The Thrill of Accomplishment

The inside of the house including the West Annex is plastered.  The exhilaration of having walls look like walls is going to keep us going toward completion with enthusiasm.

Our crew are expert 'flatwork' cement finishers.  They had experience doing vertical surfaces and floors. Guadalupe had experience of flipping cement onto walls in the old fashioned way.  He tried our mortar sprayer, but found that it didn't put the cement exactly where he wanted in the thickness that he could get by hand.  None of them had experience with ceilings.

Guadalupe putting down base coat

Fidel and Fernando finishing the 20ft high ceiling

The overhang (or visor) to the South is now in base, to be plastered upon the finishers' return, probably next weekend, weather permitting.

 We are looking into insulation to use as our PAHS blanket insulating material.  One product looks to be easy to use, has waterproofing properties, and radiant heat resistant properties as well.  We plan to try it out first on the garage.

We used a heater in the pantry/utility area to get the room temperature up to 50 degrees F. The paint for the metal bows requires it.  Now that we have done that painting, we are ready to clean and paint the floor. When all is prepared, we can get the water installed in this area.

The carpenters have been notified of inside work availability and we have the materials to have them magically make stud walls appear on the second floor.

Bill and I have started experimenting with the outer end of the earth tubes.  It involves putting a barrier to animals in it, along with a clip for a cord which will remain resident in the earth tube.  Here is a prototype. Cutting the six inch PVC pipe is the tricky part.