It is almost unbelievable and it is almost the most normal thing in the world. This build has been a series of juxtapositions and it is underway. We have the gravel set (mostly) and the rough in plumbing in (mostly). The plumbing will be finished tomorrow and the concrete started on Tuesday. We are having hemp hurds delivered this week and need to figure out some strong folk to help us move it into the barn.

There have been a few things I’ve been learning as I’m discovering that what seems logical to me is not really how things are done. I don’t have the whole picture even though I am trying hard to understand it all, there are just so many details. I’ve always been a wait and see what fits kind of gal, but in building I am realizing that I can’t have the attitude, many different things depend of choices I’m making. Take the bath tub for instance, I was thinking of a freestanding tub with a floor mount tap, I hadn’t purchased either or fully decided on what those would be. The night before the plumber was to come we talked over text about the tub and it turns out that the floor mount tap is not recommended for slab foundations and the tub I had chosen didn’t have any place to attach the faucet.

Through a series of misunderstandings I bought the wrong tub and spent the evening trying to figure out how to make it work and what the problem was with the faucet and the slab. I was fairly unsuccessful in discovering anything major. In the end we decided to go with a wall mount tap and will just need to add a warm wall (another thing I’ll have to look up and learn about). I didn’t even think that the plumber would need to have the bathtub specs, but it makes sense and he has to put the drain in the right place and the line to the faucets in the right place.

I am dedicated to putting in as much effort as is necessary to get this done. If that means spending the whole night focusing on bath tubs and faucets, so be it. I’m trying to anticipate these types of decisions so they are made and ready to go for the proper stage of the build, but in reality, I don’t know. I had spent a lot of time reading and watching videos on general contacting and the stages of a build, last year, but right now I am in work full swing, planning grad in a pandemic, marking exams and final projects, so I’m just doing the best that I can.

After the foundation is poured, the pool will be delivered, the materials will be ordered and the framing will start! The windows are ready and just awaiting delivery. We’ve got 3 tons of hemp hurd arriving this week and have to find some strong folk to help us unload.

We’ve also gone live on Eventbrite for our hempcrete workshops, see the previous post for more info!

Exciting times!