Don't worry Becky, we've been hurt so many times it's a part of our lives now :p Muscle aches, joint cracking, scratch marks, bruises, near-broken toes/fingers, a black eye here and there... :p You get used to it haha.

On the plus side: muscle gains from all that heavy lifting and e nice tan when the weather is hot and sunny

Well, if the rest of your renovation is as nice as what you've already done .... it will be a job worth being very proud of and a beautiful place to live!

Retaining wall is completely gone now, tore that down yesterday. Today we poured the concrete foundation and tomorrow we'll start with laying bricks for the new wall ^^. We also broke down a part of the wall which will give entry to our future secondary kitchen upstairs. It's not really part of the garden, but hey :p It's huge!

Looks GREAT!!!!

Today the beginnins of the wall

Wow, what a difference!

And here it's finally finished. Took us a week more than we had planned, but boy am I glad it's done. All that's left is to pour concrete that'll be the new kitchen roof. But that's a totally different story :p I'll make a better pic tomorrow.

Impressive work! How did you learn to lay concrete block? It looks very level and perfect from the photos. How much of the home are you going to renovate? Your project is fascinating!!!

I'm not personally laying the bricks, my partner does - using a hammer and a spirit level ofc becky :p I'm the one who makes the cement, provides the blocks and also cuts them in the desired lengths/shapes.

That's quite the job for two men! Good thing you are young! My back would probably never recover from such hard work at my age!

Here the better photos as promised

I am deeply impressed by the amount of work put into the renovations. Good job.

Is that part of the roof your friend is on? Concrete roof? I am interested to know more. Here we have framing (using wood) with plywood and shingles on the roof. How do you support a concrete roof so it doesn't cave in and fall down from the weight?

More pics. So many raised beds, so much room to plant, so many opportunities, yet so little budget :p

beckygardener said:Is that part of the roof your friend is on? Concrete roof? I am interested to know more. Here we have framing (using wood) with plywood and shingles on the roof. How do you support a concrete roof so it doesn't cave in and fall down from the weight?

It's not a concrete roof YET becky For the moment it's just wooden boards screwed onto wooden beams that are anchored in the wall with cement and covered with a roof cover on a basis of bitumen. It's just a temporary fix as I said until the new roof is installed. Then it'll be - with steel rods reinfored - concrete beams also anchored in the wall with cement. Between the beams clay pots (here we call them 'potten' litterally translated as pots :p ) are placed and on top of that concrete flooring is poured so the whole structure can adhere and is fixed in place:

That is so unusual how the roof is made. I bet it will stand up to just about any weather condition with all that concrete and rebar (steel rods). It will be a fortress!!! Your own little castle! Is that how most of the roofs are built in Belgium? Built to last a long, long time! I wonder if it keeps the homes cooler in the heat of summer and warmer in Winter?

I love, love, love all your raised beds throughout the various levels! That really looks wonderful!! Have you considered growing some plants from seed? I grow a LOT of daylilies! Almost all from seed. I have over 300 daylilies. Not sure how such a plant would grow in Belgium, but they are beautiful plants. So many plants can be grown from seed. A lot of folks here on ATP do Winter Sowing in covered containers in late Winter/Early Spring and then plant them into their beds when Spring has arrived. Many plants get big quickly .... but you have to remember the old saying about growing from seed .... first year sleeps (roots are developing more than foliage), second year creeps (you start seeing more above ground growth), and third year leaps (you see a burst in growth and start seeing a full grown plant)! I garden on a budget and I grow a lot of my plants from seeds or cuttings. I have learned the true meaning of "patience".

My avatar is a hybrid daylily grown from seed that I will probably name and register in the future. But there are so many other plants you could grow as well! The options are endless, in my humble opinion.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but it's becoming quite common to build your roofs/floors like this (except tilted roofs ofc); there are so many systems :p . We used the same principle for our new bathroom and kitchenette floor. The old wooden beams and wooden flooring were ripped out and replaced with this. It's much stronger, doesn't rot and is no fire hazard.

See:




As for the raised beds...It's not only a budget issue, but also...Well, the walls still need to be treated and finished, otherwise any paint, tiles or brickwork against them will come off eventually due to moisture seeping through. And doing all that is hard when there are plants in front. They'll get trampled or painted themselves eventually :p
I could always lift them during dormancy, but then I'd have to find another spot to place them and that's space we don't have atm

You know I have been in a hardware store locally and they have polished/glossed concrete floors. I will admit that the thought of doing that to my own home floors crossed my mind. I am so tired of problems with carpeting, tile, vinyl flooring, etc. Concrete will outlast any other flooring. My screen porch has a concrete floor and I did a two-tone sponge paint design to it and it looks nice.

What do you do to your inside walls? Do you put drywall over them or paint them or leave them as they are?

How cold does it get in Winter in Belgium?

I totally understand about your reasons for NOT landscaping your raised beds until all the work is done.

Bravo! for all the work you've done so far!!!

Incredible work guys!! It's looking really good. Roofs (and walls and floors) are generally concrete here where I live too. Nothing to burn, nothing for termites to eat, cool in the heat and Becky, they are really safe in hurricanes. I don't even carry fire insurance on my house, there's nothing but some furniture and cabinets to burn and I can't imagine how it could catch on fire.

That would make sense. Here concrete is expensive, so maybe that is why wood frame is often used. Cheaper to build. I would certainly feel a lot safer in a concrete home with a concrete roof during hurricane season. Much lower maintenance on a concrete home as well. Interesting how the USA home is typically built very cheap and fragile especially with all the natural disasters we get here. Your homes sound so much stronger and cheaper to care for after the initial cost to build.

Jonna - Thanks for answering my questions. I often wondered about your concrete roof house, too. Now I know. Much smarter way to build a house, in my humble opinion!