Virtual Sky Homestead

Yes, it's been a terribly long time since I've posted here.  But I thought I'd better give an update as to all that has been going on, here at the homestead, over the past several months.  The most important of that being, yes, we are still here and doing well!

I was re-organizing and tidying up the tools I have stored in the storage container and thought I would talk a little bit about what we used to build our tiny house. When we moved out here, we had no grid power; just our solar bank. So, we had to use tools that we could both afford and suite the situation.

Been a long time since posting an update here, I know. My apologies for that, but just haven't had the extra time or bandwidth to keep posting here, as well as do videos for the new YouTube channel. But, winter is coming, so perhaps, if the bandwidth can remain “manageable”, perhaps I'll have more down time to devote to the blog. For more updates from the homestead, be sure to check out the YouTube channel.

We finally made it into the house. Not everything is done, but there's enough that is done to make full-time living in the house possible. It's quite amazing to be writing this blog post, sitting in the living room that we've built with our own two hands.

This weekend we were finally able to get the flooring down in the cabin. About the most difficult in getting the floor installed was clearing out all of the tools and building supplies from the cabin, itself. Once we got everything cleared out, the flooring was relatively simply to install. It was certainly easier than putting up both the ceiling panels and the wall panelling. And, wow, what a difference. The cabin is looking more like a home.

We decided to install some recessed lighting in the ceiling, while we were putting up the panelling. Because we want to use solar power in the house as much as possible, we went with these really amazing LED spot light we found at Lee Valley.

It was a wonderful way to celebrate the return to spring-time; we finally got the windows installed in the cottage! What a difference that makes. The cottage is really looking like a home, now.

Happy Easter, everyone! We hope that you and you're loved ones are having a safe and joyous weekend and are enjoying the Lord's blessings. We are certainlly grateful for all that we have been given here, out on the prairie, and are looking forward to what this spring and summer have in store for us.

It appears as though we got a few critical tasks completed just in time, out on the homestead. A week before the temperatures dropped and the snow finally appeared, we were able to get the skirting done around the cabin, sealing up the crawlspace underneath.

Just finished installing the wood stove into the cabin and it's working wonderfully. It's a high efficiency radiant stove and it should have no problem whatsoever at heating our little home.  The installation took a little longer than we thought. First, it took a bit of research to learn all that we needed to know in order to install the stove safely. Once we decided to go through the wall, rather than the roof, we had to make sure the floor, walls and ceiling were all adequately protected. The most complicated part turned out to be the floor.

The job of insulating the cabin is under way. On Monday, we got started on packing bats of pink insulation between to roof and wall joists, as well as tacking on the vapour barrier. We started with the roof, as we wanted to get the most difficult part of the job done first.

Soffits are now done and the cabin is finally ready for the insulation.It was a bit of a slow start for me, just because I never installed soffits before. But, once I got the process down, we were able to move along without too much difficulty.

The weather has finally been playing nice for us and we've been trying to make the most of it. On Sunday, we started applying the house wrap on the cabin and this morning we got the last piece stapled and taped into place.

We finally had a nice week of mild, good building weather. We're supposed to get a bit of rain tomorrow afternoon, but this is the first week since we've been out here that we've had four days in a row of sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Great weather for putting down some shingling.

The weather this summer has been uncooperative this year, to say the least. At least we've found it to be somewhat of an obstacle with our house building project. But, we are slowly making progress, none-the-less.