D
This is what I did do happily today though, which is opening up the other side of the house interior to expose the attic.
I forgot to take a "before" picture in this case (I have some somewhere), but it had the original particle and wallpaper covering the wooden beams that make the wall. Thankfully, there was no gyproc on this one as I dislike taking that off, especially when it is screwed in with a million screws as it crumbles.
After a slow start by hand, I made pretty short work of this wall as I decided that I was going to put the electric chainsaw to good use. I first cut the particle board (it is like a very thick cardboard) into pieces by cutting just through the surface and then removed a few panels by hand and the "wind paper" underneath so I could make sure there were no electrical lines. There is one socket on the wall an they run the cable through the roof and down the length of a vertical beam, but just in case. Once clear, I cut close to a beam and then in the center of the beam and then close to the next. This makes for good-sized sauna wood.
The attic side is very dark as the windows are small and under the eaves, meaning not too much light gets in. What was strange and not like the rest of the walls I have taken out so far is, this one had zero insulation, which was great for me today, but for 60 years, this would have been a pretty cold room when temperatures dropped to minus twenty Celsius. This wall obviously hasn't been opened up since it was built, but it seems they forgot to pour the sawdust into the cavity. Interestingly, there is a very old box of sawdust in the corner of the attic.
"I'm going to the pub, I'll do it later"
This room is a bit of a weird second lounge and I am guessing we will use it as a kind of family room in the evenings and perhaps will put the TV here, instead of having it downstairs. Although, that kills late night watching as it is next to Smallsteps' bedroom.
The room is 6 over six meters long which makes opening it a bit of a challenge, as we are trying to not have the vertical posts at all. The idea is to get a veneered wooden beam to span the distance as they are very strong and can be 12 metres or more, but getting it in is the problem, as a 6 metre beam isn't going to come up the stairs. We don't really want to have to get a crane in to lift it through the window, so it might be a point of compromise where we get the widest space possible, and have nooks either side. I already have some ideas on how to make it practical, if this is the case.
The other small point is that the window isn't centered with the room, which means that we might have to fake it a little and build a little wall anyway, just to bring in the balance. It would be fine if it was very off center well to either side, but it is only about 50 centimetres off. It kills the Feng shui of the room - is that still a thing people pretend to care about?
I don't know anything about geomancy, but I do think that balance and arrangement of the environment matters, with small things having an affect on our behavior in some ways. It is kind of like how some people like to have clean desk, some don't mind working surrounded by clutter. I am not obsessive compulsive, but I don't like clutter - I like clean lines and order. I notice this in the arrangement of my photos too, with even the busy ones generally having strong leading lines to draw the eye to focal points.
While the prep isn't finished for when the guy comes to insulate the second attic, I can already see where this is leading and I spent a few minutes looking at the lines under various conditions and what will be seen when standing from different points. I don't have to move around the room for this, just stand in the middle and overlay my imagination on what I see. It is kind of like augmented reality, in real life.
I have no idea how all of this is going to get done or how we are going to cover all of the associated costs, but I am having a lot of fun doing it and I guess when you love what you are doing, you will find a way to keep the high going. Fun doesn't mean easy and my body is feeling the work, but I am really liking starting with a blank wall and demolishing it.
Where there's a will and a chainsaw, there's a way.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
