Work has begun in earnest on the treehouse. The first step was to remove anything that does not belong to the vision of the future. That included be the rotten floor, the plywood siding, and the luan walls and ceiling. The wall studs had to come out because the guy who built it put those on top of the floor, but they will go back in. It also included ten mice and a misplaced bird. It will include the leaky roof, but keeping that on serves a purpose for a little while longer, which is to cast some shade on the worksite. It will be replaced at some part of the project. We have something that currently looks like this, but I am beginning to imagine the next part. I know where to put the windows!
The new floor goes in next, followed by the wall frames(not sitting on top of the floor) which will have new lumber on the bottom, but use the old uprights. I’m not sure if the boards along the top will be new or old. I let my handy person decide what is possible to reuse and what to replace.
I climbed the ladder to approximate what the views might be from the windows. This is the view to the left. There will be three tall windows here, going right up to the corner post and two more windows to the right of the post. This is the best view, so it gets the most windows.
Looking straight ahead. There’s a tree in my way…of course. This is the second best view so it will get two windows. The other two walls don’t even rate a small window. There’s nothing spectacular to see there.
It’s peak foliage season here. I wonder if I would have been content with fewer windows had it been a less beautiful season?
I think this project means that I have figured out how to live within the new normal. I’m comfortable with the basics of getting the necessities of life, so I decided to figure out how to do a project safely with one worker onsite. I do wear a mask when I talk with my handy person, he wears one too, and I don’t linger on the worksite. It’s an outdoor project, but still…being cautious is how we will end this pandemic sooner, and I am all in favor of that.
Tales from the jolly bungalow 