Reclaimed roof tiles
A relatively random post title – seemed “deep” – there is a weak connection at the bottom of the post – hope you’ll get that far.
We were there last Thursday and I froze my butt off. First time ever that it was raining and it was considerably colder than Zagreb.
My mum said: “You should dress in layers.”. Heh.
Regardless, things are still going at a fine pace. Starting with the roof tiles. Last week they arrived, this week they are on the roof.
Reclaimed roof tiles on the roof
The deal was that the contractor will find the reclaimed tiles, which, after some mumbling that it is not that easy, they did – and I am glad. This way (with the reclaimed tiles), when entering the village the house will be less visible, less red as what you see from the road is mostly roof.
Laying “kupa kanalica” roof tiles
The bottom tile laid is new and the top one is reclaimed one so I hope we got the best of both worlds. All with the aim that the house at least attempts to “blend in” as soon as possible. It is also traditional type of tile used in Istria and I think most of the Adriatic coast and elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
Cool gutters – east side
Not sure how well the blending works with the very shiny new gutters. Apparently they will go matte very soon. You may remember from a previous post that it was a bit of an engineering feat to figure out how to do the gutter which would be part of the roof and which will not overhang the wall. Voila!
Cool gutters – west side
I think Vjeko came up with the plan at one of the lunches we normally go to after we finish at the site. Now we only have to wait and see if the water will run down it fast enough.
Next stage of big jobs is to finish all the utilities canals – sewerage system etc. This means lots and lots of digging. Lots of mud as well as it has started raining (after beautiful, beautiful March) last week and will continue this and next.
Two (out of three) levels of manholes
The whole property is naturally divided into four long terraces and we are reenforcing that with the landscaping we plan to do around the house.
Lowest of the manholes
Positioning the manholes (bought again, but not by me this time!) correctly is crutial as that will enable machines to do that landscaping – cannot wait for that to be done as it means that the heavy machinery will be out of the building site – yay – looks reasonably close now!
Let the light in – literally
Work also started on the electricity. Some discerning readers (well, one actually) noticed the “weird ugly house” in some of the previous pictures and asked me about it. It probably deserves its own post, so just a quick explanation here. There were a few types of buildings on the land when we bought it of which one was build in the 1990s. Ie built after 1968 (and not registered in the land register). It seemed silly to take it down, as it was a more or less functioning house (albeit built on the cheap). We decided to register and remodel it a bit – this will be “our” apartment. The beautiful stone ones will be for B&B and renting.
A mess
Vanja occasionally (often) tells me “jokingly” that we should take one of the “good” ones for us. As in “do we really need to care about tourists that much”. I am of course determined that the “ugly one” will also be made beautiful. So mark my words and let’s reexamine the situation when finished. And if any of our future guests are reading this – Vanja is joking. And all of it will be beautiful :).
We are doing the electricity “the old fashioned” way. Ie – just bare minimum, no “smart houses” or similar that require miles and miles of wiring. Still, seems like lots of wires to me for meager 40 square meters.
More mess
This will be MY kitchen – I am glad that the wiring seems to go at the right angles. Well, mostly.
I need a wide-angle lens
Just for comparison a – not so good – shot of the “beautiful” apartment with high ceiling, gallery, beautiful bathroom window and no electricity yet.
This is it for today. I think my next post should be about interiors and inspiration for. As my head is yet again buried in magazines and websites with beautiful pictures of beautiful places – time has now really come (ie this week) to make decisions about every light switch which means about every piece of furniture and where it may sit – for all the apartments. Here is one to enjoy while I write that post – The style files.