Floor out of a jar
Right. We are running behind in our communication. But we are somewhat very extremely tired. And Mr. master builder / architect / chief of works / financier / head contractor / solutions finder / details hoarder that has to manage alle these working men and disciplines and troubles and planning, is near a burn out… This is the home stretch, the completion phase, the end is near. But this is exhausting, at the age of 68, having to pull all the different carts in the same direction. The missus is getting his exclamations served on her own full plate of emotions. Next to her own job and other issues in Holland, this is an overload. We are pretty much done with this project. We want peace, a low level of adrenaline, take a breath, relax, move and put away our things in the final cupboards. After 3 years.
No more very early wake-up calls, and then wait to see who will show up anyway. And who doesn’t. Who will get the full force of anger because his presence is essential for the continuity of someone else’s work. Planning that has to be kept meticulously. And who doesn’t give a s$%#! ‘We’ll see…‘ seems to be the standard answer to all questions. As if everyone is waiting for the other to go first. Sometimes we’re not having fun anymore, with this project. ‘I’ll never ever do this again!’ says the boss. ‘But how beautiful this is all becoming, in the end…’ we sigh. Keep it up! We cheer each other up, and on we go…
Stir and smear
Every Saturday and Sunday we cleaned up all the surfaces on the project. Dots os stucco, dust, saw dust, cigarette butts, packaging and other stuff. Bags and bags full of it. Now the floor is sanded in a professional way and covered with stuff from these yellow SIKA pots. They pour a synthetic floor, a polyurethane that is more elastic and less hard than an epoxy floor. O senhor Armando from Arth is the master of this work. This is a seamless floor throughout the whole building. Quite difficult to choose a neutral color that suits all spaces but still provides the right atmosphere and feel. We chose color RAL 7044, silk grey, a nice combination in our palette of colors and materials. Next to all these layers we had to stay out of the house for a week. As a final touch a wax coating was provided by SFC. Perfection! But now we covered the whole floor with corrugated paper and felt, so the carpenter can start mounting kitchen and cabinets!
More continuation outside
Although we finally get some rain (our new orchard is so thirsty!) there is a lot of work to be done outside and around the house! The veranda’s get a ceiling of plaster boards. Luís designs a special gutter alongside so they really can not get wet.
The application of cork plates must be finished. We decide on the spot not to wrap the columns, as the building may look too heavy when finished. A last minute design change! The cork plating must be plastered.
On the veranda’s and around the pool a deck is installed Another big puzzle. The carrying beams must be fixed in concrete here and there. A root cloth is needed to prevent us from weeding between the boards. The hard wood boards we kept so long in store are now finally delivered to the project. They need to fit exact around the pool, at the right distance and this is not always going well. Finishing the pool itself has a tight deadline, and all other dusty work must be finalized before that moment. But also for the pool we need some last minute amendments to make sure the flow of water is exact.
We need a steel fence to close the gate in two parts. For this heavy weight we need to layer another steel weaponed concrete threshold. And we open up the grounds once more….
The floor of the annex is now finally covered, so we can use this little building for storage. But the huge package with the fridge had to stay over somewhere else. Our neighbor, senhor Martins, gracefully offered space in his living room (!) for a week. Ever so kind!
And with all these steps we courageously move forward…
