It is not without setbacks

The latest accomplishments have included:

· Finishing the painting

· Refinishing the floors

· Installing the toilet

· Installing most baseboards

· Bringing in the vanity

The painting went very well and we decided on a neat color scheme for the pitched area in the living room. The baseboards were a bit tricky with how uneven everything is in the cabin. We ultimately decided to try refinishing the floor chemically rather than by sanding it down and redoing all of it. While not perfect, it is a big improvement.

The vanity proved the old adage: measure twice, cut once. When we had our pals at Ghost Town Trading Company make us the vanity, we were very careful to measure out the space into which it needs to go. And we did that part o.k.

However we forgot that the bathroom door is a very odd size – both short and narrow. It didn’t cross my mind that a 25-inch wide vanity would have a hard time fitting through the opening. But at 24-inches, it proved impossible. So this morning I removed the frame to get the vanity in and will spend this evening (or maybe tomorrow morning) building a new one.

And we had another possible disaster about the vanity even prior to the discovery about the door. Yesterday afternoon I was stopped at a red light in Rio Rancho (on route to Corrales) and some tipsy idiot rear-ended me. Now, I had the trailer hitched to the back of my Rav4 so he actually plowed into that rather than into “me” per se, and I was relieved at the time to notice no immediate damage (his front bumper was smashed). But this morning we discovered that we could not get the trailer unhitched and the vanity was only removable from the interior of the Rav4 via the rear door (which cannot be opened with the trailer on the hitch.

Happily with the judicious use of a hammer and some swearing we got the mess untangled and seem to be back in business.

In answer to your question about whether I obtained the other driver’s information the answer is: No, I didn’t. Not only because I did not see any obvious damage, but also because I would have done no good: he obviously would not have had insurance (as is often the case in New Mexico) and whatever damage was done, I would never have been able to get him to cover without a great deal of expense and aggravation.

We still have work to do. The windows need some form of blinds and the rest of the plumbing needs to be plumbed (vanity, kitchen sink). We also need to get what furniture we can in place before we really settle in. And Susan is going to find us a suitable refrigerator and stove.

Of course then we need to move on to the outside work, of which there is a tremendous amount. Thankfully we will have moved in and settled.

Update: Final throes, turned the corner, and other war rhetoric edition.

Originally posted on my other site on June 16, 2008 (oops)

This should be the final few days that we have a crew working with us on the cabin. All of the serious construction will be done and Susan and I will move on with all the finish work.

So far the cabin project has entailed (more or less in order):

• Gutting the kitchen of all cabinets and removing the West (outside) wall of the kitchen entirely. Removing the drywall from the North wall, reframing it and adding insulation. Moving the plumbing from the corner to a more reasonable location – actually replacing the plumbing entirely

• Tearing out the closet from the already undersized bedroom

• Gutting the bathroom, including removing the rotting floor

• Adding a kitchen-nook and laundry room to the West of the kitchen where that wall once was. Adding a window and an outside door. Cladding the new room with recycled barn wood initially dedicated to the stalled straw bale house project.

• While adding the roof, fix all the leaks in the old roof (thankfully it rained or we were going to take a hose to it.)

• Filling in the crawlspace under the bathroom with sand and adding a brick floor.

• Adding 4 support posts under the cabin and jacking it up ever so slightly. One of these supports is under the brick chimney, which had been held up by 2x4s, wishful thinking and inertia.

• New plumbing for the bathroom and a new saltillo-tile shower.

• Replacing all windows (most were broken open or sealed shut and all were generations-old, single-pane things.)

• Adding supports to the sagging bay window and replacing all glass with thermal pane windows.

• Tearing off outside batons from board and baton construction. Furring out the walls with 2x2s and adding rigid foam insulation. Furring out this with another layer of 2x2s and adding more rigid foam insulation. Tyvek paper for the outside.

• Adding new outside cladding: 1x12 boards cut to match specs. (we have 2 more days of this.)

• Rewiring the entire house, removing old mouse chewed, singed, and otherwise unfortunate wiring, putting in new breakers, adding 240-volt outlets for stove and dryer. Adding outlets to code (with, gasp, now more than one outlet in the bedroom!)

• Replacing rotted floorboards in kitchen and replacing them.

• Installing new light fixtures and new fans.

• Painting 75% of the inside with primer. Painting kitchen and bathroom.

So now we are in the final stretch. There remains plenty of painting, inside and out. The kitchen needs cabinets and sink and the bathroom needs the toilet installed and the sink and vanity put in. The floors need help and we are torn between seeing how well we can clean them versus having to sand them down and refinishing them. We also need to put in new baseboards and thresholds.

We also need to figure out what to do about the front door. It is an odd size and a standard door will never fit. Most likely we will need a custom door and will have to find out if anyone builds them for reasonable sums (I’ve gotten quotes through the big box stores and it is highway robbery.)

We also will have to re-hook up the propane tank (and have the tank inspected: it came with the cabin but has not been used in years.)

This is where we are at and what we have accomplished. It is an amazing amount when you look at it.