No rest on Father's Day

Oh yes, it was Father's Day today, those of you who forgot.

Another busy fortnight inside and out at the cabin. I concentrated my efforts on the outside steps, fascia and soffits while the dry wallers were busy inside. I'm not going to post any photos of their work until they have finished. At the moment the inside of the cabin is covered in white dust and I am glad that their work is being done now and not later when I have more things done on the inside. Despite the fact that they will clean up pretty well after themselves, I think it is going to take me a week of cleaning to get rid of all the dust. Hey ho!

More posts, rails and spindles have had to be fetched from the forest, stripped, turned, stained and UV protected. This has been hard work but the results are well worth all the effort and I am grateful for the help Kevin, Keith, Tex and Will who have all given a hand to get this accomplished.

My neighbours, Rod and Candy Phipps, had some landscaping done last week and for a small fee, that avoided transport costs for me for the mechanical equipment, their contractor kindly did some work for me. He spread the excavated top soil from Rod's landscaping over areas of my yard where, as a result of the ground work done by my contractors there is no top soil. This meant he didn't have to cart it all away and dispose of it and he dug the trench for the gas pipeline for me with his mechanical hoe. It runs from the propane tank beside the garage ….

…. around and under the North Wing deck to enter the cabin under the utility area by the kitchen.

The mechanical hoe couldn't reach under the deck because of the lattice work so, I had to dig the last two or three feet by hand.

The operator of the hoe dug the trench far too close for my liking to one of the post foundations supporting the North Wing deck and stairs. I didn't have his confidence that it would all be 'fine', particularly if there was a heavy down pour. So, I bought 10 feet of 4 inch diameter ABS plumbing pipe that I put at the bottom of the trench by the post foundation and filled in the trench by hand. I feel much better about that now.

The building code requires the same grade of sand as needed in the electrical trench to protect the gas pipe. It cost twice as much to deliver the sand than the value of the stuff itself.

I've put six inches in the trench ….

…. by hand and a gas fitter is coming tomorrow to put the line in. It is not rocket science to put a gas line in but I need a certificate from a qualified gas fitter in order to be able to order gas so, I am having to have this work done by a properly certified professional.

There is plenty of sand left to cover the pipe and then I'll back fill by hand, that will be fun!

Posts, some newly collected and prepared, were put in place on the rear decks' stairs.

More disturbance for the nesting robins but, it couldn't be helped. The noise and our presence doesn't seem to disturb them unduly. All the eggs have hatched and although I found one dead chick on the deck, there are still four (two in each nest) who all seem to be doing pretty well. It had obviously crawled a few feet before succumbing. It occurred to me that it may have been turfed out of the nest by one of its parents or its siblings. The nests are quite small for three large chicks and two chicks are easier to feed than three.

Railings have all been put in place on the stair cases and stained. 

Actually, it was the other way around but who's counting. 

I'm waiting for the posts to dry out a little more before I stain them. 

I shouldn't have to wait long, maybe another week or so.

Just 93 spindles to put in now. That'll take a couple or three days. 

 If that wasn't enough I have been fitting some fascia and soffits in between all this other work.

I have now completed both North Wing Dormers on the front of the house as well as the space between them

I am quite pleased with the result 

I have also managed to finish the large shed dormer on the other side .…

…. save for the corner piece, which is ready waiting to be put in place.

This was the most difficult section because I couldn't get the ladder far enough away from the wall to relieve the cramped space. But, it is done now.

I was going to take today off but, the dry wallers wanted to work so how could I refuse. Anyway, I put in the last of the panelling in the basement ready for roughing in the plumbing, put the UV coat on the spindles and then left the dry wallers to it while I went in to town for some much needed groceries and a few supplies to complete the electrical work.