Week 25: Vacation!

Stephen got his vacation this week! We put in the last piece of drywall on the bathroom wall, built the stairs, finished the siding and exterior trim with a boom lift, and put in the well. We also built little concrete slabs for the well and the front door. Stephen put in a front door, as well. It is a nine-light all wood door, with some old, real wrought iron Arts and Crafts Colonial Revival hardware, with the help of his stepdad. At the same time, Stephen's mom and I did a layer of mud on the drywall tape and screws.

Week 24: Tile Disaster

This week, I tried to lay tiles over the places I had scraped up last week. I did not, however, scrape up the mortar QUITE all the way to the edges, and had several places where only one or two tiny tiles popped, so Stephen recommended that I just leave the mortar in those places. Unfortunately, that doesn't work. We both assumed that the new mortar would settle in between the old, dried mortar. Instead, the tiles stuck up over the other tiles because mortar doesn't settle. So, needless to say, it was a HUGE MESS. I had to scrape up the new, wet mortar, clean the wet mortar off of the tiles, and then scrape out ALL of the old mortar. I hadn't wanted to to get very close to the tiles that set properly, because all of the banging would cause the tiles nearby to pop, which happened. Oh yes, it happened.

By the end of the weekend, I got it all scraped, relaid the tiles, finished the grout, and cleaned everything well. It looks awesome! I also brought in the window and cleaned it well, and polished up the wood on the stained wood side. It still has a little bit of glazing that I haven't been able to get off - Stephen will help with it later. Stephen had to work all seven days last week (and he will again this week,) so no progress to report on the well quite yet.

Week 23: Bathroom Tile

I marked quadrants for tiling the bathroom, then put up/down drywall mesh tape on the drywall and tileboard. I mixed a little mortar and put it over the floor tape. I put green painters tape on the quadrant lines and cleaned the floor really well - I even brought over the vacuum. Mixed mortar with latex additive and stripped tags off the backs of the tiles while I waited for it to cure. Put mortar down Tuesday through Friday, with a huge "too-dry-mortar" disaster that ended in throwing away over a gallon of mortar on Wednesday. But that wasn't the end of it. When I grouted half of the floor on Saturday, I had to stop because most of the few tiles I put down on "too-dry mortar" day started popping off of the mortar. Had to scrape up the dry mortar on about five square feet of the floor on Sunday.

Week 22: Bathroom

Monday and Tuesday: This week, my parents were in town, and they helped me get tileboard in the bathroom. Stephen told us we didn't have to drill pilot holes, but my Dad and I both broke a screw tip each and decided to go ahead and drill pilots first.

Week 21: Bathroom

This weekend, Stephen had to reframe the window for the bathroom, because the old church window we bought turned out not to be the size reported by the guy we bought it from on Craigslist. It's actually about 5' x 5'. It takes up almost the whole wall. We put in drywall in the bathroom. Stephen finished out the electrical in the bathroom and hired to have the major electrical cable hooked up to the pole.

Week 20: Bathroom

This is a picture of the Great Room taken from the future kitchen.

We have decided to buy a vintage "canned ham" travel trailer and gut it to make a sleeper/lounge. This will allow us to partially move out of our house (or, more accurately, "the house we live in now") to be closer to the work. It will also stop us from freaking out if the house we live in now should sell before we are done with the shop apartment (which is likely.) With this goal in mind, we have shifted gears to finishing the bathroom first, as the travel trailer will have neither bathroom nor kitchen.

Week 19: Electrical

Stephen dug a trench with a "trencher" (practical if uninspired name.) It's like an enormous chainsaw. Then we put thick electrical cable in PVC pipe, fastened the sections of pipe together, and dropped it in the trench. Stephen attached an electrical box at the pole, and another in the shop, and attached the cable to it at both ends - we will have buried lines. Then we started putting in outlet boxes upstairs. We have not gotten them all in, but we got most of them. They don't have any actual outlets, switches or lights in them - they are being put in primarily to allow the installation of the insulation. The insulation covers up the wiring, so the electrical has to be done first.