Weather – Broken Branch Farm

This House is Like a Rollercoaster: Cabinets, Carpentry Mayhem, Paint, and Rain

Once of our daughter’s favorite things is Laurie Berkner’s Song and Story Kitchen, which is an audible original. In chapter one, the mouse in the story has a very up and down kind of day, and exclaims, “This day is like a rollercoaster!”

Our house story sure has felt that way, and moreso recently. As I mentioned in a previous post, June is shaping up to be a very busy month for us. We had trim and doors, flooring, cabinets, and painting all on the agenda, and were hoping that the septic system outdoors would be added as well. Some of these things are going very well, some have been a huge headache.

First Finishes: Tile Stacked, Bricked, and Herringboned

Now that we have had our first year anniversary on official site work (the well was dug a year ago, though site work didn’t start for a bit yet), my husband and I are feeling the push to get the house done and move in.

The drywall has been completed, and finally the finish work can begin

Beams, Brackets and Hurdles: Send in the Engineers

Some very large and stressful issues came up in regards to the supporting structure of our house. While we know that our house is proving to be a challenge for our builder and the subcontractors, the most recent issues had nothing really to do with the fact that our house is shaped differently. We caught…

Let It Snow?: A roof over our heads

All signs have been pointing to the first snow coming tomorrow. Yesterday as the temperature began its plummet to wintry climes, the first half of the house was completed! It is an enclosed space and protected from the weather. Siding and brick are still to come, but at long last we can take comfort in…

As the Leaves Turn Golden: The road to enclosing

It has been a little while since my last post. My husband and I, as well as our builder, carpenter, and now the roofer, have been scurrying around solving problems. When everything holds its place in sequence, any delay in a decision or solution can be very hard to swallow. So far, at this point, the issues have been solved. Until we find the next of course.

Hurdles we have leapt in the last few weeks have included: Resolving a couple of wrong window sizes that were placed in the print, moving window framing down to meet egress, sorting out how to meet egress on windows we couldn’t move down, replacing some missing custom flashing for the triangular windows, and a few more on the fly design decisions and hurried trips to the hardware/lumber store for last minute vents and such that had to go through the roof.

As it stands, we are so very close to having her (the house) protected against the every hastening winter weather…

Rain Rain Go Away: a Week or More of Wet

One of the first things anyone who builds houses will tell you, or should tell you, is that your house will get rained upon before it is roofed. In Michigan and similar climates it just remains a fact of life for site-built houses. Our builder John was sure to warn us, and we are of course aware that a little rain is not ruinous to our house’s structure.

Knowing those things is one thing. Seeing the water pour down on the bones of your house and have there be nothing you can do about it is a whole other thing. A thing that makes stress knots form in your back muscles and threatens to shorten the tempers of even the most even-keeled of owners.