Wadly’s been working madly on what was to be the barn and will now be his 40′x40′ shop. He’s got T1-11 up on part of one end and is working to get OSB and cedar siding up on the west side. He’s planning to get his shop contents moved into the barn so we can get rid of the eyesore that is his original shop. He’s cleaning and sorting and organizing and generally being productive as the weather allows.
This summer I’ll get a new power panel up on the barn and remove the existing panel which is on the pumphouse. Until then we’ll continue to run temporary power to the barn. We have to do things as we have money, so the transition of power has to wait until Terry goes back to work for National next summer.
The barn loft was designed and built to store tons of hay and is working well as general storage. There’s enough room up there for a small house (16′x40′) and it’s got plenty of support . . . full dimension 2″x10″‘s on 1′ centers. I’m going to have to get some clear plastic to cover the piles of goodies stored up there to keep the dust and dirt off.
I saw a metal spiral stair in town last weekend. It’s behind a building overgrown with blackberries. I’m gonna stop in and see if it’s available. It might be perfect for getting to the loft, though it may take a crane to get it loaded. I’m coveting. We’ll see what comes of it.
Terry (aka Wadly) moved the papercrete mixer into the leanto by the storage shed but that won’t last long. He and the neighbor are going to move our 20′ storage container to the barn which means the leanto has to come down as one side is resting on the container. The plan is to put the opening of the container inside the barn on the north side at the east end with the bulk of the container outside on concrete pads. Terry (the neighbor, not Wadly) will come over with his excavator and clean out where the container goes. I’m assuming we will have to empty the container prior to the move. That’ll force me to sort through and get rid of more stuff. I did that two years ago, but the container’s packed to the roof again. Time for another trip to Goodwill.
Once I’ve got the power meter off the pumphouse and onto the barn I can tear the pumphouse down and put in the rubble trench foundation for the new bigger pumphouse. Moving the power and getting the pumphouse built and storage tanks and filtering installed will eat up all our extra income next summer, but paying as we go is important. We’re almost done with our mortgage and we can easily live on Terry’s retirement once the mortgage is gone.