Moving On Up ...
This week has seen the floor laid on the mezzanine, and an awful lot of boxes wend their way up the stairs, leaving room for development below.
What goes up, must come down - a lot of stuff has been moved upstairs that belongs downstairs. However this has opened up a lot of room below to give space for the kitchen fitters.
However, all has not been sunshine and light: As I mentioned last week, I have moved back into the rental cottage until the house is a little bit more habitable - after a week of sharing the builders loo, no shower and sleeping on a dusty futon, I was just about done in.
Please, no more... this is a long drop.
So it was with great relief that Cristina and Stefan, who run 'Azores High' holiday cottages, were able to let me the cottage until the 18th of April - one month longer than I intended to be here, at a really favourable rate. After that, they have holiday bookings again, so I am out; I've got another four nights here.
The house is indeed looking a lot more habitable; there is a finished bathroom (no doors yet though!) and a reasonably dust free upstairs area for sleeping in.
Up stairs on the mezzanine though is most likely a temporary flooring. Despite what looked promising last week, all has not gone well.
This is not how it is supposed to look, and is not good. This will have to come up and be re-laid, or replaced. Not happy about this - but in the scheme of things it is an annoyance and not a disaster.
The floor refused to lay properly without gaps between the planks, despite two attempts to get it down right. Of course, time was pushing - and unless boxes could be moved upstairs, no kitchen fitting or finishing could happen downstairs... so, the floor was laid "as is", warts and all. It will though have to come up later or some remedy found though. Frustrating.
It is uncertain if there is a fault with the flooring materials (a bad batch) or with the laying procedure - given the experience of the fitters, I find this unlikely. However, the supplier is coming to visit on Monday, and in his words, "only death can not be fixed", reassuringly telling me not to worry. The Ruben (the supplier) is a legend, and puts things back into perspective - after all, I was feeling rather deflated about the finish of an expensive floor. We shall see what arises later...
Apart from the gaps, the floor looks brilliant - the gaps only occur in some places, leading me to believe that the tongue and groove size is not consistent,perhaps between packs. Really, when it is 100 percent it will be a bit of a wow! It will get sorted.
This palaver has taken up the best part of the week - although to be fair, other jobs have been completed at the same time; the shower is now fully fitted, as is the hot water for the basin, along with the mirror light. The bathroom tiles have been washed and polished, and by the look of it, a final finishing grout applied...
Looking pretty swanky - it will look more complete when the mats are down, towels out and various items are in place.
The only thing to do in the shower is fit some grab bars and the anti-slip mat. I am awaiting some rails from Amazon... yes they do deliver here - it takes about 10 days though.
The recessed ceiling light LEDs, as well as the ones up the side of the stairs have all been fitted crisply and sealed, so that the finishing mouldings look good against the plaster work. So now, all the light switches do something. Result.
The stairs have still to be tiled, in the same stone as the main floor, with stainless steel edging strips. I'm hoping this will be done next week.
A visit on Friday saw the upstairs balustrades fitted and looking splendid. Still need the stair panels and banister rail.... falling off the stairs could be painful. Also to come are the outside balustades ....but these will be done after the outside tiling is laid.
Yes, I'm liking these a lot - although on my original specification the balustrades on the front edge over the kitchen are supposed to be wire rails. I will wait to see if this is an oversight or an error.
Acoustics
This led me to thinking about the acoustics for the mezzanine studio.
A visit to Thomann (studio and music distributor) saw me place an order for some nice acoustic panels to place upstairs. To be honest, I was really pleased with the acoustics when I tried a simple clap test up there a couple of weeks earlier, and that was before the flooring was laid.
This surprised me somewhat, because it is after all, a 'loft room', with an apex ceiling.
I am guessing that the good acoustics are due to the following:
The apex is not symmetrical on both sides of the roof line.
The ceiling area is all clad in wood with insulation behind, essentially providing a huge bass 'trap / absorber. You normally pay a lot of money for these, but mine is built in!
The ceiling is also beamed, causing diffraction of standing waves.
The mezzanine area is large and some reflected waves pass down to the ground floor where they are absorbed by furnishings etc. I could detect no 'slap back' from downstairs.
So, with this thought, and bearing in mind I'm not really creating a mastering suite, I have limited the acoustic treatment purchases to the following:
An Auralex D36 Pack of mid to high end absorbers (300mm square) that will fit nicely between the beams, at the back of the music area. This kit provides 36 panels, but I only need18 - the other 18 will be donated to Sean Paton, who hosts 'Trade Winds', on the local radio station - they need help with gear... donations welcome!
12 Auralex Wedge Panels measuring 1250 by 600mm (huge!); these will go around the lower walls of the mezzanine, and it's the only place there are any parallel surfaces.
Of course, all the panels I'm using will be in funky purple (sorry Sean, you get the grey ones!)
All in all, 450 Euros well spent, and believe me, cheap for proper acoustic treatment. It would have been a lot higher, but I managed to get the 12 huge Auralex panels as 'B' Stock at about half price.
Kitchen:
Popped over to the kitchen manufacturers last Wednesday and having paid for the worksurfaces, saw that they where on display outside the warehouse in a crate. The largest is 3 meters long and 850mm deep, for the breakfast bar. The units are nearly ready, so fitting is due to start on Wednesday next. Having said that, I'm afraid Easter is upon us this coming weekend... and that is a big deal here, with virtually everything shutting down.... for ages.
So, the sooner they get cracking the better... I need a working kitchen!
Next Up: Kitchen, Outside and Under...
