Hello Everyone,
I want to apologize for how long it has been since I last
updated my blog. A large amount of progress has been made since my last post. Aside
from covering the open corners, my siding and insulation are complete. Additionally,
my Uncle Steve finished installing the suspended ceiling. My front door has
been installed and painted and now only needs a doorknob. Arthur Stone installed
the roof cap for my house. My father and I installed the wiring, and my
grandmother Becky and I painted the interior of my house. In addition, my
father and I have begun installing my subfloor.
The Roof
Building a pitched roof was both cost-prohibitive and, due
to the container’s strength, unnecessary. I may eventually put a pitched roof
on it. However, what is currently being used is a roof cap made of flashing. It
slopes down from the container roof to cover the top of the insulation and
siding and is screwed to the siding and the roof of the container. On the side
touching the roof of the container, caulking was added under the flashing to
create a water barrier. Before the caulking could be installed, I had to wash
the edge of the roof (approximately a two-inch strip) to remove any dirt or
other residue that would result in poor adhesion. I had a thick plank to kneel
on, but the roof’s high temperature (which I could feel through my shoes)
helped to make this a fairly unenjoyable task.
Wiring
My father did most of the wiring in my house, because I do
not know how, though I was able to help with some aspects. Part of the wiring
had to be redone after we were informed by my mother’s uncle (former electrical
inspector for the State of Vermont, now serving a similar role at a large
medical center) that it did not meet electrical code. He said that with the
electrical wiring that was first run, there was the risk of electrocution,
especially high since the metal walls have no covering other than a coat of
paint.
Painting
As you may remember from the post I made giving a background
on my project, I am using recovered Local Color paint from ReBuild, a store run
by Vermont nonprofit ReSource. The Chittenden Solid Waste District accepts
partial cans of paint and then combines and resells them. It cannot be
guaranteed to be low-VOC (very important, as the house will be virtually airtight
when the windows and doors are shut) because of the nature of its source. To
mitigate these issues, I will be applying a coat of transparent Vermont Natural
Coatings finish.
The Subfloor
The subfloor consists of 4-inch foam insulation boards (the
same type used on the walls and ceiling) and tongue-in-groove OSB, which is a
composite similar to, but less expensive than, plywood. My father and I were
able to install two sections of the floor on Saturday, July 25, and we finished the remainder of it the following day. This process has not been
extremely difficult, but when I removed the tarp s from my insulation, a
discovered that more than half of it was infested with carpenter ants. The
other half seemed to be okay, but I sprayed a large amount of vinegar (which
kills carpenter ants) on every usable sheet of insulation before it was brought
inside, with special attention to any holes that the ants created. I also sprayed the container floor with vinegar before each sheet was
placed.
What’s Next?
After installing the subfloor, the next step will be to
install the ceiling. I had planned on using sheetrock, but have now decided to
use paneling. After the electrical fixtures are installed, work on my ceiling
will be complete. The partitions that will be used for my bedroom and bathroom walls also need to be cut and painted.
After my ceiling and subfloor are installed, I expect
construction to go much more quickly, so please check back. Thank you for
reading!
Devin
this is pretty cool
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