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'Gjør det selv': Essential vocabulary for talking about DIY in Norway

There's a reason why the fringes of each and every Norwegian town are crammed with branches of building supply stores and DIY chains like Montér, XL-Bygg , Byggtorget , Byggeriet , and Byggmax . Norwegians can be a bit reserved, but if you engage them in a discussion on a practical subject, such as how best to drain. The only problem for a foreigner, is that as soon as the talk strays into this territory, you quickly get into specialist vocabulary you have never previously encountered. In every building shop you'll find a section for jernvare , which literally means "iron goods", and covers all sorts of screws (skrue/ skruvar ), nails (spik/spiker), nuts ( mutter ), hooks ( krok/krokar ) and much else besides. There are also still ironmongers (jernvarehandel), particularly in towns too small for an out of town retail park. Most jobs will require tools, such as a screwdriver (s krutrekker ), saw ( sag ), or an adjustable spanner ( skiftenøkkel ). You'll need an electric drill or boremaskin. A hammer (hammare) will come in useful. Advertisement You'll also need a spirit level (vater) to keep your angles straight, and a folding ruler ( målestokk) or measuring tape ( måleband ), to measure everything out. You'll need to keep all this in a verktygslåda (toolbox). If you're engaged in a more ambitious DIY project, you will probably need wooden building materials. Wood as a material is tre. Often it's easiest when covering a wall or roof to use rupanel , tongue and groove panels that slot together. When you're putting on the finishing touches to a wall you'll need lister, or skirting boards. Once you've made the frame, you're most likely to cover the wall with plasterboard ( gipsplater ) or possibly chipboard (OSB or spanskskive ). You might stick in some insulation or isolasjon first, usually mineral wool ( steinull ). If you're painting a wall you will need paint, or maling , although to put it on you'll need to mala (paint). You might want to lay on some plaster (noun sparkel or verb spakla). And if you want to sand (slipa) the wall to make it smooth, you will need use sandpaper (sandpapir), or perhaps a sanding machine (slipamaskin). Swedes don't tend to go for this in a big way, but you might decide to use wallpaper (tapet) instead. Advertisement Redoing the bathroom is one of the most common renovation projects, and if you are convinced to do this, you'll need to get tiles ( fliser ), and grouting ( fugemasse ). If you are laying down a new bathroom floor, you might also need liquid putty or flytepakke , to make the floor slope down to the drain. Good luck!