Hello folk !!
Wanna see how chocolate wall looks like? You can watch but you CAN"T bite!
So that is how interior of my house now looks like after applying two coats of cob plaster. The color is from finely ground cob that sells in a bags and mixed with fine sand at a certain proportions it makes of some kind of plaster. It's not done though, because cob plaster isn't very durable (natural) and dust is coming off if you rub against it, so a finish layer of paint or oil impregnation is required for it to stay put.
So it took us a week each layer, two weeks in total to get the walls done and with cost of pennies for the materials I think it works nicely. A week almost went into beam work, I finished them off with a hand planer and sanded a bit, now I have ceiling and second floor witch is great! As you can see in the pic, there is space to put 5cm of insulation and that should keep the warmth from rising straight to the bedrooms.
Taking about heating I've chose to do a bit of traditional and industrial type mix and came up with something you might have not seen before:
So you can tell, that the house is heated with this lovely cast iron fire place. But what is attached to it is an age old tradition of capturing and storing heat for the night! It is a hot bench, that has a series of channels directing smoke coming out of the fire place to the chimney. And by the time smoke gets to the chimney it heats up this bench, the seat and the back. And it being such a mass stores the heat, releasing it slowly for hours after the fire has gone out. Many many homes had this implement next to their wood fired kitchen ovens and made the best use of firewood. It's a great thing to dry anything or rest when you feel cold. This still needs to be plastered, but I'll do it next year. Again, it was build in less than a week from recycled old bricks and costed not more than 50Eur. I'm good at saving money!!!! And surely it was my grandfather that built it. He knows things like this and I try to learn while he's fit. The oven costed almost 500Eur and is the poshest thing in the house! I might need to lock it up for a change!!! Can't make myself though as I think locks only keeps fools away not thieves.
Ok, so indoors is quite done, lets move outside and have a look there!
We have finished the door and the spares are in place to support the roof, quite happy how it turned out in the end although plastering needs to be done and proper roofing installed.
The doors was SURELY custom made by us.... and custom fitted... by us.
Ok, lets have a look around the house. This is the main window view:
And around the house:
The small pond in sight from east living room window. No fish though, because I have an Otter But what a nice animal an otter is! Seen it only once, but the beauty and the character!
A plant nursery almost empty by now. Over 200 plant came out of it to the whole property and I'm nearly done with the planting. I think to make it a duck pen now, but predators can stop it.
A row of early apples, not very tidy in my garden, but the weed growth this year was amazing !!! Can't keep up with them. Probably I get a cow cub next summer or two and raise them for meat to help me control the weeds a bit.
And finally, the storage now has an attachment to lock the tools up. Got some old bricks for here and there and knocked up a 3 by 4 meters room, quite tired of moving the crates with tools back and forth...
So here it is, my summers achievements Now I'm ready to get back to my winter house and do what I can to make some cash for next year I need a well, could do with some livestock, finish off the house, kitchen, bath and so on. Plenty to do still, but I can see myself living here with my family starting next spring. Thanks for reading and watching this tread. Any questions and comments welcome as always!
Wanna see how chocolate wall looks like? You can watch but you CAN"T bite!
So that is how interior of my house now looks like after applying two coats of cob plaster. The color is from finely ground cob that sells in a bags and mixed with fine sand at a certain proportions it makes of some kind of plaster. It's not done though, because cob plaster isn't very durable (natural) and dust is coming off if you rub against it, so a finish layer of paint or oil impregnation is required for it to stay put.
So it took us a week each layer, two weeks in total to get the walls done and with cost of pennies for the materials I think it works nicely. A week almost went into beam work, I finished them off with a hand planer and sanded a bit, now I have ceiling and second floor witch is great! As you can see in the pic, there is space to put 5cm of insulation and that should keep the warmth from rising straight to the bedrooms.
Taking about heating I've chose to do a bit of traditional and industrial type mix and came up with something you might have not seen before:
So you can tell, that the house is heated with this lovely cast iron fire place. But what is attached to it is an age old tradition of capturing and storing heat for the night! It is a hot bench, that has a series of channels directing smoke coming out of the fire place to the chimney. And by the time smoke gets to the chimney it heats up this bench, the seat and the back. And it being such a mass stores the heat, releasing it slowly for hours after the fire has gone out. Many many homes had this implement next to their wood fired kitchen ovens and made the best use of firewood. It's a great thing to dry anything or rest when you feel cold. This still needs to be plastered, but I'll do it next year. Again, it was build in less than a week from recycled old bricks and costed not more than 50Eur. I'm good at saving money!!!!
And surely it was my grandfather that built it. He knows things like this and I try to learn while he's fit. The oven costed almost 500Eur and is the poshest thing in the house! I might need to lock it up for a change!!! Can't make myself though as I think locks only keeps fools away not thieves.Ok, so indoors is quite done, lets move outside and have a look there!
We have finished the door and the spares are in place to support the roof, quite happy how it turned out in the end although plastering needs to be done and proper roofing installed.
The doors was SURELY custom made
by us.... and custom fitted... by us. Ok, lets have a look around the house. This is the main window view:
And around the house:
The small pond in sight from east living room window. No fish though, because I have an Otter
But what a nice animal an otter is! Seen it only once, but the beauty and the character! A plant nursery almost empty by now. Over 200 plant came out of it to the whole property and I'm nearly done with the planting. I think to make it a duck pen now, but predators can stop it.
A row of early apples, not very tidy in my garden, but the weed growth this year was amazing !!! Can't keep up with them. Probably I get a cow cub next summer or two and raise them for meat to help me control the weeds a bit.
And finally, the storage now has an attachment to lock the tools up. Got some old bricks for here and there and knocked up a 3 by 4 meters room, quite tired of moving the crates with tools back and forth...
So here it is, my summers achievements
Now I'm ready to get back to my winter house and do what I can to make some cash for next year I need a well, could do with some livestock, finish off the house, kitchen, bath and so on. Plenty to do still, but I can see myself living here with my family starting next spring. Thanks for reading and watching this tread. Any questions and comments welcome as always! 
