Securing the Sewer

Today I am installing the PVC sewer pipe to the septice tank outlet.  I noticed the sewer oultet on the trailer was wabbling as though disconnected somewhere inside the floor. I cut a hole in the belly pan to find the scource of the problem. It turnes out the pipe routing the sewage to the outside had complteley disconnected itself from the holding. I manged to sqeeze a coupling in between the two ends and fix it.

Next I routed 4 inch PVC pipe from the trailer outlet to the septic tank opening. I created a truss system for the pipe to rest on and to keep it at a slight angle so no waste would get stuck.

I poured water down the toilet and ran water in the sink to see if the system worked...Turns out that my system worked but there was a leak on the old sewage shutoff valves, which needed to be replace. 

Shutoff valves from 1985


 

Wine Cork Countertop

We started installing the kitchen counter top today which will be made out of wine corks. We used flat iron for the front edge and back splash.

Hundreds of wine corks (250) were cut in half and the bottoms sanded smooth to allow for an even surface for the glue. The corks were then glued down in the desired pattern.

After all the corks were glued down we applied a dark wood stain over the tops of the corks. This covers all the cork graphics. Let it sit for an hour then take a rag and wipe off the stain from the tops of the corks, leaving it darker in the cracks.

After the stain is fully dried (24 hrs) we poured seal coat of Envirotex Lite over the tops of the corks which worked its way into all of the cracks between the corks. Once the this dried (24 hrs) we applied the second an final coat of the same stuff but this time we poured enough to cover the whole cork (3/4in)  to create a smooth even surface.

Precision Temp Water Heater

Today we installed the new Precision Temp on demand water heater, which fit perfectly where the old Suburban tank water heat was! Little did we know, the physical installation was the easy part. It will take another month to figure out the electrical aspects of the beast.

Aluminum Shower Stall

Saturday, August 15th - Sunday, August 16th

Neal and Ruth brought out the shower stall this weekend. Neal and Jackson have been working on creating an aluminum stall that could fit in the section of the Airstream that we needed the shower. It has taken three months to finalize the exact measurements, which was a tricky deal since Neal had never seen the Airstream or shower pan that the shower stall would fit on to.

The morning they were bringing the completed stall out from Three Forks to Missoula, the problem arose of fitting the stall through the small front door opening of the Airstream. None of us had even thought about getting it through the door once the thing was built! So when they arrived we were eager to see if we could even get the massive boat-like stall through the entrance. We had trouble finding the right angle but managed to find a way that had zero clearance on either side, and literally barely scraped by.

Our new Danze thermostatic control valve.

The pipe that goes from the valve to the handheld shower head.

The valve and the shower stall.
Jackson is always worried when we are working on this thing.
Ruth and Neal making us dinner :)

First Night in Airstream

Wednesday, August 12th

We have to be out of our house by this weekend. Today we moved lots of our things to Carolyn's Aunt Mary's house. She has offered to let us stay there until we get the Airstream to a livable condition.
However, we could not bring Josey (our cat) along with us so we moved him out to the Airstream early, which he didn't mind too much. We slept out with him the first night to make him feel more comfortable. This resulted in Josey keeping us up all night and tracking sawdust and dirt across our faces. I sneezed all night and had red, puffy eyes the next morning.

Yummy BBQ burgers.

Chilling on the couch.

Josey keeps an eye on me when I sleep...apparently so does Jackson.
Watching us work really exhausts Josey. He just passes out wherever he is.

Josey does not want us ruining his countertop.

Sleepy boy.

Building the platform for our bed.

Waiting for the wood glue to dry on our ledges (so the clear-coat will be higher than the cork countertop).
Jackson insisted that I wear them while power tools were being operated.
I hate them.

Our fresh water hook-up complete with heat tape.

Securing partitions, counters and cabinets

Saturday, August 8th - Sunday, August 9th

Squaring up the walls.

Walls are installed.

The start of Jackson's beard.

Carolyn securing the walls together.

Kitchen counter

Bathroom counterPlatform for our washer/dryer combo.

Instead of a sliding door, we decided to put in a cabinet for wine.

Securing the overhead cabinets.

Wiring for the control panel and kitchen fan.

The podium for the stove.

Cutting the counter out for the stove top.

The beginning of the bass wood where the wood stove will go.

Space for our plexiglass window into the bathroom.



Carolyn being bored and tired.


Bass wood on the overhead cabinets.

Robb and Jackson chilling on the couch.

Carolyn with Milo on the couch. He loves our place better than his home.
Carolyn stripping....off more vinyl.
Carolyn buffering.

After the polishing is done.

Robb and Milo.