Bathroom Door

10-11 March 2015

Rowan gave us a call, so we collected the door and frame, and in it went.  Two evenings after his other work and we have a fitted, lockable bathroom door.  What luxury!

While building the bathroom wall, we remembered that the electrician had said we must call him when we had built the wall so that he could put the first fix electrics in.  He came and sorted out the junction box and fed wires to the light switch.  While there, he also cleaned up some of the music room junction boxes.  On a whim, I asked him if it would be possible to wire the house up room by room as we completed them - not expecting this to be likely, but he said that would be fine, and is the way most Greek houses get done anyway!  So we can go in search of light fittings for the music room and bathroom, and those two rooms will be wired up with sockets and lights as relevant, and we will have the joy of flicking a switch by the door for lights, rather than groping around for extension lead switches.  Also, it means that the not inconsiderable cost of light fittings can be spread over however long it takes us to get each room ready.

Using up scraps

8-9 March 2015

Work on the bathroom wall continued, with the emphasis on getting all the laths into the walls.  There is so much new and offcut wood stored in the 'party room' (as it is to be) that a week has gone past just trying to find useful places to put it all. 

 As a result, I have completely lathed the internal wall between the entry and the living (party) room - an unexpected benefit of all this preparation, as I had not considered getting that wall done any time soon, and it cuts out a lot of drafts in our sitting area.

 And I found enough pieces of nice planed wood to put batons and five slats in each shelf of the linen press

And I constructed this jigsaw of (unseen) supports and plywood tops to make a long step from the entry to the foot of the stairs, as the drop from eventual floor level (the thresholds) to current floor level is about 25cm, so it is better broken up with a 12cm step.

Bathroom Wall

1 March 2015

Finally, the new bathroom floor was dry enough to lay boards and get on with building the internal wall. 

 Using the laser level to position the horizontal piece

 Putting in uprights

 Plasterboard for the interior surface as it will be mostly behind the bath

From the inside, plasterboard to dado height, only the corner to construct now.  I want to do this like the practice one in the studio - a right angle inside the room (for the bath to fit) and a curved outside.

Clear up and Linen Press

26-27 Feb 2015

Now we have to wait for the floors to dry.  While we wait, I'm trying to get as much cleared and tidied up as possible, in preparation for the party, but also because it is a good idea generally.  We have things stashed here and there and everywhere that we can't find or have forgotten we have.

We have so much left over wood - a lot of it is suitable only for burning, but the stove over-reacts to pine so we can't burn it as quickly as I'd like.  Anyway, it all needs sorting and relocating out of the living room/workshop. 

I started off by sorting the entry hall.  Since clearing the bathroom, this had become our new dumping ground, and there was nowhere to feed the cats.  So I put up lots more coat hangers and used the polythene that came with the bath to cover an exposed bit of wall to give the cats a cosy feed corner.

A big problem is that I overspec'd the plasterboard for the bathroom, as I had assumed we would put the boards in at full height, but it is much nicer to only have a few rows of tiles around the bath, and have lime plaster above - especially as it will help regulate humidity.  So we have two big plasterboards left over, which are too heavy for one person to lift and have to be stored flat on a flat surface - an impossible requirement.  After much brain racking, I decided we could profitably build a linen cupboard, using up wood as well as the plasterboard on a really useful installation.  So I built one.  It took much longer than expected: two days not half a day.  There are no shelves yet, they aren't a priority.

 Day one: uprights in place, and a ceiling board with insulation fitted to batons and painted white

 Day two: floor board cut, painted and fitted, and plasterboard panels installed.  Clutter inserted.  The little table to the left will be my sewing corner.

I haven't mentioned the gold curtains that are acting as bathroom walls while the floor dries.  A couple of weeks ago Pedro from Nisos rang and said he was getting rid of some things, and did we want any of them.  So we took gold curtains and more bedside tables - to use as side tables in the music room.  The curtains, unlikely as it may seem, have been a godsend as a temporary wall.

In the Soup

25 Feb 2015

In order to fit the drainage and taps for the bath before fixing them in limecrete, we needed to know what bath we were going to get.  So what had been planned as a luxury item to buy in a few years, turned into an immediate purchase that we couldn't possibly afford.  So we lived off rabbit stew for four days and didn't go out, just to get to the end of the month without spending anything.

The bath arrived in an enormous cardboard box - which to us means new carpet for the music room!  The bath was pretty good too, although smaller than I'd expected.  We manhandled it in across all our boardwalks and propped it up on the shower tray to wait with everything else until the floor dries up.

Under the Boardwalk

Monday Evening, 23 Feb 2015

Still pouring the floor - a major effort, as the corridor area is very large, Dave making mixes at top speed as he had arranged for a jam session with potential new band members at 4.30 and needed to wash and change.

While he made the last mix I built another boardwalk, out of all our remaining offcuts of plywood, and installed the batons as each section was finished.  Dave supplied the last mix and rushed off to wash, while I tamped and leveled, then teetered across the batons installing the boardwalk and putting the curtains back up.  The left over mix went into the front step, which we have been filling gradually whenever there's some mortar left in the barrow at the end of the day - too wasteful to pour away.

 The band arrived, set up and started practicing as I poured the leftovers into the front step and leveled it, building a scruffy boardwalk out of outdoor scrap wood, just as the band launched into 'Under the Boardwalk'.  Really.  How weird is that?

Dave had to go and meet John the drummer and singer Pete (top right and left), so they arrived together and I warned them about the freshly poured floor.  Panos (bass, centre left) arrived a moment later, and as he is familiar with the house and helped plaster the bale wall at the last bale raising, I didn't worry too much about warning him.  So of course, it was Panos who left a deep shoe print in the new floor.  The 'crete was so fresh it was easy to smooth out and re-level, but he was terribly embarrassed.

A Way with the Mixer

Monday 23 Feb 2015

Time presses on and this floor needs to be solid before the Birthday.  So we pressed on too.

 On Friday 20th we poured the last section of the bathroom.  We were all set for finishing this in good time for Greek Lessons at 4pm, but with one mix to go, when Naomi had just managed to get to us to help (she'd been held up by all sorts of things) - the mixer broke down.  Dave had just filled it with 8 buckets of sand and gravel when it died.  Nim and I took tea in the sunshine, while Dave swore at the carburettor and the fuel pipe.  Eventually he got it going - he definitely has a way with the mixer, that man!  Finished, and the boardwalk replaced and extended (and nearer the sink) and curtains fitted on a long pole, with seconds to spare before Greek.  Phew!

 It took us the weekend to decide that we couldn't stop there.  While we were pouring floor, we needed to finish the section up to the stairs as well and have it all done.  To manage this section, which is rather wide, we changed direction, especially as this would support a boardwalk as well.

Pelicans

21 Feb 2015

Another trip to the dentist, another day out!  We took a walk along the lagoon to see the flamingos and pelicans.  As Dave said - we could've been in Africa.  Not a sunny day though.

Pouring the Floor

Thursday 19 Feb 2015

Having slept off the post-birthday excitement, and done a little more plastering on Wednesday, as well as fitting a neat trim around the shower tiles, we were all set for the next exciting development on Thursday.  We were going to start pouring the floor!

As the kitchen limecrete slab took 4 weeks to go off, and the party is exactly 4 weeks away, we decided to follow a suggestion in one of the natural finishes books and add a cupful of cement to our limecrete.  This should reduce the going-off time, although we don't know by how much - as the temperature and humidity will affect it too.

So we fitted the first two floor batons, then Dave started making mixes, while I tamped and levelled.  We can't easily get a barrow to the bathroom, because of all the different floor levels, so Dave brought the mix in by bucket.  Tiring stuff!

 Last remaining panels plastered on Weds

 Bath drain pipes cut and fitted (positioning estimated and probably wrong!  and the first two mixes tamped and leveled

 White wood trim around the shower tiles to neaten it up.

 Four mixes made (Each mix requires 4 buckets gravel, 4 buckets sand, 1 bag lime putty, 1 cup cement and water - lots of heavy lifting in each mix)

 End of the day - two floor sections poured, two people worn out, and a narrow boardwalk hastily constructed to get to the loo.

Oops, should've put the boardwalk closer to the sink - bit of teetering required for handwashing and tooth cleaning.

Birthday

15 - 17 Feb 2015

On with the shower - all grouted by Sunday 15th.  Then the remaining wall sections needed completing, lath and plaster, as ever.

Tuesday was my birthday, another glorious sunny day, and Dave served up my favourite breakfast in the winter garden: very special.

Followed by 'quiet' drinks in George's later that day - rather a lot of people turned up, which was very lovely, but not so quiet!