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Shelves are being built in the cluttered dungeon cellar.
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And a corner is being turned.
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Even if it is with bits and pieces.
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On the wall to the right?
This.
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I’d like to tell you my husband fishes.
I really would.
And once the corner is turned?
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Floor to ceiling useless piles of nonsense stuff.
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Anyone need an early 18th century Acadian child’s trundle bed on wheels?
No, the Maine State Museum didn’t either.
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The husband completed his work on the far left corner of the crap filled dungeon cellar and has now shifted to the far right.
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The ceiling was up…
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And painted…
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And insulation folded into place.
I had to laugh because it was at this point he said, “Looks a lot different without all the stuff here huh?” And yes, technically he’s right … it did look different. But I’d be a lot more thrilled if the stuff migrated out of the cellar and to the dump instead of just shifting over to the newly completed section.
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What’s the point in having a nicely cleaned, insulated, ceiling’d cellar if you can’t actually see it?
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Work continues underground… and in the far reaches of our dark as a crap filled tomb cellar, there is light.
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And a small amount of open space with freshly swept floors, insulated walls and a new white ceiling. There are also shelves…
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Though the construction of said shelves leaves a bit to be desired.
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After seeing this one start to sag, I highly recommended brackets. Whether my suggestion will be implemented or ignored is up for debate.
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Heating ducts have been wrapped with insulation as well….
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Though it looks like things went a little haywire here.
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I have no explanation for this puzzled looking chicken. You’d think it was mine, but oddly enough… it’s not.
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I went downstairs to check the progress of the husband’s basement project yesterday and it was not going well.
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Nope. Not well at all.
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I stood unnoticed, chortling while I watched him attempt to wrangle trifold insulation into a corner by himself. It was quite amusing, but I took pity on the poor guy after a few minutes and lent a hand.
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You’ll notice he bought a new toy. After the first low velocity hammer tool wasn’t strong enough.. he upgraded.
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This thing is basically a small gun that fires explosive rounds to propel nails into hard surfaces. In this case, concrete.
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And while my husband is (we never say was) a Marine and familiar with weapons, his usage of this tool made me a little nervous.
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The video doesn’t do justice to the noise. But trust me, that thing is loud.
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And best observed from a safe distance.
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I have to laugh that our entire cellar is a junk filled mess except for this one little corner. But he’s determined to put a ceiling, insulation and shelves throughout so I’m not complaining.
Much. Or within earshot….
😉
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Plywood and insulation are showing up at our house on a daily basis.
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Have you priced plywood and insulation lately? It’s enough to make Bob Villa hang up his hammer.
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But the husband is still determined to install a ceiling and insulate a room that has no heat because he’s bored in retirement.
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I can see no reason for this project.
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Nor any rhyme to his framing technique. What the…. what?
But he’s downstairs all day, every day covering everything in sawdust and making a racket and a mess in the one section of basement that was previously neat and organized. (Read – mine.)
While the rest of the cellar (read – his) still looks like this:
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It’s all about priorities.
🥴
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The husband is still hard at work down in the basement.
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And has turned the proverbial as well as literal corner.
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Although safety is clearly not a high priority.
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Does our basement need a ceiling? No.
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But it’s certainly getting one.
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And a white one at that.
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten? He seems baffled by the strange noises rising up through the heating vents and is keeping a close eye (ear?) on the progress.
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The unnecessary basement ceiling project is moving right along.
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And after the husband didn’t like the look of his zip taped seams?
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He decided to paint the whole thing white. Another completely unnecessary expense and waste of time. Who’s going to see it… the mice?
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Here he is vacuuming cobwebs out of the windows.
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Man with vacuum is such a rare sighting…. I had to get a close up.
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A giant pause was taken when the cables to our satellite tv were reached. This is sacred ground and must be dealt with properly to avoid interruption in service. He’s only seen Rio Bravo, El Dorado and The Sons of Katie Elder 122 times. Wouldn’t want to miss the 123rd showing.
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Because my husband never likes to rush things he moved around to the back side of the baby barn yesterday to complete the gutter installation…. 12 days after he did the front. Better late than never is his middle name.
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Did things go more smoothly on the flip side?
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They did not.
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Miscalculation on length left him with two short pieces instead of the one long piece he needed which meant yet another trip to Lowes for additional connectors. Sigh.
Was the finished gutter line straight and true?
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Not quite, but it doesn’t leak. That’s probably as much as I can hope for.
And if you’re wondering just how dry it’s been here?
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Dry enough for the husband to a pan under the downspout to catch the small amount of rain we got last night.
Please note the green you see is all weeds. Most of the grass is still brown.
😕
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With the hope that it will rain on our property sometime in this decade, my husband purchased gutters for our baby barn/shed and I attempted to help with the installation.
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Since the project was my husband’s idea and he was in charge of purchasing supplies, this meant 3 forty minute round trips to Lowes and half the day wasted because he thinks making a list is a waste of time.
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Did he buy the right size screws?
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He did not.
Did he buy the correct downspout brackets?
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He did not.
Did he buy a new section of downspout because the piece he had leftover from a previous project was too short?
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I think you know the answer to that.
🥴
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There’s always something that needs to be repaired at Casa River, and sometimes that something is the Barn Mahal porch.
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For some reason ( read – crazy Maine weather, massive frost heaves and lack of gutters ) one section of the porch lifted over the years with the result being smashed and then rotted wood under the corner post.
A cousin was called to assist… as there was heavy lifting required and yours truly sucks at that.
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I also suck at not exclaiming WTF! when I go outside to check on the repair progress.
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I doubt that set up was OSHA approved… but it did the job and supported the roof while the post was removed.
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Rotted wood.
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Please note I am not standing on the porch to take pictures.
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Rotted wood replaced….
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Corner post cut and reseated.
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With a hammer, because fine tuning was required.
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And yes, it’s a bit crooked now.
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But my bat was rehung and the roof is still over our heads… so I’m calling it good.
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River's world..... 