Un año de progreso

A lot has happened in a year.

Since that last post we have been busy little worker ants.  We hosted Christmas for my extended family. (lots of fun) We moved into the upstairs.  Had AC/Heat installed building-wide.  Kathy is teaching yoga 4 times a week- 3 times at the Manor and once at Anytime Fitness.  I've started teaching acting classes twice a month (now on hiatus).  Kathy is painting again!! Woohoo!

I've also started to build a handicap accessible restroom on the main floor.  I keep running into roadblocks that slow down the progress, but I WILL PREVAIL.  We are hosting Christmas again this year and I want to have things in better shape than last year.  I've been focusing on the downstairs a lot more than the upstairs so upstairs is little changed...at least visibly.

There's been a lot more, but that's all for the blog.  Hopefully it'll be less than a year before the next post.  :)

Major Progress...Sergeant Success

Okay...since last we met...
We got the meter moved over and the "pigtail" drop from the power pole connected.  Woohoo!  Shortly after that, Jim V and I got the power connected over from the new breaker box to the old so that we still had power to work with.  Of course we didn't just patch it over; we made important improvements to the system to make it safer as well.  Oldest fuse box-- gone.  Old meters--history.  Questionable connections-- reconnected.  I also started pre-wiring the basement.

This weekend, I have been busting my tail to get other things done.  Finished decking the floor in the "new" bathroom.  Put electricity into it, too.  Hung a solid door that needed lots of work.  Got a lot of cleaning done, and made a lot of progress on straightening up the main floor.  I'm trying to get it ready for Kathy to teach yoga there soon.  Kathy got into the act as well.  She took the shop-vac upstairs and started getting that in shape, too.

Everything is moving forward.  One weird and troubling thing... the walls were sweating so bad there were puddles on the floor.  This humidity coupled with the thermal mass of the thick brick walls makes for a lot of condensation.  Going to have to deal with that, too.

Next week, Thanksgiving week, will be a holiday for me all week.  Going to bust a gut to get lots done, while learning my lines for "Nevermore" (see http://notonys.blogspot.com). Going to be a busy life for a while.

It just floored me!

     Today I finally made some real headway on the floor of what will become the handicapped accessible restroom.  I was having trouble largely due to the fact that, as with much of this building, nothing is regularly spaced.  The slots for the floor joists vary as much as 4 inches from one to the other.  Even their lengths vary as much as 2 inches.  But, regardless, I have one-third of the decking down now.  When the decking is done, I'll lay the hardi-backer down, then the flooring.

     On an even more positive note, the inspector passed the new breaker box and meter assembly.  By the end of business Wednesday we should have the meter moved from the old, rather dangerous box, to the new, and a new power drop from the pole connected.  Then the wiring can start.  We will start with the upstairs- the living quarters.  Once that is done, we'll do the main floor.  Of course is has to be commercial code, whereas the upstairs is residential code.  Once all that is done, the basement will get the electrical make-over (also commercial code since it is connected to the floor above).

     One sad thing to report:  Some #@%&$# bag shot our male hawk. We have, sorry, had a pair hunting the area of the creek that runs along the property. I found the male in the yard Saturday... dead with a gunshot to the body. There can be no reason and no excuse. And since red tailed hawks mate for life, the female is now a widow. No more baby hawks.  I'll call the game warden Monday.

Game of Porcelain Thrones

Success!  We now have two toilets in what will be the "Ladies Room".  The permanent lavatory should go in tomorrow with the dividers shortly thereafter.  This is a major milestone on the way to habitable.  The vinyl tile floors were hell on my knees and back (even with knee pads), but it was worth it.  Once the sink/lavatory is in, I can start bringing the water and drains upstairs and over to the "Gents Room".  If I had to, I could stay there now.  I wouldn't like to, really, but I could if I had to.

Somebody tried to break in last Sunday, but were foiled not by the alarm system, but by a well constructed door and the steel bar cages on the basement windows.  Take that!

Here is a sequence of pictures of the restroom construction: