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Re: House KUTSUROGI - DIY house restoration

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:23 am
by iamsen
I skipped the concrete since it was too expensive. I laid poly sheet across the entire dirt floor and taped together. I wasn't actually sure if they'd help but something incredible happened one morning, I woke up before 8am! So I went downstairs to see if the vapour barrier was working and indeed it was. There was a lot of condensed water below the sheets, especially to the north, probably wetter side of the house.

To properly anwser gonbe-chan's questions, I've got most of the floor done.
These photos are from a couple weeks back. I've since properly lined them up and screwed them down into the joists (I think that's what they're called?). Also made some openings for water and gas pipes.
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The gap there is where I was planning to build my rocket stove mass heater. I'd even bought the concrete blocks and cement to build the foundations. But I had a change of heart after seeing another kominka saisei blog. I don't remember what it was anymore exactly, but I've decided to extend the hall way into the living room. And since the hallway already had 2 strips of concrete running along it, that's less concreting I'll need to do. I'll be filling in the gap and removing the frames for where the walls used to be later today whenif I wake up.

Basically, I'm extending the green room into the vertical orange column in this floorplan. I'll then build a hallway/walkway along the southern end of the living room instead, right by the windows. Think of it as a kind of faux-engawa.
http://legendofcode.com/HouseKUTSUROGI/floorplan.html

Also finally got around to putting up the insulation. Found a couple dead Gs along the seams at the far end under the windows. Looks like my traps are working. :dance:
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Re: House KUTSUROGI - DIY house restoration

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2016 6:46 am
by Zasso Nouka
Things have really come on a long way Iamsen,

You must have been really going for it to have made such a major transformation and all that insulation will surely make a huge difference come winter time. The house is going to feel so much more comfortable then. Looks like you are using two different types of insulation, one rigid type bats and another more flexible, what are they ? Will you be insulating the underside of the floor ?

Shame about the concrete but it can be really expensive and you have to do it all in one go so hopefully the plastic sheeting will act as a vapour barrier.

Have to say I'm very interested to see when you put the rocket stove in, that should make a significant contribution to keeping you warm in winter :thumbup:

Re: House KUTSUROGI - DIY house restoration

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 12:30 am
by iamsen
Quick update. Walls are coming up.
The weather's getting a bit too hot and humid so progress has been slower than I had planned. :cry:
All the drywalls should be up by this weekend. After that I can finally start working on doors and partitions of each section.

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Re: House KUTSUROGI - DIY house restoration

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 6:38 am
by Zasso Nouka
Great work Iamsen :thumbup:
iamsen wrote:The weather's getting a bit too hot and humid so progress has been slower than I had planned. :cry:
It truly is hard to motivate yourself to work when the weather is like this, the temptation is to sit down with a beer or chu-hi and wait out the hot weather so well done for carrying on with the project.

Re: House KUTSUROGI - DIY house restoration

Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2016 11:20 pm
by iamsen
The heat is one thing. I've also had trouble sleeping since March and the fatigue is really messing with me. Traveling from office to new home to old home to work on it almost everyday during May - June probably didn't help either. I didn't want to admit it but I'm probably overworked and really need to slow down, at least during the summer months. I've never been good with the heat, probably because of my Grave's.

I don't want to stop totally though. Considering my track record with previous projects, once I stop, I very rarely pick them back up again, and I really can't leave my home in an unfinished state. That'd just be ridiculous.

Re: House KUTSUROGI - DIY house restoration

Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 6:37 am
by Zasso Nouka
That's a hell of a lot to be doing and it's pretty awesome you've managed to progress as far as you have, maybe just scale activities back a little till the end of september. It's not like you'd be abandoning the project but maybe set aside a little more time to relax and maintain your health and drive, then with renewed vigour you can resume it once the intense heat of summer has slackened off.