Something new

The great thing about building is, you get to do something different all the time, you know when you wake up that the day is going to be different from the previous.

Monday was no exception to this. It was time to fit the fireplace, this was a first for me, our previous houses were completely different, we had a brick built in our first, a soapstone in our present, this time around it was an element built around the complete unit.

Steel baseplate for fireplace, breather pipe protruding through.The HEART, as it is called, a completely sealed unit. Above is the vent connecting the fireplace to the ventilation system.Breather pipe attached.The heat magazine.Stone casing fitted into the heart.Door fitted to the heart, this door has a seal around it, making it impossible for smoke to escape.The first chimney element, it is a steel pipe, encased in fireproof and insulated wool, with an outer pipe covering the whole.External shell, some elements in place, others waiting to be lifted. the shell is made from concrete, it acts as a store for the heat, there is a pipe connecting the heat store to the ventilation system, thereby recycling heat around the house, hopefully, as stated earlier, our heating costs will be reduced.Joni and I lifting the main casing element into place, there is a heat seal fitted directly on top of this, ensuring that the heat is forced out of the front grill and not directly onto the ceiling.The completed assembly, the upper part is purely decorative, it just covers up the chimney, all in all, it took 4 hours to install.

The chimney, as it passes through the attic.

The outer casing on the roof, blame the Swedish designer for the weird look. Again, this job took about 4 hours to complete, the fire is now ready for action, as there was nothing in the way of bricklaying involved, a minimum drying time required for the adhesives is a couple of days, this job was a lot simpler than I had imagined.

So never be put off, just because you have never done it before, the fitter wanted 1120 euros to do this, not only did we learn something new, we saved a bundle in the process.

Tuesday and Wednesday, that saw us starting on the ventilation systems insulation, we bought specially manufactured joints for the angles and joint fittings, they are a bit on the pricey side of things, but they do save a lot of time and there is little wastage, if you make a sablon to cut your own, then there is quite a lot of left over bits, they cannot be used anywhere. We bought normal sheets for doing the straight sections, these come in rolls, 7m long and 900mm wide. just cut to the desired length and wrap around the pipe. This is a really uncomfortable job, you are in cramped conditions, the material itself is quite irritating, if it's a warm day, well enjoy it.

It is just one of the many mundane, but important jobs that need to be done.

Ventilation pipes, wrap around insulation.Some more of the same.The ventilation machine, all rigged up, we wont be switching it on until the build is complete, too much dust, no desire to have to clean the system this soon.

Thursday, for a change, I got to work with wood, it is becoming a bit of a novelty, I started on doing some of the finals on the outside.

Detail of weather board, on the base of the house.Corner boards and weather board.Window decoration, as the house is manufactured in Lapland, we opted for the traditional Lapland window decoration.Bedroom and Bay windows completed.

In the meantime, Tarja was continuing with the joint filling, getting things ready for the base painting, so I can't really complain about doing something mundane, I couldn't find the level of concentration required to do this task, not to the same standard that Tarja sets.

Tarja, taking on one of the joints.The first coat of paint, next time, Tarja will go around with the halogen lamp, checking for any imperfections in the jointing, if any she will repair them and repaint, it certainly gives a different feeling when a coat of paint is applied, puts a whole new aspect on the attitude. On every build there comes a period when depression sets in, you have worked like a sledge dog, nothing seems to be happening, it's the same every time, one coat of paint and your spirits lift.

One other thing of note, the men arrived to fit the gutters and ladders to the house, they will come back later and fit the downpipes, once I've fitted all the corner boards.

Rainwater gutter, above is the snow stopper.Snow stopper in the corner. This is for the obvious reason, no one wants a couple of hundred litres of wet snow down their neck on the Monday morning. Really puts a damper on the day, it is really quite a job to shift it, if it falls off the roof, it gets really hard packed, better leave it up there to melt in its own time.Ladder giving access to the roof, there is also a bridge to the chimney, this is mandatory in Finland, the chimney sweep does not carry ladders around with him.

That takes care of another week, some things interesting a lot of the things mundane, that's just the nature of the job.