Dec. 27. Started putting up the siding today. Joey and
Jonny each got kid-sized tools and belts for Christmas, and they were
put to good use. We put up the siding on the kitchen wall, and halfway
down the back side of the house before calling it a day.
Jan. 2, 1999. The start of a New Year! The day dawned
bright and cool. The crew was able to get the siding finished today.
Ross showed up injured-the result of a disagreement with a sharp piece
of metal. (Looks like the metal won, Ross. Better luck next time?) He
will be out of it for a while, but he can still supervise!
Jan. 9. Another beautiful day on the North Coast. Today
the crew installed the windows, doors and trim. Next week: Roof Trusses!
Jan. 16. The weather report called for high winds and
rain today. Ross decided that it would not be prudent to put an inexperienced
crew up on the walls to install the trusses in that kind of weather, so
work was called off. As it turned out, the weather held long enough to
work, but for safety's sake, we would rather not take the chance. The
weather on the north coast has been known to change rather abruptly. The
trusses will just have to wait until next week.
Jan. 23. No work today because of the weather again. It
seems that the closer you get to the end, the longer it takes! Oh, well.
Maybe next week.
Jan. 30. The weather forecast called for a new storm
system to move in on shore today, so all that was done was to put up the
gables and temporary headers. If this keeps up, we may never get the
roof on. We hope that next week will be clear.
Feb. 6. Another day of rain. No work. We are thinking of
starting a drive to change the name from "Saturday" to "Rainday",
but so far there seems to be too much opposition. Maybe we should start
a petition? We will try again next week.
Feb. 13. Still raining. Maybe next week.
Feb. 20. Well, we FINALLY got the roof trusses and roof
up. It finally looks like a house. Now the only problem is going to be
drying it out! Since it sat so long without the roof in all the rain, it
is pretty soaked. Ross is using heaters, fans and dehumidifiers to aid
in the drying process. It should be a couple of weeks.
Feb. 27. Started the electrical installation today. It
rained for most of the afternoon, but now that we have a roof on the
house, it didn't matter.
Mar. 6.Continued installing the electrical wiring. We
also held the monthly yard sale today, and both events were a success.
Ross says one more week of electrical installation, then the plumbing
goes in, and then to the insulation! It appears that the house will be
completed after all! Best guess, June.
Mar. 13. More electrical work. Soon we will be able to
move on to the insulation and drywall.
Mar. 20. Finished the electrical and started on the
footings for the porch railings.
Mar. 27. No work on the house today. Instead, the crew
was kept busy dismantling and burning an old garage on the property.
Joey was kept very busy with a hammer removing and breaking boards, and
was very excited when they dropped the building. He again proved himself
to be a very hard worker.
April 12. Not much has been happening on the house since
March 27. Another garage has been brought down, the front porch has been
framed in and the back porch is almost complete. That will make it much
easier to get into and out of the house to finish the inside. Also, the
Rhodes' went on vacation over Easter week.
April 17. Small crew today. Finished the back porch.
April 21. Starting back into the mid-week work, now that
the weather is better. We caulked the doors, trim, and windows. We also
started priming the eaves.
April 24. Since we had a small crew today, the day was
spent putting on the redwood decking on the front porch.
April 28. More caulking, and we finished priming the
eaves today. This is one of the "detail" phases that no one
wants to do, but makes the house just that much better.
May 1. May Day! We had a pretty good crew, but Julie
could not help today because she has Strepp Throat. Please join us in
wishing her a speedy return to health. Today the crew finished up the
trim and put the facia on the exposed beam and supports on the front
porch. They also put the facia on the eaves facing the street and
finished the decking on the back porch. Looks more like a finished house
every day. Won't be long now!
