Category: homestead (Page 3 of 13)

In our last house update, we had started on the lower external siding. Well, God has graciously granted we be able to continue with the process, this time on the west side!

Here it is with the porch ledger board, drip edge, and half the tar paper up:

And then half the siding:

And then the siding complete!

We are very thankful to the Lord for granting the continued progress on the house! And thanks to those who continue to make it possible for us to do this in resources, and thanks to Sue for the help putting up the tar paper! 😀

On to the south side!

— David

It’s been a while since our last house update — June of last year in fact — and so, we thought we’d catch you up on the progress on the house the Lord has graciously granted!

The Porch

It was finally time to start getting going on some external siding, but before that, we needed to be able to figure out where the porch was going to attach to the house because siding placement would be determined by that. Plus, the stairs we had in front of the house leading into the front door were a little unstable, and so I wanted to get into place a temporary set up that was a little less rickety as well.

We started by going around the outer porch beams along the porch posts to find the highest point so we could level the porch all the way around off of that. We used the water level we used when leveling the foundation piers, which works great for long distances.

Once that was figured out, it was time to put up the siding tar paper:

And then the porch ledger board…

…bolted to the outside main structure floor joists (which are doubled up on the east and west sides, since walls are sitting on them):

We also needed to put the final porch beams in place. You’ll notice the one side isn’t even with the porch beam next to it. This is because I discovered when trying to find the porch leveling point that the north east corner of the porch is probably 3 inches or so lower than it should be. Oops. I’m not sure how I managed that, but as we go around installing the porch joists, Lord willing, I’ll have to raise the beams to get them more level:

And here they are installed:

I did some research on how to do the flashing over the ledger board, and this YouTube video is the one I went with. It’s z-shaped with a little lip that juts out from the ledger board, forcing a space between the joist and the ledger board preventing water from being kept next to the joist potentially causing future rot:

And here’s a side view of the flashing:

Here is a joist hanger in place, nailed in with hanger nails:

And with a joist attached:

This joist I had to notch to get around a porch post:

And here is the first set of porch joists in place. I used the 3-4-5 rule to get the first joist square with the house:

I put this board in place just so the joists would maintain correct separation:

And then I tacked down a couple of leftover plywood pieces for now, moved the steps to the side of the porch, and added a set of steps to be able to walk over the beams. It’s much easier to get into the house now! 🙂

Lower External Siding

Thankfully, the lower OSB siding is somewhat protected from the elements being under the porch roof, but eventually that won’t last, so we have started putting up siding on the lower external part of the house, beginning with the north side, which seems to see the most weather activity.

Here is some of the tar paper in place behind the porch ledger board:

And this what I used to elevate a piece of siding so it doesn’t set directly on the flashing, once again to keep things out of sitting moisture:

And here is some of the siding in place:

I had to cut a hole in the siding for the electrical inlet:

And here is more siding done:

And then the whole side complete!

Now, we need to choose a color, paint it, and add window trim, and then it should be all done.

Internal Window Sills

In an attempt to continue to seal in the inside of the house from air leaks to help keep in the warmth, I’ve started putting up boards on the inside of the window sills with the plan to eventually come back and finish the front part of the sills later.

Here is lower bedroom:

And upper kitchen. During one of our recent cold fronts, Sue could see the cobwebs moving, and so it was important to get them done, especially on these upper north-facing ones:

Here is lower great room:

And finally, upper great room:

As always, we are very thankful to the Lord for granting the provisions to be able to continue on the house. We always pray it’s a place of worship and a nice gathering place for His Church.

— David

It’s been some time since our last house update, but since then, the Lord has granted we be able to collect great room and kitchen storage items, to be able to continue to move in and function more completely in the house.

Here are a couple of great room cabinets:

And with a stow away catching a nap: 🙂

And the kitchen cabinets:

And with Sue’s grandmother’s china, which is very special to her!

These are a couple of kitchen island carts:

And then some more pantry shelves:

And finally, a little cook book shelf I put on top of the paper towel holder:

As always, we are very thankful to God to be able to continue on the house and for these provisions! We always pray this place will be a house of worship to Him, for the gathering of His people, and where He might glorify Himself!

— David

With some of the kitchen accoutrements being added, the Lord has graciously granted we continue to add some more things in getting it more functional…

Sue liked a utensil drawer and pot hooks idea, so we bought a set of drawers that fit under the counter, and I added some hooks:

And here are some more pantry shelves added, on the opposite side of the others this time, and with the potential for more levels:

Lastly, all along the plan for the area on the north wall between the counter and the stove was to install an indoor elevated tank for water flow into the kitchen sink. After some research, I settled on a 6 gallon one with a 3/4 inch outlet, that also happens to have a self-venting cap (which I didn’t realize until we got it — bonus!).

And so, I put up a platform, put the tank on it, and ran the tubing and garden hose. On the end at first, I put a hand-squeeze garden sprayer, partially because you could set it to flow automatically, but the outlet was too small, and the flow was minimal. I then replaced that with a valve that is the diameter of the hose, and now it flows nicely, even spraying across the sink when the valve is about 3/4 open.

Here are a couple of pictures:

And here is a video of it in action:

We are always grateful to God for granting continued progress on the house, and for the ideas He gives us. We always pray this house will be a place of worship to Him!

— David