T.A.R.P.

Torn-up Asset Rain Protection, that is. It isn't quite Christo, but it's kind of stylish, no?


In addition to siding removal, a new (used) set of French doors has been installed on the back side of the house, where the dining room will be.

Custom-made door frame, again.

Finally, we welcomed some new neighbors next door. Our good friend Becky has moved in, children and animals in tow. 

New kids on the block--Dorrie and Lily!

One of these days, we'll be putting our chicken coop down by the goat house!

1985 Square Feet: One Year Anniversary Edition

This week marks one year since we bought this property and began work. Did we think we would still be working one year later? Uhh, no ... we didn't. But then a very wise person once advised that most projects take three times as long and cost twice as much as expected. There's still a long way to go, but 12 months and two dumpsters later, we can see some progress. Here are the pictures we took in November 2010 and the same scenes today:

Den 2010 

Den 2011

Den 2010

Den 2011

Kitchen 2010

Kitchen 2011

Living Room 2010

Living Room 2011

Front Entry 2010

Front Entry 2011

Bathroom 2010

Bathroom 2011

Laundry Room 2010

Laundry Room 2011

Master Bedroom 2010

Master Bedroom 2011

Second Bathroom 2010

Former Second Bathroom, Now Back Door 2011

"Courtyard" 2010

"Courtyard" 2011

Front Yard 2010

Front Yard 2011

Rear Deck 2010

Rear Deck 2011

Front 2010

Front 2011 (We like to keep the neighbors guessing!)

Nearly Home

Picking Up Where We Left Off...

With some help from family (thanks, Dad!), we made more progress with the exterior wall. In the last post, you could see the rigid foam insulation on the exterior:

We put up the JumboTex house wrap over the foam. The white chalk lines show where there are studs underneath.

 Next, plywood blocks were screwed into the studs at 16" intervals.

And smaller blocks were then nailed to these. Longer vertical boards were fastened every 48", which is where the seams of the fiber cement panels will go. These boards will create and air gap between the foam and the fiber cement panels and will also give us something to screw the panels into.

 A narrow panel -- the first one -- went into place next to the doorway.

 And was painted with primer.

Walls (continued)

More progress!

Wall Work

This is what the "courtyard" looked like last winter.

The courtyard now. Rebuilding the exterior wall. Openings for the hopper windows for bathroom (left side) and master bedroom (two on right side).

Looking out from master bedroom.

Bathroom window.

Putting up the foam insulation.

Pollen-laden bee in front yard.

Puffball and mushrooms.

Sweating the Details

The original builders of our house were definitely not detail oriented. Take, for example, the way they installed the insulation in the walls. It says right on it, plain as day, which side should face inward. "Apply this vapor barrier toward living space heated in winter." Apparently, it should have said, "Wrong way, Dipshit."

Tom lives at the other end of the detail-orientedness spectrum, so he takes the time to think through the construction details, and especially about air and water penetration. 

Planning out door frame construction.

This door from the Habitat Re-Store didn't have a frame. Detail of frame construction with weather  stripping added around frame and the bottom of the door. The diamond plate steel threshold came from a local metal scrapyard.

Flashing and wrap to prevent water penetration.

Preparation of opening for sliding glass door.

Sliding glass door installed! We found this one on Craigslist.

Flower garden in mid-August.