The Year in Review - 2002

OK, we went ahead, and closed on the property in March, 2002. The adventure begins!

The real work started in May, when we went up for a few days starting with Mothers Day weekend. The only thing that was done was De-construction, tearing out the ceilings. The former owner had all the junk cleared out, so we were able to just jump right in and make our own mess! Many, many bags were filled with 'chopped celulose', aka 'blown' insulation, along with the old fiberglass 'chopped rock wool'. Needless to say, goggles, masks, and hardhats were worn to make sure we survived the ordeal! We were left with this.

The 'snow' in some of these shots is the chopped celulose still blowing around in the air.

The more interesting thing was the dropping of the sagging ceiling. It came down as a complete unit, which raised dust for about 4 hours!

Right before it snowed, the lawn got tackled. Now it looks like someone lives there. Right? Who else would mow only half the lawn? :)

Memorial Day Weekend
Well, this weekend (4 days worth) was spent mostly cleaning up. We took down the rest of the ceilings
,
and then started to bag. And bag. And bag some more. Then we went to the dump. 6 times! Over 90 bags of insulation and assorted stuff, and, once again, we filled the big dumpster! After that, we got some mowing done (yes, the lawn is finally mowed completely), and I started to rebuild some wall sections in the garage
(note the painted boards), before I started to put up the deck that will be part of the bathroom
. At that point, it was time to run home and recover!

June 8
We have achieved septic! Much to our pleasant surprise, one week after we left, our new septic system was in! And, we found out that in the next week or so, the well was scheduled to be drilled! So, off we ran, trailer full of furniture again, back up to Maine for a luxurious one day vacation full of rest, relaxation, cleaning and wiring, to get the circut run for the well pump, and to pay for the septic system. While I ran lights in the basement and the 220 for the pump,
Vicky cleaned up the last of the loose insulation with the shop-vac ,
and lots of tires and assorted muck in the basement room where the water system will live. What a difference!

July
Well, well, we have a well!
One of the new windows went in, and some insulation went up. One can actually see changes!
We hooked up the waste pipes, set the toilet, and ran cold water lines, so now the female-types are happy. :)

August
In the middle of August, I went up and did some work by myself. Vicky had to stay home due to her job. It was in the 90s most of the week I was there. This is a movie (taken with gspy gspy.sourceforge.net) of a semi-typical day.(12MB worth of data!)
Take out the window, take out the wall

Put in the wall

Put up the main kitchen wall

Put in the Window

Take down the ceiling joists, put up the ceiling joists (along with some insulation)
Run more plumbing, for the outside faucet

Labor Day Weekend
Vicky and I drove up for a long weekend on Thursday, and came home on Tuesday. More inside work was done, insulation and wiring, and I put up my new toy, the One Wire Weather Station from Dallas Semiconductor and aag.com.mx . The current weather conditions should be here:

Mid September
We went back up and finished the insulation, put plastic vapor barrier on the subfloor and seiling, and started laying the new floor.

A trench was dug from the house out to the LampPost, and a new cable was laid. For the first time in many years, the lights were on!

As any good geek would do, the computer is working, and powering the Weather Station.Vicky seems to think that it's real funny (and thus the computer picture) that in the middle of the mess (unfinished walls, etc) the computer is there and running. Also, the webcam is hooked up, and one of the latest shots should be here.(you should see it on the sill against the window)

Tim Sailer
Last modified: Thu Sep 19 18:33:57 EDT 2002