May 23, 2007—The barn gets windows

When I got to the job today at the amazing hour of 8 AM, there was no one there. I was very disappointed because I thought that the job had started up again as of Monday. Then, as I wandered around, I realized that there had been work done. They had started to put Tyvek on the barn.

Tyvek is a plastic membrane that goes up on the outside of a building before the exterior sheathing —whatever that might be—as a moisture barrier. In this picture, you see Tyvek and a section of siding. The siding will have battens (vertical wood strips) attached over it. The wood will be stained the same color as the house and guest cottage.

 

Here is another view of the sheathing. The barn door looks so small, because Kai did not have the exact size for it. He lopped the siding over into the door space and will cut it back when the door spec arrives.

I gave them a spec weeks ago, but I guess the word has not been passed along yet. Perhaps it is stalled with the rest of the door order, which is being held up by the cottage door. I keep picking what I think are very simple doors from the supplier’s website, only to find out that each one is a custom door with a high price and a long lead time. We will see what we end up with. All I know is that I don’t want a simulated wood-grained formica door!

Inside the guest cottage, I found packages of windows. When Janver arrived later, he told me that he thought they were really good windows.

The vertical white stripes you see between the sections of windows are snap-on plastic pieces to protect the frames during shipping. There are more under the cardboard over the edges so the windows stay nice and straight.

Here are some more windows in the kitchen.

We are in the process of trying to get the kitchen cabinets built within budget. I had originally planned to use Ikea cabinets, but because we did not plan the kitchen around their module sizes and our space is so tight, we can’t use them.

I have found a very nice bathroom sink on a stand for the bathroom—and within budget too—to take the place of a cheesy vanity. Thank goodness I insisted on having a linen closet in the bathroom!

Here is yet another view of the attic space. I found out why they use the little spacers between the sheets of roof sheathing: when the wood expands from the hot sun, if the sheets butt up against each other, they bubble up.

It is so amazing seeing a building go together. Something we think of as completely solid—like a wall—has parts that work together and is really not solid at all, kind of like the Newtonian universe vs. the quantum universe.

I came to the property very early to meet a laborer who is doing some weed whacking, planting, painting, etc. After I got him going, I was painting some test samples to try and pick out a final house color. Since all the buildings will be the same color, we need a decision as soon as possible so they can stain the barn.

I had brought some paint samples but didn’t like any of the colors. I was just about to go down the hill to buy some pigments, when a truck drove in the driveway. It was the painting contractor! Amazing! He said that he was there to put another coat of sealer on the guest cottage posts and porch beam, seen here after his work. We are using some very high-tech but organic, water-based, UV-blocking sealer. I think the posts look beautiful. Of course they will age and gray, but that’s what wood does.

Anyway, he offered both advice and pigments to help me with my color samples. The result is that we have a possible contender.

After the visit from the painter, the contractor arrived, and shortly after that Kai and a crew member showed up and started installing windows on the barn! Tyvek has a whole system to seal windows with special materials. Then they come and inspect and make sure the job is done according to their specifications. Once they sign off on the job, they become responsible for failures. Very nice!

These windows are quite protected because they are between the two buildings, but some of the upper story windows will be exposed to relentless weather. This type of thing is one reason building costs have gone up, but at least now in case of failure, we have a responsible party—with no finger pointing—if there is a problem.

Here is Kai leaning out the window and kibitzing over duck tape. He had just turned his head to give his helper an instruction when I took this picture.

Not long after that, the plaster contractor arrived. We discussed the way the plaster would be installed on the guest cottage. He is a very interesting guy. I explained to him that I wanted the plaster to look like the buildings in downtown Santa Fe, NM and asked if he had been there. Not only had he, but his wife is from a small town near there, so he understands what I am talking about. I only hope I can stick to my guns about cost (not too likely) since he has some very beautiful ideas about how to do the house.

This is the installed window from the inside. The Tyvek is glowing because the siding isn’t installed below the window yet. If I remember correctly, we got narrow casement windows and are installing them sideways to save money.

If you think saving money is a theme here, you are right. No matter how much money you have, you are always short when building a house, and everything costs way more than you expect. I imagine that I will be mentioning this more and more as time goes on.

 

 

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