Episode 12: C-C-C-Collld-d-d-d!!!

New Year's Eve I worked outside all day in the wind. It was cold! I wasn't able to get warm again until I got in bed that night. The New Year began Thursday morning as I entered the cavern that was my kitchen, and I felt somewhat like Luke Skywalker as he awoke in the cave of the snow beast. I could actually see my breath in the kitchen! Fortunately, unlike poor Luke, I was not hanging upside down with my feet frozen to the ceiling. Luke, however, did possess the Force to aid him in his dilema. I, unfortunately, do not possess the Force.



The worst part of the job is over. The drain lines have all been tied in to the existing plumbing. I spent Friday running the drain line to the laundry room and then framing and re-sheathing the wall. I didn't take pictures of the work on the wall, as it had started to snow, and then turned to rain. I'm not sure why the original construction poured the concrete pad up to the height of the wall's base plate, but when the installers of that concrete abomination that was the patio raised it up that extra 4 inches, it allowed water to run under the wall. I don't know how long it has been like that, but the base plate was disintegrated. What I thought was dirt was actually what was left of the wood. Once I had pulled off the rotted sheathing and the old door frame, the wall was just hanging there. I had to frame in the doorway to accept a window, anchor the framing to the concrete with the Ramset, and reinforce the wall. Once I had installed the new sheathing the wall was pretty solid. I then turned my attention to the old exhaust fan in the kitchen. I had cut the power to it a couple of weeks ago. I pulled that out of the wall, which left a 27 x 27 hole. I framed that in and applied sheathing and building felt to the outside. I will have to patch the exterior brick wall at a later time. Dad plans on removing the back steps to his house and putting in a deck. The bricks on the steps closely match the ones on my house, so I'll be grabbing those to patch the brick veneer.

I put new insulation in some of the walls. That helps with the draft quite a bit. I'm not putting all of it in until I have all of the electrical and water lines run and sure that nothing is leaking.