More Gravel

Spent the evening spreading gravel at the end of the long driveway we had built last summer. This is the area where the vehicles will be parked, so I made sure that it is thick and wide enough to turn around on.

My wife told me she did not think it was going to be as big as it is and I had to remind her that vehicles need space for turning around in and that in the end, once the main house is built and the trailer is gone, the lawn for the trailer will be turned into more driveway. As far as I'm concerned, there can never be enough driveway space, particularly once you start parking multiple cars there and having people visit.

Buying Stuff

I just want to take a moment to say that I like Craigslist. I often hear how people don't like it and they say buyer beware and in those cases, I would have to agree. I purchase mainly automotive parts, the likes of tires, and building materials and appliances. When I contact someone to inquire about a sale, I do my best to ask all the questions I can think of about the item prior to asking to actually look at it and buy it. So far, when I have shown up to pick up what I am interested in, it has been as described. If it wasn't, I can certainly tell you I would thank the person who was selling it for their time but tell them I will not be buying and the reason why. I don't need more junk than what I already have floating around.

Having said that, if you look around you can get some very good stuff. Some people sell stuff because they have no need for it any more and not just because it is junk they have sitting around. Last week I picked up a stove from a gentleman about 45 miles away. I needed a propane stove and this fine fellow had one. Best yet, it was only for $10! Add in the cost of $20.00 for gas, this was still a deal. I went in knowing that the stove was working in good condition. When I got there, the guy told me he and his wife had used it for one year in a trailer they lived in while they built (similar to what I am doing) and that once they were done they had upgraded to something a little fancier. They put this one into storage and their it sat. Now he was cleaning out old stuff and had to get rid of it and so I got a deal. As you can see from the picture, it was better than just working, it was like new! Like I said, I love Craigslist.

Temporary Home

Well, this last week has been very eventful. After waiting nearly two months longer than originally planned, the logger who was clearing the area for a future garage and dozing it level finally finished this past Saturday. He finished about ten in the morning and by about two in the afternoon I and my cousins were hauling into place the single wide trailer I had purchased a few years ago and had stored on another part of the property. It is only 12x40 with two very small bedrooms, full kitchen and living room and an actual roomy bathroom. It is old, but the inside was very well maintained. Their are a few cosmetic defects on the outside, but nothing that can't be repaired.

The plan is to live in this home while construction of the new home takes place. With my astute cousin, I have tied in the electrical, prepped the water (more on this in a future post) and leveled it. So far so good. My wife and I paid cash (on the cheap at that) for this trailer and so in essence, we not only own our property, but we own our home too which is very satisfying! There are many things to take care of yet. We have to spread gravel on the upper part of the driveway for parking, attach the deck and stairs and hook up the septic and sheet the trailer perimeter besides little things like start a lawn so we can enjoy a small yard of grass.

My beautiful wife spent a whole weekend just cleaning the house out, hand scrubbing the floors, walls and every nook and cranny, changing the water regularly. The place is spotless! We moved furniture in and found we had to really weed out much of our goods; finding minimalist is best when living in such a small space. I have put into a storage building we have some of the items we are not willing to part with, but other than that, two couches and a plethora of furniture went to better homes. I am sure this little abode set right next to our building site will serve us well for the next few years while we hammer away at building our house and wont have to worry about paying for rent in the big city. The only expense will be property taxes and utilities.

Where the Construction Stands

Currently the construction on the new house has been on stand-by for the past several months. The first reason for this inactivity is I was told that I could not do anything until after the wedding. That has now come and gone, but instead of construction of the newer house, I have actually been involved with fixing/preparing the trailer house that has been out on the property for a few years.

While constructing, it has been our plan to live in this building so that we did not have to pay rent up town. So far so good. I have done alot of minor repairs to the inside of the trailer itself which in itself was actually kept in good condition other than being derelict for who knows how many years. The only major problem is that it is still sitting in its original location where i had originally parked it after buying it a few years ago. The plan was to have it up where we are building, sitting in the area where we will eventually build a garage. The man who is clearing the area and dozing it though has not been the quickest and though I really would like to be up where we need to be, I understand he is trading work for firewood, and so we are low priority compared to cash paying clients. I am a big believer in trading for what you need. I know in time though he will get it done, but until then the trailer sits with no utility hookups of any kind.

Now you might ask, why should this matter? Well, it really doesn't except that we are now moved in because my wife decided we were done living up town (which i am thankful for) and agreed to live primitively for a few months if need be. It's been primitive, but not to bad. Almost like an extended camping trip. We have been using propane like crazy though, for cooking and lights, a cooler of ice for a fridge and an old out house for other means, but all in all its been cozy and quiet and actually alot of fun. Without the television, we play alot of games and read and talk which is more intimate and better than just being a zombie in front of the old boob tube!

Now the question is, with the time spent on this pre-prep to construction project, will their be anytime to pick up on the real house construction before the snow flies?

The Funny Symbol on My Blog Page

As some of you may have noticed, I have posted a strange looking skull and crossbones type symbol on the blog page. Well, in a way it is a skull and crossbones, because it harkens back to they days when I use to run my paintball field as a pirate field. Now a pirate field, or renegade as they call em now days, is usually a field that is not a commercial field that may not have safety measures or insurance, hence the name pirate. Well now, even back in my pirate days I actually had a field that had all that and more. I only run two games a year, but safety has always been number one and referees and insurance along with signed waivers has always been number one along with a commitment for fun.

So it was when I opened the field to the public some years ago I needed a sign for the road. So a person I knew that was a graphic artist at the time designed that symbol for me. I liked it so much I put it on my business cards, road sign and website and also use it for most web forum accounts I have out there. Since my paintball field is still up and going, if you like you can click on this symbol and a link will bring you to my paintball field page where you can read up on that hobby of mine.

More Plumbing

Well, the weather has finally cleared up and things are drying out, the problem now though is the old weather has arrived and with it frost. My fiance and I went out to the property and finished the in ground plumbing that i have put on hold until now due to the extreme amounts of rain we have had since the last time I worked on it. First off, the ground already has a few inches of frost in it and so digging was hard, but other than that we had some beautiful late fall weather, the thermometer getting up to almost 50 degrees!

I already had the trenches for the drains dug (thankfully!) and the fittings in place. All we had to do was cut the pipe to the right lengths and test fit. Once the test fitting was done, I used a marker and marked each connection so I was able to remove the pipe. Next came purple prime and glue. I wont say the whole process was quick- I rechecked alot of my angles and runs many times. My fiance questioned why I was doing so and I told her that it was better to measure many times and make one cut. I also wanted to make sure it would work, because once the cement is poured, there will be no access to fix it without cutting thru cement and pex lines!

Needless to say, by the end of the day we had the drain lines in, glued and covered with sand. I think we both went away with the feeling of accomplishment. All I have left is to get a few hay bales and fluff some hay over the lines to prevent the frost from going down to deep and upsetting the pipes and also replace the plastic bags we used as temporary caps on the open pipes with real caps. This will keep water from entering the system and sitting in the lines and freezing. Snow is expected anytime now, so I think construction is on hold now till the spring thaw.

Plumbing

Before the slab can be poured, the underground plumbing for the drains must be installed. This of course relies on some good ol' muscle and brain power. The muscle is for digging the trenches that the pipe must be laid in, the brain power is for properly dedeucing the correct flow of waste water and the correct angle of the pipe (remember water runs down hill, not up).

Fortunately I have planned to place the bathrooms and utility room in the same room, so that helps alot with the amount of trenching that is needed. Not only that, the upstairs half bath will be directly above this room, so everything is nicely stacked. The only long trench that was needed was the one for the kitchen sink, which by its nature is in the kitchen and not the bathroom.

So far it has gone well. For once we had a few nice days of warmer dry weather so that when I finally had a chance to go out to the property and figure out the lay of the pipes I did not have to wade through muck. I still dont think I will have the opportunity to pour the slab yet, but if I can at least get this plumbing done I can cap the pipes and lay hay on what I have done and wait for the warm spring breeze to grace this land once again.