July Progress

Hot summer days are here, and we are finding out the true meaning of "sweat equity." The hot, dry weather has been good for drying out the crawl space as we prepare to put the vapor barrier down next week.

The last few days we've been getting some of the plumbing done. The drain to the septic tank is now in, and the drain pipe for the kitchen sink is poking up through the floor.

Glueing the PVC together

Making it fit

Figuring where to drill

Drain for the kitchen sink

Repair work and reframing has continued on the exterior wall. The rough door frame and sidelight are visible, and the blue tarp makes a rather atmospheric glow.

A good solid wall with door frame and sidelight openings

We took a field trip to the local metal scrap yard to get some steel tread plate that will be used for the door sills. The place was amazing and our imaginations were going wild with all the possibilities of the metal scrap.

Love the color of the rusty steel. Can you make a backsplash from it?

Cutting the tread plate with a plasma torch

We've also been doing gardening and yard work, which means contending with poison ivy and its impostors. Can you find the real poison ivy in the pictures below?

A

B

C

D

Only one of these is really poison ivy. A and C are five leaf ivy, which gets sneaky and sometimes has a few three-leaf clusters. B is box elder, and I can't say how many times I've had to pause when I come across this. It's a tree, but the young saplings look a lot like p.i. D is the real thing. 

Even though there are open floors and open walls and no plumbing, it finally feels like things are happening faster and that momentum is building. In the next few weeks, the vapor barrier will go down, floors will be put in, walls and windows will go up, and our house will take shape. Things are looking up!