Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (clothing, shingles)

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by PippySkiddles

Lisa, you live in such a beautiful and scenic area; take pics of the area around you. You can have them blown up to any size you choose to and I even have some I take turned into black & white. Then just select the frames you want. I get loads of compliments on the ones I've done this way.

I would love to do that. I am still....after years, on the look out for a new camera.




Happy 4th of July and I'll be back later today...when it rains..to write a story

[ylisa7]

Happy 4th of July everyone. I hope everyone is having a wonderful time...or at least enjoying your time off


As promised I am back to write a story. So let's finish up what we did in May.


5-19
Today we are going to finish painting the inside of the house....woo hoo. It will be nice to put the paint brushes away, at least for a little while We start off by moving all of the furniture out of the way. Poor Niki girl has been moved numerous times since the painting began. I told Mike she will be fine as long as her bed(plastic box) stays "inside" the house. For now her and her bed are in the middle of the mess where she can watch her crazy human parents, lol.


Last night I painted the back wall a light color. We are going to try something new The front wall and the back wall, where the doorways are, are going to be a lighter color and the living room and kitchen will both be a darker matching color. Hey we thought it might be interesting

Time to work Mike starts out by sanding any rough spots on the living room wall.




And the color is going on. I do my usually cut in work while Mike rolls on the paint...what a team



Once we get the living room done we are finished with the darker paint. Time to clean up and let it dry before we can paint the front wall. While we wait for the paint to dry, we decide to move the propane refrigerator up top to the building Yup...just the two of us as usual. Mike really makes me nervous with this stuff but you gotta do what you gotta do We get it back onto the hand truck sideways so we protect the pipes in the back. Whoops...it tilts to the side from all of the weight. Good thing we weren't on the driveway yet Wow...this thing is awkward and heavy. I hope Mike is OK pulling it while I am in front pushing it without tipping it. Come to think of it, I must really trust Mike to be the run at the bottom of this thing pushing it up the hill We get it onto the drive and sure enough it starts to tilt and it;s just to heavy. Mike does the smartest thing and just lays the hand truck down. Whew!!! time to readjust and try again. Finally we get it up the hill and into the building. Woo hoo...we can do anything, lol. Sorry....no pics...I was a little busy


Back in the house. We move more stuff outside on the patio to make room for us to paint the front wall. Uh oh...Niki's bed got moved outside and she is not a happy camper.


Here I am cutting in part of the front wall.



And Mike painting it.




Yay..we are almost done. Check out the mess As with most projects it has to get worse before it can get better.



And now for the final pictures...the house is back together

The living room.

and



The back wall that I did last night.



And the kitchen.



Ahh!! the house is back to Mike and Lisa neat and Niki is back inside
We finally have a little color on our walls. I know...don't get too excited but it's a big improvement over our usual white colors, lol. We aren't adventurous when it comes to colors


5-20
Time for some outside work

I checked the forecast I think we are finally done with any possible frost. Yay...this is my favorite time of year. Time to get my garden planted. I planted all of my plants...zucchini, squash, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, onions, cucumbers, peas..I think that's all




I know..it doesn't look like much now but just wait


My tomato cages are up. Mike hates these but I told him to stay away from my garden unless he is helping me



And he's helping me now by cutting my poles down. What a guy



After that I took out some old paint to paint my poles but it solidified. It must have froze over the winter. I'll have to add paint to our never ending list Then I mowed and I am so thankful we have such a small area to mow Sometimes the cows are a good thing, lol.


5-21
Today we went to town to go to the Home Show and then to do some shopping, as usual. Really I think Lowe's should send us "something" for contributing to their bottom line for so many years Mike really enjoyed the home show. He got to talk with lots of solar people and they couldn't believe we were able to run a regular refrigerator. Woo hoo for us. I did my usual and scoped out any freebies



Back home I opened up my new paint and got busy. I painted my garden posts.



We are going to use some of the leftover deer netting that we have to make my fence.




Mike has an idea of using tobacco poles, from our barn, to use to tack the netting to the poles.


First we are going to attach the netting and I will pull it tight while Mike screws in the screws though the painted tobacco poles to hold the netting in place. Mike pre drills the holes so we don't split the wood and to make it easier.





We started putting up my fence.




We ended up not having enough netting to finish the fence Looks like another trip to town will be in our future. This is when it is tough living this far from town.



The next few days we take off and try to relax. Mike and have decided to replace our metal roof with shingles. This is going to be a really tough job for the two of us and Mike is worried about us getting it done because of possible rain and the horrendous heat lately.


We are replacing the roof for two reasons.
1. Mike is very worried about the metal leaking. I know we have had trouble with one side of our front wall inside the house...we will see what the roof looks like when we take it off.

2. Mike hates how loud it is when it rains even after we rolled on the rubber coating last year..or was that the year before


Right now we are trying to find a shingle color we like. We will be doing architectural or Dimensional shingles but we want to find a light green to compliment the color of our house. Should be easy...right?


5-26
Time for the shingle shopping experience. We stopped at our builders supply and looked at multiple samples. They only make one light green color and it has been discontinued...figures Most of the shingles are darker...don't the manufacturer's feel this heat? I just don't understand the thought process of manufacturers. Looks like we will have to order a white shingle. Our salesman who we have known for years told us to order from Lowe's for the best price. We did end up buying the rest of the roofing material from him


We got home with our new supplies. Here are the rolls of the water and ice which is an asphalt self stick roll out to protect our roof before we put the shingles on and our 4x4 posts to add ledgers to the house. Oh this is going to be a fun job..I can tell, lol.




And my garden with my new fence and my garden bed is painted and Niki



The gate that Mike helped me with




5-27
Today we ordered our shingles...sight unseen because they didn't have a sample It's called Shasta White and it is rated energy star.....I hope it looks good. They should be in in a couple of weeks



Wow...the next few days have been crazy hot. I hate the heat...that;s why we are in the mountains. What the heck???


Mike has an idea for our solar system. Right now our inverter is on the floor next to the battery box. He wants to mount it on the wall so he can set the fan up on an automatic heat censored switch to keep all of our equipment cool. He is in the planning stages of how he is going to do this. Uh oh, lol.


Mike had got it and today is the day to make the switch. He is going to use our back up inverter and mount that to the wall then I will help him while he disconnects all the wires form our current inverter and switches everything over. After a few hours the switch is complete and our back up inverter is on the wall


BTW, our awning is doing an awesome job keeping the sun off the front of our house and the heat out As long as close the doors as soon as it starts to get warm out, the house stays comfortable all day


So...later that night while Mike and I are watching TV we have a power outage Well this is new. We grab the flashlight and head p to the building. Sure enough the inverter that Mike used is smoking Not good. Thankfully we have our old one. I help Mike make the switch and we are we have our power back on after 20 minutes. Mike is so good with this stuff Now we don't have a back up which is kind of scary. That is first on the list tomorrow.



5-31
The last day of the month. The time is flying here.

Mike called about the inverter and they told him it was under warranty..woo hoo. They are sending him replacement circuit boards if he thinks he can take it all apart and put the new boards in. Mike says sure he can. The parts are on the way. meanwhile Mike watched a you tube video from that company on how to do it. Gotta love the internet. With that info, he went up and took the old circuit boards out of the bad inverter.


We also got our driveway alert today and Mike hooked it up...except the birds are making it go off


I did a little yard work and played in my garden




That's all for May. I hope you enjoyed our story and I will write again next Monday. Have a great night.

Lisa

[PippySkiddles]

Everything looks perfect Lisa!!! Thanks for sharing. Love reading what you post.

[Gue]

As always I am absoultely amazed at the quality of you & Mike's work.

Thanks for the update!

[CA Sweet Pea]

Once again..... THANK YOU for sharing!

LOVE the paint colors! (Very similar to what I have in my home.)

Your garden looks awesome!

[Cruzincat]

Originally Posted by younglisa7

We have 38.5 acres. I tried to take a picture of a copy of our land from Google. This is us. This was when we first put the road in up to the top with the homesite. You can see the barn to the left...other than that it is hard to see much else. We are hoping to get a real aerial one of these days.

You can get a more recent image in Google Earth by clicking on 1993 on the lower left. It will revert to an older B&W image. Go to the timeline bar in the upper left and drag it all the way to the right.

I don't know why GE doesn't use the most recent imagry.

[Cruzincat]

Lisa and Mike,
Once you have the paving all the way, and now that you have power on the property, you could always build another house up and to the left in the other bowl. I am sure Nicole would love that. You could build it far enough up the hill so that privacy between the two houses would still be possible because of the trees and the shape of the land. Of course I am assuming you own all the property that is cleared. Howard's cows might not like the idea, though!

[ylisa7]

Hi all. I hope everyone had a wonderful week and you are all staying cool. This chapter will be about the work we did right before we changed out the roof...and then we will almost be caught up.


June 1-
Today was a mix of a day. First I had to take Niki to the vet. She hasn't been able to hold down any food in a few days..the poor little pug. I even gave her pepto by using a straw. Mike was having a fit but hey, how else was I going to get it into her mouth, lol? It did work well. I think she ate something outside that she wasn't supposed to, so typical of her. Turns out she is OK and the vet gave me some medicine for her for a few days

Then Mike and I drove around and met and caught up with some of our old neighbors from our last farm. It was a good day..but no work got done.




June 2-
It is a sunny day which means it's time to do laundry..until my washer broke I am really upset about this washer. I specifically picked it after researching for quite some time. It was supposed to be perfect and very energy efficient for our needs. Well it has been a piece of junk since day one. I will never get another front loader again...at least not a GE. Mike and I can get pretty dirty...and this washer has never been able to clean our clothes. On top of that the timed washes lie. If I set it for the 38 minute wash it takes 1 hour So much for using less electricity and water. Ok..enough of my rant. We were going to run it to the ground but now it won't even drain out the water. So it's off to Lowe's to get a new..old fashioned top loader with an agitator BTW, if anyone wants a 3 year old front loader and dryer it's collecting dust, lol.


June3-
Today we took out the old washer and dryer and installed the new washer. I don't have a dryer now but at least our clothes will get clean. The rest of the day was a clean up round.


Mike started prepping for our roofing job. He started out by taking off our gutters.



And the last of the gutters are coming down.



June 5-
Today we worked on the ditch line..I know it's getting old but we will get it done this summer

Back in the rocks.




And we did pretty good.



June 6-
Mike wants to add an extra eave on the perimeter of our roof to protect the house from the weather. He also wants to have a metal piece made up to protect the new eave and the house. Today we went to the farm supply to order the new metal. We have to do the eaves and the metal before we can put the new shingles on.

When we got back home we found a delivery. Our new inverter boards are here. Looks like Mike has some work to do. I will just be near him for moral support

Here is the old inverter box with nothing inside.



This is what it should look like.



Here are the new parts




I am so glad Mike can do this kind of work. Just looking at this makes me confuses me, lol.



One of the boards.




Mike starting to put the circuit boards into the case.




Another board to put in.



Mike putting it together.




All three replacement boards are in

Almost done. Putting the top back on.




And screwing it back into place.



And it's all done. Mike made it look so easy





Next Mike takes the fixed inverter out to hook it up to our Jeep battery to test it.




It's a good thing we did this today. Mike found out that our terminal end on the Jeep battery was cracked. See...some things do happen for a reason. We will have to pick one up next time we are out.


And Mike using the volt meter to test the repaired inverter.



Whew..it all looks good. Now we just have to send back the old parts to the company..who, by the way have great customer service.


June 7-
We got a call from Lowe's and our shingles are in Now it's time to get some work done. They will be delivered tomorrow. Since we don't have out metal in yet we decide to kill some time by...you guessed it...playing with rocks


June 8-
Shingles are delivered and to our disappointment the metal did not get in. Back to the rocks...but we can't do much because it is brutally hot out.


June 9-
Yay..our metal is in. It got in late so we will have to do the work tomorrow.

Mike does start to scrape the front of the house. For some reason we have always had trouble with his section on our house. The paint just doesn't want to take..and then it bubbles up. It is just nasty. Mike is coming up with a permanent fix for this section

But for now he scrapes part of it.



June 10-
Time to start the roofing job.

Here's our shingle pile



First Mike takes off the old drip edge.





First one down.



We work our way around the house and get all of the old drip edge off.


We bought some long 4x4 posts. We are going to screw the posts into the sides and the back of the house. This will give us a decent eave on the house. Then we will cover the top and edge of the eave with the metal that Mike had made. This will protect our house from getting wet from any bad weather Then we can change the roof.


Once the old drip edge is off, Mike unscrews some of the metal roof. This will let us lift up the edges so we can install the 4x4 posts.

We each lift up a section and clamp it to the roof.



We found these new screws and they are so cool. No pre drilling required and they go right through the whole deal. This is the first time we tried these and they are great...expensive but worth it.



Here's how they look. Mike drilling in the new lag screws.



The first side of the house is done. The eaves are installed.



I start to paint the part that will be seen after we put the metal on.



We work our way to the other side. It's done and painted.




And last we install the 4x4's on the back of the house.



Now that the wood is up and painted it's time to add the metal. Mike had it specially made for this job.


See how it wraps around the post and then there is a lip on it? This will make any water that rolls off the edges of the roof go away from the house and not drip down the sides.



Whew...that's one part down. Now we are waiting for the weather to cooperate. Mike and I haven;t done a shingle roof in years so we don;t really know how long it will take us. We need good weather and no rain when we take off the metal roof, and we have no idea how bad it will be, and then we have to get the new roof on. It's going to be a very rough few days for us once we commit to do it. Right now...we are still getting rain each night and it is hot


June 12-
We woke up today and Mike says to me "we have a new bull". No way...when did that happen? Sure enough we have a new light colored bull.



But we find out he's not ours...uh oh He belongs to our back neighbor and he came through the fence..not good. Thankfully we don;t have any bulls in here or there could be some fighting. It's bad enough he got to our girls


It turns into a very different day than planned. The cow people, Howard, Eric, and Ivalee show up to get this bull out. After a couple of hours of calling the girls, because the bull will follow, Eric gets the bull almost to the top of the ridge by the hole in the fence. Then something spooks the bull and he runs all the way back down the hill Mike has been out trying to help them and I stayed out of the way so I wouldn't spook the bull into doing something they don't want him to. I head down too the barn to see what's happening. Everyone is down there including our back neighbor with a cattle truck. They got the bull inside the barn locked up with 2 of the girls. While getting him into the barn he went a little crazy and bent the steel fence on the front of the barn They finally got the bull loaded up and our neighbor said "I'm getting too old for this".


That's it for today. I will leave you with some garden pictures. My favorite. I love my little garden



Soon you won't be able to see any dirt


Here is my orphan garden. I didn't have room in my garden for all the zucchini and squash plants and I didn't want to throw them away. They are looking pretty good.



I hope you all enjoyed this week's story. Next week will be the roofing job. Have a great week and I will write again next Monday.

Lisa

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by Cruzincat

Lisa and Mike,
Once you have the paving all the way, and now that you have power on the property, you could always build another house up and to the left in the other bowl.

The power is to the barn but we have no plans fo bringing it to the top.

There are a lot of really great building spots on our land that would offer privacy from each other...but I think that will happen after Mike and I are long gone

[PippySkiddles]

awwww................so sorry the fur baby is/was sick and hope she's ok now.
Love reading your story but can't take my eyes off the scenery!!!!!! Not sure I would get any work done. I"m afraid I would just lie on a blanket looking at the view all day