Blood and sweat, oak and steel

Hello! Happy last-Sunday-of-January :)

This week I continued with some of the tiling boards:

Followed by fitting the bathroom shelves:

And they're gonna look so good! After routing some nice edges on the bottom one, I started varnishing it with Epifanes, a mighty-hardy marine varnish, and complete overkill:

Because I really cannot be arsed with yearly re-treatment given that they're oak, and depending on how these turn out I may do the same with the kitchen worktop. I'm doing 3 coats of their gloss varnish as recommended, followed by 2 matte topcoats; each one takes 24 hours to dry, so it'll be 2 weeks before they're complete (10 days per shelf — double-sided!).

And before I can start on the top shelf I need to mark the tap and sink locations, which I'm waiting for — only on Thursday did I finally order one after scouring the internet high and low. Most sinks are ugly, and I compromised a little by choosing one without a built-in overflow. But it looks nice, and if the worst happens water should flow off into the shower drain... right???

Speaking of, I need to weld those shut and add barb-tailed hose connections. Friday was the day, when I was cutting a sheet of steel and welp, my hand slipped. Took a lil' chunk from the tip of my left index finger, and I immediately saw how lucky I was to still have it. Blood was everywhere, but with copious drugs, aloe vera and a reel of bandage, I was complete. I would show you a photo, but 1) that's gross, what are you?, and 2) you'd absolutely think I'm being a little bitch.

Next up, the water tank: a few spots of rust were showing inside, so I sanded those clean and re-coated them with Acothane, that weird clotted-cream like potable tank paint that you have to re-coat within 24 hours, or else the package warns(???).

I then cut a gasket for the hatch and bolted it down (shearing a bolt in the process), hopefully to never open it again...

Truth be told I was a little sad sealing it off; it's been the absolute worst job I've ever done — spending 50+ hours in there, most of them covered in grime and thinking "fuck this" — but I've enjoyed looking at it, or getting in occasionally to fit the pump and level sensor. It's just so blue, and clean, and a real delight. But it adds to the joy knowing I did it properly, and I'll soon be able to sleep on top.

Finally, this afternoon and evening I laid the underfloor heating panels for the bedroom:

And while doing so, I was overcome with a sense of "holy shit, this is gonna be so damn cosy!" It's a fun puzzle, finding an efficient way to lay the pipes, and eventually it clicks, aha!, and you can get on with it. They're a type of dense polystyrene topped by a thin layer of aluminium, and I've left an unheated section by the water tank where I'll extend the bed with a cupboard.

Those big washers for the bathroom tiling boards came in handy, and there are some minor gaps that I'll cover with foil insulation tape. I'm also steaming through masonry drill bits; the concrete is full of stones...

Until next Sunday!

- Nick