Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Sept. '09 Current Progress

The end of the Summer Tourist season on Cape Cod has signaled my return to Maine and to continue regular work on the house. Ideally I would like spend 10 days each month working on it until the summer season resumes. Such a situation would be the height of luxury to me, but low earnings this year may make such plans impossible as I may have to take on another job. The prospect worries me. My greatest passion is the construction of this home and I have worked very hard all summer to have some extra time off in the winter. Time will tell. I must remember that the universe is unfolding as it should and that sometimes I get what I need: not what I want. The most important aspects of my small part in this cosmic production will somehow be fulfilled if they are valid to my conscious evolution. I just hope that this house project is part of that. For what it's worth, I am happy that Fall is here and am excited to do more work to my "house sculpture".

This last trip was rather short.. I certainly was not ready to leave but I had work obligations to attend to on the Cape. I was able to spend four days working on the kitchen addition and even though I slacked off quite a lot, I accomplished a fair amount of work.

I first sheathed up what I had framed the previous visit in June and finished framing the box that will be my future kitchen. I put in a front door that I salvaged from a demolition in Eastham, MA to close in the last bit. After that it was time to turn my attention to finishing the foundation which I wanted to form the first steps of the entryway and a little planter box for some future shrubbery. It's a rough job collecting stones from around the property, fitting and mortaring them together. All the better is the satisfaction of doing it myself, making something that looks heavy, organic and fitting to the environment and doing it cheaply. For about 24 ft. of this foundation I spent roughly $20 for four bags of mortar.


There is still more to do before I can install timbers that will support the future-roof's peak. There is also much to do to the house and overall foundation in order to seal up the house for the winter. One of those projects will be the construction of a pump room for the water pump. Last February when Maine was hit with temperatures around -20F my incoming water pipes froze and split. The pump room will hopefully remedy a repeat occurrence. The small room (3'X5') will project off the northern wall and step down below ground level about 3ft. so that the pump may meet the pipe from the well below the frost line in a room that will receive heat from the house's wood stove. This winter's freezing temperatures will test this new idea that should shield the pump and incoming pipes from the cold. More to come on that...