This should be the final few days that we have a crew working with us on the cabin. All of the serious construction will be done and Susan and I will move on with all the finish work.

So far the cabin project has entailed (more or less in order):

• Gutting the kitchen of all cabinets and removing the West (outside) wall of the kitchen entirely. Removing the drywall from the North wall, reframing it and adding insulation. Moving the plumbing from the corner to a more reasonable location – actually replacing the plumbing entirely

• Tearing out the closet from the already undersized bedroom

• Gutting the bathroom, including removing the rotting floor

• Adding a kitchen-nook and laundry room to the West of the kitchen where that wall once was. Adding a window and an outside door. Cladding the new room with recycled barn wood initially dedicated to the stalled straw bale house project.

• While adding the roof, fix all the leaks in the old roof (thankfully it rained or we were going to take a hose to it.)

• Filling in the crawlspace under the bathroom with sand and adding a brick floor.

• Adding 4 support posts under the cabin and jacking it up ever so slightly. One of these supports is under the brick chimney, which had been held up by 2x4s, wishful thinking and inertia.

• New plumbing for the bathroom and a new saltillo-tile shower.

• Replacing all windows (most were broken open or sealed shut and all were generations-old, single-pane things.)

• Adding supports to the sagging bay window and replacing all glass with thermal pane windows.

• Tearing off outside batons from board and baton construction. Furring out the walls with 2x2s and adding rigid foam insulation. Furring out this with another layer of 2x2s and adding more rigid foam insulation. Tyvek paper for the outside.

• Adding new outside cladding: 1x12 boards cut to match specs. (we have 2 more days of this.)

• Rewiring the entire house, removing old mouse chewed, singed, and otherwise unfortunate wiring, putting in new breakers, adding 240-volt outlets for stove and dryer. Adding outlets to code (with, gasp, now more than one outlet in the bedroom!)

• Replacing rotted floorboards in kitchen and replacing them.

• Installing new light fixtures and new fans.

• Painting 75% of the inside with primer. Painting kitchen and bathroom.

So now we are in the final stretch. There remains plenty of painting, inside and out. The kitchen needs cabinets and sink and the bathroom needs the toilet installed and the sink and vanity put in. The floors need help and we are torn between seeing how well we can clean them versus having to sand them down and refinishing them. We also need to put in new baseboards and thresholds.

We also need to figure out what to do about the front door. It is an odd size and a standard door will never fit. Most likely we will need a custom door and will have to find out if anyone builds them for reasonable sums (I’ve gotten quotes through the big box stores and it is highway robbery.)

We also will have to re-hook up the propane tank (and have the tank inspected: it came with the cabin but has not been used in years.)

This is where we are at and what we have accomplished. It is an amazing amount when you look at it.

 

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