Mass Update

 A lot has happened since our last post. After we got the roof on, it was time to put in the windows and doors. I won't go into detail on how to install windows and doors. There is plenty of information on that from people who have much more experience than us. However ... when I was looking for a good way to lift the behemoth that goes in this hole; I struck out. So I had to put the thinking cap on.

Since we already owned wall jacks from the wall raising, I decided we could use them to lift the window. We mounted some long 2x4s to the house set off from the house with 3 scraps of 2x material so that the window wouldn't be scraping against the house. With me on the lift and my Dad and Wife in the house to receive the window, here's what it looked like.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure that it would work and if it didn't; disaster awaited. It worked flawlessly!! 

Once the windows and doors were done, it was time to move on to the siding. Whilst the project was on hold due to our illnesses, I was thinking about what I could do over the winter to further the project. I got the wild idea that we could collect logs, haul them to a local saw mill operation and turn it into live edge siding.

Before we put it up, we also put a continuous layer of one-inch foil-faced polyiso insulation as an exterior thermal break.

To get it ready to go up, we ripped one edge straight to give us a straight edge to line up as we were putting it up. Then we ran it through the planer and put a finish coat of Penofin on the front and a coat of Thompson's Water Seal on the back side.

We couldn't be happier with the result of all the hard work. For the upper peak of the gable ends we opted to use LP SmartSide board and batten. It has a 15 year warranty on the paint so we won't have to get up there when we want to refinish the siding.

We are also very happy with this decision. The plywood in this image is a temporary placeholder for the back wall of the future, attached greenhouse.
While we were siding we hired out the plumbing and electrical.There, now you are mostly caught up.