Moving right along

  This last week has been exciting!  

  We are moving right along with our preparations for the electricity installation and heat pump install.  To have everything ready for the electrician we needed to finish attaching 2" wide wood strips to the metal wall supports.  This will enable the electrician to place all the junction boxes where they need to go. We had a walk thru with our electrician and feel confident he will do a great job.

  The electrical rough-in is this week!  Although this weekend was nice and cool 50 - 60 degrees, the heat is coming!!

  Since we have purchased the outdoor lights, they can be installed this week. We are very excited about this because we almost finished installing the shutters. Once the lights are installed we will just about have a finished exterior.




Here are photos of updated exterior with shutters on side complete!

The shutters were a bit of a pain. Each one took a bit more time than we expected. But then most everything usually does. 😊

  With the "R" panel sheet metal "hills and valleys" we had to insert 1" thick spacers strategically behind each shutter so that they were secure and flat against the panels. Occasionally, we had a bolt in a seam of the panel that required a slight cut out on the backside of the shutter. Using carriage bolts we secured the shutters nice and tight.

  We have two lower windows and the three upper windows on the front to finish another day.

  They look terrific and we installed all the ones the electrician will need to help him place the outside lights.

Wall strips installed above and below all windows and on all upright wall supports. The tongue and groove wood planks for the walls will be nailed right into those boards. We chose this route instead of installing another framed wall to keep the depth of the walls and window frames to a more desirable size.

 We are starting to be able to purchase interior items. The small bathroom dresser/vanity is being refinished and we placed our blue and white vessel sink on top and it looks fantastic. The copper exposed plumbing with the blue handles will look great too!

 The trees think it is Spring already!

Plumbing coming along! Shopping time!

Plumbing inside the house is coming along!

The plumbing inside is coming along just fine. Despite the numerous trips to the store for another 90 or another pipe, we are getting close to finishing all the inside connections. We have decided to go with copper fittings for the outside shower as well as the indoor shower and bathroom faucets. The savings was significant enough and the look we want to match the cabin interior.

We chose a 30gal water heater. Based on the appliance usage for two dwellers, we figured 30gal will provide enough hot water. We installed a whole house water filter before the water heater.  This one we chose is a GE filter. We installed a shut off valve right before the filter so that the cartridge can be replaced periodically with little effort.

Looks like a maze, but it gets the water where it needs to go! The pipes run along the walls and out of the way leaving plenty of room in the attic for storage.

We sent measurements of the coupala vents to the A/C man. He is building boxes that will cover the vents, but allow for installation of exhaust pipes to the outside. This will prevent exhaust from filing the attic.

KITCHEN PLANNING

Using our floor plan and some cardboard, we have begun to check, double check and fine tune our Kitchen plan. Water pipes are ready for sink and frig installs. That is a few months away, at least. The floor plan on the software is pretty in tune with the exact measurements that we have to install the cabinets.

SHOPPING 

We have been burning up the pocketbook. Beside the plumbing, we purchased a 36" ventless range hood in stainless steel. We purchased extension kits to be able to extend the chimney up to the 10' vaulted ceiling. We purchased two bathroom sinks. They are vessel sinks and will be installed in refurbished dressers.  One dresser is getting a make over now. The master bath dresser/vanity has yet to be purchased.

 LOVE THIS SINK!  Has the antique look and will be easy to install as a vessel sink and not a drop in sink.

This is kinda the concept for the faucets. 

Here is our dresser - wish me luck in refinishing it!