Furnace and plumbing

Dave has not worked in the house this week, but he did get the furnace ordered and it came in last week. He also poured this pad, to set the furnace on.

It's in the mechanical/electrical room.

And the furnace has arrived. Some day we plan on getting one of those outdoor wood burner type furnaces. Apparently we have to put something on the furnace now to make it easier when we install the woodburner later. For now we will have natural gas.

I have no idea what this is, but it came in with the furnace so I assume it's part of it.

These duct runs had to be put together.

And holes had to be made in the osb to run the ducts through. Remember this is in the basement. The ceiling will be lower than the runs. And we aren't even going to bother with a ceiling in some of the rooms. We are not finishing the entire basement at this time, just some of it.

Back when we first started this house project, at the point of just having the frames up for the basement walls (see pic below), and having the gravel down, Dave decided rather than having a big open basement with two huge beams to hold up the second floor, we'd just put in walls. So the basement walls are bearing walls. And from looking at the house plans he quickly had to decide where to put walls in the basement. I couldn't have done it. At all. Then he had to decide where to put the plumbing, such as toilet, laundry, sump pump, sinks, etc. And he had to install the plumbing for the basement in this gravel. I was there when he was putting it in. Some pvc pipes had to come up in the walls, that weren't there yet, and the drain where the toilet would sit had to be 13 inches away from the bathroom wall, which wasn't there yet. You get the idea.

NOW....with walls up....

and holes in the floor,

I can think about it! Guess what though? It's too late! I would not have had my washer and dryer where he put it, but oh well, isn't it really minor in the big picture of life? See how that pipe is coming up in the wall in the above pic? And this pipe is next to the wall in the below pic? All of that had to be decided and installed, before cement was poured for the basement floor and walls..

I don't think I could have made those decisions, before I saw the walls and such. But now, we have to decide where to put the toilet, sink, and stuff in the upstairs bathroom, before we even finish the bathroom in the basement. Because once the plumbing is installed, it's too late. We are learning so much. At least I am!

Cindy

Putting up o.s.b. in the craft/storage room

It's been awhile since I've been on this blog. I had to buy more picture space for one, and I'm a wuss when it comes to giving my charge card out on the computer. I know it's crazy, people do it everyday, but it's just the way I am. I finally did it.

And, I find posting pictures of people putting up o.s.b. boring. But here ya go.


This is in the craft room and storage room of the basement. I thought by finishing this area, I could move more stuff out there and set up a craft room.



So we got all of this hung in one day.

But then Dave realized we need to put duct work in both ends of the ceiling in this room too. So I can't put anything in this room, because it will just be in the way.

But he went ahead and got it all ready to paint. I have no idea what color to paint it. We are not going to drywall it, at least not now. Maybe someday.

I ended up measuring and cutting this insulation that looks like Styrofoam. Maybe it is Styrofoam! But anyway, it was to put in the ends of the ceiling to keep the air out.

Dave ordered a furnace today. It will be in on Wednesday. He's meeting a 'furnace man' on Thursday. So we're moving along.

Cindy

Back in the basement!

No, we haven't quit working on the house. It just took awhile to finish up outside. That is my kitchen window. Dave decided to surprise me by putting up a couple of birdfeeders.

Just trying to give the house a homey touch. This is the back porch area.

We did get the garage moved. What a HUGE job!

Those cabinets are heavy. We moved one at a time, one day at a time. HEAVY I tell ya.

My little area in the garage. The bottom half. I'm still trying to talk him into the top half!

The siding is finished on the front porch. We're getting there.....little at a time. Still need to do the porch floors and columns.

But for now...we are back in the basement. This is O.S.B. It's heavy. We hauled in about 15 sheets of it to be put on the walls. We are only using drywall in the living area of the basement. The storage areas, pantry, and mechanical room will be O.S.B.

Which is made in the USA!

Cindy

Drainage Tiles

I realize the postings on this blog have been fewer lately. It does not mean we aren't working on the house. It just means that it is taking us awhile to do the same thing which makes the pics a bit boring. Right now we are still getting the outside ready for winter as it is fast approaching. Dave has been adding drainage tiles to the downspouts so the water will be directed away from the house. And he is digging by hand, of course. Is there any other way?

I think there are about five of these that need done. Plus, he is putting siding on the porches. We're not sure if Tyvek will hold up through two winters! He is close to finishing both, but the weather (rain) has put a stop to him working outside for awhile.

Cindy

Grass and gutters!

Look at all of this nice thick lush grass!

Remember the slats my Mom was painting in the last post? Or maybe two posts ago. Well there it is, covering up the big pipe coming out of the yard for the well pump.

Pretty cool garage sale find for 20 bills huh?

And the back porch,

now looks like this. (and my pictures will not move to the left so I'm just going to go with it)

Did you notice in the last picture, and this one, we have gutters! Gutters and grass.

Lots of both!

Cindy

Still painting

I've been painting again. I picked a color called Simplify Beige for the pantry. Here's why.
1) Mountain Air - my first choice, did not look good after I painted two walls with it.
2) We had a can of Simplify Beige at home from painting our hallway and stairway (at the house we live in now) so I would have some extra for touch up. As you can see by the little white dots, it's not easy to paint o.s.b. (a type of chipboard)
3) These walls are going to be covered with shelves, so you will not see much of the wall when it's all said and done. It's the pantry.
I also painted the

mechanical/electrical room.

I don't like painting behind stuff like this...

or this....but I did. (the white is primer - it is now gray. Serious Gray!)

I've decided...

I am not good

at picking out paint colors. I have about 20 of those little sample cans.

(Hey that kind of looks like Africa on the left! - Kind of...)

I've also decided I'm going to go with creamy colors on the walls...

and add color by painting furniture and cabinets with all of those little sample cans. And add more color with pillows, blankets, pictures and other fun stuff.

We hired someone last night to hang gutters, after several phone calls and four estimates.

Also, I went to our family reunion on Sunday and found out one of my cousins is taking HVAC classes at Ivy Tech in Kokomo. He said his class is looking for a project to install heating and air. Pick me pick me!!!

Cindy

Painting the West end of the house

As I was preparing to paint the side of the house, I looked down to see this gal/guy? Hmmm, whadayathink? Think it has a stinger? I don't see one, but I was careful not to step on it. This is NOT a honeybee, btw.


So, this is what I was painting. This side of the house will someday have a screened in room attached to it. And if we would have put siding on the house, we'd just have to take it off when we put on the room. So we went with something called T-1-11. It's a wood product and has to be preserved.

It has grooves in it, somewhat similar to what car siding would look like. We went back and forth all summer...paint...stain....paint...stain. Our neighbor, backhoe man, said for his wood on his house he put a mixture of half and half, linseed oil and turpentine. He explained that back in the day when contractors used to keep their wooden ladders in the back of their pick-ups, that's what they'd use to keep them from falling apart. I used a paintbrush to do all of the grooves first, and I painted this bottom half on Wednesday.

Looks pretty good huh? Well, you can see how high up it is to do the top half by the height of the ladder.

But nothing to worry about, scaffolding man, who is now ladder man, (my Dad) came over to give me a false sense of security by holding the ladder while I painted the top half. It worked. He did say he'd catch me on the bounce. Which means I'm gonna hit the ground first....geesh. Sorry about the butt shot. We put the roller pan on top of the green ladder so I could roll the wood, after I brushed in the grooves.

Mom brought dinner over, and when she said it was time to get back to work, Dad suggested she paint this! Good thinking Dad. (I'll show you what "this" is later. It'd be easier to show you in pics when it's finished, rather than try to describe)

When I was climbing that green ladder, I was a bit nervous. It's the tallest 'regular' ladder we have and this side of the yard has a huge slant to it. Plus it's still a bit soft as the grass hasn't completely come through yet. At least it isn't the mud bog it was a month ago.

That green ladder was nuthin! Nuthin I tell ya!

And yes I was a bit nervous....

and when I was painting this part I was flat out scared! I was.

When I painted the section right before this one, I looked down. Mistake. Do NOT look down. So when I got to this part, I knew it was higher than the section before, when I looked down. I did not look down here, but I stopped when I had a few more steps to go and said, "I gotta come down I can't do this." Dad said, "OK, I'll do it." Me. "You are not doing it, you wanna wrench your knees even worse." (he just had knee replacement surgery in December and is going to therapy for the other knee) So I stood there a minute, got my wits about me, and climbed on up. And I ended up painting it all with a brush because I was climbing up and down just to reach the green ladder with the pan on it.

And viola', it's done!!!! YEEEAAAAA~I have been dreading doing this all summer.

But now, the wood is ready for the weather. Good thing too because I didn't even have everything put away when the rains came.

Cindy Bee