2022 in Review

It is always an interesting and educational exercise to look back over the past year, so here we go taking a look back.  2022 was a very different year for us.  Instead of spending the winter somewhere in Yuma, AZ, as we have done for the last 9 years, we spent the 2022 January- March winter in Parker, AZ and Pahrump, NV.  When we traveled back north this past spring, we arrived to restart our house construction project that we had left in pause mode over the winter.  The last time we attempted a project on this scale was almost 25 years ago in Stockton, MD and the home we built on our beloved ranch, Cloverland Ranch.  Just like that 1999 project, we again felt the need to be intimately involved to the point of acting in the general contractor role, and a number of the subcontractor services as well.  That just seems to be the way we still roll.

Below is our 2022 Christmas Self Portrait.  It was a balmy Christmas day today, with the high temperature hitting 40⁰ F.  Considering last week's storm Elliott brought us lows as cold as -13⁰ F!  Yep, 40⁰ F feels balmy.

Staying in Parker, AZ for January and February, which is on the CRIT Indian Reservation, and just down the road from Lake Havasu, we enjoyed a mostly quiet and rural visit.  That said, the young Natives do get restless on the weekends.  Lots of drunkenness and mischief.  Doubt we will stay there again.  Made a day trip up to Havasu for a hike in the surrounding area.  Havasu is too crowded for our liking, but a day visit outside is kind of scenic.  We hiked "The Crack" and Gari goes down one of the "slides" below.  There's no going back after that!

We celebrated Gari's birthday in the desert at Pahrump, NV.  We took a champagne picnic out in the bush and that's just our glass of bubbly! We have heard it said, if you're lucky enough to be in the desert (in the winter), then you're lucky enough!

As often happens while RVing across our country, you meet all kinds of interesting and awesome people.  Some of these people just seem stick with you and become fast friends.  We were fortunate enough to meet one such wonderful couple in Pahrump, John & Lu from Lake Tahoe, NV.  They have already stopped by to see us in Swan Valley on their way north this spring, but they didn't stay.  Now if we could just get them to stop and hook up for a spell that would be a dream.  Maybe next time through...

We finally headed back north and Romeo (truck) and Penelope (trailer) docked at Eagle View (our Swan Valley lot) on April 2, 2022.  It was beautiful weather that day, but as you can still see snow on Mt. Baldy in the background, winter wasn't finished yet...

We had a new Kioti (coyote) tractor waiting for us when we arrived.  Our local friend Troy, who owns Valley Excavation here, took delivery over the winter and went through the acceptance checkout for us.  Then he left it in our Shop just waiting for us to return.  Within a day or two of arriving, we were up and starting some rough grading work around the yet unfinished house foundation.

Within a couple more days another wonderful couple from back east stopped by for a short week or so stay over, before they moved on to a work gig they developed in Wyoming.  This is another couple we met a few years ago and who are now our family.  We aren't sure if they are our brother & sister or our kids.  They are so much younger and smarter than us, they could be our kids!  We were sad to see them depart so soon, but happy for them at the same time to strike out on the seasons adventure they had planned.  Godspeed.

Right on the heels of our kids departure, Michelle & Jim arrived in time to celebrate our traditional Kentucky Derby Party together.  As always, that's the first Saturday in May.  As you can see winter is still making its presence known into early May.  Michelle & Jim also had set up a working adventure by scoring a gig at a local guest ranch here.  We could just about see the guest ranch from our place.  Michelle & Jim's experience and expertise in the hospitality industry was a huge help for new owners of the Hansen Guest Ranch here.

Whenever they or we were not working, we would just flat out celebrate.  It was a great almost 4 month visit. Below it looks like we were having a Mexican Food night. Andale arriba!  Notice the snow is still making itself known?

Jim baked us a lovely cake for our 27th wedding anniversary in July.  We made a party out of that too!  Thanks Jim!

We got a later start on getting the construction going again in the spring.  Of course the concrete foundation work had to be completed before much framing could be accomplished.  However the concrete couldn't pour until we were confident that we would have two consecutive nights of above freezing temperatures.  The concrete forms went on, but we had to wait for weather to pour.  Below is the last pour, the garage slab on May 25th.  Rob spotted the camera and struck a "working hard" pose, haha!  It was great working with Rob & Troy his partner.  They were a two man show and boy did they work hard and were really great guys to be around.  We helped them haul forms, and braces and clamps, etc.  That is some heavy, heavy work they do everyday.  I know we slept like logs after those days!

Around the same time, building lumber & materials began to arrive on site.

 

We were very fortunate to get a framer this year.  We had established an "Idaho contract" (an email agreement without any signatures) with a framer in the area last year, 2021 for a framing start in June 2022.  In April we get a "To Whom it May Concern" email telling us he can't frame our house this year 2022, now.  We scrambled and were luckily able to find an available framer, who turned out to be a neighbor of ours less than a mile from our place, Nate Thorne Construction.  We said that we would winter over up here this year if we could get the house closed and dried in before cold weather.  With Nate and his partner Chet coming to the rescue, we were able to do that.  Hats off to you Nate & Chet!

We helped Nate and Chet as much as we could hauling materials, consulting on design, we even pounded a few nails, or should I say shot them with Nate's nail guns.  Below Gari helps hold roof trusses in place while Nate & Chet nail then down.

Below was one day of setting roof trusses.  That was a hard day of climbing up and down, over and over again.  We slept good that night.

We had a design idea to encapsulate the crawlspace.  We did that with 2" foamboard.  We installed 2 layers on the walls and three layers on the ground.  Below was a beta install test on the walls.  It worked very well, fit just right.  Every once in awhile things just seem to fall into place, and this was one of those happy things.

All roof trusses are up and the roof decking is going on.  It is June 25th.

Chet uses the big circular saw to make the architectural cut in the end of the porch beam. We designed this on the fly and marked it up for the guys to cut.  We copied the design off of a big new fly shop that is under construction.

Metal roofing is going on.  It's the first week of July.

We decided to do some of the metal work ourselves, which saved us thousands of dollars in labor, 10 thousand to be exact.  We decided that we could probably handle installing the porch ceiling metal.  Below Gari proves that to be fact check true!

Steve installs the last piece of the porch ceiling.   It is always a happy moment when a task is successfully completed.

Everything is closed in below, all metal siding and roofing, exterior windows and doors.  Houston, we are ready to stay over the cold winter!  Now the inside work of plumbing, wiring, insulation, drywall, painting, trim, floor coverings and whatever else I missed in that list.  It is now August 23rd.

Plumbing has entered the building.   We were working in the garage that day below, designing the water supply header that will serve the sand filter and water softener that will reside in the garage.  Gari is such a patient soul, I love that woman!

Just before our next guests arrived we were finally getting a driveway in front of the house.  This will enable us to drive and roll equipment into the garage through the overhead door opening.  We plucked all these larger round river rocks out of the yard as we slowly perform finish grading and cleanup.  We stacked every single rock by hand to outline the limits of the driveway gravel.  There is one thing missing in this shot, the overhead garage door.  We ordered it in May 2022 and it is now September 10th.  Houston, we have a problem, we do need this overhead door to completely close this structure in before the snow flies.

Our friend Troy of Valley Excavation came shortly after we had the driveways outlined and delivered thousands of dollars worth of crushed rock.  Roads are expensive to build, and we knew that.  And rock roads certainly beat wet muddy roads.  Worth every penny!

Let the electrical wiring begin.  It is starting to get cold, a good thing we are working inside now.  It is September 20th.

We finished spreading and compacting the driveway gravel just before our Arizona friends, Tom & Cathy and their dog Duke stopped by for a week long stay before they went onto their winter AZ spot.  They like us have been fulltime RV living for over a decade.  This day was September 24th.

A little different angle.

Tom & Cathy have left.  Do you see it?  Yep, we have a garage overhead door.  Now we can keep the snow & wind out of the house.  It is October 3rd.

We see on our bi-weekly trips into Idaho Falls, that the Swans have returned to Swan Valley.  We understand that they spend the entire winter here.  These Swans must not know about Arizona.

We spent much of October chasing leaks in our drain-waste-vent plumbing system.  All of the leaks were professionally installed.  We installed 90% of the plumbing fittings and did not find a single joint that we glued to leak, just the pro jobs.  That was a nightmare of a month, but we got through it.

Finished with the insulation and 6 mil plastic on walls and ceiling.  I couldn't get my respirator off fast enough.  Gari still has hers on.  It is really cold now and it is the first week of December.

The drywall arrived one snowy day, a day earlier than scheduled.  We had to get out and plow a path for the truck to get up to the front door while the driver waited.

Two days later the drywall crew showed up.  They hung the entire house and garage in less than two full days. They did a nice job and we are pleased.  Luis at frame right is the crew lead.  Great guy, who has been working for the same guy for 10 years.  Luis's boss is the guy who we have an Idaho contract with. 

Luis at right spots the camera and gives a thumbs up from atop his drywall stilts.

Sitting room and hall all hung out.  It is December 15th.

And that is a wrap for 2022.  We aren't sure what will happen in 2023, but we will do everything we can to get to occupancy permission so we can take a break from all this work!  We wish all our family and friends all the best in 2023!

A December to Remember

Even though we are only half way through the month, we have had enough excitement & challenges for a few months!  We long for the sunshine of southern Arizona in the desert right about now.  This building a house business as your own general contractor is a serious challenge.  We think and hope this will be the last time we attempt this.  We are still very excited to finish this project and move in and finally use the place that we have put so much of ourselves into; no regrets there.  We are beat down and exhausted some days and just want the building adventure to be over!  We have had much good progress this month and expect more before Christmas and even more right after New Year Day.  We can see the finish line coming over the horizon finally.  It is still a ways off, but much closer than it has been.

This is what we should be doing, but thanks to our neighbor Cory Nielsen for capturing this awesome local Swan Valley image.  As you can imagine from this picture, we have had our fair share of snowfall and cold temperatures here, and only half way through December 😮

Rather, what we have been busy doing in the first part of December is chasing leaks in our DWV  (Drain-Waste-Vent) plumbing system.  The shot below is the kitchen drain-vent.  We installed it initially, but the inspector wanted us to install the drain pipe in the walls not through the floor where it was easily accessible, protected from the exterior cold and didn't leak.  We hired a local professional  plumbing company to do the tricky install in the wall.  The inspector didn't pass their first attempt either, they didn't like the pipe sizing.  So the plumber reinstalled the system with the larger drain pipe, 2".  Passed inspection, but now it leaks under the pressure test.  Plumber came back three more times on that install before it was finally complete, passed inspection and didn't leak.  Including our effort that was five tries on this area of our drain system.  We had to rip out the plastic and insulation so the plumber could get back in there and do the last rework.  You may start to see why we may remember this December for a few more days...

Below is one of the leaks that we found in the DWV system, this one is part of the kitchen area.  When we pressurized the system, we knew there was a leak or leaks somewhere because the system would lose pressure in an hour or less.  We found one leak, fixed that, then realized there was another.  Finally we just tested every DWV joint; I guess there are near 100 joints, some really hard to get at for test.  The test is to pressurize the system then spray soapy water on the joint.  If you see bubbles growing that is a leak.  We are proud to report that we did not find a single leak in any of the joints that we installed and glued, and we installed 90% of the system.  It was just the professionally installed fittings that gave us a fit!

Another leak, also part of the kitchen.  Gotta fix that!

Below is a shot of a clean out, which is required here on all drains.  We didn't know that, so didn't initially install them.  The plumber we hired did this for us.  They installed about 8 of these fittings of which 3 leaked and had to be replaced.

Same clean out, you can see the pressurization set up we used in the background..  The pressurization input was at this drain for the utility sink in the guest bath/laundry room.

Plumbers Eric & Brendon go at the last and successful refit of the kitchen area.

All put back together.  Gari still has on her respirator from replacing the insulation.  There, wasn't that easy?  We did that with three pictures haHahA (crazy person laugh)!

Not so fast, we still had not leaked checked all the fitting joints in the attic on the vent system, so we went up there with our soapy water spray bottle on a Friday morning 12/9.  Coincidentally we had a pretty good snow storm roll through on the Thursday night before.  Then within a few minutes of being up in the attic I noticed this...  See the snow accumulating at the roof ridge?  NOT Good!

The storm had 50 mph wind gusts and lots of fine as powder snow flakes.  We believe this is what forced the snow through any tiniest of cracks, and we believe some still exist in the roof ridge vent system.... obviously.  Once the snow passed the ridge vent and was inside the building, it pretty much fell straight down from the roof ridge.  The vertical member in the picture below is the roof truss kingpost that goes straight up to the roof ridge.  You can see the snow on the diagonal truss brace and I scooped a handful of snow off of the face of the fiberglass insulation. The insulation is a bright white so it is hard to see the snow on it, but it is there.

The snow fell on everything right below the ridge, the wires, the electrical boxes the pipes and ducts.

Gari looks up at the ridge vent in over the garage.  Snow entered at every single roof panel bay in the garage and in more than half of the roof panel bays over the house area.  A real gut punch when we discovered it!

It is difficult to see up in the ridge what is going on in each roof panel bay because of the location (10 ft up) and because of the small clearance of about 1 inch.  We stuffed the camera up in that gap and got this photo below.  Obviously light is coming in abundantly at the joint formed at the interface of the roof panel standing seam and the Z-metal installed to fill the gap.  That joint should have sufficient caulk at installation so as no gap remains and will block any and all wind driven snow or moisture.  Doesn't look sealed very well to us.   We are in discussion with the installing contractor.

Zooming out, the shot below shows a section of roof ridge above the house.  Now that the attic is closed in with insulation, it is much darker up there and we could see this light much better, which we had missed before when this area was all open and much lighter up there.  Several of the bays obviously have light entering, suggesting gaps may exist. This is where the snow entered at the joint of the standing seam to Z-metal at many of the roof panel bays.

We developed a plan.  The first thing we could implement was to install the left over vapor barrier on either side of the truss king posts.  The plastic extends about 4 foot on either side of the kingpost or roof ridge.  We made a swale in the plastic on each side of the kingpost so it would capture and snow or other moisture that may enter the attic in the future and keep it out of the insulation.  The second part of our plan is to install additional horse hair or hog hair air filter media in each roof panel bay to further fill any existing gaps there.  The ridge vents are constructed with this same filter media, we are just going to stuff more in there.  The last phase is to remove a few of the roof ridge caps, inspect the standing seam to Z-metal joints for proper caulk and butyl tape on the bottom flange of the Z.  If more than one joint is inadequate, we have asked the installer to remove all ridge caps and correct all joints under workmanship warranty.  If the sample of 2 or 3 ridge caps removed all looks good we will pay for the sample inspection.  We will see how that proposal works...

Friday was spent removing snow with a 5 gallon bucket.  We removed as much as we could on Friday.  We were so upset we gave out early that Friday.

After a good rest overnight we were re-energized and went back at it on Saturday.  Upon entering the house we noticed this in one of our large picture windows.  It looked like a .22 round.  Upon further investigation we think it was from a pellet air gun.  Right after discovering the attic snow the day before we were not prepared for this.  It was hard to get over the idea that someone was shooting directly at our house.  Either intentionally or unintentionally didn't seem to make much difference.  We called the sheriff and a deputy came out, performed an investigation and made a report.  So now we wait and we watch.

We have figured out that we can just replace the glass... for $1200.  We have filled the hole with silicone caulk until we can make the repair.

Now back to good progress.  The drywall arrived one snowy overcast day last week.  Jose operates the squirt boom crane on the delivery truck with his wireless remote control panel.  He was good with the crane.

He brought the boom and payload right to the front door and they transferred the sheetrock over to a dolly at the door.

They had one load get away from them when transferring the sheets.  It knocked the cart off of the ramp at the door and slammed against the door.  After inspecting things it appears that we avoided any damage.  That stuff is heavy!

The guys loaded the appropriate number of sheetrock bundles into each room to make it easy for the installers.

A couple days later the installers showed up.  Luis, the team lead, gives me the thumbs up from his drywall stilts as I capture some documentation.  The guy on the bucket actually walked across the floor without getting off of the bucket.  Now we have seen these high up workers walk on step ladders and now buckets!  Luis was a great guy and the crew was very nice and they did a neat job hanging everything.  One guy worked in a Santa Claus hat and fuzzy white collar!  They completed the hanging task in a day and a half.  We expect them to return this week to start the tape, mud & texture.

Luis and helper on our scaffold hanging the heavy stuff on the garage ceiling.

I am bigger than Luis, but I don't believe that I could do what he does!  He has some serious power and technique in his smaller frame.

All hung out.  Really starting to look like a house now.  Inconvenient though, we can no longer walk through the walls.  Sitting room looking east toward Mt Baldy and the lake.  You can just see the gas log stub out in the corner coming out of the floor.

Looking at the kitchen sink area.  You can see the drain pipe below the window.  The wires protruding from the walls will be over cabinet accent lights and under cabinet work lights.

Looking at the oven and refrigerator wall.  You can see the stove vent hood duct up high frame center, and the refrigerator ice maker connection at frame left low.

Guest bedroom looking back out the door and at the closet.

Guest bathroom/laundry room.  You can just see the dryer vent at frame left low.  The toilet will be tucked in the nook behind the shower/tub, past that will be a little closet nook to hang clothes as they come out of the dryer.

Guest bath looking back out the door; l to r: lav, utility sink; washer is just out of frame to the right, but you can just see the washer electrical outlet at frame right.

Looking into the pantry.  First room in the hall next to kitchen.  You can see the crawlspace access opening in the floor.

Master bedroom looking from just inside the master bath door.

Master Bath.  One person sauna planned for the right corner.  Toilet will be tucked behind the shower wall to the left.  Lavs are just out of frame to the right - across from the shower.

Entry hall from garage.  Thermostat wire at left, followed by guest bed, then guest bath.  On the right is the utility closet (water heater), then the coat closet, and at the end of the hall is the door out into the garage.  The pantry is just before the thermostat wire at the left just out of frame.  The master bedroom door is just out of frame at right.

Garage drywall.  The installers only hung the ceiling and the firewall in the garage.  We will install OSB sheathing to the other 3 walls.  We already have a few sheets up on the south wall from the framing leftovers.  You can see the attic access hatch in the ceiling.  This is the only attic access point.   The outlet box by the attic access is for a ceiling fan.

A view out our front yard looking east toward Mt. Baldy, Sheep Mt, and the Palisades Reservoir.  It's cold here.  I should add that our kitchen cabinets arrived a week ago, so as soon as the drywall is finished and we can get the paint applied we will have the kitchen and bathroom cabinets installed.  Final electrical devices and fixtures as well as final plumbing fixtures can then also be installed.  That should keep us busy for a week or more.  Still remaining is the trim, baseboard, doors and windows.  We have the interior doors on order.  Finally there is the matter of the flooring.  We are planing to install plank vinyl ourselves.  That should be an adventure in and of itself.  We also have a plan for a little tile work; at the front door entry and under the gas log in the corner of the sitting room. 

Another gorgeous shot from neighbor Corey.  Wishing a Merry Christmas to all and all the best in the New Year.  We can all be saved through Jesus Christ!