Slow and Steady Builds the House

Sorry it has been awhile since my last update, but it has been a full week. I have spent the days packing things into boxes for our move, trying to keep the house under control, preparing meals for our supper at the farm, and of course, making sure that Caleb and Hannah aren't ignored during this crazy fall (or year, I should say!)

This week of building has been kind of slow week compared to last week, or so it seems. As I mentioned earlier, we are just working evenings this week. With spending Monday in Des Moines all day, we have had three evenings at the farm.

Last week was quite exciting. We got a lot of work done and saw big changes as walls went up and wiring got started. This week, however, the changes aren't as pronounced. We have been working quite hard, but the things we are working on are piddly little things that go unnoticed so it seems that not much is happening when we walk inside.

Progress is being made, however, even if it doesn't jump out at us. These things are all things that need to be done before we will start to see big changes again when the insulation and drywall go up. Then, of course, there will be another phase of piddly little work that doesn't stand out very much.

So here is what has happened this week:
On the contractor end of things, the septic system is finished and the plumbing is set up along with the bath tub being installed. A note on the tub - it isn't blue. That's just a protective covering. It is however, two inches wider than a standard and quite deep. This was one of the few luxuries (even though it was about the same price as a cast iron tub) we wanted from the beginning. (Yes, Ethan was in on this one - I actually had to walk him away from tubs with jets multiple times!) We don't care that our bathroom is barely big enough to fit it. There's just something about a nice warm soaking after a hard days work!

The plumbing and the septic were the most noticeable changes of the week so far, especially since quite a large portion of the pasture got torn up in the process of putting the septic in. (It will come back though, and we can graze and make hay over the system too.)

The things we have been working on are the things that aren't very noticeable.
In addition to picking out and buying more materials, we have caulked around the entire base of the building where the concrete meets the wood. This will help tighten up the building to prevent bugs from coming in.




We fastened boards to the concrete around the perimeter of the building to nail the dry wall to . More outlet boxes and outlet spacers were installed (the one pictured isn't finished if you noticed it was crooked) and more holes have been drilled for the wiring. (I can see why the bid to have the electrical job contracted out was around $8000. It just plain takes A LOT of time!)











Ethan has gotten 3 of the 4 cabinet shelves constructed with 2 of them nailed into place. (Since our ceilings are 10 foot tall, we are going to have built in cabinets above our closets for extra storage.)

Caleb and Hannah also chipped in on their own and spent a good hour sweeping up sawdust and dumping it into the garbage.

It's amazing how every little hand helps out, and each little project that gets done brings us a step closer to seeing big changes again.

Another day at Menards

We haven't worked much at the farm since Friday. Saturday and Sunday we pretty much collapsed. Ethan did run out on Saturday with a new load of feed for the hogs. I rode along and took the opportunity to pull some more wire for about 30 minutes. Other than sleep, that's about it - besides doing some packing up of the house and Ethan writing the sermon for Sunday morning.

Now that we are semi-rested, we are ready for more. Today we got a lot accomplished, although if you peeked in the house you wouldn't know it. We started the morning with a scheduled baby appointment and spent the rest of the day in Des Moines spending money.

Our wood burning stove and all the stove pipe are now purchased. We felt that needed to get done ASAP since prices have gone up 15% since we started building, and they are continuing to rise. We also spent another 3 1/2 -4 hours at Menards getting materials. It's amazing how much time it can take to pick out faucets and bathtubs! (By the way, all materials are rising. The flooring we got in Feb was $1.28/ sq ft at regular price and now it is over $1.50/ sq ft. Thankfully we got it on sale for $0.99/ sq ft! )

With our shopping done (this round at least) we are now ready for the plumber to finish his work and for the Amish to install the stove pipe. (The chimney store was quite unsure of how it would work to run stove pipe through a steel roof without water leaking through the roof. Thankfully we know Amish who live in steel buildings too and of course use wood stoves for heat!)

With more materials boughten, we are also ready to continue our projects. We won't be working full days like last week since Ethan needs to take care of his office work, but we will spend a bit of time out there when the desk job is done for the day.

By the way, the countdown really begins. It is now exactly one month until we have to be out of our house!

Eggs!

Last week we got a lot accomplished out at the farm since we were able to be out there all day. Ethan has a great summary of the week on his blog if you haven't had a chance to read the daily updates here.

Also, I need to send out a HUGE thanks to my parents for helping us get going on our building this last week! We are so happy with what we got accomplished, and we were able to get to a point where we can continue to progress on our own - although we always will welcome any offers of help. :)

Not only did we get a lot accomplished, but we also got a lot of eggs! Knowing that our chickens are eating their eggs, I frequently checked the pen to snatch them before they disappeared. Some days I managed to rescue up to four of them. It is nice to have a good supply of eggs in the fridge again, however, I think I could use them up in less than a week: hard boiled, egg noodles, banana bread, omelets . . . Pastured eggs are so nutritious, especially for expecting moms. You can read about some of their benefits here.

Unfortunately, we probably won't be able to stash away the eggs this coming week. Although we will be out there working a bit, we won't be able to be out there all day long like last week.

It won't be long now until we will be living there though. And next year, when we have eggs for sale, we will definitely have a fresh batch of hens!

Last Day Of Work

Today was the last day that my parents were here. We put the pantry up, and now all but one wall is up. The last will go together after the drywall is out of the way. We spent a good part of the day starting the wiring, and I was very excited to see that that septic system got started today too!

I forgot to include this picture yesterday. We now also have a drive way.

Continuing with Building

Today we had and an air nailer that a friend is letting us borrow. It helped quite a bit in putting up more walls, ceiling, and detail work. I also got the electrical boxes in place.

Roll Call

Becca's mom - sweeping out the dried mud on the floor from the builders (during the morning - nap patrol in afternoon)

Caleb and Hannah - hard at play outside and in the "safe during construction" framed in rooms (during the morning - naps in afternoon)

Ethan - at home with a 101+ degree temperature (except for an afternoon check-in)

Becca - third trimester of pregnancy and trying to fill Ethan's shoes for the day. (I limited myself to light nailing, supporting walls that were going up, calling some contractors, and fetching things needed.)

Becca's dad - doing the hard work!

Accomplished: A cleaner floor to work on, new walls up, closets framed in, entry door framed in, ceiling drywall prep, and other misc.

(Thankfully Ethan's temperature broke this evening. Hopefully he will have some energy to do some work tomorrow.)

Electricity, Ceiling, and Walls!