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Now we're into late February and the empty house is done. Almost all the tradesmen have been and gone
except for a few bits and pieces. Time for me to get the interior happening.
 
 
Late Feb. The timber on the floor (concrete slab) in this photo have been fastened with 6mm thick metal fittings. There are 180 of them, so that's 180 holes I had to drill into concrete, that's equal to 10 metres, then I had to belt in 180 fittings with a sledge hammer all of which was very, very hard to do. Why? So the wooden floor boards can be nailed to these.
 
March 5. Today the septic tank was installed, that's a 2.5 tonne tank hanging in the air. Some minor plumbing was completed but because of wet weather a lot of sewerage and plumbing work had to be postponed to another day.
 
March 5. This is a dark and dull photo of the bathroom. The black stuff is just waterproofing I had to paint on and there's some fibreglass as well. I have ordered the tiles and even bought a tile cutter all ready to go later in the month.
 
 
 
March 20. This is a 80cm by 80cm slab of black slate that the woodburning fireplace will stand on. The slate is about 2cm thick. The floorboards are nailed to the timber you can see in the photo and the slate will be below floor level by about 4cms. I will get a stainless steel trim made up that goes between the floorboards and the slate.
 
March. Here you can see the first step in making the floorboards. The timber is rough sawn so I need to get them all the same thickness and nice and smooth. On the bench in the middle is a Thicknesser which shaves off a thin layer each time a piece of timber is passed through, there are 74 boards and they'll have to go through 11 times each. Lots of work for Ian.
 
April 15. Today I finished laying the floorboards, what a long long job it has been. 10 days work to cut the boards to length, adjust the widths, position, drill, nail and screw, it could take 2 hours to lay one strip of 8 metres. But well worth it. The boards vary in width with the widest being about 190mm. The stove and sink have be temporarily positioned.
 
 
 
 
April 30. Finally I have finished the floor, almost. But it has been stained and given 4 coats of varnish and looks how I wanted it to. Still have to punch the nailheads below the top of the floor and fill the gaps between the boards. Also will screw down the ends of each board with old brass woodscrews mainly for the effect, just got to find enough screws.
 
May 8. Today I had the woodburning fireplace delivered and installed. Had to give it a 'run in' burn which helps dry out the exterior paint. The black slate under the fireplace needs to be oiled or varnished so that its nice dark charcoal colour comes out. Eventually I'll get a stainless steel trim fitted between the floorboards and the slate slab.