Snow Moves in on JR

As promised, no more flurry of effort being put in to the house for awhile, but I still have some updates to share. Also, I apologize in advance that some of the pictures are pretty crappy. I don't have any mechanical outdoor lighting, and it's usually dark by the time I remember to take pictures, so it's all up to my phone's tiny flash to show anything at all.

This is the North wall of the house, where siding is catching up with the South and West walls. Still plenty to do, but it's coming along nicely.

Two things going on in this shot. First, snow! Lots of snow, actually...although it looks deceiving, especially at the rear of the trailer (where the ground is several feet away from the underside of the house), the snow is over a foot deep at the time of this photo.
The other thing of note is Alexi (our car, in case you're not familiar) in the background, stuck in the snow. Poor guy needs some new tires with better treads, so over an hour of the day here was spent digging and pushing Alexi back onto pavement. I do appreciate the help of the neighbors and a good samaritan who stopped to offer help, and a bag of salt for traction.

After getting over being startled several times by a loud "wumpfh" sound, I figured out that the snow was sliding off the metal roof and slamming into the ground in big sections. Big parts at a time because, as you can see, the snow would slide down and somehow have enough integrity to stay attached to the rest of the snow up on the roof until it was cantilevered out a couple of feet. Cool! (though it suggests it may be prudent to buy some snow guards for our roof to reduce the chances of one of those big sections hitting someone in the head)

Early winter in Rochester means snow piles up, then melts. Piles up, then melts. This is not great for the "utility shed" at the front of the trailer, which still didn't have a finished roof. So, I finally got around to starting that.

And here we are with the most up-to-date progress: the mini-roof is complete except for rake and pitch break trim.

Exterior Nearing Completion

First, a fun picture! It turns out some of the drinks we were storing didn't much agree with the below-freezing temperatures. Oops.

We've also made progress on siding. Here's the South wall...

...and here's the West wall.

The North wall was feeling a bit neglected, still being at the Tyvek stage. So, we started to catch that up. First, Roxul.

And then some battens and trim going up.

And with the Roxul going up on the North, we were close to done with that step.

And then, finally, checked one more thing off the list.

Last, we also started on the soffit, the last bit of the exterior we hadn't started at all.

We'll keep working through the winter, but, to be honest, I've been feeling a bit burnt out on the project lately. We started in July, making us about 5 months in to the project. From the beginning, we expected it to take us at least a year, as there was plenty we'd have to learn how to do along the way. But I suppose that just as with any project, the middle is the hard part to get through. At the beginning, there's bushy-tailed eagerness. At the end, there's the impending sense of accomplishment, the light at the end of the tunnel, or perhaps even the panic of an approaching deadline. In the middle though, well.

So, we've been working the weekends, but otherwise trying to relax a little. Stay inside with tons of blankets, hot tea, and the like. I'll keep working, and of course keep updating. So, stay tuned for the completion of the exterior, which will be followed by the rough utilities, then insulation, walls, and many more fun projects!