The north wall is done!

Except, of course for painting it, which will cover the caulked seams, trim on the ends and the windows and building soffets, the north wall is finished. The rest of the work will likely be in the spring. There is plenty to do on the inside after all the outside panels are installed.

Here's a flash picture taken last night after the ladders were removed.



With two more days of warm weather promised, and with our improving skill (and I do use the term loosely) at putting up the second level panels, we just might get them all installed before it turns cold again.

Rustic sidewalk moving along

The rain has stopped, the ground has dried and the temperature has risen, so Sandy has been able to get back to the sidewalk project. Even with constant interruptions from me with requests to help lift wall panels, (or to help me find something I've misplaced for the umpteenth time,) things are looking good.

Armed with a carpenter's square and a tape measure, she is establishing, from east to west, a line that parallels the building's south wall. Then, with a pry bar and stones gathered nearby, she is leveling and aligning the large pieces of stone and concrete that we found scattered near there when we bought the property.

Edging is pieces of fencing purchased at the serve-yourself lumber yard in town.

Here's what it looks like so far. There is a lot of clay near the building, but the soil improves quickly as one moves down the hill to the south (right).



The fate of spindly tree next to walk is still unknown. It's been in the way while installing Tyvek and siding panels, but it won't be after that. The growth of its roots is the major concern.

What am I doing wrong?

Can't understand it. I added 33 bales of cellulose to the building's sliding door and it didn't keep it one bit warmer inside!

Was I supposed to open them?

Pictures I promised

Here's a quick "tour" of the apartment so far. You may be able to "follow" this sequence better by opening the earlier past post of the floor plan in another window and referring to it as we go.

The living area is one large room with the kitchen at its west end. This picture shows the bank of windows on the south wall and our house plants covered for the unheated nights.



Here's the same wall from the outside. The large window on the left is where the dining "booth" furniture will be.



Moving clockwise, next is the kitchen area and the bathroom.





And here's that wall from the outside.



And finally the bedroom, inside,



and the north wall outside. The lower window on the north wall is at the stairway landing. There is another window on that wall but its opening hasn't been cut in the Tyvek yet because it will be installed after the panels are nailed up.



Yesterday we nailed up the first exterior panels. this is the lower level of the east wall. Remember, the easternmost 8' by 24' section of the barn is not part of the apartment.

A panorama view downhill

I'm trying a program that "stitches" photos together. Here's my first effort looking down the hill from about 50 yards west of the pole barn.



The sky didn't stitch too well, but maybe I'll find a way to deal with that.

Green View Springs property runs to about the first horizontal line of trees. The hills in the background are about 2 miles away.