To outsiders, Lin Ying's house appears to have been built on top of the stone, but in reality, the walls of Lin Ying's house were already in place where the stone was.
She just buried it in the soil before, so no one knew.
Now, to install underfloor heating, Lin Ying needs to transport all this soil out.
Make sure all the openings that were previously reserved are made.
Since the entire floor is heated by underfloor heating, it's actually quite convenient to install. You just need to erect adobe bricks for support and build the flue in a bow shape throughout the house.
The key is to make a "dog hole" at the smoke outlet, technically called a return air tunnel. This is to prevent the backflow of air into the chimney from causing the smoke to flow backward.
After the flue was built, they started laying large adobe bricks horizontally on top of it, sealing each row with mud, otherwise she would have nowhere to step in the end.
Next, Lin Ying began experimenting with the smoke output. To be honest, because there were many smoke ducts, the smoke output speed was naturally not fast. But fortunately, everything went smoothly.
The only troublesome part of the entire underfloor heating system installation was the toilet area. Ultimately, Lin Ying decided not to install underfloor heating in that area, otherwise the drainage wouldn't be able to drain properly.
After the underfloor heating was installed, Lin Ying needed to spray water and dry the floor for the next two days. Once the floor was completely dry, she applied about ten centimeters of yellow mud. Then she dried it again.
During her free time, Lin Ying bought all the ingredients her family needed for the period of time, went up the mountain to find some food, and also had to make door frames and doors.
The old windows were used when the house was built, and she made the doors overnight. Now that she has time, she naturally wants to get these things done in advance.
Not only that, she also had to make up for the missing materials.
Once she confirmed that the ground was solid enough, Lin Ying could continue her work on it.
The next step is to build the inner wall.
Lin Ying first planned out the most troublesome part: the kitchen. She intended to build the heated wall first. The heated wall works on the same principle as underfloor heating, only it's vertical instead of horizontal. Moreover, the heated wall is mainly for the bathroom and kitchen. In addition, the smoke inlet cannot be lower than the smoke outlet of the stove, so naturally, there can't be a flue below it. Lin Ying simply built it horizontally with earth; as for the flue opening, that had already been done when the house was built.
All Lin Ying had to do was seal the wall. To avoid wasting too much space, Lin Ying chose to use rammed earth bricks that were the same size as the floor heating surface but relatively thinner.
The flue in the heated wall wasn't wide, only about the thickness of a fist, but the sealing layer was still about ten centimeters thick. For aesthetic reasons, Lin Ying built the entire wall up. This resulted in the wall having a hollow design overall.
The winter winds in the Great Northern Wilderness are from the northwest, and the thickened wall on the west side will make it much warmer in winter.
After the heated walls were installed, Lin Ying first conducted a smoke test at the smoke inlet, and even turned on the underfloor heating to see if there would be any smoke buildup there. Fortunately, everything went smoothly.
Next, Lin Ying began building the inner wall.
The adobe bricks used when building the house were thick, and the thickness of the walls was the length of the adobe bricks, all for insulation. The inner room, however, was for partitioning, and the thickness of the walls was only the width of the adobe bricks.
Because the plan is to build a heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed) if it gets too cold in winter, the partition wall here can be torn down at that time so that the heated kang can be built. However, Lin Ying plans to lay wooden planks on the floor of the raccoon house first.
After another busy day, Lin Ying finally finished building the inner wall.
Next, we began plastering the entire wall surface.
To ensure the walls were sturdy, Lin Ying used more lime and less yellow mud when plastering, keeping the amount of gravel the same. Because both the inside and outside walls needed to be plastered, it took a relatively long time. Due to the large amount of whitewash, the entire wall was white, making it look much cleaner than the mud house.
The underfloor heating had been running continuously to dry the house, so the interior walls dried relatively quickly. At least by the time Lin Ying finished plastering the exterior walls and then applied the interior walls, the interior was already dry.
Zhao Qinghuai returned around this time.
As soon as Zhao Qinghuai arrived at his doorstep, he saw that what had been an empty plot of land before he left now had a house. And the woman who haunted his dreams was busy working there.
For some reason, Zhao Qinghuai's eyes felt a little hot.
He clearly wanted her to enjoy a comfortable life, but now the burden of the family has fallen entirely on her shoulders.
As Lin Ying was about to carry the ashes inside, she turned around and saw Zhao Qinghuai. She immediately smiled happily at him and said, "You're back? Have you eaten?"
Zhao Qinghuai nodded, pulling himself together: "Yes, we've eaten. The autumn harvest is coming soon, and our branch has all returned. We'll be resting for a month, and then we'll help with the harvest. Everyone's been exhausted lately."
Lin Ying was overjoyed: "So you're going to stay home for a month?"
Zhao Qinghuai replied, "Yes. Is there anything else? I'll help you."
After saying that, Zhao Qinghuai put his luggage at home and came to be with Lin Ying.
Lin Ying was overjoyed to see Zhao Qinghuai return. She told him about the overall structure of her house, her plans, and mentioned that several of her sisters-in-law had come to help. She said she would definitely invite them over for a housewarming party when the house was finished.
Seeing Lin Ying like this, Zhao Qinghuai finally couldn't help but hug her. Lin Ying's hands were covered in dust, and she didn't dare to push him away for fear of getting it on him: "What are you doing? In broad daylight."
Zhao Qinghuai said in a hoarse voice, "You've worked so hard. I married you because I didn't want you to suffer, but you're still so tired."
Lin Ying couldn't help but laugh: "But I like it very much. If I did nothing, I would be bored every day. I might even start overthinking. When I have things to do, I feel fulfilled every day and don't even think about you."
Zhao Qinghuai choked, all his heartache turning into helplessness, and his sadness vanished completely: "Tell me, what should we do next?"
With Zhao Qinghuai at home, Lin Ying felt much more relaxed. Together, they not only painted the walls, but also covered the walls of the bathroom and kitchen with stone slabs up to a meter high to prevent moisture.
Then, the stove, cabinets, bathtub, and squat toilet were all built.
Zhao Qinghuai didn't ask Lin Ying why she wanted to put the toilet at home; he would do whatever Lin Ying told him to do.
After finishing that, Lin Ying and Zhao Qinghuai paved the floor with stone slabs. The two bedrooms had wooden planks. They could have laid down mats or something.
After resting for seven days, Zhao Qinghuai and his partner thoroughly cleaned up the entire house.
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