It has been a while since we updated the web pages. Somewhere in December we lost our lease on our small apartment in Cheney and moved into a motel. There wasn't room for the computers and stuff so we were without web access for a while. We eventually arranged for a phone line at Glenconey late in January, but it has not been conducive to upgrading web sites. The temperature inside the building has hovered around 40, so fingers go numb on a keyboard in a few minutes. In addition, after a hard day of working on the project, our webmaster goes back to the motel and spends the evening keeping warm and resting, away from the computer. So we apologize to our regular followers who have been watching progress. Meanwhile progress has been steady if not spectacular. We have accomplished the framing, plumbing, wiring, insulation and hung 220 sheets of wallboard.

Here are the recent photos.

Here you can see the structural wood that makes a ceiling above our bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, and creates a 500 square foot storage mezzanine.

Here is another view of the wood framing.

This is the NE corner of the building. Note the furring strips that will support insulation and wallboard.

Here is our electric panel with lots of wiring going around the house. All this stuff takes time and is important, even though it disappears into the woodwork.

Here is our temporary laundry area. Plumbing and wiring done.

Here is the plumbing in our pump/utility room.

When we got ready for the plumbing inspection we found that our drain, waste, and vent piping didn't hold air. A day of detective work narrowed the leak to an underground pipe. We figure that the Bobcat drive must have backed over it while installing the backfill or radon rock a few months ago before the concrete slab. We drilled some holes in the floor, put a lot of compressed air into the pipe, and then tried to listen for leaks. We were fortunate to narrow down the location. Then we rented a diamond saw and started cutting. Only a small part of the slab had to be dug up to find the leak. Black plastic pipe is easy to fix once the break is found. The hard part is cutting up concrete, digging, and replacing it all afterwards. Once fixed the piping held air pressure.

Here's another photo of the pipe repairs.

The electrical inspector passed our work and we got the electric power hooked up about the end of January.

We actually didn't have the insulation inspected yet, but interior ceilings can be done. This is green water resistant board going up in the bathroom.

The shower has "Durock" cement board instead of regular wallboard. The shower is to be wheelchair accessible with no ledge to go over.

Here is a photo of the insulation we've been putting up. There is about $1,000 worth of R-30 in the ceiling in addition to the R--10 white backed fiberglass that came with the building.

We looked out the window one afternoon and saw a herd of deer by wandering by. They stopped by the fence to look back.

A winter storm blew down our canopy and created a lake south of our land. This area is known for its wetlands and migratory birds.

After passing the framing, plumbing, electrical, and insulation inspections we began installing wallboard in earnest. Here is the partition wall between the finished part of the house and the future part of the house.

Here is a view showing completed wallboard on the divider wall. Note the electric lights that come on with a switch. Some day we will have more of those all over the place.

We are finishing the pump/utility closet and the back corner of the mezzanine first so that the water tank and hot water heater can be permanently installed. Hot running water makes it much more pleasant for the drywall taping crew -- us.

We have actually almost finished installing the wallboard by this writing, but I'll leave that for a later page.