Hello again from Vanha Talo Suomi!

The electricians arrived in force and knocked out a plethora of ticket items on the To-Do list, which really helped us tremendously because they had seriously been holding up the show.

Now that the entire new construction downstairs has been wired, they were upstairs again today running wire for lighting and outlets within the master bedroom and into the rest of the attic space.

Once they placed the wires downstairs, we were finally able to paper over the insulation, and then get some drywall put up. Now walls are popping up all over, and it’s starting to look like real living spaces, instead of just a gutted-out shell.

Pete got the wall tiles up in the shower.  Next to do are the bathroom walls, then next to do is grouting it all. None of the flooring has been installed yet. But it’s almost time for our beautiful 60cm x 60cm floor tile to go on!  Once the floor is in, the hot-water boiler will be moved into place. It’s taking up time in the porch right now, heating up nothing 😦

So much drywall went up we used the final full sheet of the original 100 that were stacked up on the livingroom floor since arriving this past summer!

We still need about 28 sheets to get the ceilings and remaining walls up though, so it means another trip to Starkki.

While all this was happening, Pekka knocked out the sauna and paneled it all himself!

Once the floor tiling is complete, we can begin to add the sauna benches and kiuas (sauna heater)

We’ve selected a Harvia cylindrical stove with remote control. It will be nice not having to trouble with turning knobs and settings that are usually on the bottom of the unit and are awkward to reach.

 

 

 

Last week it was also finally time to get the old upstairs windows to their new place. Because the old porch windows were only single pane, we opted to replace them with an almost identical set from the old attic that were double glazed. The replacements aren’t as good as what we should probably be using, but it’s what we have on hand. Pete got the Saw’z All to work cutting out the old window to frame in the replacements.

 

Things were getting pretty chilly in the porch about this time! brrrrrr

Now the remainder of the finger-board (sormilauta) can be installed on these walls.

 

 

 

 

Now let’s head back upstairs!

We decided to use solid wood flooring throughout the old and new space up here.  It will require sanding, staining and sealing, but the finished result will be more satisfying than the available laminate options.

The flooring pieces are screwed into each floor stringer – yes, that’s a lot of screws!! Underneath it all is 50cm EcoVillaLevy (for sound-proofing/ insulation) which was then covered with thick Eco paper.  The entire master bedroom including the closets are floored this way.

The original attic sub-floor is roughly the same material, just 50 years older! 🙂

The plumbers are handling all the duct work for the air-filtration system. Many of the pieces are already in place. They were here last week and tucked in a few more pieces along the ceilings, just over the same door, where the previous picture showed the floor being installed.

Eventually, the entire old part of the house will have the same duct-work and ceiling vents placed through the floor into the kitchen, dining room and living room downstairs.  Plumbers will again be here to hopefully knock that all out next week. Hmm. let’s see :O

So now on to the things that trouble me. I have volunteered to do the dry wall finishing, not because I’m an expert, but because I’ve seen it done a thousand times. I haven’t had much actual experience. My efforts to get the kitchen and living room mudded was a true nightmare until my dad shipped those dry wall knives to me in the mail. But even with those nifty knives, I’m having some serious doubts when I see things like the following few photos…

I think it’s time to get real! For starters, I need to have a pow-wow with my dry wall sander (Pekka) who likes to sand off everything I feather on. He managed to negate much of the mudding on wallboard seams whether it was butt-ended or full sheeted. 

Luckily, since we’ve run out of dry wall I’m on reprieve from dry wall finishing for a little while longer. I can tell you I’m not looking forward to trying to make it all look good!

Now it’s time to share with you a little dilemma we’re having. Many moons ago, I ordered and received these LED lights. You might remember them from last MAY 2014!!!

Anyway, the lights were intended to go over the kitchen island eating area. But due to a slight measuring SNAFU (!!), the island didn’t end up where it was supposed to go.  It went 10cm in the other direction. The “eat-in area” inched a lot closer to the stove ventilation stack making the light placement … a bit of a problem. Basically, the lights, if placed where we originally planned will only light the cat’s food bowl!

See the photo below.

There just doesn’t seem to be enough space remaining to pull off mounting this striking light fixture so close to the ventilation stack. I’m wondering what you think?  The next best place is above the kitchen windows, centering the light between them. We’re not lacking for light in the kitchen – the LED lights were using seem quite adequate to me. But I have two of these 3-pendant lights, the other one still looks like it will work in the dining room although the electrician has informed me, “hard-wired” electrics are against Finnish Law! Oh good grief, what next! So the ceiling in the dining room looks just like this one except he cut a 20cm round hole for a 4cm long rail. Yippee!!

I think I’ve summed up just about everything that’s happened or will be happening in January at Vanha Talo Suomi. But let’s double-check…

After the electricians complete their final install of wiring, and the plumbers complete their final duct-work, all that will be left is hooking up the water lines to a downstairs sink and toilet, connecting the shower head and handles, and getting that boiler installed. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of having to go outside to take a shower! Oh wait… You don’t have to go outside!!???? WAAAAAAAAAAAAA 😦

Still plenty of things to do here, don’t fret. This harrowing journey of home improvement isn’t anywhere near to being over!

Until next time ❤