Swedish Cottage Tour !

Here is a tour of my cottage in Sweden

[@mundodomurilo4262]

What a fantastic house tour, Ethan! Your new home in Sweden looks amazing. Wishing you all the best in this exciting chapter of your life!! ❤

[@EthanFromLondon]

Thanks so much!

[@jeffreyroberts7438]

Lot of work to do. Your woodworking is really good, and it’s always surprising what you can do when you have too. We moved to the wilds of Wales 10 years ago, it’s taken that long to make the house and gardens beautiful, and there’s always something else to do as I’m sure you’ll find. Good luck with all of it, don’t be alone! Be happy!👍

[@newmankidman5763]

You are a man of your word. A few weeks ago I asked you if you would consider giving us a house tour, and you said yes, and now Voila. Thanks. The house is very nice and spacious. I love spacious rooms which are also cosy, and the wooden floor in your living room makes the big room cosy, which is the perfect combination

[@NordicAxe]

It looks fantastic Ethan, well done! Sorry, late comment again - I’m always playing catch up! Best wishes from Essex And what a supreme job on the loft room!! Excellent!

[@Carolina-o6l]

I am Swedish and have been living in the countryside for many years. The most important thing is to insulate the attic. If possible also insulate yourfloors. I have stopped using the dryer, which has been very Good. I hang my clothes instead. If I were you I would fix the chimney in order to be able to have a cozy fire. Good look!

[@EthanFromLondon]

You are right about the attic. I am working on it. But have paused for the winter, but I refuse to pay SEK 80,000 to fix the chimney. This is a rip off.

[@gunlindblad5202]

@@EthanFromLondonis it crackt? Did the chimneysweaper check it? 80000is not much compare to the price for electricity. If you fix the chimney it will keep the upstairs warm too

[@joycekepic8947]

Ethan Hi! From New York thank you for that lovely tour. I was waiting for this as I am a real estate broker and always interested in homes. I listened to your heating that you solved. Thankfully I live in an old tutor in New York, and I am still fighting with the heat. My problem is insulation on the first floor, the heat rages upstairs, but the first floor stay cool it’s a brick home so in order to insulate that would cost me a fortune!! Also, you are spot on about lazy people. There are so many jobs and nobody wants to work health and happiness in that beautiful home.

[@liubovaristova8737]

So beautiful ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ this is life changing when you are moving from city lifestyle to land living 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 wish you all the best people who will contribute to the work for building the house 🏡

[@Kim-J312]

We have those little entrance rooms,in the US too. We call them mud rooms. It's where to take off muddy/ snowy boots/ coats off in 😊

[@EthanFromLondon]

We have boot rooms in the UK but they are usually at the back of the house

[@savage9536]

Awesome tour. I'd love to hear about your job and career update in Sweden now?

[@almurray2000]

Thanks for showing us around your home, it’s lovely. It’s like a tardis, way bigger on the inside than I thought it was going to be. Maybe it’s the huge plot it sits on gave me the impression it wasn’t as large as it is. Looks really good. Interesting to hear your experiences of heating it. I was wondering if it’d be more difficult given the large open internal area. Anyway I’m rambling. Thanks again for showing us round your lovely new home.

[@RelativeStrengthFit]

Love it. Happy for you, man!

[@exeuropean]

Very nice Ethan. That paint on the house looks great. It is a classic color for California barns , aptly called barn red. There it is a stain which is more durable then paint and easier to apply. I love your old stove. Those are the best. I must say you have lots of sofa's and chairs. When I lived in my old farmhouse in CA in the winter I heated the house with firewood in a fireplace. There they have special fireplace which generate a lot of heat. You may want to look into that there in Sweden. Also the ash went outside right away thru a little trapdoor. Very very handy. That way you dont need to colllect all the ash and take it thru the house. If you are interested let me know. That is what I would do for heat. Lots of firewood. The best heat you can have.

[@ikotsus2448]

These heat pumps work better at higher temperatures. When freezing use the radiators. When above lets say 4-10 degrees use the heat pump. When freezing they do defrosting cycles that may be why you think they do not work well.

[@EthanFromLondon]

Absolutely right. I found all that out a few weeks ago through trial and error

[@panoshountis1516]

It is amazing how much the interior has changed with your interventions and also the amount of work that needs to be done into making this your home. Regarding the wind noise in the kitchen extractor, I believe this might be the case because the pipe ending is flush with the exterior wall. Instead it should be in a right angle pipe facing towards the ground. As far as your heating is concerned, my advice is that instead of asking equipment vendors and/or residents, it would be wiser to have a Mechanical Engineer do a survey of the property, assess the internal volume of the rooms, the orientation of the dwelling, the points on the walls or ceiling where cold air currents enter and come up with a study on matters such as types and places that additional insulation needs to be placed, double or triple glazing, the type of technology and/or equipment you need to use to achieve the comfort levels you want to achieve.

[@michaelgenias8491]

Hi Ethan your home is startling to.look great well done and great video. Just a thought I put a similar vent to extract the stove smoke make sure the vent material is flush outside get silicon sealing gun and put it between the bricks and the tube outside. I recon that will fix it assuming the vent is secured on the outside. Hope it helps, great video 👏👏👏

[@EthanFromLondon]

There is hardly any space between the metal tube and the hole but I will put silicone to see if that helps.

[@pavel3701]

Love all your videos Ethan! Scenery looks very like in Russia where we foresee big good change coming this year for it and for its neighbors🤞!

[@Finn-FrenchGaming]

Haha, I thought you had a Nordic touch in some videos! And I was right. You should visit Hangö in southern Finland. Lovely! Ska du lära dig svenska?

[@JohnAthow]

Thank you for showing us your home, most interesting 🏡

[@trut52]

Most swedes have district heating that is set around 18 or so. That heat pump probably needs cleaning or maintaining. I clean mine every year. BTW my friend in Hungary always brags how low his electricity cost is. He has his home at 24C and pays less than 10 euros a month for electricity. But that's through some kind of price control.

[@patsyballantyne9886]

So very inspiring, thank you.

[@Ikaelgo]

I just watched your video about being miserable in Stockholm and now started watching this. I’m a ”Stockholmer” who used to live in London for 10+ years. Where are you from, originally? I cannot figure out from your accent.

[@dam00r]

You could sell that timber/tree panels from the old sheds to some antiques buyer who create new old stuff, mirror/picture frames etc.. They are sought after. They've got some value. Also old windows/glass have antiques value.

[@EthanFromLondon]

I have no idea how to find these places. I am going to replace the barns with new ones at some point so this could be a good idea

[@Smartphonekanalen]

A house in the country usually requires good insulation. This coming summer, go through all the walls, floors and windows. Sweden has among the world's best insulated houses, but this doesn't seem quite up to it. It is very important to heat the stove strongly when it is winter, then you can count on 27 degrees in the kitchen. It is important to remove all moisture in the walls.

[@EthanFromLondon]

The insulation is perfect in this house. Triple glazed etc

[@Smartphonekanalen]

@@EthanFromLondon then check other things like ventilation, moist and heat spreading.

[@Smartphonekanalen]

@@EthanFromLondon As it has been this winter, the air heat pump is ineffective. You would need 1-2 wood stoves or pellet burners. Wood is superior in cold. Oil is practical if you have pipes, but expensive and worse for the climate.

[@EthanFromLondon]

When the wars stop I will start worrying about the environment. 1 hour flight of a fighter jet is equal to 15 years of driving a car. So until the politicians and world leader stop the wars and these huge warships drinking thousands of gallons of fuel, I have no desire to do anything for the environment since its only going to make my life difficult and makes zero difference to the planet. If anyone has ever been to a third world country e.g. South East Asia or South America or Africa you will know what I mean by the dying planet and it being too late for us to do anything.

[@EthanFromLondon]

The bathroom extractor fan keeps running all the time and there is no switch to turn it off otherwise there is no other loss of heat. Since I turned up the wall radiators and turned off the air heat pump the house is much warmer and the electricity usage has gone down.

[@marknewell2208]

Looks amazing, you've done a lot in such a short time

[@EthanFromLondon]

Thank you! 😊

[@paulbennett6729]

If the house is well insulated which I imagine it is, would an old school brick storage heater using cheap night rate electricity be a good idea for such a large room? Good honest content as always. You seem every bit as happy living a simple life.Thanks for sharing. Wish you all the best

[@EthanFromLondon]

Brick storage heater? Never heard of it but I will Google it. Thanks

[@danieldekovic9706]

There is one thing you could do when it get warm. Change window sealent for silicon one. It's old house but most of the warmth is lost through drafty doors and windows and through the roof. For this cold climate, you would need triple glazed doors and windows with three sealant, inner, middle, and outer one. Of course, you have to have good insulation. You can also use styrofoam.

[@EthanFromLondon]

It’s triple glazed already.

[@danieldekovic9706]

@EthanFromLondon sealent then. It should have tree sealent on it. The middle one is important as window with two sealent can seal at its best 90%

[@EthanFromLondon]

Thanks for trying to help but I have no idea what you are telling me to do. What? Where? How?

[@danieldekovic9706]

@@EthanFromLondon This is from my experience. I have pvc windows. I changed on them all seals for seals made out of silicone. That window seal was expensive costing 2 € for one meter. I done some custom modding, installing middle seal in window frames. In my case it helped a lot. No more draft, nothing. I'm trying to say that maybe a part of the problem is bad or inadequate window seals. Now you can't do much about it as it is too cold but maybe in summer you could check this out. In my opinion for colder climate your doors and windows should have three layers of window seals. One is outer seal, another is inner seal and the very important one is middle seal that can, at least for my windows, be installed inside window frame. When I installed on top of everything middle seal in window and balcony doors frame it obviously boosted all windows and doors.

[@owent159]

Wait, is there not a damper for the range hood? If not that could be the culprit for the wind making the sounds

[@EthanFromLondon]

Managed to fix the issue. It was howling like in a horror movie.

[@mgdrive8409]

to avoid mold the temp should be around 16 at the wall, no less i believe!

[@EthanFromLondon]

My house is always around 16 or more.

[@dkib2006]

Is it safe to live there by yourself? How did you get immigration papers for Sweden?

[@dam00r]

Here in Scandinavia, we shovel the snow onto the house facade to use as extra isolation in winter times. You need to cover the concrete base of your house with snow

[@EthanFromLondon]

Does it not add to moisture and condensation problems under the house. The facade is supposed to let the wood breathe from underneath

[@dam00r]

@@EthanFromLondon forgot to add that you only use snow as isolation when its -5 and colder. When it gets warmer you need to remove the snow from direct contact to the house

[@gunlindblad5202]

Looks like an old person was living there, that is probably why it was so dirty

[@EthanFromLondon]

Unfortunately yes

[@Smartphonekanalen]

Swedish Cottage? Not really. More like a farmer living house.

[@1705Enzo]

So you don’t have two left hands 😊

[@randykreifels6171]

So now we know where all your clothes went from your London home, they are everywhere! And getting stuff upstairs must of been fun as well. Mini splits do not work as well when you get toward freezing temp. Mine does same thing, it uses more power to heat, and way less power to cool. It's just the nature of them. Make sure the hvac guy knows how to charge the mini split as well because they do not have the same characteristics as a traditional heat pump/ air handler system. I install these units and understand the limitations of them. Most likely your existing one is just fine. They don't work well when it gets toward freezing Temps. And I can go on all day about lack of service people,I am a builder and do everything in my projects frame,wire ,plumb, ect .getting helpers is impossible. Last, keep learning carpentry you have out buildings to fix! As I offered before I can come teach you