Howell Cabin

The last of the closet paint is done, and I installed the water heater! Hooray! Our water filter, softener and UV systems were installed today. I installed a bunch of handles on kitchen and linen closet drawers. I put in the second shower bar.

Thursday  Jeff and I worked away on getting the closet closed. We installed nipples for the shower outlets, but otherwise didn't get very far on the showers. I put urethane floor finish on these oak transition strips for the french doors. Friday We made some detail trim pieces for the tricky stairwell corner. The closet is painted! The last of the shower glass is finally in. I finally glued plugs in to cover the screws I installed the front door with. (I've since learned how to install the door without the screws being visible...) I installed the code-required barometric damper to admit fresh air when burning the woodstove.

 Jeff and I got the rest of the drywall installed in the closet, ready for mud.     We also completed the sink drains and tested the sinks. One out of four didn't leak, so there's that... I also fixed up a few receptacles that were poorly mounted to their boxes in the master bedroom. These were the first ones we installed, and we had not yet mastered the tricks of dealing with the too-deep drywall.  

The paint on the stove vent pipe is done, so I can finally install the kitchen lights. As with some other spots in the house, the suspended lamps are a very close fit with the cupboard doors. Whew!   I installed the rest of the under-cabinet lights and added some trim tracks that I designed and 3D-printed to hide the wires. Looking good! I made a nice little cap for the condensation drain in the closet. I set up a bunch of smart outlets so I can monitor the crawlspace dehumidifier and turn off the water pump when I leave.   Oh, and here's the shower door that got installed:  I'll leave you with this trillium.

When we roughed in the electrical, we sent power out to a box on the back of the house anticipating needing to run a water pressure pump in the cistern. It turns out we got a pump in the crawlspace instead ... which has been plugged into an extension cord for a couple years. It needs an outlet next to it, so I spliced one into an existing branch in the crawlspace.   Our display-model microwave was missing some vent covers. The store sent us replacements, so those got put in. I routed low-voltage wires through the cabinets and fished them through the wall to supply the under-cabinet lights. Remember that cabinet screw I couldn't reach once the sink was installed? I bought this tiny ratchet and cut a hex screwdriver tip down to squeeze it into a space barely big enough for my thumb. I was up here today because Ian's crew was up here spreading topsoil that will get grass seed in a week or two. I cut off the toilet bolts so the plastic caps would fit on top. Today I learned that an...

I had a plumber out to do a bit of work I found too challenging or that needed Pex tools I don't own. He replaced a faulty master shutoff valve, spliced in the water heater hookup, attached the back spigot, and sorted out the tight drain plumbing under the kitchen sink.   Meanwhile, Jeff and I got the rest of the faucets installed.   We installed the mounting hardware for the under-cabinet light strips.   We painted the big stove vent pipe to reduce its visual impact.   I replaced the bathroom receptacles with GFCIs.