Construction Report Year Three

Does it begin and end with heavy machinery?

The grader was parked below the cozy cabin today for the utility line trench digging and land scraping that should occur tomorrow. I am still more than a few processes away from a certificate of occupancy when the electric will actually be turned on inside the cabin, but I so look forward to the removal of that eyesore of a temporary power pole. You don't know how hard I try to keep it out of pictures.



Yes it has been three years and three months since this project began. I think I can finally see the finish line now.

The glass block shower wall turned out quite nice. All the white field tiles have been cut to size to go on the ends of the glass block to provide a more pleasing surface and something flat for the shower door frame to attach to. That should get done tomorrow while the grading is going on.



My little baby direct vent, gas wall furnace arrived. I have to drill a 3 inch diameter hole through the wall for the vent, but that process will be so much easier and quicker than an under cabin mounted furnace and all the duct work through the floor that would need.



And I went looking for a loft ladder. Loft ladders are not an easy thing to find on a web search. Mostly you end up looking at folding attic ladders and a few rolling library ladders. I finally stumbled upon an actual loft ladder manufacturer in California. They did not come up very high in searches. After perusing their site looking at the wide range of options, I called and spoke to the most pleasant woman you could imagine. That is kind of unexpected these days. She was most helpful and just maybe I can get a loft ladder to do everything I want it to. They have in house engineers who will design your specific ladder for free, but I have a tight corner that may be problematic.

I want my loft ladder to be able to be pushed flat against the wall when not in use and to unhook and be able to be used for the mini loft above the front door. I also want the loft ladder to roll into the corner of the room and not block the bathroom door and of course it needs to look good.

Sue, the most pleasant woman at Alaco ladders said we sure can do all of that.

We'll see. Instead of a rough sketch I am sending the engineer a picture with the measurements. The design constraints of the loft ladder tell me that at best a ladder could fit in the right corner with the left wheel five inches or so into the opening of the bathroom door. Maybe I can just forget the rolling into the corner part and be perfectly happy with it just being able to be unhooked and moved and pushed flat against the wall. If Alaco's free engineer can tell me otherwise I will be very surprised.

The building contractor wants to build his own loft ladder for much less money. That of course means I will have to build a ladder and I am not a fine carpenter by any stretch of the imagination nor do I want to try and reinvent the ladder on my own. Alaco Ladders has been doing it for a hundred years and Sue said yes to all my needs and we'll have the free engineer check for a solution to my problematic corner.



Tomorrow the grader will scrape my driveway smooth again and do some finish grading to divert water away from the cabin. That might take him a couple of hours and a few more to spread the gravel.

The garden to be in the sunny utility valley will all be scraped by hand. That could take another three years and three months. There are some walls to finish, a new wall to build, a monolithic stone sculpture to wrest into place and a few plants to plant.



But I don't look for a finish line in the garden to be. There never will be one. There is enough land here that I could keep expanding the garden for the rest of my days. Isn't that a nice thought.



One day soon though the cozy cabin will be done. That finish line I will be most happy to see.