Progress on the House This Season

I made a fair bit of progress this year on the house.  The first part of the season was taken up by gardening and tending the grapes, so I wasn't able to start working on the house until about June, when I started by finishing the last section of earthen floor.  Last year I wasn't able to finish the section of floor under the batteries below the stairs, so I moved the batteries and finally finished that section.  Finishing this section was key to being able to continue the interior construction of the bathroom, which was to be tucked under the stairs.

Another project I worked on fairly early in the season was doing the fascia and soffit and the shingling on the gable ends.  The scaffold had been set up all winter and I was anxious to get it out of the way so I could see the house.  It was a while before I could move it though.  But I'm really pleased with how everything turned out.  I did this fishscale design with the wooden shakes.  It wasn't that hard to shape each piece of wood and nail it in place, and it added a lot of character to the house.

Insulation in the attic

As the weather gets colder it seems I'm moving faster to try to get things done in time to move into the new house by winter. I'm shooting for Oct 31st to have it ready to live in and it's still possible I could make it. I just have to finish the earthen floor, get the wood floor laid on the second floor and enclose the east gable end. Once that is done it will be sealed from the cold at least. I may not finish the interior plaster, but I'm not sure I want to since I would like to add some detail to it and I'd like to take the time to make it really aesthetically interesting.

I found this little critter on the trim above the front door of the new house when I was about to lime plaster the wall. I've never seen a frog just sitting relaxing like this. It's a tree frog and probably like a cool spot to rest in. They have suction cup toes. I moved it before plastering.