Week 57: 24 - 30 July

Jul. 30, 2023

This past week has really been a busy one at the house and it feels like things are finally starting to come together. The biggest activities at the house involved the heating system, bathrooms, garage and more exterior work.

We had another meeting with the final lighting studio and are waiting for their recommendations on lighting for inside and outside. Once we receive that, we will make our final decisions and get lights ordered.

Lauren took a few road trips across Czech Republic and Slovakia to visit stone studios on the hunt for various stones and tiles needed for exterior driveway, stairs, terrace and decking. While some progress was made, we still need to finalise our decision for the driveway. Our initial choice was beautiful but there were concerns that the material might be too slippery when wet or cold so we have decided to stick with traditional concrete bricks. The main question is what colour to go with, so Lauren will be headed back to Olomouc on Friday to get some tile samples to bring back to the house and see how it goes with existing paint and tile selections.

Lauren met with the construction foreman this week by herself which may not sound like much but seeing as how he only speaks Czech, it was a milestone that she was able to actually have the conversation and pretty much understand all of it. She also got to practice her Czech (and Slovak!)during the meetings at the stone studios.

This coming week looks to be exciting as the current plan is to have the painters back in to do the final painting (with the exception of a few touchups that may be needed) and also to get the flooring - both wood and carpet installed. Knowing that the house really needed to be clean before carpet could be installed, Lauren spent most of the weekend at the house cleaning everything, even though she knew that the builders would clean things before installing the carpets and floors. Either way, the mess, dirt and dust was spectacular and Lauren figured that an extra clean here and there would not go amiss. It also let her use the new Kaercher shop vac that we got a few weeks ago and the end result was fantastic. Even though there are no finished floors, just dusting and vacuuming made a world of difference.

Čerpadlo

Of course, the biggest news of the week is that the heating system was installed and running which meant that the concrete floors could be dried in preparation for the final flooring. The estimate was that it would take 10 days to dry, but of course, we’ve been waiting for 6 months so it really only took 4 days. The floor heating system as well as the radiators on the upper level work beautifully and we will not be cold this winter.

We have a heat pump system as the EU is moving away from fossil fuel heating systems. This is the outdoor unit.

And this is the beautiful indoor unit, right after install. I believe that the small upper tank is the expansion tank for the heating system. We also decided that we would get a small microwave to leave at the house until the kitchen is done so that we can eat meals there when we’re there for several hours at a time. In Czech Republic, lunch is typically the biggest, hottest meal of the day and at this point, even Lauren has gotten used to this. The microwave means that even if we’re there working all day, we can still have a hot meal. We’ve been very happy with this purchase and have already used it 4 or 5 times in the first week.

This is our control panel wall in the main living space. The upper left one is the remote control for the actual heating system seen above, the one to the right (Siemens) is the thermostat for the floor heating in the living room. Every room on the main floor has its own thermostat. The middle unit, above the switches is our front door video camera system.

Garage

A lot more work has continued in the garage and it’s been the primary space that Lauren has been working in this week.

Our garage radiators were delivered but we are waiting to install them on the walls until after Lauren paints the basement/garage.

The garage floor seams got their grout this week.

We got some work lights this week to use while doing work around the garage and have been using them judiciously in dark corners.

The work lights came in very handy on a hot, sunny 33degree day so Lauren could keep the garage door closed and heat outside but still have enough light. Before painting on concrete, she had to paint the penetration layer which you can see here. Penetration goes on just like paint with rollers but it looks like milk and has the consistency of water. You can see a jug of it by the ladder.

Lauren felt a bit like a mad scientist this week after a score of science experiments with finding the right wall colours for the basement/garage. The colour tone in the photos below are totally off but you get the idea. The bottom row here are the original colours, which were, for the most part, way too intense. So the experiments began in which each row above had an additional part of white added. Some colours were ruled out immediately and more on the way through. By the time she was done, she had a range of colours that were 3 parts white to 1 part colour all the way up to 7 parts white to one part colour. The colours really were way too intense. After narrowing that down, she then needed to paint the colours in different places in the garage owing to how differenc colours look in different light.

She has narrowed it down to a single shade and is just trying to make up her mind how light to make it. The experimentation process has been crazy, what with having to do a ton of math to get the ratios correct and also to the fact that water needs to be added to the mixes. A few mistakes were made, but overall it was a successful experiment. Let’s just hope that the final colour turns out nice on the walls.

Living Room

Not much to see here except that this is what it looked like after Lauren cleaned it. The difference was amazing and the dust-free windows look great.

Downstairs Bathroom

All the bathrooms were finished this week. The only thing we’re waiting for is to have the retention tank installed because that’s where our toilet flushing water comes from. Until that point, we still can’t use the indoor toilets.

The new shower door was installed downstairs.

The extra bathroom accessories like soap dispensers were installed.

The toilet sprayer, toilet paper holder and toilet bowl cleaners are all installed.

The bathroom also has its own thermostat.

Upstairs Landing

The upstairs landing is looking great now that it’s been cleaned.

Master Bedroom

I can start to see what our bedroom is going to look like when it’s done.

Guest Bedroom

The guest bedroom, while still a blinding mint green is cheerful and clean(er).

Sewing Room

Lauren’s sewing room is also preparing for its new occupant.

Upstairs Bathroom and Toilet

The upstairs bathroom was also finished last week and is looking beautiful.

We were there the evening that they installed the vanity and the end results are nice.

The accessories up here have been installed as well, including the soap dispenser.

The radiator and cabinet have been installed as well. The radiator will be behind the door so won’t really be visible unless the door is closed.

The shower is done and the other radiator is installed.

And the bathtub is ready to go.

The toilet paper holder and toilet bolw cleaner is also installed and we just realised that we forgot a soap dispenser in here, so we will need to get one and add it.

Front Yard

In our mission to finalise the stairs and terraces, as previously mentioned, Lauren took a road trip to some stone showrooms and the tiles below are what we chose for the front terrace and stairs. We wanted something light but still a contrast to the cream coloured cladding that we will have. This is a nice shade of light brown that goes really nicely with the cream cladding and so we will be using this on our front steps and terrace by the front door.

The two layout options are below and we haven’t decided which we will use for the terrace.

Back Yard

Saša and his guys recovered from heatstroke and returned from vacation and have been hard at work in the backyard. They dug the hole for the pool which is actually about twice the size of the pool. The pool is a plastic shell which will get dropped into the hole but before hand, there needs to be a concrete base layer. After that, then the pool itself is set in and concrete is slowly added in layers around the outside of the pool.

They also started digging the foundation for where another retaining wall will go around the well.

Since Lauren likes to swim so much, we decided to get a countercurrent unit which allows for Lauren to effectively swim laps in the pool without needing a 25 yard long pool. That’s why there’s a cut out at the far end of the hole.

The day after digging the hole, they were tamping it down hard and measuring the depth to make sure that it was straight and level.

The new dugout area to the right toward the retaining wall is for the electrical system. On the other side of the wall will be the electrical box for the pool.

When they built the retaining wall, they included those piles you can see at the bottom of the trench to pass through electrical cables.

The dirt piles have been cleared again.

Despite all efforts, we had to dig out our cherry tree and move it. We will see whether it lives or not but if not, we’ll get a new one. This one had only ever produced two cherries so it’s not TOO much of a loss.

Rain

Being at the property yesterday was very interesting as Lauren got to watch a rain storm approach. As the rain approached, Tišnov was hidden behind a wall of rain.

Art Show

Lauren loves to experience everything Czech and so was excited to be invited to an art show opening with friends Ondra and Jitka on Friday night. Jitka’s colleague also makes and teaches mosaic-making and so this was an art show for that. She held it in her garden and Lauren was excited to see more examples of Czech living.

The actual address of the show was on “U Kostela” street, which literally means “By the church” so Lauren was happy to see that the village church across the street from the house.

The house was in an older part of the village but has been nicely restored. From the sidewalk, it looked like a new home.

The garden was fantastic and an example of one of my favourite things about older Czech homes - it had an amazing courtyard with ivy, plants and trees and a barn at the back.

There were musicians on the patio.

We got to see her collection of old tiles that she uses to make the mosaics.

And then onto the mosaics themselves. The canoe and horse mosaics were my favourites.