Wow, it’s been nearly a month since the last post. The project has transitioned from watching and documenting to hands on, getting thoroughly involved. Finding it much harder to document in the midst of working. Here are the updates:
- Roof is done
- Drywall, done
- Solar panel install, nearly done
- Exterior insulation, started
- HVAC, nearly done
- Garage staircase, done
Let’s run through the pictures we did get.
The photo above shows the roof minus the last piece on the West (left) side of the A-wing. This is all done, but I forgot to get the photos off of my drone, sorry.
I have a bunch of drywall photos for documentation purposes, but I’ll show just a bit of the sheet install and the finishing.
Next we were really excited from the dirt that was brought up around the house as things are now level enough to install the pads for the mini-split compressors (AC / Heat).
The C-wing compressor is now hooked up and operational, and wow does it get the place cooled down in a hurry. This unit is impressive.
The house compressor was missing a small part, so we weren’t able to get things fully operational, but we were just informed that the part is in and we should be up and rolling this week. Next question for me was, how are they going to be powered? On to the solar install update.
The utility room is fully functioning with batteries, inverters, but no solar power. I did climb on the roof and get the first row installed to keep the batteries going for construction, but solar panel mounting is NOT a solo task. After the first row was installed my brother-in-law’s came to help me install nearly all of the panels.
I added a total of six panels and this kept us going for a couple weeks. This past weekend we went from only 6 panels installed to having 42 out of the total 54 needed.
The solar install task completed on Saturday afternoon after resources (wire and plugs) were depleted, but we felt good about what we were able to accomplish. These panels have not yet been connected to our battery array, so no power yet. This will be completed next week.
I did list the garage stairs being completed, but that is a bit deceptive. I do need to rebuild them since some mistakes were made, but I will leave what I did in place for now as they are needed to access the garage loft and there are other priorities. The concept was to have the stairs be collapsible, but there was an alignment / measurement mistake made, so they are stationary for now.
Last update is the exterior insulation. This is what Rockwool looks like on the exterior of our house.
The vertical boards have long screws all the way through to the framing (6 inches) and act as both rain screen and insulation support. The horizontal boards are to support the mounting of the vertical siding.
This shows a better view of the window flashing and install of the insulation. We love this effect on the windows as they sit mid-wall, between the interior and exterior providing ~6 inches of sill on the inside and outside.
That does it for this time around. We praise the Lord for his rich blessing on our lives through this adventure and look forward to each step forward that we make. The finish line is coming ever nearer. We are racing the end of the summer to get things finished, but continue to work hard and trust God’s timing.