Day 60: Fireplace Door Installed

On Day 60, 11th April, just in the morning before the public show of Our House, we managed to install the door of the fireplace in order to complete the look of it. Also the service/cleaning hatches below the fireplace and at the bottom of the chimney were installed. Now it really looks the part, except for the missing chimney – so don't start a fire just yet.

The house show later in the afternoon was well visited, even crowded at times. Our narrow access road was at one time plugged with cars so that there was no escaping from us. Also, one person parked slightly off the road and needed to be towed out by skidoo... All in all a successful afternoon.

Day 47: Final Paint for Fireplace

On Day 46 (16th March), it was time for the final coats of paint for the fire place. First the whole thing was painted in an off-white colour ("Damasti"). This had to be applied twice, some three hours apart. The photo above shows the first coat of paint.

Finally, in the evening, the firewall part above the fireplace was painted in the same brown tone as the wall on the other side of the chimney ("Etruski"), and this was repeated by a second coat of brown on Sunday morning (Day 47, 17th March). The photo shows the final product, the fireplace stands out nicely against the contrast of the dark wall.

Since the weather was just brilliant, there was a chance and time to play with the extreme wide-angle GoPro camera. Above is a shot that would be hard to achieve with other cameras, a view that shows all kitchen/living room windows and the terrace door at once.

No, our windows are actually perfectly straight, but when going very close to the window with the GoPro, the extreme wide angle distorts the window frame. A nice view in any case.

Day 43b: Fireplace Grouting and Final Plaster

The other thing that happened on Day 43 (12th March), was that our mason came by and applied the final layer of plaster. The plaster was mixed with paint to make it runnier, and then a special roller brush was applied to it, in order to achieve the finish seen above, i.e. a rough surface. Once this is dry, it will be painted with primer and two coats of the final paint – but in which colour?

Furthermore, already in the morning, the black grouting had been applied to the tiles of the fireplaces, which really looks stunning. Here's a detail of tiles and the rough final plaster.

Finally, a view of the whole fireplace. It looks grey, which is due to the plaster still being wet. Once it's dry, it'll be white. The white smooth surfaces below the fireplace were primed earlier and have been left as-is, in order to allow for a good fit of the cleaning hatches against the wall.

Day 41: First Coat of Primer for Fireplace

On Saturday, 9th March, it was our turn to work on Our House. The weather was just the best possible March weather with stunningly bright sunshine after a very cold night.

The fireplace needed the first coat of primer paint. We made it a family event and everyone helped sanding down the layer of plaster, using brushes to get rid of all the dust, mask the tiles, and then paint the whole fireplace with white primer. Above is a photo of the result, and it looks almost like the finished product. A final layer of plaster with a special rough finish will be applied next, followed by primer and the final paint.

Day 40: Oven Surprise

The week ended with a surprise on Day 40 (Friday, 8th March). Our mason had been back to Our House once again to apply a second, very fine layer of plaster to the fireplace. The photo above gives the overall impression.

The real surprise, however, is revealed in the second photo: he found a large, thick, matte-black tile and cut it into stripes in order to cover the bricks around the recessed oven door (check to compare). The effect is just fantastic.

I have to explain that, while assembling the fireplace, which was delivered as a kit, we did a few  modifications and improvements along the way. The final modification will be the finish. The kit came with dyed light-grey plaster as the final layer on the surface. However, after some deliberation, we think that this very porous finish will not be practical, since soot and dust can enter the pores. Therefore we will apply standard plaster with a somewhat rough finish, which will then be painted. The paint will close the pores, and this process will also allow for changing the colour if one day we don't like it anymore. For now we will paint the fireplace in the same off-white colour as the corridor and the wall opposite of the fireplace.

Day 39: Fireplace Tiles and Paints

On Thursday, 7th March (Day 39), more stuff had arrived. Maybe you've been wondering what kind of colours we selected for all the walls since we posted a photo of all the possibly options we were considering over Christmas and New Year. It took us a couple of weeks to debate, and finally we submitted our choices to the house company. Now that the paints have arrived, there's no turning back. Here are a lot of buckets, but you can maybe guess whose room will be painted using the buckets marked "Pioni" and "Hyasintti."

The fireplace has had a very subtle change, which we almost missed completely: the mason must've been back, and he installed the small black tiles around the hatch for the fireplace.

Here's a better view of the same feature. These tiles are maybe 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm or so. The glass door of the fireplace will be installed afterwards, on top of the tiles and the plaster.

Here's a close-up of the oven door, which is recessed into the wall, and the bricks have not been covered with plaster yet. I wonder, how they will be sealed later on.

Day 38: Walls and Ceiling

It's amazing to see what one person can do in only three days. Due to very intense work schedules, I didn't manage to visit the construction site earlier, and I almost could not believe my eyes (Wednesday, 6th March; Day 38). The photo above shows the living room. All walls in the house are now smoothed with plaster and painted with primer, and the ceiling is installed.

Here's a photo of the ceiling. It's basically white, but one can see the structure of wood through it, which gives a very nice effect. The material is MDF-based, some kind of laminate for the ceiling.

In the meantime, our mason also had visited and put a first layer of plaster on the fireplace, which starts to reveal what it will eventually look like. Just imagine the grey to be some warm "almost-white."

Day 35: Brickwork Complete

Unfortunately I was unable to participate in laying the remaining bricks, so our mason went ahead on Friday (Day 35; 1st March), and finished this part of the work. The fireplace is complete, bar the plaster and paint to cover the bricks, and of course the glass door for the fire.

What's next? Today it's cleaning up properly after the masonry, because tomorrow (Monday, 4th March), the team from the house company will come to start with the interior. Their first task will be to smoothen all walls with plaster and prepare them for painting, later the ceiling will be installed, including all the electrical installation for lighting etc. At some point floors and kitchen will come.

The countdown is running, though, we will be given the house on 11th April, and the final inspection, which has to take place before anyone is allowed to live in the house, is scheduled for 17th April. Only about six weeks to go!

Day 34: Chimney and Shell

On Monday and Tuesday (Days 32 & 33) I was travelling, and thus the work on the fireplace continued without my help. On these two days, the chimney was built and brought through the ceiling of the living room into the loft. Also, the door for the oven was installed. The photo above is taken at lunch break of Day 34 (Wednesday, 27th Feb), after we built also the first layers (1–11) of the shell. The shell will later be covered by plaster, which will then be painted.

The next photo shows how far we got today, and after cleaning up the place. Clearly visible is the mineral wool insulation, which is a fireproof shield between layers of different types of brick. Tomorrow, most likely no work will be done, but on Friday the brickwork will be complete.

The loft is accessible through a tiny door in the front wall of the house. The door is just big enough to squeeze through, and really only meant for maintenance access. Here's the view inside the loft towards the exit. The white pipes are part of the ventilation system.

The chimney is protruding from the ceiling's insulation by five layers. It is closed for now by a makeshift plug of mineral wool, in order to prevent cold air from the loft to flow into the house, and thereby not only cool the inside, but also hamper with the drying process of the mortar of the chimney. Now we need to wait for period of two days, during which there's no snow fall or rain, and during which it is reasonably warm. We will have to open up the roof by taking two panels off, then bring the chimney up to its final height, and then close the roof and seal it around the chimney. This can hopefully be done some time in March or April.

Day 31: Adding an Oven to the Fireplace

Today, 22nd February, it was time to put the oven on top of the fireplace. Again, the photo shows the state of the construction at lunch break. First layers 16 to 22 (including layer 21.5) of the heart were added. These include three large and very heavy concrete elements forming the roof of the oven. Then layer 22 of the frame was completed by adding a concrete bar spanning the front of the fireplace. Layers 23 and 24 were prepared.

Here's a view into the oven. One can clearly see the arching ceiling made our of the concrete elements. The floor it made of four tiles, which simply lie on a bed of special sand. They are meant to be replaced after ten years or so. The hole in the front is for dropping ashes and embers into the fireplace below. This oven is heated by making a fire in the same cavity as the food is prepared in. Thus one first needs to heat up the oven, then wait for the fire to die, drop the embers, wait some half and hour more, than close the hatch on the ceiling of the oven (see next photo) an then put the food into the oven. Just looking at the picture above I can smell the food, and I'm getting hungry. Are you, too?

Here you can see the oven from above. Again, clearly visible are the concrete arches making up the ceiling of the oven. The hatch for the exhaust, i.e. the connection of oven to chimney, is at the back. An arched metal panel is used to close the hatch, operated from the front of the fireplace by a long metal rod, which is conveniently placed at a height, where it simply exists through the mortar between two layers of the frame of the fireplace.

At the end of the day, both heart and frame were completed. Now it looked almost like the final product, but a lot was still missing. Next will come the chimney and the outer shell, then plaster, and finally paint – or maybe another layer of dyed plaster.

Somehow the kitchen looks empty now, with most bricks gone. Still it is hard to imagine that all these bricks did – after all – fit into the small space the fireplace is taking up now.

Day 30: The Heart of the Fireplace

On Thursday, 21st February, the work continued with the frame of the fireplace. The photo above shows the work done before lunch break. Clearly visible is the contrast of fresh (dark/wet) mortar against the light-grey (dry) mortar from two days ago. At this point, the frame was complete up to layer 21, and layers 22-23 were in the making. But then it was time to begin work on the heart of the fireplace, using fireproof bricks and special fireproof mortar. In the photo, layers 5-8 of the heart were completed (layer numbers always start from the floor).

A close-up of the fireplace shows a hole in the middle, which will be covered by a grille through which ash can fall down. The ash can be cleaned up through the hatch below.

Work rapidly progressed after lunch and soon layers 9 to 15 were installed. The empty cavity under the concrete bar is the normal fireplace. Further up, there will be another fire, which will function as an oven. The slit, which is just visible in the photo on the top layer, will be used to drop the ashes and embers from the oven into the fireplace before preparing food or baking.

Another view from the front. The structure will eventually be encased in another layer of bricks, which will then be covered with plaster and painted. The doors will be black cast iron with glass windows, and there'll be black tiles around the lower fireplace.

Again, the number of bricks scattered around the kitchen is on the decline – which is just as well, since at some point the kitchen furniture needs to be installed.

Day 29b: Frame of Fireplace

While the drilling was going on outside, we were busy in the house continuing the work on the fireplace. Now it was time to start work on the frame, which is basically a few layers of bricks as foundation with integrated channels for the smoke and ash cleaning, and then outside and rear walls. This frame will later be filled with the heart of the fireplace, i.e. the structure of the cavities for the fire.

The photo above shows the situation at lunch break (layers 1-6 complete). In the front there will be three hatches for cleaning, and the opening on the side is where the chimney will be connected. It seems wrong to connect the chimney at the bottom, but the idea is that it will create a draft, which sucks the exhaust from the fires first up, then down in the fireplace, and then out of the house. This ensures that the entire mass of the fireplace (well over 3 tons) will heat up and radiate for a long time after heating. Also the chimney is designed such that it will heat up and slowly release heat into the surroundings.

The next photo shows the frame at the end of the day (layers 1-15 complete). The inside remains empty for now, it will be filled later during the week. By the way, at least three types of bricks are used here. The frame is made of solid bricks, which simply increase mass and thereby heat capacity. The heart will be made of fireproof bricks. Finally, the outside shell will be made of normal bricks.

Looking at our future kitchen, it seems that the brick density is beginning to decrease: some piles are already gone. But it is still hard to imagine that all these bricks fit into that little space, which will be our fireplace.

For the fun of it, here's another view of the frozen trees, which have been sprayed with water and fine dust from the drilling of the geothermal well.

Day 28: Firewall and Geothermal Well

On Monday afternoon (18th February) it got busy at the construction site. We began the masonry with the construction of the firewall, for which one pile of bricks was used up – only to find out that we were some 15 bricks short. Thus I had to get more, and bring them into the house on the same day, in order to have them warm up and de-ice overnight. The photo shows the final product at the end of Day 28, including the gap on the top.

Soon after midday, two lorries arrived, one of which is a specialised vehicle, which carries the tracked drill and houses a huge compressor. After a short while, work began on the drilling of the geothermal well, which will provide the energy for Our House. The photo shows the lorry after unloading the drill.

The drill was driven to the correct location, and then it was coupled by a pressure hose to the compressor on the lorry (the orange hose in the background), which provided compressed air at 28 bar in order to drive the drill.

Probably due to the vicinity of the river Kitinen, a lot of water came our of the bore hole, and the team had to keep pumping it out. The deeper the bore hole gets, the more difficult it is to extract the water: the pressure increases 1 bar per 10 metre.

Day 27: More Bricks

On Day 27 (17th February), the task of brining all bricks into the house (all in all 4.5 tons of material) was completed – thanks to Juha for helping! The photo above shows all the bricks needed for the chimney. Every layer requires four bricks, and there are some 55 layers for a chimney of maybe 5.5 metre height.

In the photo above, in the lower-left corner, one of the chimney layers is laid out to demonstrate how it will work. This chimney is designed to keep as much heat as possible in the brickwork in order to radiate it into our living room. Thus the exhaust air from the fireplace will leave Our House as cold as possible.

The fireplace itself is delivered as a kit, and it is once assembled dry (without cement obviously) at the factory. Then all individual layers of bricks are numbered before they are packed onto palettes. This last palette was the trickiest and slowest to unload, because we had to make sure that all bricks with the same layer numbers are somehow placed together – and there are an awful lot of layers, and even half layers (11.5 and 24.5).

Over the next couple of weeks, this will be put together layer-by-layer following the detailed instructions (above, first 10 layers). I will be at the house helping to hand bricks to our mason, which should be a fun project.

Also the mason dropped by today, and placed another layer of large bricks under the fireplace, thereby bringing the foundations exactly up to floor level. Once this layer is dry, we can start to build the fireplace itself.

Day 26: Work on Fireplace Commences

The work on the fireplace began on Thursday, 14th February. In the meantime, the floor was left to dry out more after pouring the concrete. It needed about a week to be strong enough to be loaded with about 4.5 tons of material for the fireplace. All week, I brought bricks, cement and other materials into the house. The photo above shows the first pile of bricks, about 750 kg for the firewall, which will be placed between the fireplace and the wall to our bedroom. The second load included some more specialised bricks, and 300 kg of cement. These loads proved that our old Land Cruiser pick-up is capable of smooth rides and comfortably soft suspension – if only preloaded by at least half a ton of bricks...

The first task was to cut the floor open, in order to reveal the special foundation of the fireplace, which was put in place with the rest of the foundations, and consist of a huge reinforced concrete block. As seen on the photo, some insulation is missing, and thus the structure of the house floor is revealed. It is interesting to see that the concrete layer on the floor is really only just thick enough to cover the hoses for the floor heating, a couple of centimetre.

First, polyurethane foam was used to seal the house against the concrete foundation, then the empty spaces were stuffed with FinnFoam (yep, that one again), and then a first layer of large, light-weight bricks was put down. Another layer will follow later in order to bring the foundation up to the level of the floor in the house. This will be done later, in order to allow the first layer to dry out properly. In the meantime, there are a lot more bricks to be brought into Our House to warm up and dry out.