Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (Kingsport: high school, disposing)

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by Keeem

Heya!

First off, love the story, pictures, etc you've provided. You're living a dream, and I thank you for sharing how it progresses.

Now, just a thought... Have you considered putting either sheet glass (frosted or clear) windows or tilt windows above the doors to the office & bedroom (and even bathroom). It would let some natural light into those rooms.

What a geat idea. We actually just thought about that yesterday. We need all the lighting we can get into those back rooms. I think frosted would be nice as long as they aren't too dark. We'll have to check into it.

Thanks,
Lisa

[ylisa7]

Good Morning everyone. We had a very productive end of the week. First of all let me tell you that we have been successfully running on our own "M&L Power". Mike had to make one modification so far because we kept popping 60amp fuses. He fixed that and everything is good. When Mike perfects our system I will give you all the details.

Thursday- 8-14-08

Mike ran most of the pex plumbing for the bathroom.


And the kitchen.


He used the pex tubing and ran them through the walls. The blue is for cold water and the red is for hot water. We also finished wiring the master bedroom and the kitchen for electric.

Today was also mowing day at our other property. It took us a little longer than usual because Mike had to put the sharpened blades back on the mower and I had a lot of weed eating to do. At least there was no beaver dam this week. Maybe they moved down the creek. I hope.

We got back home and started sheet rocking the bedroom.

Our first 3 walls.



Friday 8-15-08
Today we had to make another Lowe's run. Sometimes it seems like we live there. We had a big list with a lot of little things to get. When we got home we started working on more plumbing. Mike had to start "connecting" the pex piping. This is how you connect pex piping. First you cut the pipe down to the size you need, then you put crimp collars over both pieces of pex, and then put a Tee or an elbow inside the middle of the pex pipe. Slide the crimp collars over the Tee or elbow then with a crimping tool you crimp the ends. That's it.

Pex with a connector.


Another piece added to the cold water.


And Mike crimping it.


Then we put up more sheet rock in the bedroom.


And more.


We had to stop and go back over to Nicole's to finish the plumbing on her bathroom sink. Last time we ran out of parts. Mike got that done and now Nicole can paint and tile her bathroom.

Saturday- 8-16-08

Today was an awesome day. We got so much done. First we sheet rocked the back wall and side of the bedroom.


Then we put sheet rock on the bedroom/kitchen wall.


And more.


This next part is for Tek_Freek and those of you concerned that we don't have enough studs in the corners of our walls to screw sheet rock into. He posted pictures with little circles on our problem areas. Tek was correct. When we originally installed all of our walls our main concern was to get the material "off the floor". We accomplished that and now we will use our scrap and extra 2x4's for fill in pieces to screw our sheet rock to. We are only missing pieces in the corners where the walls come together. If you do it this way you end up with less waste and save money.
Here is a sample of scrap being used for "scabs". That's what Mike says they are called.


After we got the sheet rock done on the bedroom/kitchen wall I was able to put the insulation in.


This is my favorite job. I love doing insulation. I even told Mike to stay away from my insulation ha, ha. I finished the kitchen wall.


Before any questions come up we are only insulating the bathroom, kitchen and bedroom interior walls. The front of the house was sprayed with insulation. We are "not" putting insulation in the exterior walls that are surrounded by dirt. The reason for this is we are more concerned about keeping the house "cool" in the summer since we have no air conditioning. We will have no trouble keeping warm in the winter because we will have a propane fireplace. So this is intentional although not conventional.

Mike finished installing the sheet rock in the bedroom and then he showed me how to tape the walls for Spackle. I did great on the walls I could reach but then I had to use the dreaded scaffold to reach up high.


I'm not really sure what my problem is with the scaffold but it makes me really nervous. Mike was making fun of me because, after all, I'm only about 4 feet off the ground. I told him he has to tape the high spots. This is Mike doing a much better job.


We also hung the bedroom door and we made a last minute decision. We have a nice sized opening at the top of all our interior doors and we have no windows in those rooms. So we are thinking about installing some kind of decorative glass above each of the doors. At least this will give us some lighting and we thought it would look nice.
Here is our door. Looking at this picture it looks a little crooked. We have to check that today. I didn't look bad when we hung it.


Then Mike started spackling the bedroom.


Overall, we had a great day.


Sunday- 8-17-08
Mike started off the day by installing the drain pipe in the back wall for our washing machine.


Then he installed the vent pipe in the bathroom.


He also cut down some of the pex pipe, added connectors and crimped it all together and then stapled them to the wall. Now everything is getting neater.


Sorry I have to stop for a few minutes.

Lisa

[ylisa7]

Sorry about the interruption. Mike had to turn the power off temporarily so I had to stop.

OK back to Sunday 8-17-08.
We started to sheet rock the front of the kitchen wall and then we got to the angled wall which was a headache.


If you remember when we put the original wall up there was no plan to do an angled wall and doorway so now we have to modify. Mike had to add some "scrap" 2x4's and back cut the sheet rock to make this unusual angle work. We got the one side done. Only 3 more to go.

Mike got tired of doing small boards with lots of cuts so we decided to put a full bathroom wall up. We are using green board for the entire bathroom which is waterproof. First we had to add some scrap to screw the green board into.


Our first board is up.


Can anyone see what I forgot? Oh yeah, we have to take that board back down so I can put the insulation in. Oops.

We also installed one sheet of green board on the back wall.


Thankfully we don't need insulation on that wall.

We are really moving along. Mike thinks we will be finished with the "inside" of the house in September. That's good because we need to be out of the motorhome before it gets cold.

As usual, we hope you are enjoying our story. I will write again on Thursday.

Lisa and Mike

[jguillot]

Lisa,

I continue to enjoy reading about the progress you are making. I really do envy you and Mike. I'd love to be doing what you are doing. It must be really quiet on your property at night. I bet you can see a sky full of stars each night. I keep thinking more and more about the possibility of using solar power in my future home in Tennessee. I have one question. Why don't either of you ever show your faces in the pictures?

[Forest Breath]

LOL good question and amazing that I was asked that in an email not long ago. We are doing a scrapbook of our home building. At first we posed for things with hammers in hand. After awhile it was more like. "hurry and take that pic so we can get this done". One of us would grab the camera or cell phone and snap a pic while the other was holding or hammering something. When it is just the two of us, we want to get those pics in the scrapbook, but posing is fotgotten as Chris got tired of holding up a 2x6 and smiling while I took the perfect picture. LOL.

I cannot speak for YoungLisa, but I have noticed we just get in a groove and what few face pics we took were very unattractive covered in dirt, sawdust, sweat and an "I will kill you if you don't hurry" look on our faces. LOL

YoungLisa....I continue to be amazed at the progress you all have made. The home is just coming along beautifully. I look forward to the pics you take with your furniture in and maybe that face pic of you guys enjoying the new home! You will be in by September at the rate you are going. I know you will have many years of happiness and love in that home...it is beautiful.

[RSMTN]

jguillot........I'm going to guess the reason that faces aren't shown is for safety reasons. If I were in their position I would not want my picture available to thousands of people on the Internet in today's times.

[TN Tin Man]

Just a suggestion.. Learn More About Solatube Daylighting Systems and why they are the smart alternative to skylights

[jguillot]

RSMTN, you are probably correct. I had not thought about safety issues.

Lisa and Mike, it is probably best that you don't show your faces in your pictures.

Tinman313, I have a solar tube in my house that brings light into a hallway. This hallway is very bright during the daytime. I was amazed at how much light is directed through the tube when I had it installed 2 years ago. It brings in so much light that it might be a little too much light for Lisa and Mike's bedrooms. If they want to take a nap during the day on a sunny day, the excessive amount of light might make it more difficult to sleep.

Lisa and Mike, if having a lot of light in your bedrooms is not a concern, solar tubes would solve the problem of not having windows to bring in light to your bedrooms.

[TN Tin Man]

Originally Posted by j guillot

RSMTN, you are probably correct. I had not thought about safety issues.

Lisa and Mike, it is probably best that you don't show your faces in your pictures.

Tinman313, I have a solar tube in my house that brings light into a hallway. This hallway is very bright during the daytime. I was amazed at how much light is directed through the tube when I had it installed 2 years ago. It brings in so much light that it might be a little too much light for Lisa and Mike's bedrooms. If they want to take a nap during the day on a sunny day, the excessive amount of light might make it more difficult to sleep.

Lisa and Mike, if having a lot of light in your bedrooms is not a concern, solar tubes would solve the problem of not having windows to bring in light to your bedrooms.

Check out the bright ideas section in the link I posted about Solar Tube.......

[GatorTrout]

If it's not too late....you might think about hanging the drywall with a ripper in the middle to make the finishing easier.

In other words, hang your top and bottom boards and fill in the middle, this lets you work the joints in an easier fashion.