Slow Going

When last I wrote, we were ready to call the plumber to get the vent stacks installed so we could finish the ceiling. Well, we called - and called - but he never returned our calls so Rick has decided he is going to install the stacks himself. He has been collecting bits and pieces and water heater vent stacks in preparation for that project and hopefully it will be done in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, winter has progressed to spring and while we've had some really nice weather most days the thought of putting my hands in wet mud has not been a pleasant one. I have managed to get the first coat of mud on the walls in the office and bedroom, however!

Office

East wall and west wall.

Plaster on the window ledge to fill in holes and create a "flat" surface on which to lay tile.

One piece of tile placed just to see how it will look.

Trombe wall with tile placed, ready for instillation. The two big pieces at either end will be cut to fit. The tiling will have to wait until it's warmer.

Bedroom

Shower

This is the window in the shower. We will install blue board and set tile over that but we added tar paper and window tape at the corners to increase the protection of the straw.

This is the first coat of mud and cob which went a long way in filling in all the dips.

This is the plaster coat. It is level with the wood framing and ready for the blue board.

We also installed a door between the garage and house.

It has made quite a difference!

Garage
Then we decided to install the insulation in the garage.

This ceiling will eventually be covered with drywall.  The insulation has made a noticeable difference in the temperature in the garage which has made us very hopeful for the house!

Spring!

It has really felt like progress has been slow! A lot of that, I think, is that while the afternoons have been relatively warm, it's still only in the 40s in the afternoon! And the spring winds have started. Some days I just don't feel like braving the wind and cold and find myself snuggling up with a good book!

Also, I think we may have a touch of spring fever <g>  

We decided to have a community garden on our property this year and invited our friends to participate. We started that work this past week. It feels really good to have friends participating. It will allow us to have a garden AND work on the house - best of both worlds!

Well, it's warming up so I guess I'd better get myself together and get out to the house.

Happy Spring!!!

A New Year & Work Continues

January has come and gone and while it was one of the mildest on record (and DRY, too) it has still been cold. Most of our work nas been relegated to afternoons when the temps are a little warmer which is somewhat frustrating because some mornings I'm raring to go but it's just too cold!

We have really come to love the wood burning stove we installed in the living room. So much so that we decided to put another one in the studio. We got this one from some friends and we love it!

Rick got to do more rock work.

Stove installed.

We have done just about all we can do on the ceiling for now.

Get a load of the scaffolding we've been using to get to the top of the ceiling. It's hard not to feel like a monkey at the end of the day.

Scaffolding finally cleared out of the living room - for now.

Rick had to install lots of spacers in the hip area of the office ceiling so he'd have something onto which to nail the T&G.

Office ceiling ready for insulation. 

I spent the better part of a week on the floor looking up at the work Rick was doing. He'd measure, I'd cut. My neck was a mess! This is the best angle I could get for a picture - it's looking from the studio through the wall into the office.

We've also installed more drywall.

Studio side of the wall.

Office side of the wall. Note the scaffolding again. We're getting pretty good at moving that around!

This is looking down the hall towards the office. Starting to really look like something!

Some Details

There are some things that need to be done prior to plastering so I've been spending some time doing detail work. The first thing is the top of all the windows. We decided to install tongue and grove and was able to use up a whole lot of little bits and pieces left from the ceiling.

Here are pieces measured and cut, ready for instillation.

Here's what it looks like installed.

Another detail that needs to be done are all the window sills. I started with the trombe wall in the office.

First I need to measure and cut two pieces of blue board and clean off the top of the adobes.

Then I added about a 1/2 inch of mud.

The blue board was then screwed into the gringo blocks at each end and the adobes in the middle.

Now it's ready for tile.

Shower

One wall of our shower will be straw bale. There are many pictures of bathrooms and showers that have been installed in straw bale houses but not much on how they did it! So we're going to have to make it up as we go. From what I've read, mud plaster is very good at wicking moisture away from and through the bales so we decided to frame the straw wall then put up blue board. Before blue board is installed, I will mud and cob the wall where it will go. The whole shower will then be tiled.

Most of the framing done.

In order to get some more natural light into the shower, we've decided to use a stack of glass blocks. This picture shows where they will go.

These are the tiles we've gotten to use in the shower. We got them at the Habitat Re-Store and saved a ton of $$$. The colors are very subtle and I think will look great.

We are just about ready to call the plumber to come and install vent stacks. Once that is done we will be able to finish the ceiling and blow in the insulation. We are both really looking forward to having that done. We know it's going to make a huge difference in how warm (or cool) the house stays. Right now that's hard to imagine.

When I sat down to write this post I felt like there wasn't going to be too much to write about but looking back at what I've written I see that we've actually gotten quite a bit done in the last month! Now for warmer weather so we can start the plastering!!!

Happy Holidays!!!

The holidays are here once again and work continues at a slow but steady pace. This time last year we had just started putting up the straw walls! My, what a difference a year makes!

We still have inside plumbing stuff that needs to happen but in the meantime we are doing what we can. More drywall has been installed.

We finished the wall between the living room and studio. That's a lot of wall!

This is the wall in the sun space.

And this is my pantry! (Oh what dreams I have for this space!)

The drywall is really starting to give a sense of "house" to the place and while there's still drywall that we can do, we decided to focus on the tongue & groove ceiling because once that is done, we will be able to blow in the insulation which will make the house a lot more comfortable!

The T&G is Aspen and is really beautiful!  We have 10' lengths and with the help of the handy, dandy BoWrench that Rick found online we are able to put up full 10' lengths. This tool is the greatest thing since sliced bread and has really made this phase of the building project pretty easy. It's definitely easier than putting up the roof!!!

This is the office ceiling.  This end of the house has a hip roof which is going to make the ceiling a bit challenging. We've installed all the T&G up to the hip part. We still have to figure out how we're going to do the rest.

Until we do, we have moved into the rest of the house. As I mentioned above, there is still some plumbing venting that needs to be installed so we're working around those areas.

This is looking down the hall towards the office and studio.

The ceiling in the sun space is done up to within a foot or two of the peak. The space that is left will allow us to get up there to blow in the insulation. The picture doesn't do the wood justice - it is really beautiful.

We are currently working in the living room.

Now that winter and the holidays are upon us, it's good to take time to reflect on the past year and all our many blessings.  Most of our blessings are in the form of friends. We are so blessed to be living in a place that is not only beautiful but where we are surrounded by wonderful people. Their support - both moral and physical - has made this project a joy. From the loaning of tools to the hands-on help, we wouldn't be this far along without them!!!

So - to all of our friends and family near and far we wish you all the best this holiday season and for the New Year. We hope to see you all out here soon!

Winter is Here!

Winter arrived this week with a vengeance! While we didn't have a ton of snow (maybe 3 inches) we had horrible wind and now it's bitterly cold! Needless to say, we are grateful for the wood burning stove. While the lack of insulation in the ceiling allows heat loss, the fire does provide warmth enabling us to continue work - which we're doing. (I keep reminding myself - and Rick - that this time last year we were stacking bales and all we had for protection was plastic!)

Tongue & Groove, "Lintels" and Drywall

We've got two major tasks ahead of us: installing the tongue and groove ceiling and drywall on the framed walls.

Slip had to be applied to the top of the bales before we could start on the T&G. Once the slip was done baffles had to be installed between the trusses to allow air flow.

With baffles done we could finally start on the T&G BUT we could only do two courses because cob had to be stuffed in the crack between the T&G and the wall. Our walls aren't very even so there were gaps of varying sizes. If we didn't stuff cob in the cracks we would risk losing a lot of insulation once we start blowing it in. Thankfully I was able to get the cob work done before the bitter cold hit us.

Here you can see where the cob was stuffed in the cracks.

This is looking from above. The T&G is on the bottom right.

Tongue & Groove

In order to make sure the first course of T&G was level all around the whole house, we used a water level to mark all the trusses.

Rick using the water level

A test.

Ready...

First piece nailed up!

First two courses.

Three courses in the living room!

"Lintels"

We didn't have to install lintels above all the doors and windows - we used boxes attached to the trusses to hold the bales instead - but we decided we did want the "look" of lintels so we got some rough cut 2 x 6s and cut them to fit. We're very happy with the way they look.

Drywall

Before we did all the rest of T&G we decided we wanted to put up the drywall first. That way the T&G will butt up to the drywall instead of the other way around. We figured it would be easier that way.

We are total novices at drywall (as we have been with most of the tasks involved in building this house!) so we started in the studio. The studio walls will be mostly covered by model train layout and shelves so we could practice here without worrying too much about the way it looks.

Studio

Studio wall from the living room.

Bottom half of the wall done!

The high today is supposed to be in the mid 20s but there's a fire in the stove and it's sunny so after lunch we will be back out there putting up more drywall. Things are moving along.