Bloom

There seem to be an abundance of blooming things right now. I don't know if there wasn't that much last year or that I just didn't notice it. I have no idea what some of these are; I think this is a type of violet but I'm not sure.

There are just tons of these ferns all over the place here. Someone told me this type is a Christmas fern. Some of them get quite large. There is also a really lacy type fern that grows here that I really like.

I am pretty sure this is bee balm. It comes in several colors and I bought some at the garden center once and then discovered later that is grows wild all over down here. I thought this was a really nice specimen and this photos looks great enlarged. I think I will print it on some nice paper when I get some new ink for the machine. I might look nice framed.

This photo did not come out so well; the color seems kinda washed out but these are really pretty irises. I planted these down by the spring creek where it runs alongside the driveway. I don't know the name of these or anything. Allen brought me a clump of them years ago and I have been hauling these things around ever since. The foliage gets very tall (around 5') but the flowers themselves are on the small side. Still really pretty though and they bloom their hearts out.

Hopefully this weekend will be a busy one. The sheetrock finishers are supposed to start Saturday and we will be trenching and installing the water line to the house from the spring. I should be able to buy the pump next week but I need to quickly investigate water filters and install that too.

It Won't Be Long

The septic system is installed!!! I know this may not be a very glamorous post to many of you but I am ecstatic. They actually came last Friday and put it in but I'm just now getting around to downloading the photos. It doesn't take them very long to get these things in. The man started about 11:00 a.m., I think and set up his inspection for 3:00 p.m. The health department came out and looked it over, OK'd it and signed off and so he started covering it up. I got there about 5:00 maybe and they were to about this point. I have a pretty standard setup; approximately 200' of field lines; standard tank. I wish I had gotten a better close up of the field lines. They are a lot different than they used to be. These about almost 2' wide and the bottom is open. Basically, one half of a 2' corrugated black, plastic, drain pipe. There are 2 separate field lines; they run parallel to each other but one is slightly higher than the other and they are connected by small lines at the end so that when the higher one gets full (if ever) it flows over into the lower one. In this photo, you can see one of the caps on the tank over there in the lower right corner.

This is just the connection between the tank and field lines. That pipe seemed kinda small to me but I guess that's standard. They dug up one enormous rock but was able to move that and now I have a nice yard ornament but did not have any trouble with rocks that could not be moved. I was very glad for this. One thing that I was not aware of with a septic tank is that you need to fill them with water as soon as possible. The installer said that they normally do that for you but seeing as I don't have running water it would be up to me. Allen didn't mention this fact to me and so I asked the man why this was necessary. He said that if it rained very much the tank could float up out of the ground! It needed the water to weigh it down. About that same moment I heard thunder off in the distance and turned to the west to see storm clouds approaching. Oh, crap! It was bad enough to pay for this once but to pay to have it put back in the ground would be too much! In a great stroke of ingenuity, Allen quickly rigged up a little gutter system so that water flowing off the house would run into a trough and down into the septic tank. It worked pretty good and I hauled quite a few 5 gallon buckets of water from the creek and poured in it. Of course, that hardly made a noticeable difference but I had to do something. I paid $2,000.00 to have that thing put in, it's not coming back out.

Here, Allen is smoothing it all out nicely with Oliver and the box blade. He did a great job with that and now it's ready to plant grass and flowers. I'm pretty much just going to have a natural area with wildflowers and fruit trees.
This weekend we got the trail cleared through the woods where we are going to run the water lines from the spring to the house. That is about 290'. Next weekend we should be able to trench the line and install the pipe. I think we are on schedule to have running water by the end of the month. We didn't do much today as it was Mother's Day and went to spend some time with family. We needed some rest anyway.

Next Layer

Ok! here are the Sheetrock photos I've been promising for so long! This was some really tedious work with all of the rafter tails to cut around and the 30 light fixtures. This is the east wall. I would like some really cool sculpture to hand up in the gable part of this wall above the lights (those black dots).

This is mostly the south wall. The far left area will be the dining area. Where the 3 small windows are is the kitchen. The sink will be centered under that middle window. I've always wanted a lot of windows in the kitchen. There will be a short wall between the kitchen and living areas that I have not framed yet. I need to get the scaffolding out (after finishing the clerestory wall and ceiling) before I can put that wall in.

Higher shot of south wall. The sun has stopped coming in at this point and it stays fairly cool in the house. Actually, the sun disappeared at the end of March I think, which is about right I guess. It starts getting warm around here pretty quick.

This is the living room area, northeast corner. That rectangular hole above the window on the right is for my in-wall stereo speakers. Yeah! Going to be cranking.

This is the wall between the living and bedroom/bath etc. This is the wall that will (hopefully) be plywood and really cool. The BFA and I are still wrangling over this one. He is helping me pick out colors too for everything so maybe that can start soon.

Birthday

Today is my birthday! Just a quick post because Allen and I are actually going out tonight for sushi and sake and who knows what else! As far as how old I am; old enough to know better, still too young to care.
My septic system is installed!! and inspected and everything, yea! More about that later. We have finished hanging all the Sheetrock too and I've got photos of that. Ready to start finishing and painting some areas. I'll try to get back soon.

Little Details

After we finished the roof, Allen made these little copper caps for all the brackets that hold up the verge rafters on the gables. This way water won't sit on top of the wood and soak in. I need to start painting/staining soon but I am still wrestling with colors and just have not had time to start anyway. This wood really needs something on it though. This copper is very old, that is why it doesn't look all shiny. It's actually some scrap copper I had that I salvaged from the Big House when they tore off the roof flashing in the valleys. I hope it does not curse my house! These caps are glued on with some roofing caulk.
I hope to have photos of the sheetrock we hung up soon and some other stuff we have done. It's starting to look different on the inside. I still can't pick out my bathroom tile! I don't know why I am having such trouble with this. Too many options.
I am trying to start something of a garden also but I don't know how that's going to work. If I don't fence it, it will get eaten by the critters again and I don't know when I'll have time to put up a good fence. There are just not enough hours in the day. We are still working some 10's, so I don't have a lot of time in the afternoons to work on the house much.
My septic system installation has been put off until the end of next week, darn it. Got to get water soon. I will try to post again soon.

Back Up On The Roof

The roof is done!! We finally got through the bad weather and got all the ladders and pick boards freed up and everything set back up outside and finished the roof and all the trim and flashing. What a pain in the butt. Early when we started back on it, the pollen had just started to fall in a big way and that roof was slicker than owl grease. It was very difficult to get around on but it rained the other day (yea!) and washed all that off so working today was fine. You may not see much difference in the roof but all that right on the edge has previously not been there. It was just this ragged looking edge for a long time.

This is a close-up shot of the trim that goes on the gable ends. Allen had this made special because the standard pieces they gave us were a lot bigger and really looked goofy. They stuck further out and we wanted something that had a more streamlined look. It's still kinda big but it looks good in place. You can see, it caps over that last rib on the decking and is screwed tight against the verge rafter.

The trim is run on the sides and then the ridge cap is installed over them. It makes a nice smooth look there. You can cut the ridge cap off wherever you want and we thought it looked better sticking out past the trim about a half inch. This is the little tiny short piece over on the east side of the house. This little area will eventually disappear and be integrated into the rest of the roof when the other half of the house is built.

This is the flashing under the clerestory windows. All of this is fairly easy to install; not rocket science. Flashing under shingle roofs always seems more complicated to me. But this is a pretty simple roof; no valleys or other weird stuff. Well, the clerestory section is a little weird but not too much. You just have to make sure on your flashing that everything is layered. Note the flashing up under the Tyvek and the siding will, of course, extend down over all of this to that inside corner in the flashing.

We also hung some more Sheetrock today and did some cleanup. I'm glad the roof is over because it takes so long moving all that scaffolding etc. around. I think that part of getting set up took almost half of the time. Well, any high work on this house takes a long time to set up for. The siding will be the same way and painting.
One other thing about this roof, it is MUCH cooler to work on than a standard shingle roof so I think it is really doing it's job of reflecting heat. Now, granted, it's not August but you could place your bare hands on the metal with no problem and I know of times that I have actually blistered my butt sitting (with blue jeans on) on a shingle roof in the springtime.

How Long Has This Been Goin' On?

On the road to our place they are currently building several houses and have just finished several more. They throw these houses up in a matter of months. They can have one framed in a week. I'm on month 17 now I think. It's starting to get to me just a little. I know that these other houses are just your run-of-the-mill boxes; poorly designed, heat traps but it's sometimes easy to get discouraged. I am a little discouraged. I also know that we have not been able to work continually. I think this is the worst part of building your own place. Sometimes I have to wait on my paychecks to build up to purchase certain items. When we work overtime, I am way too tired to come home and pour more concrete or whatever. Sometimes I just go down to the house and sit and look at the house and I get even more overwhelmed because I end up thinking about all that I still have left to do. That's a bad attitude I know. I have had virtually everything handed to me so I don't want to appear ungrateful. I think staying at the house on the beach has made it worse for me. It's sooooo nice to have windows to look out of and a stove and a shower right in the next room! I also have not thrown any pottery in over a year. I miss that. I see artists friends of mine that are being in all kinds of shows and galleries ( I'm happy for them; they are good) and I think I'm really stupid for taking the time to do something like this. I should be working on my art; I'm not too bad at it. I might get somewhere with it. Yesterday, I had to type up a bio for a magazine that I have written an article for and the editor told me it could be up to 500 words and include my work, family etc. All I could come up with was about 100 words about work. I could not think of anything else to write about but WORK. I see all you other bloggers out there who have wonderful families and kids ( and I'm happy for you too) and I think everything I have done has been a mistake. Who puts so much effort into a damn house? OK. I will try to come back with a better attitude.

This photo shows some of the Sheetrock we have hung lately. Very tedious pieces to cut out but they were not near as bad as the clerestory ones. This is part of what is taking so long. Allen told me the other day that everything I want takes the longest, is the hardest to do and the most aggravating to work on. I guess so. Usually it's the most expensive too but I have gotten around that this time. As soon as I pick out what type of speakers I want installed and where they go in the living room wall, we can finish hanging the rock and get somebody up here to finish it. I hope. That's one thing I don't want to do myself.

My fig trees and stuff were coming out nicely and I was hoping for a good surge of growth from them but then we had a cold snap a couple of weeks ago that just froze the crap out of everything. I don't think it killed things but they are just sitting there now; not a green leaf on them.

I really want to have running water by the end of May. That is my next goal.

Blowin' In The Wind

Happy Earth Day, everybody!!! It's a beautiful down here in Alabama; I hope you all are enjoying the wonderful place we live, wherever you are. To celebrate the occasion, I had the crap scared out of me by a snake, dropped a rock on myself and got really blistered yesterday. This post title is for Allen as he is a big Dylan fan and I thought it could be construed to be appropriate for today and the photo.

Flock Of Seagulls

Oh man, I can't believe I used that title! That really dates me, I guess. Just a few more beach photos. I liked this one because all of the seagulls were facing the same direction, which was into the wind I believe, but I thought it was interesting because cows will do the same thing. I've been told that cows all turn their butt to the sun, thus all face the same way, so that they are not grazing with the sun in their eyes. Makes sense but I think they do it just because they are cows and have a herd mentality. The fewer cows there are, the more likely they will be pointing in a bunch of different directions. There are those 2 rebels in the photo though, that are facing the other way. Damn non-conformists! You're all just alike!

There were deposits of seashells all down the beach but were all small stuff. The biggest of these were only about the size of a quarter. We wondered if BIG seashells ever washed up and somebody just got there before us and scooped them up or was there some physics thing involved here. I guess maybe the force of a heavy storm could cause the sea to deposit it's heavier items on the shore then.

Well, tomorrow we are going to be back on the roof since we have freed up our ladders and such and hope to finally get that completly done. My septic system is set up to be installed by the end of this next week. Yea!!! That tax refund came in just in time for that. Now, I've just got to get water flowing to the house. I don't think I've posted the new sheetrock we hung and stuff so I'll try to get that up soon. The walls are starting to close up!

Hello Again!

Well, we are back from our little vacation...sigh... It was a working holiday anyway; I had to fufill my end of a barter deal I made for my house so we really worked about the whole time. Not a bad place to have to work though. We were in the Panama City area of Florida. Beautiful beaches but it was still a little cool.

We got about 3 hours to play around on the beach. We found some cool seashells. Ate a lot of really good seafood.

These little birds were fun. They were in a little fresh water stream flowing down to the ocean. They were really enjoying taking a bath.

I hope to have more up about the house soon. They are having us work 10's at work so I'm pooped when I get home but I hope to post again soon.

What's Going On

I have started installing the plugs where we have hung Sheetrock just to have some more places to plug in tools and stuff. I wanted to show this because Allen says this is the commercial way of wiring plugs, not the way most residential plugs are done. I don't know much about electrical work but he has been teaching me some and how to do plumbing also. Anyway, he wires these little pigtails (what I am pointing to) at each plug and switch so that if the plug or switch is defective, it does not kill the whole circuit. This way the plug is sorta on it's own little driveway off the main road instead of a junction in the main road. I think I am explaining this correctly but if not please let me know. These are all 15 amp plugs in the bedroom and living room areas but in the kitchen and bath, I am using 20 amp plugs. They don't cost much more and just gives you a little extra coverage.

We finally finished hanging the clerestory wall and Allen has mudded it completely also. It will be my job to sand and prime it. We were trying to get this done before we took all the pick boards down etc. and not have to put that stuff back up again. I am going to set up a rolling scaffold in the living room now to finish this stuff because we need to ladders and pick board outside. We have hung more Sheetrock but I'll show that later.

I finally got my slate floor laid out the way I want it for the bathroom. This is the standard pattern but I didn't have ANY extra to try to do any kind of an unusual pattern. In fact, all those 6x6 holes in the pattern are going to have to be filled in with some other type of tile but I thought that would look cool. I want to have the Sheetrock in the bath finished before I put the floor down but I had to know what kind of tile shortage I was facing. I do have a little extra that you can see in the background but that will have to be used to do the cuts around the edges.

We are actually going on a little vacation to the beach this Wednesday so I may not post again until next week but I wil try to get one more up before we leave.

Paint It Black

Actually, I see a black door and I want to paint it red instead of the other way around. Sorry Mick. I have had the door up to the house for some time but just never put it on. The was a salvage door off a job but it was about 4 inches too short as all of my doors are a full 7 feet instead of the standard 6'-8". This requires a little more effort to find what I want. I plan to cut out some of the recessed panels in the door in some sort of pattern and replace them with architectural glass. But that will be one of the last things we do since I don't want to break the glass moving stuff around. Allen added 2 inches of a compatible wood to the top and bottom of the door and since it is going to be painted, you will never see that. The door is solid fir and such a nice wood I hated to throw it away. Plus, it is from a friend of mine's house who is a really cool lady and so I will always think of her when I see my door.
I meant to elaborate more on the last post about the trials and tribulations of building your own home but I was in a hurry and lost my train of thought I guess. Pablo's comment on the lady writer who built her cabin reminded me of what I meant to say. I also did not realize that I had put up one photo that I had already used on a previous post! I am probably repeating myself on some stuff and if I am, please bear with me. I have been pretty tired lately; the schedule I have been keeping and the type of work I am doing now has been taking it's toll on me. The Big House was a very unusual job. We don't normally get stuff like that. The job I'm on now is typical. I will try to post some photos from that job as it's a little hard for me to explain some of the stuff. We have a 3-day weekend though as they gave us today off and we were all very excited for that.
I would encourage anyone, who felt they had the ability and desire to build their own home, to do so though. What I meant to say on that post was that even those of us who do it for a living experience mistakes and problems. We are not roofers and ran a little of the roofing lapped the wrong way, I did a little layout wrong, drilled some holes in the wrong places etc. We all mess up but as we always say, you can fix just about anything. Some mistakes take a little longer than others to correct than others but it can be done. I think doing things yourself makes you appreciate the effort more also. I am really going to love my house and cherish it. The bloodshed has been very minor on this house and I would probably be ridiculed (sweetly though) on the job for even mentioning such as we have seen some REAL bloodshed there. In fact, the week before I made that post, the HVAC man cut his hand on some duct work and we had a fairly exciting time there for a while. It was just me and the super so I grabbed the guy's wrist, held it above his heart and applied pressure to try to stop the bleeding. We had moved the first aid kit up to the next floor where the work was going to, so while Gary ran to get that I also held 2 Kleenexes, that I just happened to have in my pocket, on the wound while the man called his boss with his free hand. By the time we got him bandaged up there was blood all over me and the floor. We are supposed to wear latex gloves when doing stuff like that but you don't have time to look for that.
One thing that I also thought about recently is that even among my fellow carpenters, very few of them build their own houses anymore. Of the older men I know (say nearing retirement age) it was very common, in fact, an odd thing if you didn't. But the younger ones rarely build something like that; they have someone do it for them or purchase homes already built. I wonder what the reason for that is? Is it our society's "want it now" conditioning? or the way the carpenters are trained now? It's more of just a job now, not a way that young men are raised up anymore. I don't know. I know that they all look at me like I have 2 heads when I say I am building mine. Probably partly because I am a woman but they also seem quite proud of me and encourage and advise me.

Blood, Sweat and Tears

OK, so that is a title of a band and not a song but still in the same general theme. I don't know, maybe it is a song too. Anyway, my computer is wanting to be ugly to me right now and not let me download new photos so I am having to depend on photos I just happen to already have in the computer. These are a little old but hopefully I will have things straightened out soon. We are almost done with the roof. Just putting on the final trim and flashing. My finger, a nail and my hammer all met in the wrong combination here and that's where the blood is from. Metal roofs are a little aggravating to work on as they can be very slippery and trying to hold a bunch of stuff and keep from sliding around can be difficult at times. I did start to name this post "Things We Said Today" but what I said after I did this probably would not be good material to put up. I have been told by other construction workers that I have a dirty mouth. I have tried to curb that habit as much as I can. It aggravated me more that I was dripping blood all over my new roof than anything else.

The ridge cap was easy to put on but I need to find something to stuff under those open areas between the ribs to keep bugs and wasps etc. from getting up there and nesting. They make a Styrofoam weatherstripping that is made in that configuration but it is solid and does not allow for ventilation. Because of the way my roof is insulated, with the Iso board immediately under the roofing, the ribs serve as vents and I don't want to clog them up. I need a porous material that will allow air to pass through but not holey enough to let bugs etc. Make sense? We thought of something like Brillo pads (the plastic ones) but I'm not sure. Any ideas?

I'm getting down to picking colors and stuff like that. We are just about ready to close up all the walls and the block and stone wall under the house should start soon. My septic system was approved and I am getting bids on that now. I think I stated before that Alabama has recently passed a law that homeowners can no longer install their own. That sucks but in a way it's nice that I will not have to do that. Maybe I will have some photos soon of the tiles going in the bath and stuff. I'm still arguing with the BFA over that but I think budget will win that one.

Over The Hill and Far Away

A lot of people have been curious as to where Allen and I live right now while the house is being built. We were talking about that the other day and there happen to be an article in the local paper encouraging those who were homeless to seek assistance from local resources. They included a checklist in the article to help people determine if they could be considered homeless or not. I think Allen and I are right on the edge. We live in the back of a store basically. We rent a small "apartment" from Fred who very graciously lets us live there for a very reasonable price and it's right next door to our land, which is handy. We sort of have a kitchen and bath although we have to walk next door to Fred's to take a shower or bathe on the porch which I love to do in warm weather. Now, don't get excited; it's fairly remote. The neighbors are not getting a show. At least, I don't think so. The photo above shows my house from Fred's back yard. In the summer you can't see anything for the foliage.

This is the view from our little porch and on the left there you can see my handy-dandy shower rig. Works pretty good. We often come out early in the morning and have deer standing all around in this area. As I am building the house (or trying to) completely out of pocket, this arrangement helps tremendously on living expenses. It's a little restrictive at times. I can't cook certain things and we have a fairly small refrigerator. Things like that. It's one, big room basically so you can't have big parties and Allen loves to stand right in the way in the narrow path through to the "kitchen" while I am trying to cook and so I want to choke him sometimes. But sometimes you have to make sacrifices to have things happen the way you want. It's a fairly comfortable little place though and we get along pretty good there. I grow various herbs and veggies on the deck too. However, after 2 years, I'm getting very anxious to be in my house.

On the subject of the house, we have acquired a free water heater and installed that and hung more sheet rock. We (I, really) also finally decided on the lighting arrangement on the clerestory wall and wired for the ceiling fans. Allen found the faucets for the shower and so I just need to come up with the shower head and we can proceed with tile in the shower. We have just a little more wiring to do for some exterior lighting and plugs and lights under the house. It seems like it never ends.

Let's Go Get Stoned

Some of you may remember that title from an old Ray Charles song. I think that I have become obsessed with rocks lately. I look for them everywhere; I'm constantly searching for just the right rocks for my wall. I have plenty on my land but I want more...lots more. I have a huge pile that I have collected so far but I am fearful that it will not be enough. So, I am always dragging more home, digging around to unearth what I think might be a prize rock! Allen keeps hoping that I dig up a gold nugget about the size of a watermelon ( and I do too) but nothing like that so far. I have even been given rocks as gifts from those who know about my obsession. Some of them are pretty cool looking and I plan to lay them in a prominent location in the walls I'm going to build.

The roof is getting very close to completely finished now that the weather is cooperating some. We installed the ridge cap and some of the flashing under the clerestory windows etc. Then we ran out of screws so Allen ordered some more and decided to swap the edge trim we had for some with a lower profile he thought would look nicer. So, when that comes in, which should be this Thursday, we can complete the roof. We have finished stubbing out all the interior plumbing and so have been able to close up the bathroom walls. Allen got a water heater from the power company and we need to install that this weekend. Hopefully it will not operate a lot after I get my solar water system installed but it is needed now and will be a good storage tank later. Lots more to tell you about the next chance I get. I have been transferred to another job and we are doing concrete form work so I am pretty tired when I get home. This job is a little closer to the house though so I only have to get up at 4:15 a.m. now. Bleeh!

Floored

I am starting to pick flooring and some of the inside finishes now. This is the slate flooring that I will use in the bathroom. I picked this up off a job 7 years ago and have been storing this stuff all this time because I knew one day, I would be building a house. This was all leftovers and was going to be thrown away so I asked if I could have it and the flooring guys gave it to me. There is a lot more, I just couldn't get it all in the photo. It is going to be just about enough to do the bathroom floor but I may have to pick a tile that will go with it to fill in a few spaces. This flooring does have a definite pattern to it but because it was drop, I don't have equal counts of all the sizes so I am going to have to get creative with the layout. I am also in the process of trying to find a tile that will go with the slate to do the shower stall and tie it all together. I have cleared a space on the bedroom floor and chalked the outline of the bathroom floor there so that I can assemble the slate floor within this outline and move it around etc. and then when I get it like I want it, just move it a piece at a time into the bathroom. Hopefully, I can get this worked out soon.
I have been saving material off job sites for about 8 years now. Unfortunately, the construction industry throws away tons (literally) of good material. Not because we want to but because we just can't find places for it. I always encourage people to try job sites if you are looking for materials and it doesn't have to be a certain color or whatever. I mean, you have to take what's there but it can be some great stuff and with a little imagination you can make it work out fine. I got a good bit of marble flooring off one job that I might use to make a medallion in the kitchen floor. It is not near enough to do a whole floor but I have always wanted some kind of mosaic thing in the kitchen. And Karl, one thing we usually always throw away is rebar. That is one item that we almost always have too much of but not enough to sell for scrap and so it just gets chucked. For anybody that wants to look for stuff on jobs; always ask for the superintendent, be nice and obey their safety rules.

Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream

That a blind man came and dug two large holes in my yard and charged me $400.00 to do it. And then I realized that it was not a dream at all but really happened and that was my perc test! Well, there was a little more to it than that but I did finally have the perc test done although I still have not received the results back from the county. What you do is call a surveyor and tell them what you want, they will come out and locate approximately where the septic tank and field lines will go and then dig 2 or 3 holes with a backhoe. Now, in the past, the surveyor actually does the whole test but something must have changed because he only prepared the hole for the county who came out about 2 days later and actually performed the test. What they do is fill the holes with a certain amount of water and time how long it takes the hole to empty. Too fast or too slow can both be a problem. The surveyor said my dirt looked good and should not be a problem. Then the surveyor files this at the courthouse and the county will contact you and tell you how many feet of field line etc. that you must put in. Here, we can put in our own system but I don't know what it is like in other states. Some may require that a certified company do it. Anyway, after the septic system is in you have to call the county again and they will come out and look at everything and if it is OK you can cover everything up and proceed! As in all cases when hiring a contractor, please call at least 3 to get a price! We got prices from $400-$600. This guy was a bargain and yes, he had a guy with him who dug the holes that was legally blind.

Shower The People

I'm a bit behind on what's been going on with the house but I just have not had time to post as much as I would like. This was done a couple of weeks ago but I wanted to have the whole sequence on at once. We determined the final shower size and installed the curb and drain for it and then installed the shower pan with the bottom row of Durock installed over the upturned edges of the pan.

The pan is just a thick rubber membrane basically that you can buy by the foot. I have bought just about all of the plumbing stuff from a plumbing supply house and they beat Lowe's or any of those places pretty good on prices. After you install the pan make sure not to walk on it if you can help it with shoes on or you might poke a hole in it and then you would get yelled at like I did. I didn't poke a hole in it but was told to stay out!

OK, so next we mixed up a setting bed for the shower floor consisting of sand and Portland cement at a 2/1 ratio. I mixed it pretty dry as you can see here; just enough water to get it to stick when you squeezed some in your hand. You want it stiff because the bed will be graded on a slight slope to drain and if it is wet the cement will want to level itself out.

At the thickest outside edge the setting bed is 1 1/2" and with about 1/4" per foot slope that makes it about 1" at the drain. Allen spread the mixture around and tamped it down with a trowel and then graded it with a short stick. We had grade lines marked on the Durock. You just keep tamping and grading and adding a little more if needed until you get it smooth. It does not have a slick finish like concrete but is smooth and even. I came back the next day and soaked it down with about 2 gallons of water to help it cure well. Concrete and such do not dry, it "cures", so keeping water on the slab helps the cement to reach its fullest strength. In the summer time if we pour a large slab of concrete we will often hose it down regularly for several days to make sure it does not cure too fast.

We have done much of the plumbing and almost finished the roof this weekend but ran short of material. I will try to get more up soon. The weather has been absolutely beautiful here and was great for working.

All Things Must Pass

It is very difficult to come up with a song title that in some way relates to plumbing but I was proud of myself for this one. I have to admit I had some help from a list of Beatle's songs though. Anyway, we have ran most of the plumbing drain and vent lines under the house. We are using PVC for these lines and will use copper for the supply lines. One issue we have had is how to limit the number of plumbing vents in the roof. I would like to have as few roof penetrations as possible in the metal roof, for looks as well as to cut down on leak possibilities. Metal roofs are just a little harder to seal around stuff like that than shingles roofs. What we decided to do is to combine the vent for the shower and bathroom sink and only have one roof penetration there. There will not be a roof vent for the kitchen sink but this is OK if you run an oversize drain line. This is what they do for sinks that are in kitchen islands where there is no wall to vent up through.

We also ran oversize drain from the bathroom just to help out on account of those 2 fixtures being combined. So, we have 2" PVC to just below floor level where it flares into 3" drain lines. Should not ever have any trouble with this but just in case, Allen put a clean out on one end. The septic tank will be located near what will be the front center of the house when the whole thing is built so all the lines are running in that direction with 1/4" fall per foot. The surveyor who did my perc test staked a general location for the septic tank but I think I can move it around a little. I have to get that finalized though before I will know exactly where everything is going. I still have not heard the results of the test. Allen said they came out and completed the test last Friday and are supossed to mail me something. We also started the central vacuum system. I love these things. The collection canister will be under the house and I will have 2 plug ins in the house. You get a 30' hose so that should be plenty. I ran the phone lines too but have never gone to the phone company and requested service. I guess I need to do that. If satellite service were better out here I would just have everything on that. Phone, TV, computer etc. I hate cable everything. We have a lot of trouble with it around here.

I am on a quest now to find the shower fixtures and tile! I am picking out finishes! I'm so excited!

What A Wonderful World

A few things are starting to bloom around here and I occasionally get a strong whiff of spring but it only lasts a few minutes. I'll be very glad when it gets warm. I really do not do well in cold weather. I planted these crocus, (croci, crocuses, crocamungi?) for Allen and many of them are blooming now but I was suprised at what a short life they have. The blooms only last a couple of days. I also read that deer LOVE them so I don't know how much longer they will be with us. I did not know that before I planted them. I am trying to cultivate a lot of native plants that deer are not particularly fond of since repellents don't seem to work well and I don't want to have fences around everything.
We are getting a good bit done on the house and I hope to post several things soon. There are just not enough hours in the day sometimes. If spring is arriving where you are, then step outside for awhile and enjoy it for me! And you!