Do It Yourself

We are renovating our Atelier to be a temporary house while we strip and redo the main house. My girlfriend's parents have done a full renovation, he is an industrial electrician, her brother is a woodworker just out of school and a modular house designer. They are all super helpful and I am so grateful and learning a lot.

During the 2 weeks I worked only 2 days per week and a few weekends before we have:

• trash removal of previous owner

• ripped out electrical in the main house

• tore down the gyprock in one room and found that the main house and atelier both have a moisture blocking barrier after the first brick layer

• washed away the gritty loam paint that the previous owner had used over much of the house

• primed and painted the entire 44m^2 atelier stone walls

• placed 6cm cheaper insulation in the storage area since there it was only 1 brick thick instead of 2 bricks plus a space.

• cut a hole in the brick wall for the gas heater stove

• got a quote for switching to 3-phase 25A, 400V and prepared the site

• made a temporary fence to keep our dog in the first piece of our garden that is closed on the sides

• cut and dug trenches inside for gas, water, electric and internet

• broke up and hauled away 6cm thick concrete slab where we had to route things under

• placed and hooked up electrical in the atelier loft, storage room, and the outdoor storage shelter behind it

• made technical drawings for electrical, gas, sewer, and water

• found a quality 2nd hand gas stove to heat during our mild winters

• dug out and mapped sewer and gas lines through the property

• dug a 24 meter trench 70cm deep and laid water, gas, and 3-phase electric (in a flexible pipe) in that layer, and laid internet and sewer at ~40cm deep with a measured 1cm per meter "afwatering."

• Quotes for redoing the asbestos filled roof in the main house and currently setting up asbestos testing for the slanted wall since the attestation documentation seemed to be wrong and there is asbestos-based insulation according to a roofer + asbestos remover we got a quote from

• temporarily rennovated the small bathroom, repainted, replaced the broken toilet, removed the leaky sink, and re-silicones the tiny sitting bath/shower and replaced the shower head

• Found 30m^2 of click laminate for 40€. Proud of that find. Good condition too.

Next up is hooking up the gas and water fittings fully inside, getting a plumber to come test and hook us up to the main 22mm line to the boiler in the house, place and hook up the electrical in the kitchen/living room and for the appliances, find a 2nd hand oven, stove, and fume hood, and fill in the inside trenches and re-pour the concrete, place the floors and finish up for the year in the next month.