12 hour days

It is quite amazing what can happen when you work from 8:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night. Here is a synopsis in photographs (you can go to the Photos page for captions on all the photos).

The next steps are:

 finish the wiring, put siding up, put paneling on the interior loft walls... and more!

Till later,

Celina

Under Pressure

Test tiles in painted steel (just to make sure they work)!

Hand bending every tile (each tile took 8 bends), a total of 200 tiles.

Working in a sheet metal shop for four days was a wonderful experience!

Building my eaves!

My sissy joined us for a day of prep, getting ready to put Ice and Water barrier on!

My roof is blue with Ice and Water barrier! Now I can sleep at night when it rains. : )

My daddy and I ready to put the (custom made by us) flashing up!

I learned something about myself. I work really well under pressure. When there is a deadline, I get things done and I do them well.

So... I made myself deadlines for everything I have to do to get this project done. I will share the timeline later. But by the end of this month (March) I will:

Finish the roof (totally)

Have an extensive Plumbing and Electrical plan (and maybe even get it wired)

Start building (or get) both of my doors (front door, and bathroom door)

Acquire/make my all of my windows

Many many thanks to Nick at Pacific Sheet Metal and Roofing, for walking me through building a custom roof, and letting my dad and I have run of his shop for four days!

Back to work!

Celina

A quick update:

My butcher block base and top are complete, the plan is to finish them with a mixture of (perhaps local) bees wax, linseed oil and turpentine.

My bathroom floor is complete! It is made of thin strips of Wenge laminated on to fir, and cut in to various sized strips. As far as I know, it will be finished with a product like WaterLox, which is a hard resin finish. Perfect for a bathroom floor.

I purchased a Fischer stove for $75. The original plan was to heat my little space with a tiny pot belly stove. But after much research and learning and talking, it turns out that is not the best option. I have two goals when it comes to heating my space. One is to use wood, because it is basically free to me. The other is to wake up in the morning, warm. If I were to use the little stove, and stock it up as much as possible. It would roast the small space, and only burn for a couple of hours. 

I got together with two brilliant guys, one is a horse logger, the other a cabinet maker. They came up with a great idea - build a small room outdoors that is very well insulated. Place the stove (the Fischer) inside and pack fire brick and water tanks around it. Connect the room to the house with an insulated pipe. Now stock up the fire and with a lever, control how much heat enters the house. And because of the size of the stove, it will still be toasty in the morning.

Also, I have begun to build my roof! Custom galvanized steel shingles. Pictures and  stories about that coming soon!

Back to the shop,

Celina

Fingers Crossed

We spent a ridiculous couple of weeks dealing with mold in the 40 degree weather with high humidity. To give you an image of what this looked like, we squeezed in next to the barn with two large ladders, me on one and my dad on the other. Then armed with spray bottles of vinegar and rolls of paper towels, we soaked the walls and wiped them down. Then we soaked them again. Next we dried the entire exterior of the house with a heat gun... then painted it with an exterior primer with a moldacide additive. And again, dried the entire thing with a heat gun. 

There was a moment when we (my dad and I) were up on ladders. I had the heat gun, he had the paint, there was music blasting in the background, we were reaching around each other trying to keep the area where the paint was to be applied warm, while drying the already painted spot. When we looked at each other and started to laugh.

We can't deny it any longer - we are insane!! And for now we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Off to the shop,

Celina