Officially it’s on hold for another week or two for administrative reasons. The person who handles my vast financial empire is on the road and it’s just not a good time.
I’d blame it on the people howling for Hardie Panel and Tyvek, but even with those fripperies aside the total price for completing the Lair’s exterior would be roughly twice my original optimistic estimate of $750. But since TUAK has already received via paypal or been very reliably pledged a little more than the above figure already, it looks like y’all are going to put Uncle Joel and neighbor(s) to work this summer. A couple of people went ahead and hit the tip jar, which I much appreciate.
With that in hand, as soon as I can travel to get materials I can tear out the OSB panels that have taken the worst weather damage…
In fact I’m going to tear out that whole wall so I can install the big window I’ve been carefully working around for the past year. (Talk about poor planning: I decided that wall only needed a vent, which worked well enough until I put the chicken run right there. So now every time my primary protein source squawks, I have to suit up and walk all the way around to see what is the matter because I can’t see out that vent.)
And yes, the Lair will belatedly receive a gutter and downspout which, well…(wanders away and kicks rock…)
, , , will, if connected to an array of barrels, provide water for gardening, watering critters, doing laundry, and even consumption if desired. Yet another fall-back provision in the desert.
I’m glad to see that gutters are on the menu. That gets the water away from your structure and gives you the option of collecting it.
Rain water should make excellent coffee. Good for laundry also because it’s probably far softer than what comes out of the ground.
Yeah. Once the siding and gutters are up, routing the runoff to barrels is just a matter of acquiring barrels.
Damn, there are a lot of folks around here who think the same way. No point in my mentioning channeling & using downspout output.
I won’t speculate on the kind of lives we lead, if we feel it necessary to counsel a man who lives in the desert on water conservation.
Yesss!!!! The Lair will have Tyvek and Hardie board/siding this year. Great news. Shall we all show up to help – a real ecotourism vacation – or is it still just mice that you are so tolerant of?
I have a rain barrel, which is illegal where I live. An individual is not allowed to capture runoff. Water belongs to the People. Or the State. Hah.
Remember that unscreened water barrels breed mosquitoes.