After the roof was finished, we finally moved into our unfinished house. At that point there were no proper doors, windows or bathroom—just concrete and a roof. We still decided to go.
A door, plasterboard and suitcases
For the first few days we travelled back and forth to build a door. My parents framed the bathroom with metal profiles and plasterboard while also working on the sewer pipes. They had never done this before, but YouTube helped. We packed at the same time and moved as soon as the bathroom walls were standing.
By evening most of our belongings were inside, but we had nowhere to sleep. Five mattresses arrived that day at $200 each, so the total was $1,000. We skipped beds to protect the budget. My parents bought a wood stove and gas cooker. Kind people gave us a refrigerator, several windows for later and two small tables.
We laid cardboard on the concrete and put the mattresses on top. My parents connected the sewer toward night. On our first night, OSB covered the window openings, the only light came from an extension lead and the house felt cold and slightly frightening. There were not many neighbours around us.
An outdoor tap and wild animals
Water had not reached the house, so we used a tap outside. Going out at night felt uncomfortable: this is a small development surrounded by farms and woodland. There are wild boar, one builder saw a young deer, and we repeatedly met a local fox that was not afraid of cars and tried to approach us.
After dinner we turned to the internet. Shortly before moving we had asked Antel for a connection and were told it would take one or two months. We could not wait that long, especially after seeing broken cables take weeks to repair, so we drove to Maldonado and bought Starlink.
Installation was unexpectedly simple: about twenty minutes later we had internet for films and YouTube. We still spent the rest of the evening fitting the bathroom door.
Waking up in the bunker
Morning felt unusual. The house stayed dim like a real bunker, the floor was bare concrete and the dog collected dust. We wore shoes indoors and kept clothes in bags and suitcases so they would not get dirty or absorb moisture.
We continued with the bathroom and connected the toilet. Then came the wood stove because outdoor humidity was around 90%. We bought two flue sections and an elbow; a hole in the temporary doorway happened to fit perfectly. By evening I had cut firewood and everyone gathered around the stove.
Within a few days the bathroom had changed a lot: water inside the house, a cistern, sink, window, a little tile and a water heater.
A fever near 40°C and 12°C inside the house
The next morning I woke with a fever close to 40°C that would not come down. We went to hospital and it stayed near 39°C for almost three days. Then the rest of the family became ill. We lost a week of work while nighttime temperatures inside the house fell to about 12°C, with winter only beginning.
We had also started a small garden behind the house: a lemon tree, several avocado plants grown from stones, a tomato and strawberries waiting in pots until spring. I want to add pomegranate, orange and mandarin trees later.
As we recovered, work resumed slowly. Winter meant less sun and more rain. The plan was to finish the bathroom, including the shower and tiles, then move on to the rooms, floor and ceiling. There was still a huge amount to do, and we had to make it through cold, wet nights that can approach zero here.
We moved into concrete and a roof, built a door and bathroom with help from YouTube, spent $1,000 on mattresses and chose Starlink instead of waiting for Antel. The first night meant OSB and an extension lead; then the whole family became ill in a house around 12°C at night. We live here, keep building and plant a garden.
Building the shell: /en/dom/korobka-i-pereezd/. Finding builders: /en/dom/poisk-stroiteley/. Buying the plot: /en/dom/uchastok/.