Old Windows

Over the last few weeks we have made great progress with our house building project. We finished putting up all the rafters by ourselves which was very satisfying. After that came the job of applying the ventilation membrane, a modern version of roofing felt. We were luck enough to have help for this job as himself doesn’t do heights so the roof is a difficult job for the two of us to tackle by ourselves.

We weren’t very lucky with the weather, it was quite windy and wet which is not great when you are trying to work on a roof. Luckily we were able to do some of this work from the scaffolding and didn’t have to do it all from the rooftop.

Then our luck improved, the weather brightened and some more help arrived, we finished the ventilation paper and got three quarters of the tin secured in place before the light went and we headed inside for a big feed of roast chicken with roast veggies.

It was surprising how much bigger the house felt when we got the rafters up and covered with roofing membrane. We had expected that the house would feel smaller however it was quite the opposite and we wondered if we were building a house which will be too big for us.

For the last 7 years we have been living in a small space, about 30ft by 12ft, which can be challenging for two big people with lots of technology, books, craft materials etc. I think what has saved our sanity is that we have a separate sleeping cabin which remains uncluttered so that no matter how cluttered or untidy our main living space becomes we still have a tidy, airy and bright space for sleeping.

I am sure that when the house is ready for us to move in we will fill the space. We expect to move in long before the house is fully finished and will finish it around us. People have often advised us against moving early however we are anxious to move out of the mobile-home as soon as we can. We are excited about the prospect of designing our new space around us whilst remaining realistic about the possible frustrations of living in an unfinished house.

Anyway, that is all ahead of us….

Right now we are concentrating on putting up cross-bracing on the wall frames and making final decisions about window placement. We are using salvaged windows  which have been stored for some time and now need some attention so today I put up a few trestles and screwed some plywood to the top to create a working table which is in the new bedroom.

It is great to have a large dry space to work in now so the inside of the house is now becoming the workshop. I need to check all the old windows and ensure that the wood is sound enough to use. The storage area was a little damp in places so I will need to clean off all the old varnish and check the wood thoroughly.

The weather looks to be wet for the next few days so at least I will be dry. It’s nice to be working inside the house, it feels so different now that the roof is all covered and most of the tin sheeting is up.

I have been wondering when the rain was going to ease, it’s been raining for days now and the clouds are hanging low so the days are dark. Last night I was catching up on reading some blogs and over in Colorado, my blogging friend Suzan at Scruboak, has been anxiously looking skyward wondering when they are going to see rain.

I guess it is common for people in different places to have too much or not enough of a good thing…….