2-13/1
It’s really cold now. The water level has dropped again and now it’s really low instead.

Mike has been working really hard and has reinforced around where all the windows will be and made the opening for the hallway in the second flat.
We have tested the macerator pump and the floor heating with the thermostat.
But the most importat thing we’ve done is fixed the leak!

 

The fixing the leak story

After a long and very productive day, Mike, home alone, bravely decided it was time to fix the leak.
He made a perfect metal wedge to put in the hole once he removed the “stay afloat” sealant. It worked really nicely until he started to weld ontop of it. This should have worked but apparently the hull was very thin there and as soon as he started to weld the wedge flew out and the hole became bigger…
I was away and buying material at the time. He felt a bit stressed I can assure you.
He put some more of the “stay afloat” to cover the hole. When I came back we had a look at it and decided what we should do. I went back to the hardware store to buy some plastic padding called leakfix that we wanted to use for the hole as soon as we were able to stop the water from coming in and make it dry around.
When I came back we started to prepare for the fixing of the leak. A lot of towels, buckets and a new plastic wedge that Mike made from one of our cuttingboards :-).

Before he removed the sealant he told me “Don’t panic but it’s a lot more water coming in now than before”.
Ok, we booth took a deep breath, Mike removed the sealant and I managed to catch the (much bigger) water jet in the bucket. While I was doing my best to keep the water from coming on the floor Mike gently knocked the wedge in place. It took a few tries but finally it stopped leaking.
For the leakfix to work properly the hull had to be dry and free from grease and paint. Once that was done Mike could start to put one layer of the leakfix ontop of the wedge. After a while we could put another layer on and then we felt safe!
Good teamwork!

16/1-25/1

To be able to continue with the ceiling downstairs Mike has moved and re-installed the water pipes and the sewage pipe is now up behind the “knees”. We have installed the macerator pump and it works perfectly.

Mike made all the measuring for the ceiling while I was taking down some of the planks to replace them with ceiling joists so he had something to attach the furring strips to.

The rest of the floor heating has arrived.

26/1-31/1

Now it’s time to make the holes for the extractor hoods in the two kitchens. We’re putting a lot of insulation around the pipe for fire safety and noise cancellation. Mike has also done the plumbing in the bathroom and made the floor joist for the floor in the bathroom.