Raleigh in the snow. 

Still needs work. 

Lights on the garage barn. 

an open barn door. 

A bit of snow. 

Samantha's wood pile. The stacks are about six feet high. 

Two diagonal suppoprts - one in the foreground and one in the background. 

The rotten and cracked supprt beam. 

The new suppoprt beam. 

some words for a change

It’s been a long time since I blogged here with anything but pictures. But time has been lacking and my mind hasn’t been able to handle much but the picture uploads. We’ve had the house now for more than three months, and we’re pushing hard to be in before the first of the New Year, which is less than 30 days away. Yikes.

As I write this sheet rock is finally going up in the kitchen, after waiting for what seemed like years to get the electrician back in and a sheetrock contractor lined up. As soon as the room is rocked and taped, Dave can bring in the cabinets and counters. Immediately following will be the appliances, so we’ll need to get the plumber and electrician back in to do hook ups. It’ll come together really quickly now.

This week Dave came over with two 14 foot hemlock beams, each 6x8 inches and heavy with sap, as they were just cut the week before. One of these beams is now holding up a corner of the first (and oldest) barn, replacing a rotten quick fix done by a previous owner. The other beam has been turned into numerous posts (pudgins) holding that beam and others in place. The barn is held together by compression, so it has no nails or screws attaching the beams and supports to each other. It’s a beautiful piece of engineering when you get to know it better. To put in the new beam, it was necessary to jack up a large piece of the barn as much as four or five inches. A number of six-ton jacks did the job, and let the building down gently onto its new members. Some new diagonal pieces shoved the building a bit toward the house, where it needs to go. There are great plans for this barn in the future, do providing this firmer structure was a good start.

Bud came by again yesterday, and we worked a bit on preparing the kitchen walls for the sheetrock. We went so far a to put up a piece of the ceiling – mostly just to say we had done some of it. While Bud and I were inside fussing over details like insulation and the even surface of the framing, Samantha was outside throwing our woodpile into the barn. She was worried the snow would soon bury the wood that remained outside, and the barn’s previous structural issue kept us from tossing the wood inside. But now with a strong barn floor she tossed two cords of wood through the side door, and before I knew it had stacked it beautifully inside. Wow!

a ceiling beam with "v-groove" for hidden wiring. 

cutting parts for the kitchen beams (notice all the nice notches!).

the heat mat installed.  

the heat mat sits rolled up in the shower. 

finished with the shower tile (on the left), Mike prepares the floor for the heat mat. 

more floor, almost done. 

a new floor in the den. 

the kitchen ceiling restrapped and ready for sheetrock. 

Raleigh watches from a safe distance. 

The doors and windows are finally in. 

Cutting more frames. 

Dave replaces the rotten sill under the window-to-be. 

I level the doors on the inside. 

Dennis and Josh help with the doors. 

Samantha's finished front door in handsome blue. 

Samantha's first coat of blue paint on the back door.