The Weather

Now we got snow, the shovel assortment has seen a bit of action today.
 

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Me its getting real cold with those pics.
What I've never understood, why you swedish guys live in those wooden houses in such a cold and rainy environment. Wouldn't it be nicer to build them with solid stone or have you become IKEA marketing victims? Please elaborate.
Enigmatic greetings.
 
those wooden houses in such a cold and rainy environment.
Wood has better insulating value than solid stone.

Wouldn't it be nicer to build them with solid stone or have you become IKEA marketing victims? Please elaborate.
Solid stone will work better in arid and hot climate such as Arizona, USA or other desert areas in the world. It absorbs heat from the sun during the day and holds it overnight when it gets chilly (due to low humidity).
 
Hey,

You folks handle the Nobel Peace Prize, so you must be part of Sweden! 😉

You know like Finland and Denmark! 😉. 😉
We - THE REAL SWEDES - fough several vicious wars just to get Norway off our back. We even started to develop atom bombs in order to blow a deep and wide gorge between Norway and Sweden....

Actually we have a very friendly but slightly complicated relationship to each other - Swedes and Norwegians. But it is based on much love, some jelousness and a pinch of hatred.

Today's building standard states that we need a lot of insulation, 3-pane windows and reheat incoming air into our houses with the outgoing. I cannot say the norm, but 30cm (12") insulation is normal. A friend of mine went for 50 cm (20") in the walls and floor and 80 cm (32") in the ceiling. He did not have to use any other heaters that his kitchen stuff with the stove, fridge/freeze, not to mention the heat from bodies.
 
As far as I can tell Sweden has had a much larger impact in the US than your neighbors. I have mention before the impact of "Sloyd time" on education here. In addition there just may have been a few noted scientists, movie folk and even businessmen. Then there is that bit about the Nobel prizes!!!

As to wooden homes, the log cabin was thought to be first used here by folks from Sweden.

Perhaps someone from the other "Swedish" parts of Denmark and Finland can add a bit! 😉
 
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On a more "emotional" level, I think Swedes' connections to the Finns and Danes are less complicated. The Danes are the happy people South of Sweden. We go to Denmark to enjoy the laid-back Danish way of living and BEER!
Finns are our very dear cousins in the East. Swedes were by law forbidden to go an fight in Spain 1936, but going to help the Finns when Soviet attacked in 1940 was a matter of honour and decency - Finland's sake is ours.

(Swedes not Sweden to Finland's Rescue - WW2 - 021 - January 19 1940 - YouTube)

But we I think we have less problems to communicate with the Norwegians, due to the greater simularity regarding our languages. And many Swedes go to Norway to work as the salaries are higher and as a foreigner we pay just 12% income tax.
 
Trouble with winter and Covid is that it’s cold and there’s no shuttle service from Toyota, but the upside is plenty of fresh air whilst walking to the dealership to collect my car after fitting of the winter rims!
 

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That's a pretty plain house for Norway, I'll never forget the cottages with sod roofs lining the fjords.

They did a "net zero" house on This Old House a few seasons ago. The design was a little exotic but building materials were standard. Roughly speaking it was like building a current 2 storey detached and doubling up walls and roof.

We're in an 81 year record breaking warm spell here, took advantage to do a driveway oil change on my car in a T shirt.

Gimp there are hardcore winter riders here on the forum but from what I've heard standard off the shelf true knobbies are good enough for pavement in winter but if you are going to do trails you need to buy or DIY your own studded tires.