Author Archives: cstults

We’ve been making preparations for the siding. We designed our building to be as pest-proof as possible. That includes keeping the attic off limits to birds, bats, and bugs. This was a challenge since our attic is fully ventilated. To allow for air flow, we left a gap along the entire long sides of theContinue reading “We Mesh Well With Others”

“Whatever goes up, comes down, they say. But whatever goes down doesn’t always go away.” – Winston Rothschild, The Red Green Show We installed a septic system! Hopefully it keeps everything away for good. The process began over a year ago when the county approved the location of our drain field. They inspected test holesContinue reading “A Not So Crappy Job”

Although our air conditioning and heating systems are ductless, many other things require ducts. The simplest ducts were for the bathroom fans. We have one in the master bathroom and one in the shop bath. A 4 inch pvc duct in the ceiling, leads humid (or stinky) air outside through a vent on the exteriorContinue reading “Getting Our Ducts in a Row”

Remember when Terry came last summer to do this? Well…his work wasn’t quite finished. Now that we built the second story office, Terry returned to install more tubing over the sub-floor. The entire first floor is concrete, which was poured directly over the pex tubing. The office floor, however, will be wood. We made aContinue reading “Chill Out, Fans!”

Our to-do list is growing at a high rate, and we haven’t been able to check many things off recently. One small accomplishment was completing the dividing wall, closing off the apartment from the shop. Now the only passage is through a 3 foot wide doorway, which leads me to the introduction of this week’sContinue reading “Wired for Success”

It all started about a year ago when one of our large Douglas Fir trees died. We were concerned it would become a safety hazard if left standing much longer, so Sam decided to cut it down. The tree was near the road, making it was easier to fell and haul out. It was oneContinue reading “A Step Above”

The moment we’ve all been waiting for has come! We designed our whole building around this 5 ton Demag bridge crane we purchased two years ago. Time to see if the crane actually works! For those of you who are less familiar with things like “festoons”, here is a fun reference diagram I found online.Continue reading “1, 2, 3 Phase!”

Electrical work was next on our to-do list once we completed the plumbing. Time to dust off the boxes of MC cable we’ve been hoarding since last May! First, we needed to bring power into the building. A few years ago, before we began construction, we had a transformer and a temporary electric panel installed.Continue reading “The “Can”-Do Attitude”

While I was hibernating earlier this winter, I finalized the layout of all the rooms, including the precise locations of the fixtures – sinks, bathtubs, etc. Then I handed my plans over to Sam, so he could design the plumbing system. I hadn’t the slightest clue on how everything works (nor did I have muchContinue reading “Pipe Dreams”

After much anticipation, we have windows! We purchased casement style windows from Sierra Pacific last year. We actually went “window shopping” back in 2020 when we started designing the building. I think it was our only outing for months, making it a memorable occasion. Our windows are all pine with a black aluminum exterior. IContinue reading “Windows 10.0”