Month: May 2017

May 2017

We are getting the floor in the laundry room put down. We’re using a parquet tile that we had left from prior projects. We’ll put it on the floor, apply several coats of polyurethane on it so that it is sealed from possible water (being a laundry).

The floor is down, the water heater is now put where it will stay, and I’m ready to finish the baseboard installation after I put the finish on the floor.

The days have been so hot and humid that I’m having to water our new plants about every 3rd day to keep them from wilting.

Now the bathrooms are beginning to come together.

20th – finally rain. We’ve gotten 1-1/4 inches – a big blessing for the new trees and shrubs. Now the heat is coming back. Supposed to be 80s and 90s for Memorial Day weekend.

April 2017

We have one bathroom sink installed in its cabinet in place, and the second one will follow soon.

Denise will have to go back to Colorado for a while again later on, so that will slow things a bit.

We’re not getting very much rain. Where are the spring rains that we are supposed to have?

 

 

March 2017

We’re thinking about how we can make the property viable, and have settled on the idea that we need to have some animals on it to provide for the agricultural use tax valuation. We have plenty of grass and forbs to provide feed, so what do we do?

We have decided that the best idea would be sheep. Now, how to go about putting sheep on the land?

In the house, we are moving forward with plastering and preparing the rooms for painting.

We’ve also decided how we are going to finish the outside of the house. We will use siding panels that look like stucco for part of the surface, and lap siding installed vertically to look like board & batten for other parts of the surface. It will all be painted in southwest earth tones with trim in white and turquoise.

We have installed some of the window and door trim, and are continuing to prepare the finish.

Our son came again the end of month, and helped finish the plumbing in the crawl space. We now have all the drain system installed, the bathtub and shower are in place, and the water is all hooked up and turned on in the house. The refrigerator can now make ice! Since it’s already getting warm, that is a good thing.

February 2017

Still working slowly on the interior.

We are noticing that working inside is very pleasant. The solar mass floor seems to be doing its job.

 

January 2017

We are trying to move forward with the interior, getting more ceiling and walls plastered. Hopefully we can start painting very soon.

We have opened up the solar mass so that air will circulate through the floor area. We have noticed that it has started to moderate the temperature in the house, so that it doesn’t get as cold inside as the outside. Of course, the R-54 insulation in the roof also helps that.

 

December 2016

Still slow progress.

I have built the cabinets for the bedroom closet, and installed them. We will be working somewhat better after Christmas.

Our daughter is coming again for the holidays, and we possibly can get some painting done.

I have gotten some of the water distribution system started, although that is a slow process. I can’t work in the crawl space for very long.

I now have the doors on to close up the crawl space. I still need to do the weather seal on them, but at least the space is enclosed. We will be circulating air into and out of it from the living area once that is done.

 

November 2016

Things are moving rather slowly since Denise is gone until Christmas helping out with the school where she taught. Many things have to wait until there are two of us.

I have managed to get the front porch and the back deck built. We had the support posts in back in October, and the support beams up right after that. I’ve done the floor joists and the deck over the last few weeks.

It has still been quite warm here for October and November, with not a great deal of rain. Although we have the rainwater collection system in place, we don’t have room for any more water. We have 10,000 gallons stored.

We have started on the water system. The line is into the house from the pump shed, and all of the water filter system is hooked up and working. We will turn the water into the house later on.

Still working on taping and plastering where possible.

The other thing we are doing is reclaiming some maple flooring that was removed from a gymnasium. The flooring is attached to 2 layers of plywood, cut into 2 ft by 8 ft pieces. We have about 350 sq. ft. of this flooring. We want to pull all of the maple strips off the plywood, remove all the nails, and plane it to remove the old finish.

We will probably install it in our bedroom, and refinish it once installed. It will be a long process to get all of this done.

September 2016

We’re slowly getting the walls done. Most of what is still open is the bathroom area. There’s a lot of plumbing left to do here.

We have started on putting the drain system in to go to the septic tank. The kitchen sink, and the toilet (including provision for a second toilet at some time) will go there. All other water will go to a gray water outlet that drains into the area below the west wall of the house. It will be distributed to water the trees and bushes.

 

August 2016

We are getting more of the walls sheetrocked, and are starting to tape joints and close in spaces. We’re now beginning to see the shape of the space.

The great room is well underway, as is the bedroom. Nearly all of the ceiling is sheetrocked, and the exterior walls are mostly covered.

We have decided to put in a mini-split heat pump system. There will be two air handlers – one in the bedroom, and the other at the dining room end of the house. Each is independently operated. We’ve had the company come and install the refrigerant lines for each of the units, running them to a common location on the north wall where the heat pump will sit. After we are finished generating tons of dust in the house, we will have them come back and complete the installation.