Thank you so much!

the Monday when my “weekly” post was due, we had 2 additional layers done, but it was very same-y and not really worth posting, so I thought I’d hold off until we finish the whole thing.

We ordered this device to inject the mortar:

and some powdered iron oxide to give a darker tone to the mortar, we like it better with the color of the bricks. When all this arrives, we can continue

I’m in Germany yes, that’s a good idea, thank you. The person who sold us the bricks took them out of a building in a village near Karlsruhe, he might know more about the story of that place, we definitely plan on sending him pictures of our construction and we shall ask if he knows more.

Most definitely!

Oh yeah good question! That’s not staying like that. According to the building theory books I read a jointing in an arch can be anywhere between 5mm and 10mm of mortar inside (1/4’ to 1/2’) and up to 25mm outside (1 inch)

The empty space will be filled completely with mortar next week. It was a huge mess when laying the bricks vertically against the wooden formwork, we noticed how ugly it looked when moving it off after laying the two first slices.

The plan is to use some kind of piping bag and inject the mortar precisely in the gap, then smooth it uniformly. There are different shapes, we haven’t decided yet which one we will use:

Thank you! It will be nice to leave something tangible behind, and we learn many new skills along the way

Ding Ding Ding! :) Wine racks, shelves with crates for flower bulbs, potatoes and other root vegetables… Which will mean we have to secure the entry, our (lovely) elderly neighbor has already mentioned coming over at night for a drink ^^

But it will probably serve as a tool shed for the coming year until we have the rest of the garden levelled and laid out, it’s the first of many projects, we will come back to it for the aesthetics (lime render, floor tiling, door, outside cladding…).

I don’t know all the words in English, as a Frenchman living in Germany :') Apparently it’s a “wooden formwork”, according to this page: http://mkolar.org/travel/Cechy/new-house/index.html

We were lucky, as our neighbor who is also renovating offered the steps of his old staircase. I modelled the thing in SketchUp to be able to measure all the angles and dimensions. We then made templates out of plywood for the 2 kinds of segments and used a flush router bit to reproduce the shape.

Yup I’m already there but it’s hard to get any traction, im posting stuff into the void, its gonna take a while to get the typical Meta users over there :/

Nothing but by now we got used to switching service whenever it gets bad

Considering they declared all annexed parts of Ukraine being officially part of Russia, the Ukrainian army have been bombing Russia for a while now anyway

It all began as a “quick and easy project to learn the ropes before making the bigger construction elements” (retaining wall, stair, maybe pool even), and then we started looking at hobbit houses, fancying nicer materials, adding an alcove… It now feels like it will be the most complicated thing in the whole garden ^^’

Were you planning to bury a life-size skeleton wearing a construction worker’s outfit nearby?

i wasn’t… until i read your suggestion! :D

Thank you! Wine definitely, probably also plant bulbs in the winter, root vegetables… we have a passive house built on a concrete slab, every room is 19°-23°C all year round, it’s too warm for those.

A cat dad, if that counts >^^<

Thank you so much 😊

Yes great idea, I’ll go to the engraving company to have a stone inscribed with our names and the year, it will feel nice to leave something tangible behind, and maybe burry a time capsule too.

Oh thank you! I will make weekly progress updates on the project 👍

The cellar is at the furthest corner of the property and therefore must be completed first, so we can haul the building materials. The neighboring plots are 3m (10ft) higher so it’s tucked cleanly in a corner that would have been useless otherwise.

It’s 2.75m wide, 3.75m long and the middle is 2.35m high.

The vaulted ceiling will be completely buried, and the front entryway will be cladded with wood in the style a hobbit hole. The details aren’t set in stone yet, we take a challenge at a time.

I suspected there would be a few of you who do, but I thought “no this, is the Internet, be bold!”

When I wrote my comment earlier, I recalled this story I read of a British woman who ordered hot tea in a dinner and got microwaved iced tea :)

Pretty sure they mean iced tea in plastic bottles, America doesn’t know what hot tea is

A classic, I see!

I approve of the Trekkie flavor though, much of an improvement