Up on the roof one last time....hopefully...

We have had all the stovepipe up for a while now. Well; all of it except one large chunk with the cap and roof supports. We had done most of it from 4 tiers of scaffolding and then even had a ladder on the top of the scaffolding. But, we had to do this last piece in a different way.

So, Eli put the stovepipe and support arms in his big backpack and climbed out the upstairs window onto the pump jacks from where he climbed onto the roof; floppy backpack, toolbelt and all.

This is the knot that did a great job of preserving Eli's life.

In the photo below, you see the backpack with stovepipe in it, hanging from a rope on the roof while Eli has gone inside to get some more things.

After some scary hairy moments, the stovepipe was put into place. But something was wrong. It wasn't sliding into place like it was supposed to. Eli put the support arms on and temporarily secured it so that he could come down and reasses. From the large sliding glass door upstairs, this is what was seen. Everything looked perfect from there.

However, using binoculars from the ground (seen below), I could see that there was a rivet on the lower section of stovepipe that was holding the new section up and keeping it from where it needed to be. So, this time, Eli was armed with a screwdriver to pry the stovepipe out a touch and then he was able to jiggle it into place and then twist it to lock it it.

PHEW!!!!

And six months later.....

Wow, its been a while since we have posted anything but we survived a long dark, cold winter. The past couple of months got us moving on the hose again now the snow is melting and the days are getting oh so much longer.

The interior walls are now framed in thanks to Eli's hard work. These are the upstairs walls. You are looking toward the closet, stairway and between the two; a small office nook. This is a view from the closet into the bedroom upstairs.

Also, we rented some scaffolding today and got most of our stovepipe installed and actually had our first fire in the house.

It made a wonderful, warm and toasty fire and man that griddle sure does get hot!

Roof and Woodstove

Last weekend, we were preparing to buy a SCAN woodstove from our local heating store. Due to prior negative experiences with this store owner, however, Jane would rather not buy from them. So, we also kept our eye on Craigslist. Suddenly, a Vermont Castings Resoulte II 0042 showed up for sale in Anchorage for $400. Jane convinced her dad to drive 1 hour from Wasilla to Anchorage to check it out. We offered the seller $250 for the woodstove and it was accepted. This woodstove was gifted to us by Jane's dad. THANKS DAD!!!
Being that it is a 26 year old woodstove, there are a couple of little issues that need to be addressed. Primarily, we have a problem with the flue damper in that its a bit loose and kinda falls apart when opened and closed. Jane is workin on it though.

Eli worked on the roof this weekend with the help from some neighbors (Pete and Jospeph). All the metal sheathing was successfully installed!!! Just a little more work left to do up there. And then, we can focus on the interior stuff and installing the woodstove!

All windows and doors in

All the windows and doors are in

started skirting the house in

one man tyveken army today

North Side

Got the pump jacks moved to the north side of the house. Started putting up some plywood on the gable ends.

Tyvek and windows and doors! Oh my!

Here is a video from before we began today's work.

Since the last update, we have installed more windows and put up more Tyvek.

As you can see, we have installed the sliding glass door upstairs.

We also installed the big window downstairs on the southside.

We have 3 of the 4 windows in on the East side. The one that isn't yet in was just purchased yesterday. We had framed the rough opening for a window we had supposedly bought in a package deal, but it apparently didn't exist and it was; of course, an odd sized opening (32x36). We would have had to special order that size window. Instead, we just increased the rough opening to accomodate a 36x36 slider window instead and picked that up at Home Depot right off the shelf.

Yes, Eli is standing on a ladder which is on top of the pump jacks. A 2x4 was secured through the rungs of the pump jack plank to keep the ladder from sliding off and Eli is harnessed in

We have to leave those little flaps of Tyvek down because the pump jack brackets are there. Once we take those down and caulk the holes, Eli will staple the Tyvek in place and tape the seams.

Pump jacks are removed

Kitchen window installed!!