Exterior Trim

Over the past few weeks, we've been painting 1x4 boards for the exterior trim around the doors and windows and at the roof line.

These are some of the boards after painting with primer.  Each board needs one coat of primer and two coats of top coat.

Once they were finally painted, it was just a couple of days' work for Mitch to install them.

Around the front door

Side window

Shed door and back window

Side door

We've also been painting the exterior on and off for a few weeks, and it's done except for the gables at the front and back of the house.  Painting those will require going on the roof ...

Kitchen back splash

One of the Code requirements is that the wall surface behind the cook top be a non-flammable material and that there be a non-flammable material over the cook top, so we decided to add a back splash and install a hood.

We had several pieces of the kitchen counter granite left over, and one of the was big enough to make into a back splash.  Mitch cut it to size, and we attached it to the wall with some adhesive and installed the hood.  Unfortunately, we weren't planning on having the hood installed when we did the electric, so we need to have additional wiring installed.

The final result

Concrete forms & chickens

Work on the concrete forms has been progressing.

 These are some of the forms for the main house, looking towards the master suite.

These are the forms for the master suite.

This is the back of the master suite looking towards the guest house.

These are our chickens enjoying some okara (the soy pulp leftover after making soy milk).

And here they are enjoying a dust bath in a pile of dirt we provided so they stay out of areas that are going to become gardens.

Electrical inspection

The electrical inspector came out today to inspect the electrical installation.  Everything was good except for a few minor changes that need to be made--one of the GFCI outlets was not working properly, the under-cabinet light in the kitchen can't be on the same circuit at the GFCI outlet, and the main breaker needs to be changed to a different type. Just a couple of hours of work for the electrician ...