The bad news:

It is cold.  Very cold.  The windows are not finished being framed in yet so all the warmth from the house pours out from around the windows on one side of the house, being replaced by cold pouring in from the opposite side of the house.  Most of the doors have big gaps where cold air screams through, too.

So basically, we're cold.  Very cold.

The shower pipes froze last night.

By turning off the pump in order to address the frozen pipes issue, we have discovered that the steady trickle of water coming into the basement is not ground water seeping in but rather is water being pulled up the pipe by the pump and spilling out through a crack in said pipe somewhere between the house and the well.  Luckily for us this discovery was made After the ground was frozen and there is 2 feet of snow on top of it.  Good Times.

The good news:

Bryan was NOT killed by a stupid driver who pulled out right in front of him this morning on his way to work.  (That pretty much trumps all that other bad news up there.  I'm unbelievably thankful for that.)

The upstairs bathroom now looks like these photos and actually is a little bit warmish.  Bry is actively working on getting the shower installed upstairs ASAP.  The downstairs shower is no longer a viable option because, obviously, it freezes too easily.

There is now a drier in the upstairs bathroom.  (Thank you, Neighbors Tabors!)







P.S.  Sorry that these photos are a bit sea-sick.  The lighting is really weird up there and I was being quick with the camera.










. . . .

The roof, which was tight and secure all through the storms of summer and record rainy season of fall, has decided to leak.   Everywhere.  Thousands of little rivulets, puddles and pools.  Dribbling down into my studio and warping the ceiling in that room.  This is maddening. 

On the one hand - it is only the back roof, relatively small, over the part of the house we intend to put the main bathroom and, eventually our bedroom.  Because of Bry being so sick post surgery, we did not have time to install the insulation and wall board as planned over the winter.  No building supplies were ruined.  No labor was wasted.  That is a good thing.

The ceiling in my studio was ugly anyway.  We've talked about putting in a skylight in the bathroom because there is no window there but since we didn't plan on doing anything to the roof, decided not to.  Now maybe  we'll put in a small sky light over the bathtub.  (How much costs a little skylight?)

On the other hand, we wanted to move in over Spring Break.  We were all set to install the pump, finish running the plumbing, install and prep the sub-floor, install the shower, potty and vanity, insulate and put up wallboard and prepare the spot for the tub over the next three weeks.  Now those three weeks, and probably more, will be spent pricing, procuring and installing roofing materials.  That will delay our move-in which will delay our ability to really push the Ft. Jackson house (Which is really at it's most lovely at lilac & poppy time) on the market.

We're not sure yet what the extent of the repair/replacement will be.  The back roof is OLD.  The reason it is leaking is because the original tin roof was installed with nails that have no gaskets or other kind of weather proofing.   For decades, those nails have been doing their job, keeping the roof on, without leaking.  We don't know if it was because the house spent the winter without heat (doubtful - that part of the house wasn't heated anyway) or if this spring was just THE END for that particular aspect of the house's construction.  That's likely.  It's been there for at least 30 years.

A good roofing screw will have a bit of rubber thing-gummy under the head so that when you screw it down tight, it creates a water tight seal against the tin.  When we fix this roof, we should be able to expect it to last for the next 30 years or so.  Happily, the rafters are still good and solid so this will only be a repair, not a re-build.  We are a little concerned because most of our available escrow money is tied up in - guess what - insulation, wall board, sub-floor, plumbing and fixtures for the bathroom that is supposed to go under that roof.  We can't get more $ out of escrow until those are installed and the bank inspector comes to check out our progress.  We can't install these beautiful things until the roof that will protect them is repaired.  We can't repair the roof until we have more money to buy materials. 

What fun!  We can probably get some more escrow money freed up when we finish the downstairs wiring, install light fixtures in the front of the house and put wall board in the kitchen and living room again.  That roof seems to be sound - it is newer and better constructed.  We may also need to come up with some creative ways to boost our income in the next little while to provide more cash for this process.

Anybody want to buy a scarf?