All posts by bkrijger

Tubbing in Texas

Granted that Walls, floor tiles and proper lighting would help the picture,
functionally, the tub has become operational today.
Arnoud is enjoying a bath right this minute an is rating it 5 stars.
I placed Hardie Backer Cement Board on the floor, which will be the base for tiles.
Besides the tub and shower, the toilet is now also fully hooked up,
enabling flushing without having to get a bucket of flushing water from outside.
The joy of luxury is coming closer and closer.

Turn on the Heat

One thing most of us take for granted is hot water. In the US, this is supplies by a water heater,
which is electric. Arnoud has experience with Plumbing so he did most of the work to get this one installed.

This water heater is connected using PEX tubing and currently runs at 110V.
As soon as I have found an electician that can hook up the panel box, the water heater can be connected using 240V,
which means it will heat up quicker. All connections to and from this water heater are made with a PEX plier,
that crimps a metal ring around the connection to make it water tight.

The art of chinking

Well, art might be overstating it. It’s more a skill one has to develop. Mart did a few feet today;


Getting the chink on using the gun isn’t difficult. Loading the chinking gun is; it envolves pulling the gun while pushing down a plunger in the chink pale. Very tough work, but once you get the hang of it, reloading only takes seconds.  

Reaching new heights

For someone who considers himself as suffering from vertigo, today I managed to overcome this issue quite a bit;


As can be seen, the scaffolding is up at its max height of two floors, and the deck adds a third floor. For security, the scaffolding is secured to the wall by 4 big screws. 

The other side

Today the east extension wall was up for siding.
This involved a different approach as loose soil, tree roots and steep inclines,
makes the use of ladders there unsafe.
So we engineered a platform to work from using the scaffolding and some heavy boards.
As you can see, we made it to just above the window today,
and will finish the top tomorrow.