Watch the clock!

I just reviewed the blog entries for July and everyone is after 10 PM. Ack! No wonder I am so tired; I work all day long for the Air Force, then work on the house and then come home and blog. Zoinks, I need some sleep.

Okay, I owe you guys lunch

Today at work, I (possessor of a really BAD memory) told the guys in the shop next to mine that the drive from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to Thistle House was six miles. This was the cause of much disbelief on the part of the peanut gallery, but I persevered in my belief despite their attacks--we even used the dubious powers of Google maps to crosscheck it, but they recommended a different way home. I was sure I was right, because Linnea and I had clocked it after filling the truck with gas.

Turns out that it's 14.8 miles. The six miles in my memory was the approximate mileage from the back gate of the base to the house--and even that is more like 10 miles. So, now I owe Larry, Curly, Moe and Sleepy lunch. How about something cheap for the broke house owner-builder? Like McDonalds?

Tip of the Day (TOTD)

Today's tip is for everyone who hasn't read Fine Homebuilding. FH is our absolute favorite magazine and I have a confession. Our newest issue came in the mail last night and I distracted Linnea with the cheap Lowes woodshop flyer while I started in on FH. I felt really guilty, especially as the subscription is in her name, but I just couldn't stop myself. I did confess to her and as pennance I read the editorial to her while she washed up from cutting out light fixture boxes in the siding.

Anyway, blue masking tape--commonly called painter's tape--is the TOTD. It's great stuff and has almost as many uses as duct tape. It's great to hold anything together that you don't want to leave adhesive residue on (like wood panels for youngest son's scroll saw work), or making punch list notes in the house (see photo). We have probably used about 20 rolls of the stuff, and have even used it for it's intended purpose of masking off areas to avoid painting them. When the inspector does his or her walkthrough, carry a roll with you and a Sharpie. Make a note of what he wants changed and leave it at there--it's a great visual punch list. When all of the blue tape is missing, you know you are ready for the inspection.

Weather you like it or not...

Looking for thunderstorms today and maybe tomorrow--whether we like the weather or not.

The next five days are dedicated to getting a lot done on the house--I am taking leave (that's vacation for everyone outside the military) Mon - Wed next week. I plan on taking one to two days off each week to finish up the house until we are done. There's about 12 weeks of time left until our construction loan "matures" and we exhaust our money set aside for the interest on that loan. If we aren't done by June 15, we will start making double payments (mortgage and rent where we live now) August 1. Ack!

So, time to kick it in gear and finish. I will call the building inspector Monday to get a pre-inspection walk through. I want to see what we need to finish before he's ready to sign us off for our rough inspections. Then we can insulate and close up the walls! Then all we have to do is install everything, like flooring, fixtures, paint, move and be here around my birthday in early June.

Linnea and I have talked about Nehemiah, the prophet who God called to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem after the city had been sacked and burned. He had an impossible task with unfriendly neighbors and scared builders. We have had all of those situations on this project! We feel like the next 12 weeks will be our miracle, after all, God worked out that the walls around Jerusalem were rebuilt in a month. We have two and a half, and our friends have all said that they will help us in droves once the insulation is in.

It's been a wierd 30 days...

Everyone told me that 60% of the time spent building a house is standing around and doing nothing. I am not sure if that's true of all houses, commercial and owner-built, but it's true for us so far.

Update: We have started the siding on the house, installed the soffits, ran about 50% of the PEX water lines and Kenny the plumber is running the waste and drain in the house (in between building his barn and taking his kids to soccer games). I have some really grainy pictures of the house in the near dark showing the siding, but I will take some more this weekend (maybe, it is almost Christmas after all) to show what it looks like with siding and trim. We have most of the south sided and painted, except for up at the soffit. Linnea also spent a back breaking morning doing parge coat over the basement insulation. Bob the mason brought by three yards of mortar (Type M for all you masons out there) and we tinted it to a clay reddish-brown. While we worked on siding, Linnea slapped the mortar on like a frenzied sculptor working in reverse. It's looking a lot like a house now, if you ignore the other unfinished bits.

Christmas?
Yes, Virginia, there is a Christmas. But we won't be in the house for it this year. That was our goal when we started (see earliest blog entries) six months ago with building. When we sat down with the kids to let them know Christmas 2006 was happening in the appartment rather than the house, one of them asked "How long have we been building?". I answered, "Six months", which led to the next question "How far along are we?". I had just worked that out with the bank, and we are barely over 60% done. So, this childlike sage said to me, "Then we have about four months left, if we are getting about 10% done a month, right?" Out of the mouth of babes...