Dry at last!

Finally, finally, the waterlogged door trim got dry enough yesterday that I could put the spar varnish on it and protect it from the winter weather!  I hope we can get the deck and step done too, but they ARE YellaWood and treated, so they'd be ok...

You may remember this view...we tried fans, heaters, time...and finally the latter was enough.  It stayed wet from June to about a week ago, and this is November.  (I think this photo was from July...it still looked like that in October!) It would look dry in the afternoon, sometimes, but by morning it would have attracted moisture again...eeep!  Mark said it had gotten waterlogged in his chickenhouse...and we used it WHY??  Featured in our OOops Page, above.  Recycling is great, but ya gotta use good stuff.  I figure those boards cost about $3-$4 each, new...we probably used that much electricity trying to dry it.

Ah well.  Done now...

And here's our usual visitor, Pepi, inside looking out, watching me work...spoiled any, you think?

More little details...

Before we took our trip West, Joseph got the pegs up...they're going to be very helpful!

I have things hanging on some of them now...they'll hold coats, sweaters, art supplies, whatever...

I like the rustic effect of the funky two by fours...painted white, it's a great look.  Reminds me of our whitewashed chickenhouse back in our hippie farmer days...

The floor's a bit crude, too, but it'll do for now.  COLD these early mornings, though...and it's still September...

But BOY does it have great acoustics...

So. Every step seems to take a week, once codes are involved.

Actually, it was the code inspector that told me that, last week! :-D

The building permit has been rained on so much in the past month it's about ready to become paper pulp...

Sooooo ready. Ick, exposed wires and itchy insulation.

So. Here's our rough Chronology...never mind our schedule!

(Skipping all the dates that had to do with checking with the City codes and P &Z contact and thinking we were good to go. Not. Suffice it to say we started roughly about June 5, sketching, planning, talking to Mark, and laying out the ground, AND getting our ducks in a row. We thought.)


June 23--Dealt with the Surprising and Confusing Stop Work order and building permit; good to go. Again.

June 29--Electrician #1 arrives for consultation

July 1--Preliminary electrical preparation

July somewhere in here--DigRite comes again to re-mark the lines, since it's been so long the first one washed off (who knew it could take that long?)

July 13--Electrician #2 here for consultation

July 14 or 15--Electrical permit obtained by electrician (not us this time)

July 14--Joseph digs preparatory hole to make sure we miss the phone line when the trench is dug.

July 15--Mark rents trencher and digs the trench--misses phone line! GO MARK.

July 16--City inspector OKs trench; good to go. Again. But that was Friday, so we wait, over the weekend.

July 17--Wire and conduit in trench, rough covered

July 17, late--More rain, more mud.

July 18--Lay stepping stones so I can reach the shed. Sandals weigh about a pound each...

July 20--Electrician scheduled to come today or tomorrow to hook everything up

July 21-22, yes, these days aren't here yet, I know, but that's when he's supposed to come, now. Tomorrow evening or Wednesday.

July Soon, then, I hope, final inspection... ;-P


Mind you, all in here we get a number of conflicting opinions/takes on what has to be done, both official and non-official. How deep the trench has to be (3", 18", 24"), whether or not a conduit is necessary (yes, after all, even at 18"), where the disconnects go.

My head is spinning--no wonder I just want that final inspection done so I can kick back! (Not to mention being free to go out of town or whatever instead of waiting on something or other...Mark's been good about letting us know, but he can't control some stuff!)

And of course all in here there's been progress--insulation, walls, windows, doors, doorknobs, step, trim, etc.

My advice to anyone contemplating building anything, anywhere? GO DIRECTLY to your City offices, Planning and Zoning Department, do not pass go. Even if you thought you'd checked it six ways from Sunday. Just do it. Make it easy on yourself.

Easier.

And yes, we've had conflicting info from various people involved in the City or licensed by the City or experienced in this sort of thing; that's partly because they're having to update their codes to comply with State changes, but believe me, it's been really, really confusing.

Just want done. <:-}

Almost done with one phase...

Joseph worked on some of the fixtures today--Sunday--and we discussed what we wanted to do with the walls and baseboards, etc.

We're waiting to find out when the electrician can schedule us, then one more inspection...

And then we'll do some of the fun inside stuff--paint, trim, floor--and J. will build screens for the two windows that open, and finish the deck, and get more mulch for the muddy path, and find a doorknob for the storage compartment, and figure out shelves...

And breathe!

...of course I do that now, in the early mornings when the light comes in these big French doors...

One step closer...

Soooo...Electrician # 2 came yesterday with Mark, looked over the job, saw what we wanted, made recommendations, and got an electrical permit from the city yesterday.

YEAH.

Here's Joseph discussing our needs with him...

And here's my sweetie digging the pilot hole by hand this morning, looking for the buried phone cable while it was still almost bearable out there! (Typical Midwestern Summer weather--that is to say, a sauna...)

Mark will get a trencher for the rest of the line, but we hoped to fine-tune it so the phone cord didn't get cut. (That's also our Internet connection, of course!)

Success!

We'll snake the electric wire under it...

Meanwhile, J. ran an extension cord out to the shed so we can run the fan on the waterlogged board--and when it's NOT aimed at the board, it's aimed at me, so I can breathe...

Breathing good...

It didn't rain!

Wow, rafters. It's really taking shape!

This is the view from the South, looking toward the back yard.

We found the neat old window at the flea market in town today...it'll be next to the door.
It needs work, as does the door, but hey, J's handy!

It was wet this morning, but Mark came before noon and got a LOT more done. He'd stopped by yesterday and done some on rafter placement and angles, and then today--worked like gangbusters!

As always, you make design changes and decisions as you go along...the outdoor storage extends further and the deck is shallower than I'd originally imagined, so there won't be a bench there, but that's OK. More privacy, actually...

Yesterday's work!

Level, all the way around...

Floor joists!

...and deck joists, going the other way for stability. Mark doubled the front sill for strength, as well, and added another foundation support.

And finally, a floor!

Yep, just tongue and groove plywood, right now, and no idea what we'll do over it, but it feels real, now. You can see the deck boards going east to west, here.

After Mark finished for the day and Joseph went off to a Legion meeting, I went out and sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor...imagining a building around me, imagining working there, imagining meditating, reading, making art, listening to music or making it...

I do have the occasional brief moment of near-panic--"what am I DOING?! Is this going to WORK??"--and it feels odd not to be able to do more of the actual work myself. Watching rather than doing is not really my norm--blasted arthritis!

Of course that's part of why we're building this...it IS harder to get around, and hard to get to the cabin in winter or when it's too wet, and of course, difficult to get to the outhouse at times. This is close, easy to get at the facilities, and not so likely to need something that isn't available.

And hey, arthritis or not, I can still sit cross-legged on the floor.

Waiting...but not.

More lumber...

The back end is level!

Still waiting for the utilities to mark where things are, but since there hasn't been a house on that lot for something like 20 years and the bulldozer wasn't exactly cautious, not really worrying about it much. Digging CAREFULLY, in the middle.

Yesterday we made no progress at all on the shed, just playing the waiting game...not my long suit! (Of course on the home front I worked on the book and Joseph moved the big chest of drawers into the bedroom so there will be room for TWO people's clothes...we were using a couple of baskets on top of a pie safe to hold his socks and t-shirts and such, along with my leggings and t-shirts in another one. I got the last of the winter clothes out and we got them stored, and found most of the summer stuff...so progress of a sort!)