The summer of 2021 has flown by, and I’ve continued to nibble away at the shop building. Most of the wiring has been pulled but only one circuit is active right now. Most of the grass around the shop (planted on fill dirt) died off in the summer heat, necessitating reseeding this Autumn. I added a fire pit since I can’t just pile brush in the landscaped yard any more.
My drive had a layer of “white rock” on it, but as that had no fines, it rutted badly every time I drove in and out. So a load of crusher run with fines was delivered, and this has held up well except in the low spot where we get fast-rushing runoff during heavy rains. That’s going to require some attention at some point to keep my gravel from washing into my neighbor’s yard.
Due to operator error, my porch roof posts were about 6″ offset from where they were supposed to be, so I installed shims and then trimmed over them to visually center everything up. I created a faux ridge beam to give it a barn-like look.
Some stain and a wooden pulley finished the effect I was looking for.
A mini-split air conditioner was installed, but is not yet hooked up to power.
A pad was poured in front of the side entry door, which is nice in that I no longer have to step in wet grass or mud going in and out from the truck.
Gutters were completed in early October. Gutter guards were a necessity with all the leaves falling! Most of the trees around the building are oaks, so I am constantly being jarred by the sound of acorns hitting the tin roof.
Moving inside, I sheathed one wall in my workroom so I could install my sink, water heater and pumps for the in-floor heat.
This is the first time I’ve done copper plumbing and I’m struggling to sweat joints that don’t leak. The big leaks are fixed now, but it’s still losing 5+ psi over a few hours, so I’ll have to use soapy water to find the rest of the leaks and re-sweat them. I’m using compressed air to pressure test, so at least it stays dry.
Finally for this episode, I’ve installed most of the decking for my storage area over the workroom. The remaining pieces all must be cut-to-fit, then I’ll build a set of stairs and will relocate a lot of “stuff” from the garage and main shop area to clear up some floor space.
In looking back over my photos, a year ago I had just had the posts concreted in, and the building site was a muddy mess. So nice to have a dry (if noisy!) building to work in now!