Show stopper!

So, I tried to move last Thursday. The place where I have been parked at has become unstable, due to the drug use of the people also living there, and rather than stick it out and deal with it I decided to run-away. So, I called a tow truck, but the one that came to move me couldn't get the trailer high enough to clear the tires. I have known that there is not much clearance and I should get smaller tires, one day when I have an extra grand. I thought I could move a short distance, I have before. The tires started smoking! I made it 100 yards down the highway and ended up stopped in the turning lane. It was getting dark. They called another tow truck, but the only one they could send also couldn't get the hitch up high enough! It was getting darker and we were still stuck in the turning lane in the middle of the highway! I had already racked up a bill for two tow trucks, so rather than call a third truck, while it was getting darker still, I realized I had to go right back where I started from, now just parked facing the other direction! But, no one got hurt, nothing got damaged.  All good. Nobody's fault but my own stubborn self! Now it is time to fix the problem I have known about all along, problems with the foundation. I have been plagued by the drug abuse of others my whole life, from the childhood, through to my adult relationships. I have always decided to run. Well, now I am stuck and it is up to me to face up to the issues, work through to find a solution, and move on with my life. I am putting my tires up for sale, working with my lawyer to get the property damage part of the bike vs. car settlement going so I have some funds to apply to this practical problem, and working on the solution to the moral problem.  I need to figure out how to assert my boundaries in ways that others will respect, and not run away when they don't, but keep standing my ground. I have to learn to face my knee jerk reactions to the fear induced by the drug abuse of people whom I trust and am close to, so that it doesn't debilitate me in seeing what needs to be done and to carry it out, to keep myself happy, safe and sane.

Hung doors

The bedroom and the bathroom doors (stained glass by Brandon Shultz, wood work by Brent Swanson, hinges by your truly) are finished and installed. 

Full-on "Inside" Action! Installing the 20 foot long living room ceiling

This was a fun operation, so I thought to make it a stand alone post:

 Held the insulation in place with scraps of paneling wedges and tied into the steel ceiling frame, which i pulled out after the finished panel was in place.

 Then I started out with my baes, each 36' tall, my fridge and a stake of crates, so i could fit the two halves around the stove pipe and glue the last joint of the frame together.

 Then I just kept stacking up stuff until the frame reached the ceiling!

 Screwed it into the steel above, and BAM!

 Looks so good! Looking back.

 Helding the joint between the living room and hall way panels flush with each other with nails, will cover with some trim the future

 Looks so good! Looking forwards.

Recycling oak flooring scraps

Landus Bennet, HERO from Watson Springs, hooked me up with about 9 square feet of oak flooring seconds. There were some really nice spalted pieces that will match well with my dining table as I build the leaf support legs.  The other project I am working on with the material are the door frames for the bed room and bathroom doors. I am looking forward to hanging them soon!

 Bathroom door frame.

 Bedroom door frame, two of three sides.

Door frames ready to sand.

 This is my first attempts at furniture making, using peg joints.

  I just picked it up recently; it has been more than a year since Jack Hudson finished it. I designed it and he built it from spalted sycamore I also got from Landus.

 Top of the table.

The leaf support legs will also be used in supporting the table top of the office/work wall cabinet. When that table top is folded down there would not be enough room for the dining table to be fully extended anyways. The doors of the cabinet will both open outwards and also latch together and fold down to be a work surface.

Here are some shots of the finished out tiny room + Washer/dryer compartment. Floor access hatch to plumbing, and trim made from recycled wooden ruler.

 under the sink towel bar for a clothes rack.

 

Here are the door frames in place, working on capping the recesses where the screws hold it to the steel.

Building the ceiling frames

 I have been recovering from a bike vs car encounter, and haven't been able to do much work on my house this month. I am tired of moving the bales of insulation around, and now that the solar racks are installed I can go ahead and build the ceiling panels, put the insulation in and have it all out of the way. Making frames with half lap joints, through pegged with dowels at the corners, and inset panels. I have enough of the embossed metal roofing tiles to do the living room area, so I am working on cleaning them up. I am so grateful for the help I have had holding and cutting the boards, Thank you Mark, and touring cyclists August and Rodigo, who stopped in for a stay while on their cross country journey. Thank you to Jesse and Robert for helping me refurbish the metal tiles!

August and Rodrigo setting off up 441 North.

All the pieces cut, ready to assemble. Using bricks to hold glue joints together.

    I ended up not using these tiles after all, why add the weight just for decoration? But anyways.....

Simultaneously working on grinding the corrosion off the metal tiles, primed the backs with Rustoleum so that they will not corrode from behind..

Through pegging the messy half lap joints

 This is the largest frame, which will run along the port side of the living room. It will have to be finish assembled around the stove pipe,

Priming all the panels with Kilz

 In both the bedrooms there are frames that, when assembled, will not fit through the entrances, so I am putting them together in the rooms. The one in the smallest loft bedroom has to be built up-right inside the only space in which it could move. It is built with an extra vertical rail because the panels that rest in the frame have to be able to fit through the opening.

All the frames were sanded, and chair rail molding held in place while with a nail or two while the glue dried.

 Checking out the shade of blue on the ceiling.

 Put up trim to be able to finish paint the walls before the ceiling panels are installed.

 Paining/priming the loft bedroom walls.

 Caulking the seams where the molding meets the frame.


Painting all the panels for the bedrooms and the tiles for the living room blue.  Using my waitress $KILZ  carrying wet tiles.

All the frames have had two coats of paint put on them, and now the panels are glued into the rabits and held in place with a nail.

 Here we go! Getting the panels installed!

This is what the metal tiles look like in the frames. Not bad, but I decided not worth the extra weight, nor the heat the will be reflected off them in the summer. So they are up for sale on Craig's

http://athensga.craigslist.org/mat/5155952517.html

 Installing in the hall way.

 Installing in the living room