Two Months Later and a Whole New House
Two months have gone by and even though I have not managed to pull myself together and write a single post, there has actually been a lot of progress with the house. In fact, the house has changed beyond recognition.
Exterior Progress and First Impressions
Before the New Year, the balconies were installed. For now, they are still without railings. At the same time, the windows and doors arrived and everything was installed within just two days.
The walls and ceilings have been filled, sanded, and covered with primer. All the windows have also received beautiful decorative trim in the meantime. Just yesterday, the last ends of the rain gutters were installed, and the house already looks very polished and finished from the outside.
There are still a few exterior details missing. Balcony railings are ready but will be installed in spring once the snow has melted. Window shutters are also coming and they will be dark blue, just like the front door. Terrace decking is still to be added. In summer, we will most likely paint the house once more to cover the nail heads and even out the color differences caused by boards installed later.
Life Inside the House and the Stove
Inside the house, things have also moved forward a lot. In the previous post, there was no sign of the fireplace yet. Now it has already been fired up dozens of times. It is still not completely finished though.
The fireplace still needs a nice white plastered finish, a cornice, decorative moldings, and a hearth plate. At first, I planned to make the hearth plate from white quartz. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, the price of engineered stone turned out to be high enough that I started looking for alternatives. After a lot of thinking, head-scratching, and internet surfing, I discovered something called white concrete.
The slab has now been cast and is drying. I really hope the end result turns out exactly as beautiful as it looks in my imagination.
Energy Efficiency, Blower Door Test, and Thermal Imaging
From the very beginning, our goal has been to build a very well-insulated and airtight house with low running costs in the future. To check whether that goal has actually been achieved, we had a blower door test and a thermal imaging study done.
Mr. Right’s expectation for the blower door test was a result below 1. A blower door test measures a building’s airtightness by detecting air leaks through the building envelope. The result is expressed as the air change rate at a pressure difference of 50 Pa, known as n50. In simple terms, a device is installed in the exterior door that creates negative pressure inside the house. Then it is measured how quickly outside air enters the building and how many times the total indoor air volume is exchanged per hour.
Our result was q50 0.85 m³ per hour per square meter, which is below one air change per hour and a very good result. The audit also noted that once the chimney is plastered, the value should drop even further, likely close to 0.6.
Thermal images also revealed a few small installation errors. For example, one window had a poorly installed seal, which is now easy to fix. The biggest advantage of this entire study was that we now know exactly which areas need improvement and we have a much better idea of what our future heating costs will look like.
This was blower door test in action.
Walls, Ceilings, and Choosing Colors
By now, all walls and ceilings are closed with drywall, and all internal communications have been installed. This includes water and sewage pipes, electrical wiring, and ventilation ducts.
On the second floor, the plasterer has done an excellent job. All surfaces are plastered and primed and are now waiting for their final coat of paint. Choosing interior colors is a challenge of its own. By early March, all colors must be decided, and once that happens, I will definitely share which shades I ended up choosing.
Lighting Decisions and Electrical Work
Because there is almost no space behind the drywall ceiling on the second floor, we had to choose very slim recessed lights. These fixtures have one unpleasant feature. Their bulbs are not replaceable. If one burns out, the entire fixture needs to be replaced. Luckily, their price is not much higher than that of a regular LED bulb.
On the first floor, we will use spotlights with replaceable bulbs. The electricians have already drilled all the holes for the lights, and a big box of sockets and switches is waiting patiently until the painter applies the final layers of paint. After that, it will finally be their turn.
Heating Progress and Lower Electricity Bills
During the first months, we heated the house with a blower heater. By now, the underfloor heating on the first floor has been switched on, and the electricity bills have dropped significantly. That was a very welcome change.
Over the past week, underfloor heating pipes were also installed on the second floor. It is now only a matter of time before they are connected to the main system as well.
The Great floor Quest
We are also getting closer to installing the engineered wood flooring, and that has been an adventure of its own. For at least a year, I have known exactly which floor I want in my home. Unfortunately, the more specific the requirements, the harder it is to find.
I was looking for a single-plank, brushed, four-bevel, click-system oak parquet that is at least 180 mm wide and finished in a light oil. And of course, it also needed to be at a very good price. In other words, an impossible mission.
After searching through all stores in my region and then going through neighboring countries’ online shops as well, I realized that I would not find my perfect parquet straight off the shelf. Eventually, I found a flooring at a very good price that met all my requirements except one. It was not light but natural-toned, which for me tends to age into an unpleasant orangey shade.
So we decided to buy one plank and experiment. We tried oiling it ourselves to make it lighter. After a few tests, I think I found a tone I really like. There is now a real chance that my plan to get the perfect parquet will actually work.
Bathrooms and Decisions, Decisions…
The second-floor bathroom floor has now been poured, and both bathrooms are officially ready for tiling. Choosing tiles is a whole separate topic and not an easy one for someone as indecisive as I am.
Once the tiles are chosen and installed, you will definitely see what I decided on.
A Little Photo Gallery
And since pictures say more than a thousand words, here is a small gallery to finish things off.
In case you missed it, here’s the post with a time-lapse video of our modular home build.
