As of today, we have all (but 4) panels of the main roof up!! The last 4 panels we will be adding once we have the western facing gable end completed with the siding. We also have both the north and south facing sides (the long sides) completed with the board part of the siding. Last night we started working on the mud room - we still have to do the angled sides, but we did get the eastern facing side completed before we tuckered out.
This past week we also laid out 85 of our 100 boards for the siding and I got both sides of them stained/sealed so they are all ready to be put up. Some of them, or rather most of them, will have to be cut to go around windows or to fit properly to the roof line.
We are getting there! We are getting so close to having the outside 100% completed. Boy that will be the day:)
A couple days ago, we had finished just over half of the south facing roof, when Scott ran out of screws.... So we took an afternoon break and went to Billings. While there we were able to purchase some of our inside stuff too! He bought most of the wire we will need on the inside, got our breaker box, and we also got a shower stall pan so we can take 'showers' now. Keep in mind we still don't have running water, so we are still taking 'showers' from a bucket of water. However, we also have a solar water bag that Scott hung from a rafter above the shower pan. But at least now we have a place for the water to drain. Before, we just set an extra blanket on the floor so the water would soak up there.
We have noticed this week a funky smell coming from the drains - keep in mind that we now only have the toilet, bathroom sink drain and now the shower drain hooked to something, so the kitchen sink drain and the washing machine drain are still not hooked up but are taped over. I think Scott figured it out - we've been using the toilet but since we don't have running water, and because it takes an entire kitty litter bucket of water to flush the toilet, we only been flushing about once a day. I know that probably sounds gross to most of you, but it's a heck of an upgrade from using a bucket, even if we don't flush every single time! Anyhow, Scott thinks that because not a lot of water is running through the plumbing, that some of the TP and excrement isn't getting pushed all the way to the septic tank and the smell is coming through the drains. UGG! Good thing its not a very strong smell and it's not continuous. All I know is I will be SO thankful once we get all our plumbing hooked up so we don't have to worry about random smells anymore.
It was actually funny when I realized there was a funky smell.... Scott and I were laying in bed getting ready to sleep and he was reading. All of a sudden I smell something unpleasant and something I've not smelled before and start going, 'Ew! Oh that's so gross... etc'. Apparently Scott had just farted and he lost it laughing because he thought I was talking about what he had done! HAHA. Well we hadn't realized where it was coming from and since I was in bed when I smelled it, we started pulling out the mattress, pulling out the rack with all our clothes on.... all the while thinking maybe we had a snack and left the trash somewhere and the cats had knocked it off. Well, after we made a mess out of everything we realized it was coming from the drains. Scott used up all the water we had flushing the toilet several times, then we used one of the empty buckets to cover up the drain in the shower for the night. Let's just say I'm SO thankful we figured out what it was and where it was coming from!
While we were roofing, we did have 2 minor mishaps... and both happened to me! When we do the roofing, I get each panel, peel of the plastic coating, and hand each piece up to Scott who is standing on the top rungs of the ladder. He then pushes the panel up onto the roof and then gets on the roof himself. Once he's up there, I climb the ladder to the top of the wall and when he sets the panel, I am there to check that each one is even with the previous one. Then I hold the panel in place while he puts in 2 screws. Once those 2 screws are in place, he uses a rubber mallet and hammers the panel's lip over the previous panel's lip. Then, once hammered in place, he goes back through and screws the entire panel down.
Minor mishap #1 - Scott had a metal T-Square on the roof and when I had come down the ladder and was getting ready to hold the ladder for him, the T-Square fell off the roof and hit me square at the base of my neck where my neck meets my shoulder! Boy did that hurt! But I'm just fine... no bruise (surprisingly) but I'm just a little sore from it.
Mishap #2 - We had just a few panels left and Scott was at the peak of the roof getting the panel lined up to securely attach. He pulled on the panel a little harder than he thought and my end abruptly moved about 2 ft! Keep in mind, my job at this time was to hold onto it and that I was at the very top of the ladder (~15' up off the ground). And also realize that I'm terribly scared of heights! When the panel moved, luckily I didn't freak out too much and I did have a secure hold on the ladder, but it scared me so much I was shaking and yes, even crying. I'm admitting it because if you are someone who is not scared of heights it is hard to understand just how scary this situation was for me. I'm married to a man who's not scared of heights and not scared of falling, but he did say he's afraid of hitting the ground. He's a monkey on the roof and I know it's been taxing on him this whole time that I am scared of heights. But, needless to say, we made it through both of these ordeals in one piece.
Otherwise, not a whole lot new to report... just working really hard to get things completed. We are really looking forward to getting electricity. We are also thinking about getting things ready for the winter.
So far, the foam on the house had done wonders for us temperature wise! Last week, with the days we had snow, the temperature got down to a low of 22 degrees one night! Even then, the lowest the temperature got in our house was 51 degrees, but even then, it was comfortable inside and didn't at all feel like it was cold. Our neighbors gave us a portable propane (for indoor use) heater, and Scott did use it that morning following the 22 degree low. Within 40 min of having it on, the house heated up nearly 10 degrees and stayed at that temperature the rest of the morning. And when we cooked our lunch on the propane stove, using it for just 20 min, the house heated up another 5 degrees! I'm really anxious to see how much we really need to use a wood burning stove to keep it about 65-70 degrees (at the very most) in the house over the winter.
Also, over this past weekend, Scott and I went up Chief Joseph Highway, up on the mountain, to try to see the Northern Lights! But after snoozing in the car on and off till 1am and not seeing a thing, we called it a night and headed home. Our friend, Zane Wetzel, said that they could be seen up in Maine. Maybe we'll see them next time!
Also, we got our 4th rattle snake.... He was curled up at the entrance to our property on the road itself. Scott tried to run him over, but it just made the snake mad. So we got the shot gun and that's all she wrote! Unfortunately, the blast took his rattle completely off, but below is the before picture of him. Scott had to remind me not to stick my head/body out the window to get the picture because this snake was all coiled up and ready to strike something!
Enjoy these few pictures! I'll be sure to get more the next time.
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