"Construction isn't exactly my speciality." - James Bond, The World is Not Enough

Okay, okay, that stuff has been there since spring. I promise I'll move it before the carpet goes down.

***Temporary Note*** Due to some family activities, regular posting/commenting might be a tad oddly scheduled, but should be similar to usual. Should be normal by Monday.

So, when we bought the house, we knew there were issues. The first was one with the roof that created a situation where it took nearly two additional months to close the house. I fixed it, come spring, for less than $100. It’s now tight as a drum. I’m still kicking myself that I didn’t accept the bid from that contractor to do that work for $2800. I’m very worried about his family, since he didn’t get that $2700 difference from me.

Some of them are exterior, and still unfinished. Since I live in a log house, It needs chinking.

What, you might ask, is chinking?

Chinking is the process of sealing the gaps between the logs that form the walls o fthe house. These gaps, if left open, could allow ghosts drafts in, or moisture out. When they built this house, they put a stiff foam product in between the logs, and it has worked wonderfully in the 20 years this house has been here. The gap between the roof and the logs is another story. It has the tendency to leak water vapor out.

I suppose I’ll get to that next summer.

Inside, however, we’ve been looking at redoing the basement family room. It’s been fun doing that. For whatever reason, the last owner took a hammer to the drywall in one section. An argument? No, it appears that they did this on purpose.

Since The Mrs. was preggers during that time period, and I needed some way to get away from the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Hormones, I spent large amounts of time downstairs refinishing drywall. You know, because it was preferable to getting yelled at because I’m blonde.

The original drywall had been put in by people who either drank far more than me, or had far less skill at drywall, and I’m lousy at drywall. But I’m patient. I’ll work a joint that someone skilled could do in a few minutes for days to get it right. Because I’ve gotta live with it. And I'm stupid like that. I was one of those kids who wouldn't play with a little jet and a G.I. Joe - they weren't the right scale. So, I guess the combination of poor skill and high standards has its price.

I reworked all the drywall joints and textured the walls, and The Mrs. and I painted it. Now, the drywall actually looks good. Soon, we’ll attempt the carpet (another winter project) and then we’ll have a perfectly wonderful downstairs family room. With the exception that it’s a nearly constant 50F, summer or winter.

50F is a good temperature for, say, a football or rugby game. For relaxing in the basement doing family things, it’s a bit chilly.

If it weren’t for fire codes, perhaps we could circle a few stones and toss some firewood down, and have a campfire. But, I’m concerned that would just kill all of us, though we would be toasty-warm as we asphyxiated.

My options aren’t all that great:

o I can put in electric heat for the most inexpensive construction cost. Give the price of electricity, however, four minutes after I turned it on, however, I would have to sell my sons into indentured servitude for the bill.
o I could install a wood stove, but given the construction of the house, that would be exceptionally complicated and costly.
o I could just stall until The Mrs. demanded that her sons not come back upstairs with frozen limbs after ten minutes in the basement.
Like I said, none of the options are great.

I think I’ll stall. Upside, The Mrs. loves me enough to put up with some of that. Downside, don’t want to stall too long. All of my bad (or slow) construction work apart, I like living here.