Another Wall

Hal put this up yesterday, he decided it was too cold to glue ABS together for drain lines so he made a wall instead. This one goes between the kitchen and TV room. Incidentally these walls area about 9' 6" tall. So we may not have the cathedral ceiling of our last home but at least we won't feel like we're in a cave.

5 More OSB Sheets and a Surprise!

Today we installed the 5 sheets of OSB that Hal had trimmed yesterday. Three were added to the row we had started last week, and the other 2 to the next row. We didn't want to complete the previous row until Hal did some more rough plumbing, this time for the master bathroom sinks. Being as he is so tall and the crawlspace is so small it would be much easier to access while the floor in that area was still open. This also meant he needed to know the exact location of the sinks and therefore we needed to mark out the wall location which separates the bathroom from the master bedroom. Then Hal decided why not build that wall today?!! So off to the lumber yard we went and bought several 2x4x10s as well as 2 2x4x16s for the wall between the kitchen and the TV room where more plumbing is needed.

So here are the photos of the new wall! I found it very exciting to actually have a wall inside the main building, not just inside the garage. I cut all but one piece of lumber and Hal did most of the nailing.

Tomorrow he plans to work on the plumbing while I go buy some more screws.

Tuesday I also purchased three 52" ceiling fans which happened to be on sale at Home Depot. One for the living room (bronze), the TV room and the master bedroom both black). They also had a light for the dining room table half off so I got that, too. Just need to find a place to store all these things till we need them!

New Flower Bed

While looking over my posts, I may have neglected to mention that I put in a perennial flower bed last summer. Hal used the tractor to dump a few bucket loads of topsoil onto a patch of ground behind the new house and I went to Home Depot and spent about $132 buying plants so that when we move in we will have something colorful to look at when we move in someday. I forgot to publish this last year so here it is. Other than the ninebark and artemisia silver mound, and a hydrangea I can't really remember the names of what's in there. Never took a photo of it all in full bloom and covered in weeds. Just hope it survives the winter.

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An Entire Row of OSB

We installed an entire row of OSB today plus another sheet and one half in the next row. After that we were cold and there wasn't anymore ready to install anyway. Thirty six degrees inside the house today.

Below, looking at the new rows from the door into the kitchen.

A Little More Sub Floor

We've had a little cold snap the last couple of weeks, not as bad as some in the past but highs in the low 20s or teens) and single digits at night, plus more snow and mostly cloudy days, does not make for comfortable temps in an uninsulated metal building. However, we did manage to finish the subfloor along the back of the house. This covers the master bedroom in the far corner and most of the living room in the center and most of the kitchen in the foreground. 

The next thing that happened was Hal attached the metal tension bridging across the tops of the floor joists in the next 12' x 48' section.

Then the cold snap hit and it wasn't till this past week it was warm enough for him to crawl along underneath the joists to nail the bottom side while I made sure the boards stayed at 16" on center. It is amazing how sturdier this makes the floor.

Below is a photo of the entire row of bridging. The cost was $0.35 each from Home Depot.

Tension Bridging

Yesterday Hal trimmed the next row of OSB while I vacuumed the crawlspace with the shop vac. Got rid of lots of dead flies and sawdust. Will make it much nicer for future crawlspace work with plumbing and heating. Today we install more subfloor because it's sunny and already 33.3 degrees F outside!!

Christmas 2020

Despite the pandemic and certain idiot politicians, Hal and I and the pups celebrated the holidays with my sister K and her boyfriend/fiancé M and their dog Lyra, We had a great time. K and I baked a lot of cookies while the men had a good old time hunting deer. (I usually only hunt during the November season).

Neither I nor my sis became sick, one of us if not both usually get some type of flu. I cannot attribute to robust immune systems so much as to the fact people who were actually sick with whatever stayed home! 

But back to Christmas. We had 2 guests for Christmas dinner, my friends from Barton City, John and Tom, we had ham and lots of sides and of course, pies for dessert. No one went hungry and everyone seemed pleased. 

Looking forward to the next Christmas, hopefully at our new home.

House Build Update

 Well, better late than never.

We haven't been totally negligent in the house build since my last post, though we did take off 3 weeks for the holidays while my younger sister visited. 

First thing we did after the concrete garage floor went in was to install the garage doors so that we are really closed in. No more wind or weather blowing in. We haven't installed the ceiling tracks as there isn't a ceiling to attach them to so they don't operate yet, but it's a start.

First door installed in November 2020.

The garage door for Hal's truck

Then Hal added temporary lighting in the garage so we can work then started putting up the walls in the garage for the utility room and his workshop. 

Above is the workshop.

These walls also have wiring in them for outlets and ceiling lights.

The stairs into the kitchen. All the above photos were taken before Christmas. In January, Hal cut up some 3/8 sheets of plywood into pieces to fit between the purlins (rafters) at the 3 gable walls to block wind and, of course, weather, like blowing snow. It was a suggestion made by our building inspector. We figured, besides being a good idea, anything that pleases our inspector could help us along.

Yesterday we got back to installing OSB subfloor in the house. Today we added two more sheets. We will finish the row tomorrow and then have to add more bracing between the joists in the next section before we can start the next 3 rows. This photo was taken yesterday.

Next week it's doubtful much will be done, the temps are dropping dramatically and it will be too cold to get very much done at all.