Holy crap it's July

Progress in June was very slow, but progress just the same. I put a heavy waterproofing membrane on the foundation. It was kind of a fiasco, as a big section of the stuff fell off at night and there was a sticky mess. But we fixed it up and I think we should be nice and dry for a hundred years at least.

The next thing we have to do is insulate the foundation. Ground water is only two or three feet down at one end of the house, so we made a shallow footing. Frost here can get almost four feet down so we are insulating the footing to keep the place from moving up and down every Winter. This past Winter a crack opened up in the center of the slab about 1/8-inch wide, and in the Spring you could occasionally hear pops coming from the framing as it settled back into place. It sounded like what you hear in a new house made with green timbers or logs as they dry and take a new shape. Anyway here is the beginning of the insulation project. These corners have been screwy to figure out.


The other major project has been the subfloor downstairs. It is a little more than half done, and isn't too tricky now that the floor is mostly level.


Here you can see the done half before my dad and I piled everything from the other half on top of it.

And here's the not-done half. I'm making little channels in the slab so any water that does get in can easily drain out. I put some water on it to test how it drains and to add a little excitement.


My dad has been out at least once a week which has been very helpful. This month I hope to see some of you who may be visiting as well as anyone from around here who feels like coming out. We'll be having some sort of party July 11th, and hope to be putting up shingles for siding on July 25th.