Renovation of root cellar roof Sunday, 07-Sep-25 21:12:05 CEST

Sunday, 14-Sep-25 07:28:20 CEST

All tiles mounted

We got all the tiles mounted in the house and in the barn.

Monday 8 September

This morning, the plumber, ventilation specialist, and electrician came to us, together with a tiler. It was a regular working day from home for me, but I assisted the craftspeople with getting started. The tiler started putting on floor tiles in the restroom of the barn. The corner of the workshop in the house was prepared for a little sink. Here we will also get an extra light point above the sink.

The plan was to unscrew the gypsum board from the wall, finish the plumbing behind the board, and then put it back. That did not work because the ceiling had been mounted over the board. The plumber had to cut the board halfway up the wall.

DW had a day off, so she was sewing in her studio. I went to my home office and logged into work. This way, all four of us worked in the house and in the barn.

The floor of the restroom was prepared today. It had to cure. While it was curing, the tiler went on with the kitchen in the house.

It was a beautiful evening.

Tuesday 9 September

Today I went to the office. DW had a day off. The tiler and the electrician continued to work in the house and the barn. It rained today, so I took the car to work. I brought two big zucchinis with me. They were well received! I like it better when people want the vegetables I am bringing. It feels considerably less good when I get to hear that they don't know what to do with the zucchini or still have some in the freezer from last time. One colleague still had the zucchinis in his bag from before the holidays. That was a bummer.

Wednesday 10 September

Today I worked from home in the morning. In the afternoon, I helped the electrician. The tiler needed no help; he worked on his own. DW went to a wool activity in the morning.

The electrician and I prepared boards for the walls that will hold the switchboard and other electrical things. You can see near the feet of the electrician that a cable is running.

In the afternoon and evening, I set up the remaining boards and covered them with gypsum boards. This was long into the evening. That way, the electrician could continue on those walls tomorrow. It was late when I finished the last wall. I did not check my photo of the wall before screwing the screws into the beam.

Thursday 11 September

Today I brought DW to the train station in the morning. Then I went to a hardware store and bought a white chipboard. I will use it to make the kitchen cabinet higher. It is a small, inexpensive cabinet. We will put it on a platform to make it higher. Then I went home again.

I worked from home today. The tiler and the electrician were at work in the barn.

The electrician had problems with one cable. Apparently, someone had drilled a screw right through it. I wonder who that could be?

The kitchen is more or less finished. A silicone kit is needed for hooks and corners; that is essentially it. Mr Radi will do that later. This image is adjusted for perspective. That looks nicer.

In the evening, I fetched DW from the bus station. After dinner, I started blogging. While blogging, I wondered if I had taken a photo of the situation before I boarded up the wall. I had a photo, and it was possible to identify the location of the issue. I could locate the screws through the holes in the gypsum and check that they were the culprit because they had a connection to the tip of the cable. I removed the screws, and the cable did not have any shortcuts anymore. I sent the electrician the good news, and he was happy he didn't need to tear down the whole wall again. We will see how we solve this tomorrow.

Friday 12 September

It was a beautiful morning. The tiler arrived early. I gave him a cup of tea. I wanted black tea with two spoons of sugar. He came from Syria and tried to learn Dutch, having learned a couple of words in the language. It was possible to talk with him. It is the electrician who hired him for this job. The electrician, Mr Radi, speaks Dutch, English, and Arabic. He knows everything: Plumbing, electricity, and ventilation. He is like DIY Superman. He is also very friendly and enjoys working on this project because I am not far behind in skills.

DW worked from home, and I had a day off.

We took off the gypsum boards and the multiplex behind the gypsum board to reveal the insulation and cabling.

It was possible to replace the damaged cable. We could let the switchbox still be installed, but hanging loose. The warm water heater had to be removed.

When the cable was removed, we could put everything back again.

Mr Radi continued to work on the light and AC sockets. The barn mainly features 230 V earthed sockets, but I also got one 400 V socket.

I worked on the kitchen cupboard for the workshop in the house. We bought a cheap cupboard. We wanted the cupboard to reach 90 cm above the floor, and I had to make an extra border below the cupboard.

The tiling was finished at lunchtime. The electrician opened the box and found that the WC bowl was damaged. He also discovered that the sink was missing a part. It was slightly dissatisfactory that the restroom could not be finished, but he made good progress, so we were happy.

When I mounted the kitchen cupboard, I got a deep wound from the edge of the metal of the stainless steel sink. The edge is as sharp as a razor blade.

I got the cupboard finished. It could be installed. Mr Radi even put a silicone kit on the corners. The water and sewage were installed.

I put on the handles and installed the shelf inside the cabinet. Fantastic!

At this point, I was tired. Really tired.

We had pizza for dinner, and I called DM and DF to hear how it is going. DF is not experiencing any pain in his heart and is practicing to improve his overall condition.

The rest of the evening, I just scrolled through my feeds. I did not learn anything; it was actually useless. I felt sorry for my right ring finger wound. Every time I moved that finger, it hurt. Surprisingly, the pink is poking into the ring finger when gripping a tool. I had no idea.

Saturday 13 September

We had a slow morning. It was a really slow morning with two cups of tea. I blogged about the week so far. It had been an intense week. We still have the oak planks in the car. It feels futile to put them somewhere and then get them to DD. Since I didn't feel like doing any hard labor, I thought that maybe we could go to Amsterdam to see DD and perhaps also visit the workshop of DD's friend.

This worked out well. We drove to Amsterdam and met DD and her friend at his workshop. There were a lot of impressive woodworking machines. The 7-axis robot was the most impressive machine. There are only a couple of these in Europe.

I don't think I would like to have large machines like these. I do think, though, that I would like to have smaller and more compact counterparts. Those will be things I am pondering about when the sea container is gone.

DD's friend had an appointment elsewhere, so we went to a café and had coffee together with DD. It was nice to catch up with what she has been doing. We could tell stories about what we have been doing. It was really lovely. I think we can try to get to her more often. There is no rule saying that only she needs to go to us; we can also go to her.

Sunday 14 September

Last week, on Thursday, while we were in Sweden, DS moved the sheep from the southwest field to the northwest field. Now it was time to move them to another field. DW suggested the northeast field, but that takes more time to set up, and we were short of time. We moved the sheep to the southeast field. It has grown back surprisingly fast. Usually, we are doing a clockwise pattern around the property, but not all fields grow back at the same speed. The southeast field is the field that I tilled this spring. It has been a disaster in the first part of the season. It was dry, and the grass did not grow well. At some point, it started to produce calories. It did not look like a grass field but more like a salad field. Not only that, it is growing quickly as well. The sheep liked to get a new field to munch on.

Today, we went to a village fair in the village where the PILs used to live. MIL produced ceramic sculptures, and today we have decided to sell these at the village fair. There were also drawings and paintings, but it was the sculptures that gathered the most interest.

	The neighbor's chicken did not buy anything.

One person bought 10 pieces! Many people walked away with two or three sculptures.

When the fair was over, we tucked the remaining pieces away in the house and then went to the PILs to tell them about how the day had been. MIL loved the stories. It was wonderful. While packing the car, I pulled up my wound on my right ring finger from Friday. It hurt a lot.

On the way home, we ate at a restaurant along the motorway.

This was an intensive week. I didn't blog as much, but I have been on it regularly, so that is good. It is not good when I stop blogging for several days. I told DW that I now wanted to have a dull, event-free week next week. She agreed on that.

The tiles were finished this week! There was a lot of good progress on the electricity in the barn, but it was not finished. I wrote 1749 words this week.