Thu, 14 Sep 2006
Well, as seems to be traditional on this blog; here's another post about the status of the ongoing project I call 'home'.
That is to say, here's some new(er) info on what's been going on in my work towards making my appartment more than just a collection of walls , a floor and a ceiling where I happen to have a bed.
We've (dad and me) been working mainly in the kitchen/hall area for the past month or so. Ceiling's been done with water-resistant board, coated in water-proof gunk and then rolled with moisture-resistant structure-paint; should be able to survive a flood by now, if you ask me. Like the rest of the ceiling(s) we've created so far, we've opted for an approach where there's hatches patterned across the surface in strategic places to serve a dual purpose as a light-well (halogen spots, etc) and access to the cabling/piping that's routed above the ceiling. Most, if not all of it, has been nicely hidden out of sight and it really does make weird light-switch/power-routing decisions a breeze to implement.
The floor's been keeping us most busy as of late; the hall and kitchen , being 'areas where water/dirt is likely to fall on the floor a lot' were to be tiled. But, to make the tiling the same thickness as the planned wooden floor in 'the remaining space, we've had to think of some way to raise the floor there. A friend advised using something called 'Fermacell'; a truly lovely product. It's made of compressed chalk and newspaper-fibers; it's heavy as brickwork and very stable (doesnt shrink or expand significantly over lengths of up to 40 meters in one stretch).
We've basically been laying out Fermacell boards on the floor, cutting them to size to fit them in all the weird angles this place has and then proceeded to tile ontop of it (after applying an absorption-reducing agent). Fermacell is also usable to tile on wooden floors without risk of breaking tiles or seams. With the tiles, grouting and glue adding extra weight to the whole thing, it's really one solid mass that won't expand or shift whatever you do with it. Oh, and did I mention it's a lot easier to route piping through slots in Fermacell boards than it is to cut them into concrete ? Gas and electricity sticks up nicely from the middle of the kitchen floor now; right where the stove-island's designed to be.
A note about tiling: one thing that simply 'looks nice' when doing tile-work is to have the tiles on the floor lay in a 45 degree angle with respect to the tiling on the walls. It prevents a kitchen/bathroom from looking like a notebook-grid in 3D; but also helps make an altogether nicer design when floor- and wall-tiles don't have the same sizes (which is most often the case). The seams will end up not 'connecting' all along the line where the walls meet the floor. Doing a diamond-pattern avoids this 'problem' at the cost of a bit more complex tiling-procedure. Having used a few pre-drawn pencil-lines to identify "45 degree axes" in the surface really helped simplify the process. Also, while tiling, keep on 'checking if you're going the right direction'. Tiling-spacers aren't micrometer-precise, not to mention the tiles themselves (and the accumulated mess of glue adding another uncertainty factor).
A short word about grouting: it's a mess... but it'll end up looking better when you've cleaned it... once... or twice... or perhaps you'll need three cleanings.... or four..
Now, the first of the cupboards to be placed has been purchased. I've put it together yesterday; oven and microwave now have a home. Now i've got to wait for some money to find it's way to my account so I can get the rest !
(ps: pictures will be added... soon... ish.)