Photo on Sunday 2014-3

The yellow basement windows

I live in a small wooden cottage in the Norwegian countryside. Freestanding. Old. And did I mention wooden? I like living here. I really do. I can crank up the television to the max (which I hardly ever do by the way), I can walk around naked (again: hardly ever, read on to learn why) without being seen and I have great views. 

This small wooden cottage has a serious drawback though. One that I mentioned already: it's old. And with old comes weird and wonderful. Like more closet space than I need, sloping roofs, sloping floors and all the other things I have talked about in the past (toilet? water? remember?). And when the wind is blowing, which it has done ever since early December it feels like, it's hard to heat up the place. 

Only single glass, so I covered them with insulation material I had lying around

I have a hot air pump by the front door. Great! The best place to enjoy that thing is halfway up the stairs! I have an electric heater in the bathroom. Great! If I don't mind paying double for electricity. And I have a woodburner. Great! I just need to haul up the wood every day (it's in the basement).

But, as I said: it's hard to heat up the place. And the main reason for that is all the gaps and cracks and whatevers. The downstairs basement door was letting in cold air like it was for sale. Never mind me not locking the door, that basement door did more damage! So, I had to insulate it. But with what? Well, luckily I had the remainder of the insulation stuff they used on the house just lying in the basement. So, first I stuffed the windows and the I covered the gaps and cracks and holes of the basement door. 

Perhaps it's not pretty, it's certainly not very practical,
but it's a solution for now!
Insulation material held down with carpet tape, which is nailed down.

The upstairs basement door however, was just as bad: a lot of cold air was seeping through. For that I had bought insulation strips. It took me twenty minutes and freezing hands, but in the end: no cold air! Yippee! 

Hopefully it will all work a treat! And make my home just a bit more comfortable when there is a storm blowing!