The Dust Settles

Mostly empty cabin-house.

At this point, we were left with a blank canvas. The house already felt somewhere between a million and a billion times better than it was prior to the clean out. The roof was completely open and there was mostly dark, plush soil under our feet. Leaves and Stars.

It was a perfect clubhouse.

and then the Construction began.

the empty house with plastic sheeting on top of the dirt. My memory card got fried when the camera died whilst uploading, and photos of the bare floor were lost. No loss, really. There wasn't anything there (update, files recovered! see above -wes).

Shelving on the wall nearest Emily and Will's proper home. These shelves will remain completely preserved. the exterior will be sealed from the inside and the roof will cover this area, but it will not be insulated. Think indoor/outdoor closet/atrium with a sunroof. It will most likely be hot-boxed on a daily basis. Resting on the shelves are bottles full of unnamed liquid. Emily claimed she would drink some for five dollars, but immediately reneged on the deal once Will was willing to put up a few bucks.

Saturday, 10/3/2009.

The Wednesday prior I had ended up going to a nearby Home Depot and purchased everything I would need to build my floor.

The list is as follows:

6 - 10 foot 1''x6''

12 - 3/4'' 2' x 8' styrofoam sheeting

6 - 3/8'' 4' x 8' plywood

1 - large heavy mil plastic sheet

1 - large blue tarp

(i will check my receipt for accuracy)

Floor in progress. The pink styrofoam had tongue and groove on the long ends. Those pieces were secured using a styrofoam adhesive called P-400 (check for accuracy). The plywood resting on top was cut with 45 degree bevels and rests on vertical 1 x 6's along the perimeter. These boards were leveled prior to laying down the floor. There were a few large chunks of concrete along the walls. Some couldn't be easily removed, so i built the perimeter around them.

Will helped the day prior by removing debris from the dirt floor. Mostly he was in charge of getting rid of the large concrete chunks that were apparently a very loose foundation for the original wood floor, now completely removed. We kept finding more and more objects in the soil- bones, more tools, bottles, bricks, and the skull of a cat-sized mammal. Will attempted to take on a large stone near the front entrance, but when he gave it a whack with the pick-axe, it didn't budge a bit. "Harder!" I said. Sparks flew, but still the stone did not yield. I gave it 4 or 5 serious hits with similar results. We tried to dig to the bottom of the stone, but never reached the end and decided that it would serve as a perfect place to put my wet shoes in the winter.

door parts. and a ceramic igloo.

The floor ended up being much softer than I was hoping for, but has since firmed up (there was what sounds like a seriously trippy party in the cabin last Tuesday night that probably tamped it down a lot. I was absent having a seriously trippy party for Brian's birthday in the city). An unnamed "weird" scene from Emily and John's film (see accounts here- really, it's awesome) was shot earlier that day and included some really great looking props and special effects created by Emily herself. In the aforementioned scene, the main character Immaculada (played by Emily) is manipulating neon machines that create weather inside the interior. It was fun, and I got to spray Emily with the hose when it was time to make rain. John informed me this was also Emily's directorial debut.

It is likely the floor will remain a little too soft for long-term living until some additional flooring is added. However, I believe it will be fine and perfectly insulated for this winter once a rug gets thrown over the top. Under the wood stove there will need to be some sort of fire barrier anyways- eventually everything will come together.