But it was also wonderful to come home and see Jim and all the accomplishments he made while I was gone! I know I'll miss a lot of the smaller jobs he did but I'll try and recap the big ones!
Jim had to order new caulk for the auto bay floor project - once it came in, he was able to continue work on that...
Some of the cracks that were cut in the concrete were very small and it was almost impossible to get caulk into them. So he had to come up with a different approach. He taped off the crack, caulked, then squeegeed the area, and pulled off the tape. It all looks really nice. He's going to get the epoxy ordered this weekend.
Another huge before winter project was to stuff insulation at the sides of all the windows in the shop and the living space. It was a lot of work - he had to cut insulation strips and then shred them to be able to stuff in these tiny spaces...
He was also able to put the blinds back up in the wood shop - we weren't sure he would be able to make them fit once the frame and jamb extensions were in place but it's good news with the colder temperatures on their way.
Jim had to be more careful up in the living space - he covered the counter and sink while doing the kitchen window...
And taped towels up to the wall to protect the furniture - such a good husband! Each window took approximately one hour to stuff so this was a long, tedious and not so fun job. But it's done - all windows are insulated and just need molding to finish them off.
He also made a trip to the lumber yard and got a bunch of wood for window and door moldings. He spent one morning just planing some of the wood to get it ready.
But the huge accomplishment was conducting what Jim termed the "heart transplant" of the building - shutting off the power to the house and rewiring for the generator. Here are the before pictures - the so very neat and beautiful breaker box inside...
The conduit bringing the power inside...
And the pull elbow bringing the service line into the building...
The first step was to disconnect the power to the house at the meter pedestal...
Then he had to undo the service wires at the breaker box...
Then he had to pull all those wires out through the conduit. I remember helping Jim pull the wires in when we originally did the wiring - these lines do not bend or flex easily and it was exhausting work.
Jim had to remove the pull elbow from the wall (wow, that caulk really sticks!). You'll see in later pictures that he went back and cleaned up and repainted this area.
Next he had to dismantle the conduit and pull all the wire out. Again, these pictures make the steps look easy but they were anything but!
No power and Jim needed to cut the conduit run, so he had to bring up the generator in the Bobcat to power the saw.
This was a test fit of the switch box to see where he needed to attach the brackets so that everything fits perfectly.
Lots of parts, pieces and wires on the ground getting ready to build back up again!
The brackets are finally installed. This step took about 1-1/2 hours longer than Jim anticipated - it was extremely hard to get both brackets to fit perfectly so that when the box was installed, the holes all lined up exactly.
This was the wrestling with alligator part - these wires do not bend and Jim had to try and get them from the conduit into the box. It took hours of completely exhausting work, moving the wires an inch at a time.
Through the magic of pictures, all the wires are now into the box and into the house!
Of course, then Jim had to make those wires bend into these tight quarters and get them torqued onto the connections. At this point, he got all of them wired in except the generator wire, which is hanging out in the picture below.
By this time, he had worked over 9 exhausting hours. Doing this was hard enough but knowing that the clock kept ticking and the skies were getting darker with no power inside was very stressful so there was not a minute wasted. He buttoned up the box for the night - the main work was done and he had power to be able to take a very well-deserved hot shower!
The next morning, he had to wire in the generator - check out how many wires were inside that cable!
He had to do the same wiring inside the generator - you can see that the red light is on!
The completed switch box...
And a view of the entire area...
Jim had to spend a good portion of yesterday doing clean up work. He was working so frantically against the clock that the tools didn't get back to their respective places.
Today he got the area all cleaned up and the rocks back in place. He still has to make some connections to stabilize the conduit a bit and put a coat of paint on it, but it looks fabulous and the wiring is all done! The next step will be to do the gas connection.
As if all those projects weren't enough (I was only gone a week!), he started working on the inside framing of the dormer window area. He also had to go to the Drywall Center and pick up some angle pieces and a little more insulation. He made these rafter extensions to bring the line of the ceiling out to the stairwell wall...
Then he was able to stuff insulation...
Today he started working on how to build a wall space to transition from the dormer area to the stairwell wall so he can insulate that outside wall space.
Putting up all the angle pieces and then bending the front angle piece so that he has places to attach drywall...
The framing is all done for this side - he just has to duplicate it all for the other side.
Just a note about the weather. When I was last in Ohio, they were coming off record rainfall and flooding and after I got back, they had an F4 tornado hit just a couple miles from my mom (so scary). But their summer has been incredibly hot with so very many days above 90 degrees and no rainfall; they are officially in a severe drought now. The leaves are dying in big clumps on the trees and check out the flowers - they look like were damaged from frost but they died from extreme heat!
To contrast, we had a beautiful summer and start to fall with cooler temperatures. When I got home, the leaves were turning and the property looks so beautiful!
Unfortunately, the tree butcher continued to work while I was gone, really clearing out these areas that were so dense before. So very sad...
That's a recap of the last week - hope it was a good one for all of you!
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| High 62/Low 43 - beautiful! |
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