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General update v13

It’s been a little while since the last update, and that’s because I’ve been busy. I’ve actually been too busy with IRL things to pay attention to the site. There’s a list of things that need to be done, even now; like, get the oil changed in my car and truck, probably get new tires for my truck, the car needs more coolant fluid, still gotta do tax return. And then there’s tons of things to be done for the house too.

There have been other things going on too, like I’m still struggling to keep an insurance policy down on the house without them canceling on me, but maybe that’ll finally be a things of the past because I FINALLY was able to get the house re-sided! I had to save up for it because it cost in total $19,000. Here are a few before and after pics:

The siding is fiber cement plank with the cedar pattern style which I think looks pretty good for this house. It no longer looks abandoned I can tell you that much, but there are still some things that need to be worked on. Most of the window sills need to be replaced; for now they’ve been repainted and caulked over, but that ain’t gonna last. I intend to get that done as I gradually replace the windows.

The flashing work in front of the dormer windows (the header), looks trashy and not really well done. I plan to install an apron over the flashing and detail the side walls of the dormers so everything looks a little more tidy.

Unfortunately the siding guys nail gunned the drip edges onto the trim in many places. I didn’t realize this at the time, so that’s gonna be a pain in the ass to replace and repair. Drip edge flashing is supposed to stand off from the fascia trim by about a quarter of an inch so that water doesn’t run down the side of the trim; it also provides a space to run a gutter which the back of extends up into and behind the drip edge. Nailing it down to the trim is a dumb-ass rookie mistake.

I also noticed that they high nailed the siding, which caused them to have to come back thru and pin-back the bottoms so that it wouldn’t flap or vibrate in high winds. Again, a dumb-ass rookie mistake. I guess I get what I paid for though, because I couldn’t really find anyone else that would re-side the house. I resorted to Mexican’s that couldn’t speak a lick of English, but at least they did the job. I just have to go thru and clean some of the rough spots up. The pin backed siding is alright, but it’ll cause grief in the future if I ever need to pull a section up for whatever reason.

I’m STILL working on this damn outhouse, and getting tired of it. There isn’t much day light in the winter season after getting off of work, so I haven’t been able to get anything done until recently. I’ve finally got some of the roof completed, which is a metal roof. I still need to find this edge flashing piece to attach around the front and both sides though so that rain can’t get beneath it. Metal roofs are a little different than shingled, so the drip edges you see in the pic below aren’t really required because a larger piece goes on top of and around it, except for the back side. I just added those there for extra protection really.

The beginning of the seat platform is coming along. I had a lot of trouble building this part because I didn’t have it drawn out on a blueprint like I did most of the rest of the project; so I just had to wing it. I’ve paid careful attention to weight distribution just in case I have an extra extra plus size visitor that needs to use it. I would hate for it to collapse on them!

There’s still a lot that needs to be done before this project is complete, and it’s getting a bit too expensive in my opinion. The plan though is that this will be a permanent structure and not a temporary one, so I’m building it to last. It would make for a great backup shitter in the future, and plus it looks fitting and quaint for a farm house.

A few weeks ago the weather here got freezing cold. I think the temperature was around 15F (-9C). This was before I had the house re-sided, so there were large spaces opened up in the wall where I did some repair work to the foundation. There was also no skirt around the house either, so the wind blew right thru and into the kitchen and living room, making it impossible to keep warm.

I brought everything essential form out of the kitchen and moved it into my bed room and pretty much lived out of there for a few weeks. I could at least keep my bed room warm, but even then there were areas where the wind was cutting thru that I had to cover it up with towels. The floor was also freezing cold, which I expected it would be and why I setup a rug in there the day I moved in to the house.

I alternated between different heaters to keep the room warm too. My electric heater I would leave on, which did a good job of keeping the room warm, but the cold would gradually take over so I would occasionally light either the propane heater or my kerosene heater. The kerosene heater heats up the room the quickest, but it also goes thru its fuel a little too quick; while the propane heater was slower but didn’t use much fuel.

Now with the new siding and skirt installed around the house, there’s no more serious draft blowing thru like before, so it shouldn’t be so difficult to keep the kitchen warm.

I moved my stuff back into the kitchen last week when the siding work was finished, and that first night I heard this haunting sound of two people moaning and babbling coming from somewhere around the house. I couldn’t tell if it was coming from the floor above or outside, but it sure sounded like the most stereotypical ghost noise you could imagine. I almost wanted to laugh at it because it couldn’t get anymore unoriginal, but it was real at the same time so I grabbed my flash light and went outside to check if it was out there.

As soon as I stepped onto the porch it stopped of course, but I walked over to the side of the house and spotted two cats going at it making love beneath the kitchen window! I didn’t know cats could make that sound, which was really similar to human voices; but at least that mystery was solved. As soon as I flashed my light on them, they zipped off to the barn in the back. I suspect I’ll have a litter of kittens come spring. Maybe I can get free cats this way or something?

Also here’s a picture of the neighbors dog. She likes to stop by to visit and use my front yard as a restroom. She’s a really sweet dog too; I give her pepperonis if I have them.

Thanks for reading my blog!

Date: 2024-02-14

Comments:

• Sorry if you've been asked this before, but what's the plan with the house? Do you plan on living in it eventually?

  
  Jun 2, 2024 Permalink Reply

  • I've been living in it, and the plan is to keep living in it forever! -Cozy

    
    Jun 3, 2024 Permalink Reply

• Cozy stuff,
  Greetings from Bulgaria!

  
  Mar 15, 2024 Permalink Reply

• Read this while listening to "It Will Be Alright" for maximum coziness!

  
  Mar 1, 2024 Permalink Reply

  • Which one?

    
    Jul 27, 2024 Permalink Reply

• Coziness is hard to truly achieve in construction, but I'm happy to see you getting close! :)

  
  Feb 27, 2024 Permalink Reply

• Cute doggo :]

  
  Feb 24, 2024 Permalink Reply

• the house rl looks good

  
  Feb 17, 2024 Permalink Reply

• unironically proud of you cozybro. You're learning a lot and gaining some cool skills that most people don't have. Rock on.

  
  Feb 16, 2024 Permalink Reply

• That outhouse is awesome. I grew up in a farm environment with my grandparents and my grandpa built the classiest outhouse in the village. I was quite proud of it as a kid. It didn't have seating like yours (had to squat over a plank) but it was great.

  
  Feb 15, 2024 Permalink Reply