The end of the beginning
Bathroom is done (no more peeing in the woods!). Kitchen too. What’s next? The exterior (painting, brush clearing, deck rebuilding). Oh, and an addition. The work continues. Scroll through to seem some of the progress to date.
My contributions…
…are minimal. I have zero skills. I paint, but not well, and Joe only trusts me to do first coats. The kid is far more useful, and thousands of dollars in LEGO sets are paying off as he assembles furniture and cabinets.
Guts
This should be Joe’s post, but digital storytelling is not his thing. TL; DR: everything has to be ripped out and replaced. Heating, cooling, water heater, fireplace. Joe is learning what it means to shock a well. I am learning there is no garbage disposal. I’m also really glad there is no longer a water heater in the living room. You may have missed it because it was cleverly hidden behind a tasteful screen.
Safety first
When renovating a cabin, killing mold, or building a meth lab, proper protection is required. We were wearing masks before they were cool and while they were still available.
What have we done?
Mossy Rock has great bones and character in abundance. She has always photographed beautifully. The tall windows! The solid floors! But photos don’t capture the smell: the house is damp and musty. Mouse poop is embedded deep in the mildewed carpet, acorns are stashed in every corner. The windows are permanently fogged and falling out of rotted frames. The house is powered by multiple heating units - a radiator, a wall heater, forced air under the kitchen counter - all of them wildly unsafe and inefficient. The inspector sternly warned us not to use the fireplace until it could be rebuilt. There is work to do.
He wore me down
If you know anything about my husband Joe, you know that he is determined. He wanted to buy and renovate a mountain house. I adamantly refused. So here we are.
