Laboring Toward Labor Day

Since we've both been on vacation this week, we've gotten a lot done. We worked on Sunday and Monday, then took Tuesday off (Tom helped Sabastian move in Davis, and I had work to catch up on here). We spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the Cheney Cottage.

And a lot has gotten done. We took down the ceiling in the kitchen, I finished all the wiring in there (lights and outlets), which was a huge job. Running romex in a new house is probably not a lot of work (we've never had the pleasure) but in an old house, the problem is always getting it to go where you want it. So, for example, the light switches in the kitchen took 5 hours to run the romex - it was almost impossible to pull the romex through from the crawl space, but we finally succeeded. Opening up the kitchen ceiling also has greatly simplified the second floor wiring, so I expect to finish the upstairs bedrooms this weekend. All that is left after that is the upstairs bathroom and WC, and the downstairs bathroom, and the porch lights.

Tom has mostly been working outside, putting up trim, and there are very few pieces left to go. The band board is still missing on the west side, and one other piece of trim, and we have a couple pieces under one of the windows on the south side - but then it's all done. This weekend Tom hopes to put up more of the siding on the crawl space, and finish the watertable installation on the east and south sides.

We're also putting up the building paper on the roof this weekend, which will make the house truly watertight. We're still discussing if we're going to shingle the roof ourselves - the estimate we got for shingle installation was completely outrageous - so we may be up there roofing the place yet. But at least, after this weekend, we'll have the roof sealed and the rains can come.

And we're starting to think about plumbing. I'm hoping we can get some of the supply pipe installed so we can have a working toilet and sink in the not too distant future.

We've also started planning the landscaping. We plan to build a low retaining wall in front, with one step, and then bring in some clean fill to raise the level of the ground around the house (and give us some good dirt for plantings). The retaining wall will be concrete, so when we have that poured, we'll also pour the front path and the walkway back toward the Delaney House.

It's been a lot of work. But we're taking the day off (mostly) and relaxing. Then Sunday and Monday, we'll be back, making progress. This project will be finished, one day.