Two lazy days of updates.

I actually had yesterday off, another comp day, since I had 39 hours in by the end of Thursday. 

I was lazy about working though.  I did a little bit more on the electrical.  The laundry/utility room switch is in.


I even installed the clamp like you are supposed to.  Too bad the box doesn't fit with the clip in it.


I got the other switches in too.


Unfortunately since I "trimmed" the box to make it fit in a 2x3, one of the screws isn't holding.  This is unfortunate and I will have to come up with a way to fix it.


At that point I was feeling a little bit out of it, and went for a drive.  I scouted out another route in to work.  It is a bit longer, but has no major hills and since 9 is destroyed at the moment it avoids that.  It was a good day for a drive.

Today I went and picked up a trailer.  It is a 5x10 trailer so it is long enough for the tractor and snowblower.  I got a really good deal on it, I only paid 200 for it, when most of the time you can't fine 4x8 trailers at that price.

I was actually surprised that I managed to get it most of the way backed in.  Yes, the jackknife is intentional.  Not bad considering I hadn't backed a trailer in years.


It has one of those wheels.  It doesn't fit the trailer real well, but works well enough.


The areas that are normally rusted on the trailers have all been painted and well cared for.  The trailer also had its bearings repacked last fall. 


The decking is a little soft, but I was able to walk on it.  It will need replacing, but should be good for the rest of the year.


They weren't kidding when they said the wiring was sketchy.  It didn't reach the plug on my truck for starters, and one of the wires was broken so they literally just wrapped the post with the wire and called it good enough.


The lights are broken too.


I need to clean out some of the crap so I have a better place to put it. 


I considered pulling up and backing it in, but it wouldn't have worked since I can't turn the truck on the path, it is too narrow.


In its temporary home.


I then took a trip home and grabbed some breakfast and the like.  There might have been a slightly unintentional nap in there as well (oops) and then headed back up.  I started with making the switch fit.


I installed the last GFCI outlet for the kitchen as well.


I put in a few corner braces as well.  They were all toe-nailed in, but 2x3 doesn't toenail well, it normally splits.


Got the last electric box installed.


And the missing stud as well.  I have a 2x3 for some cross beams between the two center studs that I intend to build into shelving in the wall. 


At that point the drill had died so I went home.  I stopped on the way and picked up a few boxes from work though.  I had intended to bring them home Thursday but forgot.  Hopefully this will cover most of the boxes I need to move.  They are all (except for the top one) double walled so they are thick and heavy duty. 


I am actually running low on things to do.  I have a few more touches on the electrical side to finish up, and I can finish installing the light fixtures, but pretty soon I will need to start working on the bathroom flooring  I need to come up with another set of checklists too, what I need to move in, what I need before winter. 

Finally got up there this week.

I finally got out early enough to head up and get at least a little bit of work done.  It wasn't much, but I got the two switches for the bathroom wired in.


Sadly that is it.  Sunset is coming early enough now that if I don't get out before 6 it isn't really light enough to do much inside.  Hopefully when the power is on that will change though.

Not as much done as hoped, but still a decent day.

Today was a crisp brisk fall day.  I actually grabbed a flannel as I went out the door, and I actually wore it.  I started with getting the last pieces of ceiling in.


I made a small oops.  The wires need to go through the top plate.  The board next to the pipe is where the top plate will be.  Oops.


It isn't pretty but it works.


After that was installed, I installed the base plate for the other interior wall.  This was a real pain.


I seem to be a stud short, but everything is in place.  I can toenail it in later.



Interior wall in place.


I ran out of time, and didn't finish the electric.  Turns out I am an outlet short, though I would swear I had another two or three GFCI outlets (the box on the left is the kitchen outlet).


When working on the other wall, my chop saw had a minor failure.  It is just the laser line, which I rarely used anyways, but still annoying.


Tomorrow is supposed to be awful weather, and based on what I just saw about it hitting KY, I might not go up tomorrow.  That said, I am still making good progress. 

It has been a while since I updated my checklist, but a couple more items are checked off.  Pretty soon I might revamp the list, and make one for before occupancy, and one for before winter. 

1. Fix ruts in driveway.
2. Put lights on the plow.
3. Get the oil changed in the tractor.
4. Get the tire chains installed and a weight installed on the back.
5. Get the plastic installed
6. Get the truck oil undercoated.
7. Fix leaky underbelly.
8. Get skirting installed.
9. Find a way to run power that won't be damaged by snow/plow/snowblower.
10. Find a way to prevent the snow pushing on the shed.
11. Finish clearing off the slab.
12. Run the rough plumbing. (includes gas line for stove)
13. Install wall insulation.
14. *Install flooring.  *12
15. Install light fixtures.
16. Install ceiling and attic insulation. *19
17. *Install paneling  *13, 14
18. *Install interior wall *14
19. *Complete electrical and plumbing.  *17, 18
20. Install ceiling *19
21. *Install final flooring (carpet/whatever).  *18, 19
22. Install interior fixtures.  When I get here, I will likely create a new list for the interior work.

Finally a productive day.

Today was a beautiful fall day.  The high for the day didn't even hit the predicted 64.  Partly sunny.  Perfect for construction.

When I got up there, Mike (the septic guy) was already up there.  The entire old foundation is ripped out.


Apparently they braced the foundation with tires.  Unfortunately while he agreed to take the trash out, tires he can't just bring to the transfer station, so I will have to deal with them.  He did offer that I get roll off, he could load all the trash, including the big pile in the backyard.  It is a win-win for us both, he doesn't have to pay to get rid of the trash, and I don't have to deal with it.


While he was working on that, I finished the insulation.


After that, I started to assemble the interior wall.  All the studs are attached to the base plate.  I didn't attach the top plate, since that will have to be done inside.  I also installed the electric boxes while I still had access to them.  The dual gang box had to be "modified" since it was too deep for a 2x3 wall.  The chop saw did the job, though I did crack the box doing it.  This is roughly what the wall will look like.


After it was still early afternoon, so I dragged all the press board out, tossed it in the shed, and made a Home Depot run and got some underlay for the ceiling.  It worked out a lot better.


So much better in fact, that I got three pieces put up in the last couple hours of daylight left.  Considering the previous two took an entire day, it is definitely an improvement.






There is only one piece left, which I will do in the morning.  I am hoping that I can get the ceiling and interior wall in tomorrow.  That is a bit of a tall order, but if tomorrow is as productive as today was, it is definitely achievable.  I did notice today that the days are definitely getting shorter though.

Pictures for yesterday's update.

I didn't get out of work until near sunset tonight.  Unfortunate considering it was it was partly cloudy and 60s, which is near perfect building weather.  All I did was get the pictures from yesterday's update. 

The excavator is there.  It is a big one.


Which is needed for big rocks.


A zoomed out view of the front yard.


Surprisingly it hasn't really damaged the driveway.  It was already pretty rough, but this is the worst that happened.


You can see the pile of concrete, and a pile of trash he has dug up.


They are still blasting, the other side of the road now. 


They are removing some of the rock under the road.




I have decided it to switch ceiling material, so I will be picking that up probably tonight.  It is supposed to be really nice all weekend though.

I haven't done squat, but a lot of things are happening.

As you might have guessed from the title, I haven't done much the last couple of days other than work, but there is plenty to report on.  Unfortunately I didn't have my phone with me today, so I don't have pictures, I will have to remember to take some tomorrow.

For starters the septic work has begun.  Several of the walls of the old foundation are down.  There is a big excavator up there now.  I also have my re-approval, it came in quicker than I expected.

In addition the blasting on the road is ongoing.  They have pulled a bunch of rock out of the road, and are rebuilding it.  I still have my concerns about whether I can wait for the road to get my driveway apron done.  Right now I am guessing not.

I have decided that it is worth it to just buy more board for the ceiling and eat the cost.  It was rainy today, but tomorrow is supposed to be nice, so I will pick up the new boards tomorrow or this weekend.

I should just burn all the press board.

Unfortunately, I got a sluggish start today.  I didn't get up there yesterday after coming home from the LAN, and was late today as well. 

The first thing I did was clean up.  Part of that cleanup was to get the front panel on the electric box.


It doesn't close very well, but it looks like it is because it is a modular door that doesn't fit very well with the case.  Oh well.


I then spent literally the rest of the day working on the ceiling.  I did manage to get some of it installed, but it was a major pain.  There is a lot of this.  A single staple wouldn't hold.


I managed to get the second one installed as well.  I held it up with various things


I also made use of the studs I had cut for the interior wall as well.


The first two pieces are installed.


Despite that, I am seriously considering just tossing the brown board aside and getting more underlay board.  Even with a staple every foot, the press board struggles to hold itself up.  It is painful to install, and isn't more rigid.  I think it might be worth it to cut my losses and just buy more board.  I will be out ~150 dollars between the boards and the couple of gallons of paint, but it might be worth it. 

My wallet is a lot lighter, and the fan is done.

I met with the septic guy this morning, and the contract is signed.  My wallet is now a lot lighter too, $12,200 lighter.  The last 4k is due when he is done. 

Since it was still early, I also went and installed the bathroom vent fan.  It was clearly not designed with a tiny home in mind.  Or any home for that matter.  Their piece of aluminum that you use to create a duct is a terrible cheap POS.  I had to use tape to keep it together.


Because this is all that holds it together.


It also was far too long.  Fortunately my tin snips made short work of that.


The vent is now completely installed.  Frankly, I don't like it being so close to the plumbing vent (located in the white grate next to it), but there are multiple draft stops that should prevent the sewer gas from leaking back inside.  If it becomes an issue, I can run the sewer pipe out the wall and up (like it is actually supposed to be).  Also of note, this unblocks me installing the rest of the insulation and ceiling.  I will have to be careful where the wires come down, but I think I can install the insulation around it.






At that point I headed back to the LAN.  It was almost noon, and I figured people would be waking up at that point.  We shall see if I wake up early enough tomorrow to do the same.  I am pretty beat though, so I would hold my breath for it.

They are also doing some interesting stuff to the road.  I see them doing this, and I am not sure what it is.  It almost looks like they are digging holes and making pilings or something.


There is also a giant pile of stuff at the end of the road.


We shall see what comes of that. 

Annoyingly little done.

Even though I took today off, I didn't get a lot done.  I spent most of the morning waiting for the septic guy to call.  He finally got a hold of me at 3:30, but at that point obviously most of the day was gone.  I did get up there and got some work done though. 

The panel is now complete.  For real this time.  Including the random dangler and the generator circuit.


I even prepped the cover.  Unfortunately I noobed the listing of the circuits.


It really made a mess though.


I also made a cord to backfeed through the exterior outlet.


I also hayed off the back yard.  The tractor was not pleased.
Before:


After:


It wasn't as dry as I thought it was.


I am at the LAN now for the weekend, though I might head over in the mornings, since normally the LAN doesn't start for the day until after noon.  I do have to go and meet the septic guy tomorrow at 830AM, so I will need to get an early start (and it is already after 1230...)