I was supposed to go into town with D&L and wondered whether I even should. I needed drinking water so I went ahead and did it, but I only had nine bucks in my pocket so I sure didn’t buy any groceries. Wondering where my next tank of gas was going to come from since everything had fallen through: the book, that big BHM article AND the notional direct deposit for caretaking services rendered, all in some or another form of limbo. That was plans A-C, and folks, there ain’t no plan D.
Well, I’m certainly glad I roused myself to go to town, because there in a seldom-used mail drop was the BHM contract, and for half-again as much as I hoped. In my admittedly limited experience with them, BHM is good about prompt payment. AND the person who’s doing that (free) manuscript formatting for Kindle responded to my plaintive email, so there’s hope on the book if no actual light in any tunnels just yet.
Here comes the Official Secret Lair Siding Bleg, below the fold:
AND I have been told that soon there will be $800 in the bank for the Lair siding fund. That’s the original $500 kickstarter, which has been paid, and another $300 in Paypal contributions (thank you very much!)
At minimum I need to raise another $400 for Hardie Panels, paint and OSB. That figure was going to be $1000, but events today shut down the great debate over Tyvek vs. tarpaper…
Seems like everybody around had most of a tarpaper roll they practically wanted to pay me to take so it would stop cluttering up their barns. So that’s at least nearly handled. I even have the loan of a hammer stapler, which saves me another $30 for a use-once tool.
On the other hand, I’m pretty much sold on Hardie Panels as opposed to T1-11 which would need more maintenance it probably won’t get. So the plan right now is to hope for more contributions while pushing ahead with the cement panels. If I can raise another $400, I can finish the cabin siding with proper paint but won’t accomplish anything else this season. For a few hundred more I can complete the front balcony/fire escape and the floor tiling. Before I can side the front I need to put in the upper door anyway, which is going to look darned peculiar if it’s a door to nowhere.
So I guess we’ll see how it goes. TUAK readers have been very generous in the past and I feel very peculiar begging for more money now, but that’s what’s going on. The target for project completion is $700, with less than $400 leaving me half-done. But there’s already enough to start.
ETA: Since Claire posted about the bleg this morning, I suppose it would make sense to add a little contact information for people other than TUAK regulars. You can hit the Donate button on the sidebar, which will take you to Paypal. If you’d like to help but are like a lot of folks who don’t care too much for Paypal, go up to the top and hit the “Send Joel Stuff” button and that’ll give you an email addy and we can talk it over from there. I have no regular mailing address and I’m a little weird about contact information, hence the awkwardness. Sorry.
If we can raise the money for Tyvek, will you agree to pass the tarpaper on to someone deserving and in need? and use Tyvek instead. Especially for the upper part of the Lair, there’s no way tarpaper is going to provide the same infiltration block and insulation as Tyvek. But you have to tape it with the Tyvek tape. Worst case use two layers of tarpaper all around.
Don’t Hardie panels and board come pre-finished where you live? You have to touch up places and edges that got sawed.
The Cadillac approach of Tyvek would be satisfying, but the tar paper will do perfectly well. Staples are good for initial installation, but I would suggest supplementing with roofing nails and tin tags for anything that might be exposed over 30 days or so.
Having had experience with both, and observing how well tarpaper has performed in the desert, I agree that free/cheap tarpaper will do the job quite well compared with shockingly costly Tyvek.
If you get extra money (and I hope you do), then spend it on finishing that balcony — knowing it’s also your fire exit from the sleeping loft!) — and on tiling the floor and on other comfort/safety enhancements rather than on minor, hidden, but very pricey upgrades.
Hope the siding bleg goes really well for you!
Hope you can get progress done before monsoon season. And, I had one of those extra rolls of tarpaper and managed to unload it on a friend who was re-roofing his place and needed just a tad more. Now he’s the one with most of a roll cluttering up his garage. 🙂
Yup, that’s the way it goes. It’s the seldom-noticed Great Circle of Tarpaper.
Tyvek is great, tarpaper works and is cheap/free/available.
Hardy board is Satan’s laughter at mankind when being worked with, but once it’s in place, it’s just about as close to forever as we are going to get in affordable building materials.
Your place will be dammed near bullet proof once it’s done.
You’d be amazed how much Hardie ends up in the dump. I know, because I just put some there. I wonder if some creative scrounging might help?
As to tarpaper vs Tyvek, I noticed that in windy Wyoming Tyvek gets the nod – even over roofs! But in western Oregon tar paper seems to be used more.
Joel,
When you get ready to do the work, get a couple gecko gauges. Here’s a video that explains them-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAeocOwuJx4
It’s a little tool that allows you to install the hardiboard without help.
http://www.amazon.com/PacTool-International-SA903-2-Piece-Siding/dp/B000VERBCU