More Progress, but Time is Running Out

So, the house is looking more like a real house. I'm not real thrilled about how it looks from the street, however. With such a huge roof and gable, there's too much empty space on the front. It's fine from the inside of the house; it's the outside that looks a little bleak. It will look better when the dumpster is gone and you can see the lower level windows, and when the door and extension between the upper and lower bay windows get painted dark green. Even though I didn't get the garden planted until mid-July, it has grown like crazy. I guess planting in pure compost really makes a difference. I think my dozens of butternut squash will ripen okay, and I can store them all fall and winter in the cold room, so I don't think I'll have to do a lot of freezing. If I do, though, at least I'll be able to do it in the new house. My mom's kitchen is smaller than most bathrooms. I've been canning corn and tomatoes from my brother's garden, and it takes twice as long because I have no counter space to work on at the old house. The tomato plants in my own garden have hundreds of tomatoes. The question is, will it stay warm enough for them to ripen? A few are starting to turn orange, so maybe there's hope.

The next four pictures are in reverse order. My first attempt at clay plastering. Shown below is the north wall of the lower level bedroom completed. The clay plastering is a nightmare compared to the class I took. In class, we applied the clay to wallboard. I'm applying it to a brown coat of cement over the Faswall bricks. The Faswall bricks are not uniform. Even if I had had a competent contractor to build the Faswall block walls (which I did not), the imperfections in the bricks would have still caused problems. I made a big mistake in hiring amateurs to apply the brown coat to the Faswall. First, because of their inexperience, it cost over 50% more to get it put on, since I paid by the hour instead of the job. So instead of saving money, I lost money. Then, the parge coat was very uneven and it's taking me forever to apply the clay so it's somewhat smooth. I'm spending twice as much money (at least) on clay, because I'm having to put it on way thicker that I would on wallboard. The thicker it goes on, the harder it is to smooth out evenly without leaving trowel marks. Then the other thing is that the cement base just sucks the water out of the clay. Instantly. So the clay dries immediately, and it's difficult to get adjoining sections to blend together smoothly. I've been spraying the heck out of the cement right before I apply the clay, but it still dries out immediately. The only good thing about the clay is my labor is free.

Starting my first clay plastering with a small section. You can see how I wet the wall down underneath.

Before plastering.

Wow, the front steps are finally in!

The south yard is a mess!!! Heidi and Devin next door were putting in my retaining wall, and Eberhard Construction was pouring concrete to fix and raise the window wells, and build the front door landing and stairs. The easiest thing would be to put a cement sidewalk down to the street, but want to use VAST pavers instead. VAST pavers look like regular brick, but they are made out of recycled tires. They are installed spaced apart, and are a permeable surface to decrease rainwater runoff.

Heidi and Devin next door are finishing the wall.

Wall is almost complete.

Close-up of the stucco wall pattern.

View of the house from the southeast.

Kitchen cabinets installed. Jeffrey had to assemble some matching ones to fill in the gaps and custom make holders for the wall ovens and the dishwasher.

My Chaska teaching buds, Lucy, Janelle, and Ann, came out to the house to see it and then we had a picnic.

Time is Running Out

My construction loan was initially for one year, which ended September 1st. I was able to get a three-month extension, but I can only get one of those. So December 1st is my drop dead date to get most everything completed. My construction loan turns into a mortgage at that point, and I can’t get any more money from the construction loan.

Jeffrey and I did an assessment of where we are at in terms of completion of what is left to do, and it wasn’t pretty. Although things have been progressing at a pretty good pace for the last couple months, we lost time while I was injured, and we never made up for time we lost last fall and winter with contractor problems. We’re both going to have to put in some serious time to finish up. I had hoped to move in by November 1st, but I doubt that will happen. There are only a few more things which MUST be completed to get a certificate of occupancy, and we’ll focus on those. The main one is completing the HVAC. White Bear Mechanical went bankrupt in June. The former owner promised to complete the job, but hasn’t come through, so we’re looking for a new contractor to finish the job. We must have one working bathroom, and that won’t be a problem. The sidewalk from the front door to the street has to be in. That’s one of my projects, with VAST permeable pavers.

Before my mom and I can move in, though, the main level must be totally completed. The lower level, where I’m going to live, doesn’t have to be 100%, but my mom’s area must be 100%. She couldn’t’ take the disruption of ongoing finishing work. Moving out of the house she’s lived in for 40 plus years will be disruption enough. So Jeffrey and I are focusing on the interior window framing, the interior doors (both Jeff’s), and the bathroom tiling (mine), as well as the clay plastering and painting (both mine). I’m taking a week off to work on the house next week, so we’ll see how the progress moves along.