OK, so the bare details were in the last post. Tonight is Survivor night so we'll get a night off. All work and no play make it pretty damned hard to keep going when there's this much to get done.
The power/pump house; hereafter referred to as the shed. :D
I got started on Monday night. Since that first wall is only 4' tall I began there. Got my bottom plate laid out and marked off where to place the sole plate bolt holes, then nailed in all the studs. Then I stood it up and by then it was so dark and already so chilly for my shower-under-a-tree I quit for the night. Crystal got the floor tile laid in the guest bathroom that night. (IF I'm not mistaken).
Tuesday night I managed to get home and started over an hour sooner than Monday. That nights' wall is 10' high and the same 22.5' long as the short wall. So I got all laid out, and then my friend Tim showed up with his partner Dennie. We worked together on it for a while and part way through our friends Roger and Marian showed up. They mostly visited (which is fab) and Roger helped with some advice and a bit of lifting when we needed the help. It was after dark when we got both halves of that wall up and nailed and bolted into place. We set a couple temporary boards in to hold the wall in place. That should do it until tomorrow (Thursday) night.
Crystal got the base down for the wood stove and got some of the tile put in. She works really hard on the place and has the added difficulty factor of not getting off work till 5 PM or after in the town that's 45 minutes to an hour away. I don't know how she keeps motivated. .... but I'm glad she does.
SO, tonight is Survivor and soup night at Tim and Dennie's. They have graciously agreed to host us once a week for a night off for us and some grown up human interaction that is not about hammers and nails and cement board and tile and boards and sheet rock and wiring and plumbing and trying not to ice up while showering......
you get the idea......
It seems like it takes forever and yet every week we see progress towards our dream home. I even got insurance on the place this week. It felt like time. The mornings are getting chilly and when the sun goes down it cools off fast. We can't wait to have more power and some running water. It's been a long 5 months now. And yet it goes really fast.
Go figure.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Progress and stuff
We're still making progress.
This last weekend we got some nice used cabinets from SlingBlade's Mom. Seriously, we were a bit worried they'd try to kill and eat us before we got outta Westcliff but we made it.
Crystal has another floor tiled and ready for grout, the drywall is ALL DONE. I am started building the pumphouse. There is a chance there will be running water and more power than it takes to run our coffee pot once a day by the end of October. :D And, please dear god/dess let us be done with the dastardly plumbing inspector soon. May he burn in hell.
Updates will be longer when I have more time.
This last weekend we got some nice used cabinets from SlingBlade's Mom. Seriously, we were a bit worried they'd try to kill and eat us before we got outta Westcliff but we made it.
Crystal has another floor tiled and ready for grout, the drywall is ALL DONE. I am started building the pumphouse. There is a chance there will be running water and more power than it takes to run our coffee pot once a day by the end of October. :D And, please dear god/dess let us be done with the dastardly plumbing inspector soon. May he burn in hell.
Updates will be longer when I have more time.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Utility Room - Tiled!
Finished this room up this week. We'll start on the guest bathroom tomorrow. Have the tile to do the floor (the same as this room) and bought tile to do the walls of the shower surround. I'm excited to try a few new things. I'm not sure how this all works, since usually I do a complete layout of tile before I set it... but :) I'm looking forward to learning something new!
Concrete progress
Today the concrete got poured for the power/pump house. I thought it would get done a week and a half ago but I'm pretty sure the guy I talked to about it was kinda...... drunk....... and kinda....... forgot.
SO, Thursday I called and ordered my 9 yards of concrete for this (Saturday) morning. They got here a bit after 9, and the driver was the bomb. He handled the truck and the concrete wonderfully.
Roger showed up to give us a hand and a darn good thing. Turned out every one else was a bit busy this weekend :D. SO we put the Southwest Concrete guy in the truck, Crystal on the chute, and Roger on one end of the scree 2X4. I took the other end, directed the driver, and shoveled concrete from one spot to the next. It didn't take too much shoveling since both Crystal and the driver guy were very good, attentive and careful.
I had gone through and framed up the power/pump house, the pad for the propane tank and hand dug 14 post holes for deck posts before the truck got here. The danged post hole digger cracked on the second hole but I speed taped it and it held together for me.
We ran outta concrete on the 1st pour for the power/pump house.
I've no idea how I underestimated that badly but I did. It wasn't too bad though. I only lacked a foot of concrete for the west end and that was just for outside storage anyway. I sloped the rock at the back and will bed dirt up against it, it'll look just fine. And I'll bring home bags to do the rest of the holes. We're doing the deck posts just so that they're settled before the ground freezes and if we feel like workin on a deck this winter we'll be able to do that. I had 6 holes left to dig after the truck left and wouldn't you know it the damned post hole digger busted on the 1st freakin hole :D
By this time Crystal had taken off to town to pick up some stuff and do another thing or two that needed done, and by the time I got to trying to get the whole 14X28 pad troweled it was starting to dry out pretty hard. Roger was spraying it and I was troweling until it got just too solid to work with. Then we covered it all with various tarps I had here to keep it from surface cracking from the sun today. (It was warm out there).
Then Roger and I sat in the shade for a bit and visited.
Following that? Well.... that's when I broke the post hole digger. Dirty bitch of a busted piece of CRAP!!!!!!!! And to tell the truth I started the day with my back hurting, then shoveled concrete and screed it, then tried to dig holes in the sun. SO I sat in my hammock for a bit, then took a shower, then Crys got home with some company.
Concrete wears me out. Must be gettin old. :D
Tomorrow I'll bust the forms off and help Crys get the board all up for tiling. Monday I'll order a pile of wood to build a shed with and call the well pump dude so he can get started.
In the last three days? $5,000. This crap is just not cheap. I'll be glad to get the necessary stuff done so we can rest. I love a challenge...... this is the part that's always hardest to walk through.
SO, Thursday I called and ordered my 9 yards of concrete for this (Saturday) morning. They got here a bit after 9, and the driver was the bomb. He handled the truck and the concrete wonderfully.
Roger showed up to give us a hand and a darn good thing. Turned out every one else was a bit busy this weekend :D. SO we put the Southwest Concrete guy in the truck, Crystal on the chute, and Roger on one end of the scree 2X4. I took the other end, directed the driver, and shoveled concrete from one spot to the next. It didn't take too much shoveling since both Crystal and the driver guy were very good, attentive and careful.
I had gone through and framed up the power/pump house, the pad for the propane tank and hand dug 14 post holes for deck posts before the truck got here. The danged post hole digger cracked on the second hole but I speed taped it and it held together for me.
We ran outta concrete on the 1st pour for the power/pump house.
I've no idea how I underestimated that badly but I did. It wasn't too bad though. I only lacked a foot of concrete for the west end and that was just for outside storage anyway. I sloped the rock at the back and will bed dirt up against it, it'll look just fine. And I'll bring home bags to do the rest of the holes. We're doing the deck posts just so that they're settled before the ground freezes and if we feel like workin on a deck this winter we'll be able to do that. I had 6 holes left to dig after the truck left and wouldn't you know it the damned post hole digger busted on the 1st freakin hole :D
By this time Crystal had taken off to town to pick up some stuff and do another thing or two that needed done, and by the time I got to trying to get the whole 14X28 pad troweled it was starting to dry out pretty hard. Roger was spraying it and I was troweling until it got just too solid to work with. Then we covered it all with various tarps I had here to keep it from surface cracking from the sun today. (It was warm out there).
Then Roger and I sat in the shade for a bit and visited.
Following that? Well.... that's when I broke the post hole digger. Dirty bitch of a busted piece of CRAP!!!!!!!! And to tell the truth I started the day with my back hurting, then shoveled concrete and screed it, then tried to dig holes in the sun. SO I sat in my hammock for a bit, then took a shower, then Crys got home with some company.
Concrete wears me out. Must be gettin old. :D
Tomorrow I'll bust the forms off and help Crys get the board all up for tiling. Monday I'll order a pile of wood to build a shed with and call the well pump dude so he can get started.
In the last three days? $5,000. This crap is just not cheap. I'll be glad to get the necessary stuff done so we can rest. I love a challenge...... this is the part that's always hardest to walk through.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Phase 1
Time for an update..... a bit loathe to step on that lovely post Crystal made......
Update stats:
Drywall in the bedrooms and hallway is up, taped, textured, primed and painted.
Carpet is installed in the bedrooms and hallway. Crawlspace entry is now in the bedroom closet.
Plumbing rough in is done with the exception of the master-bath shower, which we have to replace with one that passes the ANSI drop standard per our lovely plumbing inspector (may he roast in hell)
CATV and LAN cables are run throughout the house and prepped to run to the pump/power house when it's ready.
Electrical rough in passed in the house.
Boiler room ready for drywall finishing and tile. Then the boiler/water heater etc.
Power/pump house formed for concrete (waiting on the truck to get here sometime this week)
Today we'll try to get more done on the drywall/tile end of things.
AND we have moved into the finished master bedroom. Did that yesterday, after Cindy and Jesse showed up with nephew David and laid all the carpet Friday night. They were amazing. We needed help with that, since neither of us has ever laid carpet. David was all pro about it, got all the nap headed in the same direction, seamed everything so that the whole install is one giant piece of carpet now. It looks fab. We then covered most of it with plastic (and no we're not your granny, we'll take the plastic off when the construction is done) but it's still pretty nice to have some flooring done and a soft thing to walk on. And the house is def warmer than the 5th wheel.
Gotta put in some plugs and wire a temp from the 5th wheels' inverter to the house until the real power is put in. Probably this week. It's all extension cords in there and I'm the one liable to trip and fall on my ass.
Update stats:
Drywall in the bedrooms and hallway is up, taped, textured, primed and painted.
Carpet is installed in the bedrooms and hallway. Crawlspace entry is now in the bedroom closet.
Plumbing rough in is done with the exception of the master-bath shower, which we have to replace with one that passes the ANSI drop standard per our lovely plumbing inspector (may he roast in hell)
CATV and LAN cables are run throughout the house and prepped to run to the pump/power house when it's ready.
Electrical rough in passed in the house.
Boiler room ready for drywall finishing and tile. Then the boiler/water heater etc.
Power/pump house formed for concrete (waiting on the truck to get here sometime this week)
Today we'll try to get more done on the drywall/tile end of things.
AND we have moved into the finished master bedroom. Did that yesterday, after Cindy and Jesse showed up with nephew David and laid all the carpet Friday night. They were amazing. We needed help with that, since neither of us has ever laid carpet. David was all pro about it, got all the nap headed in the same direction, seamed everything so that the whole install is one giant piece of carpet now. It looks fab. We then covered most of it with plastic (and no we're not your granny, we'll take the plastic off when the construction is done) but it's still pretty nice to have some flooring done and a soft thing to walk on. And the house is def warmer than the 5th wheel.
Gotta put in some plugs and wire a temp from the 5th wheels' inverter to the house until the real power is put in. Probably this week. It's all extension cords in there and I'm the one liable to trip and fall on my ass.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Finding Home
Growing up, I spent a lot of time alone. Summers in the mountains, most of my friends were old people. I'd wander up to their cabins, visit a bit, drink lemonade or tea, and then wander back down alone. I played all over the mountains. On weekends kids my age would come into town and we'd explore together, but on the week days I spent a lot of time exploring the countryside alone. Solitude never equaled boredom. Books were my companions, and daydreams followed me everywhere I walked. On warm days I rolled up my pants, took off my shoes, and walked along the creek until the icy runoff chilled my legs to numbness. I know every deer path and walking trail within a couple miles of our cabin.
Winters in California were spent surrounded by people at all times. I was always the new kid because we moved around so much. Picked on by all the "cool" kids because I was a scrawny, knobby kneed, girl with a boys haircut, I felt alone and lonely. Solitude was not my friend while I was in school, but every summer I found my way into loving the quiet, the cool breezes, and mountain streams.
Something happened in the last 20 years. Somehow being around so many people all the time has made me forget how much I love being alone in the mountains. Now, every evening, I drive home watching the light gently fade from the beautiful landscape. Golds, greens, browns... the sky violet and pink... I breathe easier. I let all the people in my day fade away. All the tiny annoyances of people who blame me for their lack of planning, the noise of their stress and confusion, I let it all drift into the ether.
Sometimes in the evening Denny and I work together on our home, and sometimes we work on separate projects. We've had a good bit of help. In the evenings it's often just us up there, working on our dream, trying to do the best we can.
I have found my home all over again...
Winters in California were spent surrounded by people at all times. I was always the new kid because we moved around so much. Picked on by all the "cool" kids because I was a scrawny, knobby kneed, girl with a boys haircut, I felt alone and lonely. Solitude was not my friend while I was in school, but every summer I found my way into loving the quiet, the cool breezes, and mountain streams.
Something happened in the last 20 years. Somehow being around so many people all the time has made me forget how much I love being alone in the mountains. Now, every evening, I drive home watching the light gently fade from the beautiful landscape. Golds, greens, browns... the sky violet and pink... I breathe easier. I let all the people in my day fade away. All the tiny annoyances of people who blame me for their lack of planning, the noise of their stress and confusion, I let it all drift into the ether.
Sometimes in the evening Denny and I work together on our home, and sometimes we work on separate projects. We've had a good bit of help. In the evenings it's often just us up there, working on our dream, trying to do the best we can.
I have found my home all over again...
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