My Texas Round House: Work Continues.....

Spent most of weekend jumping around from project to project and still managed to make some progress.

Mini-milestone...
Friday I put up the first of approximately 150 sheets of sheet rock. I wanted to get my laundry area up and running so the first sheet went up there.

Overall it wasn't that difficult but it was still a pain. It took forever getting the measurements as I measured 20 times and still it wasn't without a challenge! I got six of the seven holes cut in the right places but try as a I might I somehow managed to get the last hole off center. Oops! There's always something to keep you humble. Anyway, a minor issue. For sure it just reiterates my thoughts of NOT wanting to do the sheetrock work myself!

Carport work continues.
Saturday morning was spent working on the carport ceiling again. Almost finished the left side parking bay and did some minor frame work on the right side. In hindsight now, it probably would have made better sense to have started from the house and worked my way to the street side rather than the other way around. I'll reverse course and do that on the last bay when I start it.

The lot is cleared!
I spent a good part of the later afternoon Saturday and all day Sunday moving the big pile of leaves with my trusty backpack blower. I can't imagine having to do that much with a hand held blower much less a rake! The neighbor across the street has hinted indirectly and very subtly several times about borrowing my blower. Uh....it's a brand new blower so I'm trying to ignore the inferences.

I managed to get it all into one big pile and when it was ready I lit it ablaze.....well, it didn't go up in a pyrotechnics dream, it just smoldered. I kept checking but after several hours it had made minimal progress to the degree that when the neighbor across the channel offered up his sprayer of diesel I took him up on it. It helped....as long as there was diesel to burn. It's so dense with ground debris that it's going to take several days to burn through. Oh well.

The log pile is the next to be moved
when I figure out a suitable place to put it.

Still have a couple of saplings to cut down
with my chain saw.

The burn pile towards the back.

While the pile was smoldering I got the lawn mower out and started working on the upper end of the lot. It looks good now!!

Clearing the lot was a big task as it hadn't been maintained in years and thus had considerable debris build up but now it's back down to exposed earth. With some grass seed and water it should be a lovely looking maintenance nightmare moving forward. Next year it won't be such a big job because all the leaves will be on the surface and easily cleaned up.

Laundry facilities!
Sunday evening was spent unpacking and installing my new washer and dryer. Before the sheet rock was put up I had to move one 120v outlet and install the 240v outlet box for the dryer. I had one minor electrical problem on the 120v outlet for the washer. When I moved it the plastic skin on hot side wire inside the box was compromised so when I flipped the breaker, POW! sigh..... Fortunately I had plenty of extra wire behind the wall and the wall was still partly open. I was able to feed through six new inches and cut the compromised portion out.

I installed the new three wire plug on the dryer and slide it into place attaching the vent line. In theory it was supposed to slide back almost to the wall but with the vent line in the location it is, I have a gap of about 4". That means that it sits out further than anticipated into the walkway. It's not enough to be problematic except in my own head. The plan was (is) to put a counter top over them to try and keep it open and air but also to have some laundry folding work space rather than drag all the clothes to a bedroom.

Do you know how heavy washers are?? I had to man handle that thing some 20' because it was too heavy for me alone to get it tilted back on the dolly I had. I finally managed to get it moved into position, removed all shipping bolts and get the water lines hooked up. I put it through a rinse cycle just to see how it operates and to give the interior a quick rinse. I was amazed at how quite it operated compared to my previous top loader. Since it's a front loader, it used very little water which is important given my septic system is the older kind.

I now have laundry facilities! And good timing too as I was just about to run out of almost everything important!