Steve & Tammy's Visit

We had such a great week. My brother Steve and his wife Tammy drove over from near Detroit to spend the week with us working on the cabin. Rick and I took the week off, so we had 8 days to work around the place.

Unfortunately, there were two problems, 1) the contractor still isn't finished, so Rick didn't want to start framing the walls because it might interfere with what Tim was doing and 2) it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained!!!

Since we couldn't do anything outside or upstairs, we decided to insulate the basement. This was on our task list, just not at the top. What we did was install 2" tongue & groove foam insulation right against the cement wall, then build a 2x4 framed wall on the outside of that. When we finish the basement, we will put fiberglass insulation in between the studs then put up wall board. Putting the insulation along the walls was easy, a couple of inches had to be cut off then a bead of caulk put in the groove. The hard part was insulating the small section between the sill and the floor. We had to cut one piece for the vertical section against the outer rim joist and another for the horizontal section against the sill joist. Then we would use caulk to seal up the small spaces and "Great Stuff" to fill up the bigger space between the edge of the sill, the bottom piece and the piece against the wall. In case you don't know, "Great Stuff" is that stuff that expands as it dries. Somehow or another, I was put in charge of the gooey stuff. I try really hard, but no matter how hard I try to be neat, things always get a little messy.

Here are some pictures of us working.

I don't think Tammy is just pointing at the wall, I think she is holding it up.


This is me cutting out one of the innumerable pieces. Steve and Tammy brought a bunch of their tools and one was a jigsaw, it was perfect for cutting out the pieces.


This is what the walls look like after the 2x4 frame is put up.


Here Steve and I are putting in the pieces in prepartion of sealing them up.


Steve, Rick and I working away!


Steve and Rick are figuring out where the frame of the door needs to be planed.


Here we are, Steve, Tammy, Teresa and Rick.


It really was a great week. We got a lot accomplished and had some fun while we were at it. We went out to dinner at a new place nearby, a smoke house. They served ribs, pulled pork and other good food. One night we went to the Magic Lantern in Bridgeton. It is a new theater that is designed to look like an old one that used to be there. We saw Wall-E. The cool part was that we got to sit in the balcony. More theaters should have balconies! One night we ordered lobsters and clams -yummy!

All in all, it was a good visit. I hope they come back again! They are certainly welcome whenever they want!