# Building a house in Finland



## DennisCA (7 May 2014)

Since there was some interest in seeing this I am posting about our house building project. Long story short is we found out we where having kids (yes, plural) and that lead to us deciding to build a house, previously we lived in a 73.5 m2 apartment.

*Step 1* was finding a lot to build on, we decided to build in a rural county as it was closer to my work than living in the city, and my fiances family lived in the same place, my own family lived much closer this way as well. We saw a lot of lots and almost bought one but the seller backed out, which in retrospect was good because or 2nd choice was much cheaper and real nice area. It was sold by the county itself at 4.30 euros / m2, looked like this before we did any work to it, 2340 square meters:






*Step 2* was finding a house builder, that is to say we where looking for a company that sold ready house models and who could also build them. We looked a many models and companies and rejected most. I wanted a package that was as complete as possible because I did not have time & energy to deal with multiple contractors myself and coordinating it all. We also had as a requirment a cast concrete plate as a foundation with waterborne floor heating. The heating source also had to be a ground heat exchange pump. 

We found a company that offered all this and also as they where sister company with an old finnish hardware chain they could offer things like laminate flooring, kitchen setup and everything else, we also got to meet with their interior decorators and set up and customize the rooms and kitchen and stuff like that. We also customized the house model from the start.

The house model we went with was called Peippo 137. 137 referring to the size of the house in m2, actual living area will be 121m2. We also added a free standing garage of 43m2. These are product pictures from the builder:

*Step 3* is getting the permits and everything ready. To get a building permit we had to get the plans and energy certificates and a person that will act as project leader, we have to find & hire that guy ourselves in order to avoid conflicts of interest with the company, his interest is ours that is. In addition there are pre work, during work and after work inspections that have to be done and signed for with the county building inspector.

*Step 4* is actually starting the construction. Here's the preparing work for the foundation, we've chopped down most of the trees and they will become firewood. We had to blast from the get go for the sewage lines and house itself because the bedrock was poking up through the ground, we also have to dig the pipes very deep to get under freezing depth, about 2 meters.
















After that we can get the sewage and water lines laid down and towards the house location.

Then the site is filled with gravel of a specific size to help drainage, and vibrated down. Then we cast the outer foundation:





_Concrete+insulation_





Interior filled & vibrated and also exterior filled up:





The picture doesn't show it but insulation has been laid down on the ground outside the foundation before we filled it over in order to insulate the ground around the house for 1 meter outwards. Then we also laid a thick plastic over it. The black plastic you see around the foundation is also more plastic to protect it from water and moisture.

About all I have time for now, more later.


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## finneyb (7 May 2014)

Dennis,

More when you have time would be good.

A question - how does the ground heat exchange pump work effectively if you have to lay the pipes 2m deep to prevent freezing? Is the pump also 2m deep, if so how does the ground replenish the heat it takes out at such a depth 

Brian


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## RogerS (7 May 2014)

Laying insulation outside the foundation footprint is intriguing. Why is that done?


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## DennisCA (7 May 2014)

The ground heat pump uses a separate borehole that is 130 meters deep actually, the pump is inside the house, this is an illustration:





Continuing the building, we do the same for the garage:





Then they raised the frame for the house itself:










Then they started on the roof to keep the rain out:










Outer dry wall is up:





Then insulation:





Garage is also progressing:





Meanwhile progress has been on going in the house, moisture barrier is up, insulation in the floor has been laid down, and the pipes for the floor heating, about ready to cast the floor plate now, the plate thus lies raised up from the ground and is insulated below and on the sides:











Concrete has been cast and allowed to dry enough to walk on, work's proceeding on the inside:





This is the end of november, there's a time jump to simetime after new years eve here due to us being away in helsinki with my younger twin son who needed heart surgery to correct a VSD. So I think I'll talk about the house in some more detail now rather than jump ahead. Here's a blue print that shows the house layout;






It's a 1-plane house and it has 4 bedrooms, livingroom, kitchen, bathroom+sauna, laundry room/technical area, the living room also has an accumulating masonry heater by finnish company Uunisepät, the foundation is reinforced to take it's weight of 1.25 metric tons. We customized the original plans by enlarging the terrace on the outside and made it wrap around the house, we also replaced the electric sauna heater with a wood fired one. Which in turn required the walls to the bathroom to be made from brick rather than wood as in the rest of the house.


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## DennisCA (7 May 2014)

RogerS":2tdbqs6h said:


> Laying insulation outside the foundation footprint is intriguing. Why is that done?



It prevents the cold from getting in under the foundation, so the ground never freezes under the house which in addition to just saving energy in heating also minimizes movement from the ground thawing/freezing during spring and wintertime. We should have practically no ground movement as we're practically on bedrock. Also helps the drainage since less water will be getting in under the house. There's also underground drainage pipes going around the house and garage to help carry away water.


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## RogerS (7 May 2014)

Presumably you also put a lot of insulation underneath your concrete slab? i can see it vertically around the perimeter in one of your photos above. You seem to set great store with drainage. Is that a problem in FInland ? Or just a precautionary measure?


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## DennisCA (7 May 2014)

Yes there's insulation below the slab as well, 200mm of insulation below the plate.

I don't know if there's a particular problem in Finland compared to other countries, I guess it can be with the ground thawing and freezing we got, less water there is in the earth around your foundation the less the cold will affect it.


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## RobinBHM (7 May 2014)

I cant see the workshop for woodworking it must be coming a bit later in the build.


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## finneyb (7 May 2014)

Dennis,

Thanks for posting more photos. In return I will post more questions 

1. Does the ground heat pump heat the water/liquid in the underfloor heating? 
2. What % of the heating comes from the heat pump.
3. Both heat sources (ground pump and masonry accumulator) require electricity. I assume that electricity is supplied by overhead cables given that your location looks rural and therefore the cost of burying cables would be prohibitively expensive. Overhead electricity cables have been known to fail just when you need them most eg in an ice storm. Do you have a backup generator? 

Hope that your son's operation went well. 

Brian


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## DennisCA (8 May 2014)

finneyb":1vq19v44 said:


> Dennis,
> 
> Thanks for posting more photos. In return I will post more questions
> 
> ...



Hi and thanks for asking, he is well now. 
Yes the ground heat pump heats the entire house, both hot water and underfloor heating. It alone is enough to heat the house most of the year, the depth of the borehole was scaled to the size of the house when it was drilled. During winter when temperatures can drop to -20 or -30 Celsius it will have trouble keeping up so then it has an electric cartridge that can kick in and help, or we can fire up the masonry heater to help keep the indoor temp without requiring the use of additional electricity.

The masonry heater does not require any electricity, merely firewood, so it is the backup really, it does not heat the water, merely itself which then releases the heat over a long time, a traditional heating method here. Our electricty cables are also underground, we even have fiberoptic internet straight into the house (installed two weeks ago). It's a somewhat rural county, but they've put effort into the infrastructure for decades, a joint project with other coastal counties in this area of western finland has been active since the late 90s to install a fiberoptic cable "backbone".


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## DennisCA (8 May 2014)

RobinBHM":5w6j02dn said:


> I cant see the workshop for woodworking it must be coming a bit later in the build.



The garage will become my workshop for woodworking and other things, it will have a ~19m2 area which will become the primary place for woodworking, I hope it will be big enough, I will sometimes have to get my car in there too. There's also a 5.5m2 area, the smaller area I will keep heated year round and keep other more sensitive equipment in, it's going to be a smaller hobby room so to speak. 

The garage is going to similarly insulated as the house has been, the small area should be cheaply heated with an electric oil element. I've some plans to make a simple solar panel for air heating in addition.


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## DennisCA (8 May 2014)

Some more photos, around this time of year it was getting dark before I was leaving work so I had to use the flash to get any usable photos:















Daylight picture, metal roof up on both buildings now:





Now there's a jump to around new years eve sometime, panelling is up:





Interior walls are being put up, can't see it but the interior walls are going to be insulated (rockwool) for sound proofing, they also get a plywood backing behind the interior drywall if we want to do things like put up pictures and whatnot.





Close up of the exterior:















The small roof over the door to the laundry room was an addition we also had made to the original plans.

Here's a winter image, one of the few days of proper winter we got this year





Gutters and a ladder has been installed, the ladder is a legal requirement:





Also a walk ladder on top of the roof:





Closeup of gutters:










And around this time the heat pump was delivered:





Few weeks later it got installed. took a while because we had to prep the floor where it will go, drying it out extra fast with infrared heater and dehumidifier, then we could put in the water barrier and tiles just for the spot the heat pump will be in. We're still drying the rest of the slab as I am writing this, I think we're ready to put in the rest of the floors next week or so. Humidity needs to drop below 85% or more in the slab.











Let's also have a look at the garage:










Inside:


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## nathandavies (8 May 2014)

very enjoyable post, it's interesting to see building variations from other countries. When is the expected finish date?

nathan


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## gregmcateer (8 May 2014)

That looks great. I echo Natahan's post about seeing the way it's done elsewhere.

I'm interested in the metal roof - all that lovely insulation below, yet a heat conductor for a roof? That seems to defy logic, so I'd love to know the reason.

Thanks for sharing your project and I hope your son keeps well.

Greg


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## finneyb (8 May 2014)

DennisCA":12gc4ejz said:


> finneyb":12gc4ejz said:
> 
> 
> > Dennis,
> ...



So the masonry heater is a fireplace ? http://www.stockfreeimages.com/p1/fireplace.html
When you used the word accumulator I was thinking it was an electrical storage heater - basically a box of bricks or masonry heated by cheaper overnight electricity which releases heat throughout the next day.

House - soon to be a home - looks good. Enjoy.

Brian


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## RogerS (8 May 2014)

I think they are more like this one, Brian


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## DennisCA (8 May 2014)

Almost, it looks like this:










I am not entirely sure about the terminology in english but the best translation I got was accumulating masonry heater.

Back on the chronological track though, we then got the drains:





Some indoor pictures










And about now the snow has melted away again, a very short winter, was more like a long autumn that stretched into a long spring










After that someone came and prepped the bathroom walls, still couldn't do anything with the floor due to moisture















After that we got the material delivery for the masonry heater/fireplace:





And the installation thereof:










Images show a double chimney that connects on the other side of the wall to the wood fires sauna heater:


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## DennisCA (8 May 2014)

nathandavies":1qum4smr said:


> very enjoyable post, it's interesting to see building variations from other countries. When is the expected finish date?
> 
> nathan



It's up in the air still, I just checked the moisture content in the slab today though and they can start installing the floor and moisture barriers, etc. in the bathroom and laundry rooms, then they will put up the roof for us. And I think that's more or less it for their part aside from electrics, we lay down the laminate floor, put up wallpaper, tiled floor in kitchen and so forth. Also all the cabinets and benches in the kitchen is our task. We went this option because it was a lot cheaper than having it made "key in hand" ready. 

Translated the term for this is "5 minutes before completion"-ready. Also we build the terrace outside and paint the house and garage. I hope we can move in as soon as possible, maybe end of june or start of july, but it won't be ready then, just livable.


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## DennisCA (9 May 2014)

gregmcateer":1rcql67z said:


> That looks great. I echo Natahan's post about seeing the way it's done elsewhere.
> 
> I'm interested in the metal roof - all that lovely insulation below, yet a heat conductor for a roof? That seems to defy logic, so I'd love to know the reason.
> 
> ...



Missed this post last night, the roof being metal and conductive is honestly not something I've considered before, it's a common choice of roofing since it's cheap and light weight and easy to put up. There's usually an air gap between the roof and first layer of insulation as well so the outermost roof doesn't really have any insulative properties, that is done by the layers underneath the airgap.

We also don't use the upper attic, so it's empty and above our inner roof there's 500mm of insulation separating us from the larger airspace in the attic.


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## DennisCA (9 May 2014)

What we've been doing most recently is spackling and sanding the drywall, this is the bit we're doing ourselves:










Preliminary electricity wiring in the garage was also done recently:





And we got a fiber cable into the electricity central, we also have CAT-6 wire and ethernet ports in every room.





Just last week we got a shipment of laminate flooring boards:





Wall tile for the kitchen:





I made a saw horse and started cutting up the logs we got from felling the trees last year:





Got myself a Gränsfors splitting maul, it's real nice





Preliminary storage, gonna build a woodshed:





Leftover lumber I get to keep, some nice wide boards there that will become workbench surfaces and other things:


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## RogerS (9 May 2014)

DennisCA":c1c1c9cc said:


> ......
> 
> ....above our inner roof there's* 500mm *of insulation separating us from the larger airspace in the attic.



500mm? That is amazing. In the UK you're lucky to find 100mm IIRC.


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## Phil Pascoe (9 May 2014)

270mm is the norm.


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## DennisCA (9 May 2014)

300mm in the walls and 500mm in the roof is standard I believe for modern 1 plane houses like this. Older houses have less. 

Wall is layered like this:
1. Wood panelling
2. Airspace & wood framing
3. Drywall
4. insulation 250mm rockwool or glasswool
5. Moisture barrier
6. 50mm insulation
7. Plywood backing
8. Drywall


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## DennisCA (9 May 2014)

Here's a house of the same model from the builders website, we're aiming for the same color scheme:


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## Steve Maskery (9 May 2014)

Dennis, that looks like a beautiful house. Apart from the ladder, which makes it look as if you about to go diving...  But if it is a legal requirement I guess it has to be. Why, what is the rationale?

I'm embarking on my own build, I'm casting the slab tomorrow. It's for a workshop rather than a house, but it's exciting, daunting, thrilling and scary all at the same time. I bet you have had a roller-coaster of a ride, too. Projects this size can't be anything else.
Thank you for posting. I shall follow with interest.
Steve


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## Grayo (9 May 2014)

Hi Denis,

I have read this thread right through and have enjoyed watching your new house progress I can't wait to see the finished house now. One thing that puzzles me is the legal requirement to have a ladder to the roof in place, is this in case you have a heavy snow fall and need to be able to remove the snow from the roof.


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## Grayo (9 May 2014)

Great minds think alike eh Steve lol


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## DennisCA (9 May 2014)

The rationale for the ladder is for chimney sweeping, which you have to do every year, roofs don't need to be cleared of snow unless its a flat roof. So work safety reasons is what I guess it boils down to.

You can't even skimp on the sweeping, the county sends the sweeper to you.


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## Steve Maskery (9 May 2014)

No use asking me, I'm brain-dead these days.
S


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## Grayo (9 May 2014)

DennisCA":35z7xbpb said:


> The rationale for the ladder is for chimney sweeping, which you have to do every year, roofs don't need to be cleared of snow unless its a flat roof. So work safety reasons is what I guess it boils down to.
> 
> You can't even skimp on the sweeping, the county sends the sweeper to you.



Blimey our sweeps do it from inside the house, they stick a big round shaped brush up the chimney and push all the soot out the top then hoover up what's come down the chimney.

I think if everybody over here had a ladder up the side of their house the crime rate would hit the roof.


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## Steve Maskery (9 May 2014)

Grayo":2sq5am2d said:


> DennisCA":2sq5am2d said:
> 
> 
> > I think if everybody over here had a ladder up the side of their house the crime rate would hit the roof.



Boom-boom!


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## DennisCA (16 May 2014)

No big update, just done spring cleaning on the yard. Used to be a huge mountain of rubbish under a tarp behind the house. I've spent the last few days sorting the good wood that I can use for stuff like woodworking and the stuff that's only fit for firewood. Part of the reason is we're getting 40-50 cubic meters of soil next week and we need to clear the yard so the truck can dump the soil. This is maybe 1/3rd of what we need in terms of top soil.

Finally having a nice spring day:





Love how clear the back yard is now:





Here's all the rubbish that's only fit for firewood:





The ground is clay, we got it for the cost of transport when they built a nearby bioenergy plant and we needed lots of filling material to get the yard somewhat even. Now that the water has evaporated it's rock solid. Will make a good foundation we're told once we got a layer of topsoil above it:





Next monday the tile guy will put down the moisture barriers and then later the klinkers.


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## Grayo (16 May 2014)

Hi Dennis,

Looking good mate. All that rubbish wood as you call it would come in very handy. I use similar wood pallets etc etc to make bird boxes and with all those trees around you looks like they are just begging to have a bird box attached to them lol


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## DennisCA (16 May 2014)

Oh yeah the pallets themselves aren't rubbish, mostly what they're covering, but as you say I suspect I'll find uses for it still. 

I got two other piles of stuff that I sorted out which is much nicer and longer too. I'll use those to build shelves and workbenches and such for my garage/workshop. Been doing some simple sketchup sketches to help me imagine it as well as what kind of space the machines will take up.





I just put the stuff randomly, I'll probably want mobile bases for everything, I liked this method where you use a lever to raise the machine onto castors, the rest of the time it stands on its own legs.

Also got this drill press for 100 euros, hope I didn't get fleeced, GERN something, taiwanese, 2/3 HP engine, heavy as heck:




(not my picture or workshop, but same press)


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## Grayo (16 May 2014)

Hi Dennis,

The bench drill is exactly the same as mine except mine is a NuTool model with 16 speed settings, around 1968 age. I found with mine the stem was to high so cut about six inches off it, It's now easier to use as the handle is not so high. I paid £70 for mine a few months ago so yes I think you have had a good deal. Workshop setup is looking good bet you can't wait to get it all up and running now. I have got the wheeled base on my band saw like the one you want which makes it a lot easier to move around.


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## davin (17 May 2014)

Wheres the sauna?


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## DennisCA (17 May 2014)

If you look at this layout, it's the room marked "B 3.0m2" next to the larger bathroom/shower, on the right side.


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## DennisCA (22 May 2014)

Today we got 100 cubic meters of soil:










I want 50 more still. I was quite impressed by the truck driver who backed in, around the house and around the big stones we got there to get to the side of the house.

Klinker tiles in the bathroom and laundry room are almost done:





Small toilet:





Started on the kitchen:





We got a professional doing this, not ourselves, included in the house package.

It's been between 26-28 degrees celcius here today, pretty sweet weather for May, but I bet we'll have a crappy summer as usual, good spring and warm winters tend to equal cold summers, I hope the trend breaks.


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## Flatlander (24 May 2014)

Being new to the forum, I've only just seen this topic. As I have spent a lot of time in the Scandinavian countries (Kemppi in Lahti as regards Finland) I enjoyed reading it. So first off, thanks for posting!

I do have a question, and comment. Regarding what you call the Masonry Heater. Is that like the ones they have over in Sweden? ie, you burn wood, and the stones accumulate the heat, slowly releasing it to the room for heating? It certainly looks like one, but I'm not sure.

As regards your heating system. I installed the same here around 8 years ago, albeit using twin bores, and have kept a record of the energy used.The savings as I'm sure you will be aware, are tremendous! Without wishing to hijack the thread, I can post the before and after figures for those interested.


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## DennisCA (24 May 2014)

Hi, that's exactly what the masonry heater is, the material that accumulates the heat isn't stones but made from some kind of leftover from steel smelting, supposed to have a higher heat retaining than stones can achieve. I do not exactly know what it is but the components of it where incredibly heavy and the whole thing weighs 1250 kilograms, the foundation underneath was reinforced before the plate was poured.


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## Flatlander (25 May 2014)

I'd be interested to know what the name of the material used is. The only one I've ever seen used in such fires is soapstone. Thats grey and greasy to the touch. I would expect that to be way heavier than yours. The last one I saw was near enough 10 tons!


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## DennisCA (25 May 2014)

It has all kinds of names depending on who is making it it seems. Celsius-elementti, Morenia Crovall, but all the info I can see pretty much says what I said, nothing concrete that I've found, let alone in english.


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## Flatlander (25 May 2014)

Googling "celsius-elementti" brings up this link...

http://www.asuntotieto.com/20000i_RAKEN ... takka.html

...which shows a heater very similar to yours. In the first photo on the side, they are laying some grey "bricks." Presumably, these are the ones you have in yours. They are soapstone...


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## DennisCA (25 May 2014)

I have a picture of the components of the stove before assembly, me and my dad had to help carry them into the house they where so heavy:


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## Flatlander (25 May 2014)

Can you post a link to the company you purchased the heater from, please? It doesn't matter if its in finnish.


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## DennisCA (25 May 2014)

The company is called Uunisepät and they have a website in english. This is the model of heater I chose:
http://www.uunisepat.com/catalog/23-lok ... -/-kaakeli


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## DennisCA (26 May 2014)

I suspect the difference in weight is that the heater I got is full of channels that lead the smoke on a merry way up and down before it's allowed to leave for the chimney. This is to extract as much heat out of the smoke before it leaves, IIRC 70% of the heat in the smoke is captured this way.


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## Phil Pascoe (26 May 2014)

Like an upright rocket stove, then?


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## DennisCA (28 May 2014)

Never actually heard of those before, nifty design.

Here's more tiles laid down, the tiles around the stove. Looks nice I think, I made the pattern but a pro laid it down:





Kitch is also done tile wise, just a matter of filling the joints with grout (I think that's the word)


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## DennisCA (25 Jun 2014)

Long time since an update, been painting all month. Work first then a few hours of painting, then spending most of the days on weekends painting.









Rest of photos are shoddy phone pics:





Putting up wallpapers, kids rooms are getting moomin wall papers, blue for Daniel and green for David, though we think they'll share room at first and use the other as a playroom.










Kitchen wall paper, rest of the walls are painted, that won't be hidden by cupboards and benches and wall tiles


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## Noggsy (29 Jun 2014)

You have got yourself a really lovely house my friend. Thanks for WIP.


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## Phil Pascoe (29 Jun 2014)

Love the house...hate the wallpaper...


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## DennisCA (30 Jun 2014)

My fiance picked the wall papers, well I did like the moomin stuff for the boys rooms too. The kitchen stuff looks much nicer in real life actually and especially close up. When it's done it'll have a warm somewhat old fashioned look combined with modern stylings. I hope it won't look horrible/clashing (we did have an interior decorator who helped us put it all together so that shouldn't happen).

We put up the kitchen counters and cabinets this weekend and it's looking good so far. My brother in law who is an actual carpenter and who has built houses before was a huge help in getting all the cabinets and stuff put in, as well as reading the plans correctly. I could not have done this myself, there is a lot to know and have experience in to do this properly I can say.


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## DennisCA (1 Jul 2014)

Kitchen cabinets and stuff have been put up:















Almost done painting





Difficult to paint with the weather we had on sunday, switched from sun to downpour several times:


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## DennisCA (14 Aug 2014)

OK, we moved in last sunday, it's been pretty hectic but here are some photos of what it looked like just after we moved in. A bit of a mess in the pictures. Lots of boxes and stuff still unpacked and other things not yet completed, but we're working on it and at least now we're living where we're working so things are way easier.






























Still missing the sink/wash basin and cabinet in the bathroom, but the shower and toilet works at least.





Still haven't gotten the proper microwave and some drawers and hinges for doors are missing too.


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## xy mosian (14 Aug 2014)

Well building your own house beats my odd chair or cabinet. Congratulations. It looks very comfortable, I hope your family are suitably impressed. Well done!
xy


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## Harbo (14 Aug 2014)

Looks very nice - you must be glad to be in?

Rod


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## DennisCA (15 Aug 2014)

ThHanks, yeah it's real nice to finally be inside, no more apartments!


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## paul-c (15 Aug 2014)

hi dennis
thanks for showing us your home.
i found this very interesting - i love seeing how things differ country to country.
we will be visiting finland in a few weeks - one of the highlights of the holiday for me.
cheers paul-c


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