Of mice and men

Last Saturday we made some very good progress. We were going to fill some buckets, and try pouring water in various places to see where the leak might be. Mom dad and I headed for the house in the morning, and I drove through a pretty heavy rain storm. I figured the roof was going to already be leaking, so we wouldn't have a good opportunity to test for where the water was getting in. Thats OK, there are plenty of things to work on even if it rained all day. When we got there, it was raining, but not too hard. I decided that to unload things from the truck, and keep mom dry when she got out, I would actually park the truck in the garage. I opened the garage, and dad and I got things moved out of the way so I had a clear area almost back to the back wall of the garage. I needed to back in, since we had some Trex in the back to unload. Dad stood in the garage and guided me in. I pulled the truck back to as close to the doors as I wanted to be.

We didn't move the double doors for the utility room out of the way yet.

Hmmm, well I still had a couple feet to the wall. So I should be fine right? Well....

It didn't quite fit!

When I can pull the truck all the way in, it will fit, but it won't leave much room in front or back. I really want a smaller vehicle, but right now, the truck has practical advantages in being able to haul stuff to the house. Once construction is done though, I may be in the market for a different vehicle.

So besides testing my garage, what else did we do you ask? Well, while it rained, we set up the generator outside, with its rain cover, and we worked on fitting and installing more of the draft stop blocks in the main support wall. We are now about 2/3 of the way done on that. Another 2 or 3 hours, and we will probably be finished with that job.

I checked to see how the leak was doing, and I didn't see any water coming in! Say what! I looked out, sure enough it was pouring down outside pretty good, but no water was coming in. Now I was confused. It leaked the previous Friday, but today it had decided not to. I decided I would check back later in the day to see if the leak showed up.

In the afternoon, the weather got quite a bit better, and we worked on finishing the underside of the overhang. We got the foam trimmed back, and I caulked the seams between the panels, and the edges of the holes in the Hardie soffit panels. Then we installed the vent grills. They turned out pretty good.

Unobtrusive, but functional.

Dad and I also worked on getting the rest of the vertical trim boards put up.

After getting to look at it, I have decided not to put any diagonal pieces on. They would probably be a bit much, and once we get the curved pieces on over the windows, I think it will have a finished look. We are also going to install Hardie panel on the front of the overhang. That will be somewhat of a challenge. We have jigs to construct to help us hold the panels in place while they are getting attached.

We check on the roof leak before we left for the day, and no sign of water. I was still scratching my head. But I have some theories I am working on. We will see how the testing of this works out. Stay tuned.

Oh, about the mice. I have had some issues with mice since I have had even just my little plastic storage unit sitting in the field. I had mice get into that in the cold months, and make nests, and shred anything made of paper to use as bedding. I fully expected that when the house was done, and I had things inside that they would smell and want to get to, that I would have to set traps in the garage to take care of them before they got into the living area. I had seen mice in the garage already, when I moved my pile of scrap material. I had seen paper towels that had obviously been chewed on. This weekend, I found droppings on top of my stud walls, so they have been climbing up my walls and probably having a fun time running around my joists. So I knew that at times I was having visitors. I thought that with having put the gaskets around the garage door, that they would be kept out pretty well. I think I may have trapped at least one inside the house.

I believe this is an exit wound from a mouse. I say exit, because, although I know that mice have been in the house, it doesn't seem to offer them enough attraction at this time of year, with no food inside, to cause them to work to make an entry. I may be wrong, I may just have some mice that think I build a much better burrow than they can. If so, I will take it as a compliment. I am working on a way to block this off, so that it will make it much less likely they will get back in. Those who are industrious enough to enter though, will have a cold reception. Marcus has already given me his recommendation on the brand of trap to get, and recommends peanut butter for bait.