O Telhado ... not quite..

As reported last week, the weather in the Azores has been terrible lately, with a couple of heavy storms moving over the area, and which have eventually battered the UK - certainly Thursday night in my neck of the woods was pretty awful.

My Project Manager emailed me during the week to tell me the house is still standing. Now although this sounds like over-dramatisation, it is not. Since the house is currently a shell without roof and windows it is an open box, and so does not have the full strength of the finished article.

So this week, the weather has improved - but the roof is still not on as other work needed to be done first: The house rendering needed to be finished, and as of today, there is just a little left to do, going by the photos.

The house with it's new pointing and render looks very smart.

The render inside and out is just about finished, so the roof is slightly set back by the weather. I have to say, the finish looks brilliant, so imagine when it is painted white and Azorean Blue.

A close-up of the render shows a good finish. I am still intrigued by the door above the porch - although I'm not concerned if I end up with a balcony!

Here we can see the quality rendering to the porch / decking outside, framing the village down the road. I am very happy with this.

And here at the other end of the porch, by the large kitchen window.

This is the gable wall opposite the entrance ... it's getting blasted by the sun, so will be a great place for planters of tomatoes and peppers etc.

Finally, I was quite surprised to see the patio door frame on site in this photo. So great, things moving along very well.

I checked with the project manager earlier in the week regarding the completion date for basic habitation (there will still be finishing to be done) and he confirmed that Mid February was good and doable. Yay!

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Meanwhile:

Further thought has been expended on the heating... which in a way is quite hilarious, considering the mild climate.

Over the last week I contacted the project manager to re-instate the underfloor heating before we got too far along with the concrete base, as I was worried that the ceramic floor, although lovely and cooling in the summer, may perhaps be too cool in the winter months.

He replied with the suggestion of a heat-pump as a more economic proposal, also suggesting I might want to change the tiles for something warmer underfoot. Although I agree with the heat-pump, I have to stick with the tiles, as LVT is not available on the island...and I can't afford cork, which is another contemporary choice. So traditional tiles will stay.... I also liked the colours and the fact that the inside and outside patios can be finished in the same tile, so making a more unified finish.

I have a very large new rug that I can use in winter months to help with the cool tiles in the living area, and I can also use rugs at the bedside, so that should sort the issue.

Yes, its big and it is very yellow. And will provide a soft warm place for the feet in the cooler months... then can be rolled up and stored in the summer to let the cool tiles do their job.

During my latest trip to the island I had the pleasure of visiting Soren's house... and yes, he has a heat pump and seems very happy. He also has tiles to the downstairs area and is not finding it an issue. Mind, he is Danish, so is used to the cold!

This is Soren's heat pump: essentially it is a unit outside the house that acts as a heat exchanger and blows warm or cold air into the house. The cost is reasonable, but of course depends on the size of the unit and it's capacity to heat or cool.

Now it has to be said that I knew absolutely nothing about heat pumps. Thanks to Wikipedia and Samsung and Mitsubishi I was able to learn a little bit about them, and why they are a really good idea.

Essentially, they can act as a heater, a cooler and as a by product act as a dehumidifier. Large systems are piped in, with 'air handlers' blowing warm or cool air around the house. However, a more modest system just consists of a heat exchanger (like a backwards fridge!) outside, and a fan and filter unit on the inside of the house.

Next Up: - O Telhado, for sure...