Rough Plumbing and Electrical - Under the Floor

Hal has been busy a few days now. Occasionally he needs my help to pull wire or play gopher but mostly it's a one person show. He has been installing copper pipe for the cold water feeds to both kitchen sinks and red PEX for hot water and blue PEX for cold water everywhere else. The reason for the copper rather than PEX everywhere are the possible chemical leaching into water from PEX that some claim can happen (like the state of CA which has banned PEX altogether). We usually only get drinking water for tea coffee, cooking, etc out of the cold tap in the kitchen anyway, so why not play it safe. So here are a few pics of the piping.

We also ran the feeder line to the location of the subpanel which will be in the laundry room. The black cable hangs a left where the coil sits in this photo and I secured it using plastic holders screwed into the joists. The sub panel will be feeding the bedrooms and laundry and bathrooms, while the main panel in the utility room feeds it and the rest of the house and garage. 

After these floor runs are finished we will probably pause the rough plumbing and electrical work as the rest would need to be inside interior walls which can't go in till we put those up. Have to have a floor first and that will be more fun once we put up the large garage doors We'll be able to use heat then). we just have to figure out how to build those first.

A Surprise Cherry Tree!

A week ago, Hal surprised me by having taken his tractor and its brush mower to the weed trees and brush, (tag alders, Russian olives, golden rod, etc) along the slight dip at the edge of our future back yard. This exposed the ridge behind it where Luna is buried. as well as the small trees we have planted there. It gives us a better view from the living room and kitchen. It also exposes the low spot we hope to turn into a small pond someday. 

He also exposed a nice cherry tree  which he mowed around. So besides the 2 apple trees I planted this spring, we will have a nice little cherry tree in the backyard.

Luna is buried near that white tree protector on the right of the photo. The daffodils I planted over her should be visible next spring.

A Garage Floor!

Prep work started last week, adding sand, tamping it down, placing a 2 x 4 barrier,  then spreading vapor barrier on top of the sand. Friday the first 3rd of the garage floor, a 12' x 36' section furthest in was poured.

This photo is from when it was just poured and smoothed out, it was cold outside (40s) so they added a 1/2% solution of chloride to speed up the process and they couldn't leave till 7:30 pm. They had started at 9.

While they waited for concrete to cure, they prepped the remaining section of the garage and poured the next day, yesterday. This time they added 1% chloride to the mix and they were done by 6 pm though the late afternoon rain and wind made them unable to do a final skim so there will be tiny fiberglass hairs sticking up which will eventually wear away. The fiberglass is the thing they do now instead of rebar and metal wire mesh in the bottom to help prevent cracking. Hopefully, this will last the rest of our lives, may they be long enough to enjoy this house!

Speaking of Vapor Barrier...

Speaking of vapor barrier, Hal had put down 2 pieces a couple months ago, and 2 days ago I helped him put down 2 more. Today we laid out the 3rd piece and  a small piece in an odd corner. So the vapor barrier in the crawlspace is down! We still need to secure it along the exterior walls and to the inside posts but we need more tape which is currently "in the mail".

Prior to this exercise of crawling through small spaces, Hal got to work on other important house things like running electric feeder cable to the house from the panel at the utility pole next to our barn. He rented a trencher and made a ~250 foot long trench about 30 inches deep into the garage and up to the new electric panel in what will eventually be the utility room.

200 Amps

After laying in ~$900 worth of 4/0 aluminum cable and then getting the inspector to come out to check it over and then tell us we also need to run a ground wire between the boxes (on this point the national electrical code is fuzzy, Hal had already done ground wire with ground rods at each end per his interpretation of code but the inspector wanted his version), so another $200 later we were able to fill in the trench and start preparing the garage for concrete. 

The other thing before concrete are floor drains. He installed one for each garage door, essentially one for under his vehicle and one for under mine. One will drain out the front and one to the back. This is mainly for snow melt off of our rides. Now we wait for the concrete guy to fit us in sometime this month.

Settling In, Sort Of

So we've been in the farmhouse a month. I've unpacked a few boxes, don't want to unpack much as there isn't a lot of room to put things. Can't find a lot of things, like my DVDs, I didn't pack them, didn't pay attention to the SIL packing them but I can't find a box labeled DVD so it looks like I won't see them till we move into the new place. Can't find my flashlight which is also very annoying. Fortunately for Kaylee, all her toys are accounted for! Hal got rid of my broken recliner, I'm using one of our old wingback chairs we managed to stuff into the family room along with my glider rocker and my dad's old recliner. Everything else makes my back hurt.

In the only room they're allowed

Because the fenced in area isn't attached to the house I have been taking the dogs on a short wal very early evert day, usually before 8 am, then we come back and they get dinner and eventually another walk before they get to go in the pheasant pen. Some days they have no problems being in there for hours, other days the whining and howling starts up pretty quickly. Today they will be coming with me to the build because 2 of Hal's brothers will be in the pen knocking down the tall poles that used  to hold up the netting. They have to behave and not crawl  under the floor joists with us while we lay down vapor barrier.

It's Done, We're Moved, The House Sold

So we did close on August 28th and took 5 days to finish moving out and cleaning the house. We were out on the September 2nd and the new owners arrived the next day. Heard from the wife a couple of times about internet and how to turn the heater on, they used the thermostat for the wood stove rather than the propane furnace, I forgot to mention they were separate systems. 

We are in the farmhouse that was Hal's parents' and is now owned by Hal's older brother, MSS. Plenty still left to unpack but things are a little tight because the small kitchen attached to the family room as well as a part of the family room has stacks of things purchased for the vacation home MSS and wife are building right next door. Hal's sister, C, is also staying here for a bit (leaving today) and has been extremely helpful with the cleaning of the old house and and unpacking and finding places for things. I'll have to take some photos later of the chaos.

The dogs are a little confused. We've been here a week but I'm pretty sure Ziggy thinks we can go home anytime. Kaylee seems to be handling it a bit better, but she only lived there  2 years, Ziggy, more than 9. But they got to see my neighbor and Seamus 2 days in a row when they came for a visit, so that helped. Plus as there is no fence around the house, they have to stay in the old pheasant pen which is very large and grassy but as they can't run in and out of the house anymore, they spend a lot of time barking, howling and whining. I hope they get used to it, but we're too close to a busy road to leave them loose, and Hal's cousin, who has lived in the mobile home across the driveway for more than 20 years, seems to be afraid of dogs and threatened to pepper spray them, so, better safe than sorry. Just makes things more stressful.

Hal is finally getting back to work on the new house today, he rented a trencher for laying the electric cable between the utility pole and the house, so that is a good thing. He hopes to have it done soon so the garage floor can be poured and the large doors attached so we can heat it in winter and work all winter long. We shall see.

Time for a walk.

3rd Time's the Charm?

Got a new date for the closing as we have missed the 3rd and 14th of August. August 28th is the new target date. The appraiser came by today to approve and photograph the new railings he required before their lender would fund the loan. We went above and beyond what he asked for because he was so vague we didn't know exactly what he meant. But it's done, there are new handrails to the loft and the front steps and he is happy. 

I called the mover right after talking to my realtor and he scheduled us for either Sept 2nd or 3rd. I'll find out when we get closer to the date.

Still Waiting

Well. we're still waiting on the actual closing of the sale of our home. First date was August 3, new date is August 14, this coming Friday. Their home appraiser took his sweet time showing up, didn't come till last week of July, and his report wasn't made till sometime after the 3rd. I still have no idea if the buyer's lender even has it yet. Our unfortunate luck was the buyer wants a VA loan and those are notorious for falling through for a myriad of reasons. The inspector wanted all kinds of things fixed. We did the safety ones; deck railings to code, new GFCI outlets where required and new lights in the bedroom closets. Also screws added to deck boards where the original owner didn't have them. But we were done in mid July and still we wait.

During this waiting/fixing up we have not been able to work on the new house. Instead after the fixes we started packing and moving things we figured we wouldn't need for the duration of the new house build. Hal become a bit panicky in my mind and essentially had us pack up everything, assuming the sale WILL GO THROUGH though our realtor (whom we almost never hear from unless I call him) keeps saying not to assume this will happen because VA loans are so fickle. Yet now I sit in a house without a guest bed, dining room chairs, the cabinets that hold the stereo equipment, and many other things. Even pantry food is being moved.

We will be staying in the farmhouse Hal's older brother bought from their parents. The location is ideal, only a mile up the road from the build site. The house itself isn't the greatest but it's good enough and the price was right though we will have to share the family room during hunting season and any family gatherings. Most of our stuff is being stored in various buildings at the farm. The only things I am worried about are mice getting into the stuffed furniture. 

As much as I will miss living here, 20 years is a long time to stay in one place, I do want to see how our new house finishes up. It all depends.

We Got an Offer on our Home!

We got an offer on our house nearly 2 weeks ago and after a little back and forthing, we accepted. Yes, it's less than we paid for this place 20 years ago and we've done some improvements, but it was on the market 3 years. Even though "they" say the market is turning around, we decided to take the money and run. Besides, I met the husband and wife and I like them, they love the place, they seem very nice and should make good neighbors to the good neighbors we are leaving. Heck, she even said I could come back and harvest my potatoes!

So while we wait for all the inspections (one has happened and we need to rebuild the deck railings), Hal and I are moving "non-essential" items into storage at the farm, the pole barn where we are building, and a few things into the farmhouse where will be staying, courtesy of Hal's older brother who bought the place from his parents. It will be convenient because it's only a mile down the road from the build site. Twenty years ago we spent 4 months in the single wide next door. With all the things left to do in the new house we'll probably be there at least a year.

In building news, Hal got the electrical permit from the county, a mere $340. They charge per outlet and recessed light, etc. He had started on a plumbing plan but it's taking a back seat to moving. The whole build is taking a back seat for the moment. We have 20 years worth of stuff and they want to be in before Labor Day.

To facilitate this, I am meeting next week with the gal who ran the estate sale for his parent's ranch. If she thinks it's feasible within the time frame we'll have a moving sale here in August. We've decided to try and sell a lot of the furniture, it will be fewer things we will have to sell. Clothing and other various things will go in the sale as well, We just need to get rid of stuff. (So I can buy new stuff!)

And we're having a massive heatwave and drought. Going to be a hell of a busy, stressful summer.

Plugging Along

Hal and I have been working on the electrical plan for the last 3 days or so. How many recessed lights, how many ceiling fans, how many receptacles. Where do the switches go, are any dimmable, 3-way, etc. it requires a lot of thought, back and forth discussions, it's rather complicated. Once we figure out where everything should go he has to add up how many of everything, how many circuits will be required, the amperage, etc, and then he can take the info to the building office and pull an electrical permit.

This is not the final plan, but as you can see, there are lots of little symbols all over it. Installing all this will be a lot of work, we are doing it ourselves, we've done this sort of thing before, just takes planning and time.

We still have to install the crawlspace vapor barrier, only one sheet is in, and put down all the OSB subfloor, plenty to do, just have to keep on truckin'.

Look at all the Floor Joists!

Hal went wild yesterday and finished installing the floor joists, all 125 are now in and it looks so cool!

He wants to install blocking to strengthen and stabilize them which isn't in the plans but should help with minimizing squeaky floors. Looking forward to more progress!

Wildlife 1, Kaylee 0

So take a good look at the photo, at the nose end. She never even squealed when it happened, but suddenly she was barreling past me on our afternoon walk, around 1 pm, and when she finally stopped, there they were, about 20 quills in her nose. The vet tech said she must have just nosed the porcupine because they only needed half the dose of anesthetic to get them out. (Still had to pay for the full dose, of course.) So Kaylee was up and running about by the time I picked her back up at 3:30 and took her home. Hope she doesn't try to play with it again.

More Floor Joists

Hal got another section of floor joists in yesterday, this is the other half of the living room. He put up a couple more temporary pieces of subfloor so we can gaze outside when we feel like it. More and more it's feeling like a house. He also ordered the plastic sheeting to lay on the sand to insulate the crawlspace from dampness.

3 sections along the back wall

A few days earlier he also completed the floor joists in the front bedrooms so now 5 sections are complete.

left side is the sewing room, right side is the guest room

Today he plans to do the ones in front of the kitchen window, then the whole back wall will be complete! This photo has Hal adding more sand to level out the space beneath the future kitchen joists.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Couldn't go out to our favorite restaurant, Rosa's Lookout Inn, so I heated up the manicotti I bought and froze 3 weeks ago along with som asparagus I picked myself, mushrooms and their ciabatta bread with garlic butter. There was also a cucumber and tomato salad and a nice Bogle Vineyards Petite Sirah. Hope Rosa's can open soon.

There was also be strawberry cake with strawberries and whipped cream.

A Rambling Update

I've been neglecting my blog again so I will attempt to catch up on a few things.

kennebec red pontiac and short row of yukon gold

My potatoes I planted have finally started sprouting a couple days ago, I counted about 35 out of the 60+ I planted. There are 3 varieties, red pontiac, yukon gold, and kennebec. I also bought flowers from my favorite nursery, Harger's in Glennie along with some tomato plants.

almost filled the back of my car

I gave a few tomato plants to Hal's cousin along with some pea seeds and peppers and potatoes. I suspect more will be up today. Most of my snow peas are up, a whole row I planted in Spruce shows no signs though the first row is doing well, none of them are more than a couple inches high. I blame the random cold snaps, 3 nights in the mid 20s in the 3rd week of May, killed any chance of my yellow delicious apple tree flowering at all. And 2 chances for frost this weekend with lows in the 30s so I'm not planting my tomatoes in Spruce either till afterward. I will  cover the ones I have in pots here at home.

I planted a couple apple trees I bought from the Alcona conservation district behind the new house. Hal dropped a couple loads of top soil in 2 mounds to raise the roots up a bit because it's pretty wet there in the spring, they are already leafing out. I also planted 5 Saskatoon serviceberry over on the hill either side of Luna's grave. Got 5 forsythia which I planted in pots till I figure out where they are going. Need soil around the house before I can plant them as landscape shrubs. Was thinking about the north side of the house but maybe I'll put them near the apple trees, who knows? I certainly don't!

We also got the house cleaned up and listed with a new agent, the Scofield Realty in Hale that had the original listing when we bought 20 years ago. With the insanity of the pandemic going on I don't know if it will hurt sales (more than likely) or possibly help by someone wanting a place to get away from the cities. Guess we'll find out eventually. It only listed on Memorial Day weekend so it's too soon to tell.

While I deal with veggies and flowers and keeping the house clean Hal has been spreading and leveling sand into the crawlspace and starting the internal build by adding the floor joists one 12 ft square section at a time. He temporarily put up a couple pieces of OSB subfloor so we could sit in the living room and finally see what the view looks like through one of the windows.

Two 12 ft square joist sections out of 14

You see more sky than land because we were sitting on plastic Adirondack chairs and those are rather low. Real living room furniture heights will make a difference. Not too bad though.

We've had a miserable heat wave with high humidity the last few days so it's been hard working outside (and inside for Hal), and now there could be a possibility of frost this weekend so I'm holding off planting the remaining plants. It's been a bizarre spring, an even more bizarre year (I do not want to go into the idiocy going on within Michigan right now)  but I am hoping something good will occur sometime this year. 

No Big Changes

Still under lockdown. The governor is going against the legislature and things are about to get nasty in Lansing.

Hal, the dogs and I are fine. I went grocery shopping today in Lincoln for the first time in  4 weeks, hope to avoid shopping for another 4. Picked up some essentials like potatoes, beer, wine, chips, dip. The diet as they say is history.

Finally warming up this weekend into the mid 60s then back below normal into the low 50s next week. I've planted potatoes, and snow peas so far both in BC and Spruce.

Everything is pretty depressing around here,  been getting takeout every weekend from our favorite Italian restaurant, Rosa's but when I was there last Saturday I was the only one picking up and owner was the only one there. I'm not sure if she'll make it if they don't reopen the state soon. A lot of businesses up here (where the virus isn't that prevalent) are going to fail if they haven't already.

Hal lost a second cousin to this last week, she was downstate in the Dearborn area, only 27, we don't have a lot of interaction with that part of the family so we don't know whether she had any other health concerns, pretty lousy though.

So, here's to the end of a lousy April. Here are more dog photos.

hunting frogs

Ziggy hiding with the top soil

Ziggy and Kaylee

Just a few shots of my friendly pups being themselves. Kaylee is especially friendly to neighbor John.

Kaylee's usual spot when visiting neighbor John

The pond is probably closer to completely open today.

April 1st

 Look mom, I found mud!

Yesterday Kaylee discovered the pond is thawing

 Snowball chasing isn't as fun any more.

After throwing a few last snowballs (upper right corner)

 Let's go, we're ready!

Ready to go visiting

Best water in town!

Ziggy's favorite beverage when visiting friend Tom

Well, 2020 Sure Does Suck

Excuse my language, but damn, I sure wasn't expecting the world to be falling apart from a damn virus! So this is Day 8 of the Stay At Home policy started by our governor last week. Fortunately, Hal, the dogs and I seem fine so far, as are my neighbors, family and thus far the county we live in. No reported cases yet for Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, Oscoda (as of 3pm today, Oscoda now has 2 confirmed cases) and Presque Isle, of course that could change any time. I haven't been to the grocery store in 13 days and hope to stay away for a bit longer, have plenty of frozen veggies and canned fruit and of course, the freezers are still full of venison. I did just have to call in some prescription refills though so I will have to hit the pharmacy before the week is out. I do carry hand sanitizer with me.

The dogs need their heartworm tests but except for emergency, the veterinary practices have been shut down as non-essential to help maintain social distancing. I have plenty of pills so unless they tell me otherwise, I will be starting them on their heartworm meds tomorrow, April 1, same as every year. I gave them their first flea and tick pill of the year today.

So it's kind of depressing. Since the stock market tanked, so have our investments which is what we've been living on. Hopefully we'll be spending less.

Hal has a new hobby, cabinet making which he started this year. He hopes to get good enough that he could build some of the cabinets for our new house. I have the final decision on that though, Because I know what I want and that would be really nice cabinets. But he is having fun and has confidence he will get better.

I haven't done much hobby wise, I keep trying to get back into quilting or crocheting but my heart isn't in it Eating seems to be my thing, the keto diet has gone out the window for now. That fell apart when I was downstate visiting Hal's sister and buying a new car. Two days later his mom died, she was 85 and we were expecting it but that and this virus thing has dampened my spirit a bit. I had lost 9 pounds but that came back. At least I am still down 10 of the 40 I lost last year. I call it a win.

Maple season came and went fast, barely got 4 gallons of syrup, Hal only ran 2 lines and the screwed up weather shortened the season. (there is no snow left and at the end of March that is unusual.) We just have to can what we have now. Hopefully we'll do that sooner rather than later. We waited till August last year to get around to it.

Well, that's enough for now, I have been very negligent this year posting on my blog I shall try to do better, what else is there to do?

my 2017 Chevy Equinox and Ziggy and Kaylee