YEAR FIVE

The really expensive work started now. All the interior first floor walls got their 2" x 2" grid on 16" centers for the R7 1/2 insulation and sheetrocking. there was finish and trim lumber - expensive - all manner of kitchen equipment, the MB carpeting, all those pricey little do-dads that finish off a home.

At this point in time the only three totally finished rooms were the master bedroom, master bath and the downstairs 3/4 bath. I had decided to finish the master bedroom and bath because we really needed a place to escape all the sheetrock, fiberglass, concrete floors, the tools and material scattered everywhere.

The kitchen area was where all my power tools were: 10" table saw, 10" radial saw, 6" planer, 6" belt sander, router table and floor stand drill press. I also had the standard bunch of powered hand tools... Drills, saws, etc. Out in the yard was a 3 cubic foot electric concrete mixer used for mixing up all the pea graveled concrete used to fill the pumice block hollows where vertical rebar had been inserted.

By now I was working at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory at the Meson Physics facility. It was a forty-mile drive each way, so for the most part, I left the house before daybreak and got home close to dark. Unfortunately, this meant I took a lot fewer pictures, so the remaining work is not very well documented.

Our son Tom had been born year four and was now able to observe construction. Below he is checking out the tile floor installation in his nursery (bedroom two)



And here he is, learning to play Hearts at a young and tender age. Wife and son are sitting at our second-hand table in the temporary kitchen.



Having a good job at LASL (now LANL) allowed us to borrow some money against the house to pay for the final color coat of plaster on the entire house. I had professionals do this, I would have taken way to long. The borrowed money also allowed us to purchase all the kitchen and utility room equipment all at once and install them quickly.

We had the bank-required appraisal done before the loan and were a bit shocked to discover the value of the place, even unfinished. We had been keeping a running total of the cost of all the materials but had not included labor, the number one expense in home construction.

Below photo is after the color coat was done. The left half of the house is pretty much finished, but you can see the unfinished porch and the unpainted stuff on the newer section. The pavement looks grand and all the junk in the yard has been cleaned up.



But inside, plenty of unfinished rooms were left... the living room, library, kitchen, bedrooms three and four, the second upstairs bathroom.

That's wife's little Mazda Mizer five-door in the driveway. that thing got 51 MPG, no lie.

Still in the plans was a two-car garage and workshop to the right of her car. Those were never started.



The best laid plans... etc. etc.