Odds and ends of all sorts

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 angle grinder wasn't the right tool for that job: the hot sparks embedded themselves in the toilet's ceramic glaze. Ooops. Thankfully few people poke around the bottom of the toilet, I guess.

I also finished getting the closet ready for drywall with more nail plates and tidied up around the cabin to make room for the next work day.

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The trim finishing journey begins

The last time we installed wood trim (almost two years ago!), we sanded and cut the material inside the cabin (it was winter) and installed it unfinished. Finishing it meant taping everything off and applying three coats of finish in place. Removing the masking was frustrating (the finish glued it to the wall in places), and in other places the finish still got where it didn't belong. Now the cabin is full of nice, finished floors, cabinets, and counters. It's not a shop. So this time, I'm sanding and pre-finishing all the boards outdoors. Thankfully, there's still pretty nice weather; that black tarp garage heats up pretty well when the sun's out. Today I got the first batch of wood sanded and a coat of finish applied. Christina installed eight receptacles in the kitchen and great room. My mom came up to enjoy the warm ambiance of the not-yet-active wood stove.

Uncrating the wood stove

I drove up to the cabin today to meet a tree contractor. Since I was up there anyway, I took care of some other business. I got the wood stove out and ready to install on Monday. I vacuumed up the tiny particles of styrofoam packaging material from last year's roofing panels that would have been much easier to clean up last year. I put the bathroom outlet back into its adjusted place above the backsplash. I corrected my installation of the heat pump wiring with a pair of reducing washers. Now it's really done. I replaced the emergency brake battery system in the flatbed trailer. I bucked a bunch of old logs into rounds for firewood.

Odds and ends

I made progress on a bunch of little things today. I painted a fencepost in 12" segments and pounded it in at the property line, where the outdoor camera can see it. Now we can measure the snow accumulation. I worked on finishing up almost-complete receptacle branch circuits. The first one I worked on was a little mystery: all the receptacles were installed, but the power didn't reach past a certain point in the line. After some investigation with a wire tracer and watching through the videos we took before covering the walls, I worked out what had happened: two receptacles shared a stud bay, facing into opposite rooms. The plan had been to bring power up to one box, jump over to the other box, and continue back down to the crawlspace to the next box. We forgot the jumper. I couldn't fish a wire between the boxes myself, so that repair waits. Upstairs, installing two receptacles completed the branch. The bathroom vent hole in the tile backer board was a skosh too small. ...

Howell Cabin

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