On a summer cottage plot in bad weather you can take shelter indoors. However, even on a sunny day you sometimes want to hide — from the scorching rays. And if there are no large trees on the plot that would provide welcome shade, you don’t have to build a solid permanent gazebo, as is Read more…
Memories of childhood and adolescence stay with a person for life: of the native log house with a Russian stove; of sun-warmed dusty paths in the garden and vegetable patch, of the sawbucks (often stressed on the second syllable in speech) for sawing firewood, standing to the side in the yard by the woodshed… And Read more…
If a country house or rural home has a high roof — it’s a sin not to take advantage of such an advantage and not to arrange an attic there: it can serve as an additional bedroom, study, and even a children’s room. The under-roof space itself can be equipped both during construction and in Read more…
Every gardener knows how difficult it is to bring water for watering beds or trees during dry periods. Many use large tanks or bidons with a capacity of 35—40 liters, mounting them on carts. But lifting and removing such a bidon is far beyond everyone’s strength. The design of a cart I made significantly facilitates Read more…
It’s hard to imagine urban and rural life without running water nowadays. Well, if there’s no centralized water supply and a well is nearby, the simplest solution is to use an electric pump to lift water. However, that’s only half the job. A home water supply system should include a storage tank, automatic pump control Read more…
To obtain hot water in a bathhouse, a tank-register on the stove pipe (or a boiler in the stove itself) and an external tank in the washroom are often used. Water circulation between them is carried out by natural convection due to the difference in specific weight of hot and cold liquid at temperature differences. Read more…
Many city dwellers would like to take a steam bath in their own sauna, but in most cases they don’t have such an opportunity. Even owners of dacha and garden plots don’t always have the conditions to build a full-fledged bathhouse: one lacks space, another lacks funds, a third lacks both. I considered myself one Read more…
Having started setting up the household on a neglected dacha plot, I installed a cabinet with a sink in the kitchen. I hung a washbasin and placed a bucket underneath for drainage. This works for rural areas, but at least twice a day I had to take out the filled bucket and find a place Read more…
You will agree that cooking shashlik outdoors in rainy weather brings little pleasure. A simple canopy will help avoid inconveniences and enjoy appetizingly smelling meat, and its construction does not require professional carpentry skills. I saw this design last autumn in one of the village yards. The basis of the canopy consists of six vertical Read more…
When there is no permanent gazebo on a summer cottage for rest on a hot summer day, the only salvation from the scorching sun is a large “beach” umbrella. The undeniable advantage is that the umbrella can be installed anywhere you want to organize a rest area, where a table with chairs or just a Read more…
