Week 59: 7 - 13 August
Aug. 11, 2023In the past two weeks, we have been so busy and so have our workers! While outdoor work was on hold due to an insane amount of rain, indoor work continued and Lauren made a road trip to narrow down the selection of driveway bricks and also to see options for swimming pool decks.
Driveway Bricks
Concrete and asphalt driveways aren’t done here, but rather bricks are used with plain concrete and asphalt generally being reserved for road surfaces. This means that among other options, we got to choose our driveway bricks. We chose some very pretty ones a few weeks ago which were shot down by several people who were very concerned about how they would fare in icy winter conditions and so, we were back to square one.
We went to a showroom not far from Brno but found that since the bricks were all made from concrete, they all tended to be varying shades of gray which didn’t really work with our colour scheme. A different concrete company ended up having a better selection for us but the nearest showroom with large sections of bricks was up near Olomouc (about 1.5 hours away) so last week, Lauren decided to take a road trip to view the bricks and also get samples that we could take to the house and see how the existing house colours went together.
Before heading to Olomouc, we had narrowed it down to two options and needed to narrow it down to one, based upon brick colour and layout.
The Historik bricks were really nice and had a range of colours and two
shapes - square or rectangle. The biggest problem we had with this was that
the colour selections weren’t great with the colours we already had on the
house and also the bricks were very consistently coloured and so we thought
it would just be too much of one solid colour.
The Holland Kombi bricks were our second option but only came in one option
that was suitable for a driveway - a mix of three shapes in the same colour.
The one thing we really liked about the bricks though is that the colour was
variable in each brick, ranging in hues of brown and orange/red. Given the
brown travertine tiles, cream cladding and red/orange roof tiles, we thought
it would go nicely.
And here is a view at the showroom where you can see the colour and shape
variation of the tiles that we’ll have.
Painting
Lauren spend every day this past week at the house working on the garage painting. This has been a fairly frustrating experience due to a variety of reasons. The biggest challenges have been related to paint colour, the number of coats required to actually cover the concrete, the distance to the nearest functioning paint store and finally due to a need to change priorities a few times throughout the painting process.
The paint colour has been a challenge as mentioned before and due to the large space and varied lighting - different for the interior rooms with no natural light to the actual garage space with unlimited natural light, the same paint colour looks like bright white in the garage space but a nice light beige in interior spaces. Lauren narrowed it down to a shade of that and only then realised exactly how white it looks in the garage. So back to the paint store to get a darker shade which seems like it will be fine in the garage space, leaving the lighter shade for the technical room and cellar.
And speaking of paint stores…originally Lauren was working with the local paint store, 3km away. It was only after a few samples were made that we realised that the paint colour mixer wasn’t functioning properly. (Shades of light blue were turning out bright green.) Wanting to stick with the same brand of paint, Lauren started searching and discovered a paint store in Slatina - on the opposite corner of Brno. Normally this would be fine but summer in Brno means CONSTRUCTION and lots of it. Right now, getting from the apartment or house to Slatina is generally taking twice as long as normal meaning it takes over an hour one-way to get there. So a trip to the paint store generally involves an entire morning. Fortunately there is a great Vietnamese restaurant nearby in Slatina which does great takeout…so Lauren has managed some nice lunches in the process.
The concrete is generally taking 3-4 coats to cover it which menans a lot of repeating the same thing over and over. When painting 80 square meters of garage and it’s walls and ceilings, that’s a lot of painting.
Finally, we’ve needed to change our priorities a few times to manage impending work. We originally needed to prioritise the technical room so it was done before the heater went in, then focused on the areas that need carpeting so we can get the carpets laid, then pivoted to the wall with the central vac so that could get installed and now we’re back to prioritising the areas with the carpeting. This is a really high priority for us as we can’t install the washer and dryer, upright freezer, server rack or any storage shelves until the carpet is in. We need the washer and dryer installed before we can move in 100% and the server rack is necessary for internet so that is also blocking us. And as you will see in later photos the storage shelves are necessary given the amount of chaos in the garage at the moment!
The garage is waiting for penetration layer and paint.
Pentration layer has been applied to all garage walls and ceilings.
Initial ceiling coats and edges have begun in the area above the carpeting.
A first coat of paint is done on the basement stairwell.
The wall for the central vac is painted and dry. (Note that that isn’t
actually white - it’s light beige. The problem is that it’s TOO light in
the garage area and looks white!)
Stairs
The wood trim was finished along the starwell this week.
Central Vac
The central vac installation meant more garage chaos. At one point that
morning, we had the flooring installers upstairs, the central vac guy
working in the basement, the plumbers in the technical room and Lauren was
painting.
One of the neat features we will have in our kitchen is a central vac opening
in the toe kick under the cabinets. This means if we’re sweeping the floor, we
can sweep directly into the central vac unit instead of using a dustpan. This
photo shows that unit and the pipes all ready for when the kitchen gets
installed.
The unit is installed and working. The only thing left to do is run the pipes
for the exterior venting which is waiting for some questions for the
electrician about where the wires are run.
The pipes for the exterior vent are ready when we have the answers from the
electrician.
Flooring
Without a doubt, the most exciting thing that has been happening this week is that the flooring is finally being installed. The installation is a multiple day process and the flooring guys were here from Tuesday to Thursday of this week.
Lauren arrived to paint on Tuesday morning and discovered that the workers
had already arrived, unloaded and were making progress. The pantry was
stacked high with boxes of wood flooring.
A peek inside showed the light oak floors that we chose 3 years ago in a
pre-COVID world…
…and a sample of the herringbone pattern that would be used.
Upstairs, the bathroom was functioning as a temporary storage room for
carpet padding and self-levelling compound.
The first thing they did after unloading was to use a massive shopvac to
clean all of the floors and then, they mixed some more concrete to fill in
all of the gaps in the floors.
Wednesday, day two, was spent mixing and pouring the self-levelling compound.
This compound will be underneath both the carpetting and the wood floors and
is a thin, hard layer that will ensure that the floor is perfectly level and
smooth. It took the whole day for them to make and spread the compound on
the two floors.
On Thursday, day three, they were ready to start laying the wood! The first step was to use what was effectively a giant industrial sander with a diameter of about two feet. They used this on the floors to ensure that there wasn’t a single bump.
They then used a laser level to mark the location of the first course of wood.
This was also our first opportunity to see the exterior blinds in use. As you
can see in the next few photos, we have exterior blinds which are recessed in
the windows outdoors and are very effective at blocking out sunlight and heat.
They’re a very common option these days in Czech Republic and even people in
apartment buildings commonly get them installed.
The time-intensive process of laying the herringbone design begins. They have setup a nice workshop in the house with the saw connected to the shopvac so that when they cut the wood pieces, they don’t blow sawdust all over the house.
A layer of glue is spread on the floor, the wood is laid down and a rubber
mallet is used to tap it into place, level with the previous pieces.
When Lauren left on Thursday evening, they were still working on the living
room/dining room area and hadn’t yet started in on Stano’s office.
Olomouc
Lauren is lucky enough to have friends Alex and Erik that live in Olomouc and so when she knew she needed to head to the brick showroom last week, she decided to extend that trip to include a visit to them and to see Olomouc.
Since Stano has been spending some much time watching the puppy while Lauren paints, we decided that it would be a good opportunity to get Boops out of the apartment and have an adventure.
We spent the morning with Alex, walking through the city. Olomouc is beautiful, a city center surrounded by grass and tree filled parks with two connected main squares in the center. It was nicely walkable and we got to catch up and spend time together which has been hard to find lately with all of the work going on.
Boops got a lot of opportunities to practice good behaviour…and sometimes
achieved it. She made sure to be on her best behaviour whenever a camera
was pointed at her.
The city center is beautiful. The Holy Trinity Column is a UNESCO heritage
monument in the middle of the main square. It was erected in the early
18th centery and is a classic example of this type of monument seen across
Central Europe. It is 35m tall and is of the Moravian Baroque style. For
more information, you can read about it on the
UNESCO website.
In the center of the main square is the Old Town Hall which dates back
to the 14th century.
In front of the town hall was a sand castle.
The town hall is also home to an astronomical clock.
There is also a map of the city center. You can see here the two connected town squares with the main square in the upper left with the Trinity Column and Town Hall dominating the center. The second town square leads off of it.
To the far upper right is the Cathedral and the empty areas on the right, left
and bottom are where the parks are.
We made our way to the cathedral, tucked away down some side streets where it
is surrounded by trees, grass and cobblestone streets. This was the second
church that I got to see while in Olomouc and the contrast was striking. The
first church was of the Baroque style and from the outside was rather plain.
In general, a building you probably wouldn’t notice if you weren’t looking for
it. The inside however was astounding. Gold-plating, soaring ceilings and so
ornate. This cathedral however is of the Gothic style and was as impressive
on the outside as the inside. There was no question as you approached it
what this was. The interiors were also spectacular in a different way. I’m
always awed by the quiet interiors and the stained glass windows in European
cathedrals and this one did not dissapoint.
One of the nice things about being there with Alex was that she got some
quality puppy time outside while I would go inside and check out the
interiors where tiny barky doggies were definitely not allowed.
It was obvious that our time was coming to an end when our wild baby decided
that she would rather lie down and rest instead of continue walking.
We ended the morning at a great restaurant in an old Italian villa that
served waffles of all varieties, sweet and savory. Erik met us for lunch
after a morning spent working and Alex and I each had a chai latte - mine
cold and hers hot.
The waffles were fantastic. I opted for savory, eggs benedict style waffles
with spinach and ricotta on top and bacon on the side. I would definitely
get it again.
Like many Czech restaurants, they were nice enough to have doggie water bowls on site and so Boops got the opportunity to drink after her long walk and practice behaving nicely while we eat. This is very much a work in progress! She loves Alex and Erik so was finding it to be incredibly difficult to stay calm when they were sitting at the table eating.
Boops
This week while Lauren was off at the house painting, Stano took the puppy on
another adventure to get a haircut. She got to ride on a bus and tram on her
way to see the groomer - another one of her favourite people. She loved
looking out the windows and seeing everything going on outside.
After her grooming and playtime (she always gets playtime with the groomer afterwards so that she has positive associations with getting groomed) she sat at the tram platform and waited to return home.
Taking a short break in the shade on the walk from the bus stop back home.
Stano and Boops walked to a nearby restaurant in the afternoon. After the
morning adventures, Boops was very tired.
