Week 29 - Finishes

The project has now devolved mostly into medium sized or small things that need to be finished ... and putting the rest of the house back in order. The addition is mostly in use, so nothing is urgent except the garage drywall. From now on I'll probably be jumping from one project to another like a flea as I think of things or decide that they are important.

Since the weather has started to turn, I put the first two coats of paint on the outside of the front door to protect it. The color matches the detail color on the outside of the house. The inside of the door and the final coats on the outside will be finished in the spring (hopefully) when the weather is good again. The inside will match the pocket and closet doors in style.

The other big thing I did this week was to finish the drywall in the garage. I had left it because the last part involved cutting individual pieces to fit up between all the rafters. I originally thought I'd have to cut pieces for each bay, and then cut a separate strip to overlap the dryway below the rafters, but John from Slater suggested that I make L-shaped pieces for each bay instead. It turned out to be not that hard, except for where there were wires and/or nails sticking out. I made a cardboard template and used that to cut the drywall.

The remaining drywall scrap that I had went up on the back and part of the side wall of the garage (easier than storing it and more thrifty than throwing it away.) Since I had decided to put the drywall up, I got a roll of insulation and put that up as well. The garage doesn't need to be insulated, since it isn't living space, or heated, but it can't hurt and there's never going to be an easier time. It ended up being about half of the exposed wall space. The rest will get done at some future time.

So, I have a sort of polka dot garage space for the time being. And it's already getting full, soon to be more so since I want to move the wood stored on the carport pad into the garage.

Late in the week the weather cleared so I moved back outside, this time to work in the yard. As fall sets in and the chance for another heat wave disappears, it's time to winterize the yard and start moving plants again. Unfortunately, this was a very dry year and I lost several of the shrubs I was trying to save and had quite a bit of die-off on some of the rest.

The first spot was in front of the office window between the house, the front steps and a path to the back yard. This is the spot where I wanted to put my large, blood red rhodie, but it was very old and didn't survive the summer.

Instead I put in a smaller, dark red rhodie which I had to prune heavily. I'm hopeful that it will fill out once it is established. It won't bloom this spring, but maybe next year. Because the path here is now my only access to the back yard it needs to be wide enough for a wheelbarrow so, fo now, no other shrubs will go in this area, although I have put in a couple of peonies and some bulbs.

I got back to breaking up concrete. This will be a back and forth process - make a pile of gravel, sift it and then use it to extend the path on the side of the house another section. All that is left on the carport is an 18" strip and a stronger bump in the corner. I hope to get it done before winter starts for real, weather permitting, because I want to fill the working trench I have created with the big pile of dirt sitting behind the garage, but it is depend on removing this last section of the concrete pad.

Finally, this week I rented a steam cleaner from Starks and cleaned all the rugs an carpets in the house. In spite of constant sweeping and vacuuming throughout the project, there was an amazing amount of dust and fine dirt deep in all the rugs. In some places I could actually see the color changing as I worked.

Week 30 - Garden