day 164: ceilings

still waiting for the gas line. waiting. uncle paul finally got the plumber on the phone today. he promised to come by the house early in the week and run the gas lines for our propane range, patio BBQ hookup, and backup furnace.


it's nice to have amish workers at the house again.


the drywall crew came back to put on another coat of plaster. dad begged for a picture of Jake.


the guys had to walk around in stilts to work on the walls.


i returned from picking out paint to find the drywall crew putting a heavy texture on the ceilings with something that looked like a big mop. i said, "uhhh, can we stop this?" i didn't realize people still did this anymore.... i'm still in shock. so the basement is textured, but half of the upstairs will be smooth. sigh.

day 163: concrete block

if you jerry-rig a hose to a dehumidifier, it will run continuously without anyone having to empty the water it pulls out of the air.


i had a really long hose so i ran it all the way to a ditch where the floor drains will drain out of the basement.


pile of drywall waste.


uncle paul gave me some brief instructions on how to operate the tractor. so i drove it from his place over to the farm and used it to haul concrete block from behind the chicken coop that will be demolished at some point. driving the tractor and working the bucket was fun. hauling block on the other hand...


i did a lot of work.


the stack of old concrete block was full of spiders, some field mice nests, and a whole lot of other bugs. but i also saw a lot of spiders in the house over course of the weekend, like this one.


uncle steve pointed out this snake under the screen porch. he came over to see the house and talk about possibly installing the wood trim. my uncle, not the snake.


did i mention that we have two bird nests in the porch ceiling? it's fun to see the robin chicks pop up their beaks looking for food. but this dumb dove mostly just sits and stares.


after a hard day's work, it's nice to sit back on the screen porch, relax a bit, and enjoy the view.


mostly i just looked down on my hard work. it looks like about 170 block.


everything grows quickly on the farm. and it's surprising how many of those growing things have thorns.

day 162: drywall

drywall!

day 144: final door

Uncle Paul drove his 4-wheeler over and installed the door between the garage and the house. this was the final exterior door. since the place was now closed in completely, dad and mom ran a dehumidifier for a few days. the drywaller had called to request that we lower the moisture content of the wood framing downstairs before he started installing the drywall. otherwise we might have problems later on with cracking, seam separation, and nail pops.

day 141: garage + insulation

finally progress!


it was a relief to see the mud dried up and the garage with some backfill out front. Dad and Mom and I met the excavator the talk about how to grade the remaining part of the driveway and backfill around the house.



Bob the excavator filled the garage with gravel... a lot of gravel. once we get a pair of floor drains installed it will be ready for a concrete slab. the last exterior door is on site but needs to be dragged up from the basement and installed.



it's starting to feel like a house. you can actually walk right in without climbing a wall and balancing on a plank of wood to get into the foyer.



this will soon have a concrete porch and steps. you can see the outline cut into the siding along the side walls. and the wiring is in place for exterior lights, door bell, and power outlet.



the interior has started to look a little more solid now that the place is insulated.



the exterior walls and main floor ceilings are insulated for heat loss, and the bedrooms and bathrooms are insulated for acoustics. the return air for the furnace runs through an open stud bay that become a plenum of air - like a built-in duct - once the drywall is installed.



this basement bedroom is temporarily pink with insulation.


i guess this one strip of insulation was flipped over because there are air ducts in that joist bay.



this single strip of insulation is a curious sight. i'll have to give them a call.



the well is installed just north of the house. water and power for the well runs along the west side of the house and enters just before the plywood wall you see here. the well driller installed this water storage tank and water filters and softeners. next in this line will be the water heater.



Uncle Paul installed vents on the house. here you see the fresh air intake for the fireplace and the vent for the basement bath exhaust fan. Another bathroom exhaust fan vent is on the north elevation, and there is a dryer vent on the west side.