Momplex

A little over a year ago, we got this crazy idea that we would devote the next couple of years of our lives to DIY our mother's a duplex to share up here in Alaska. So we dug a big hole in the ground and built some footers and poured concrete. This is what the Momplex looked like in August of 2011 - just one year ago. Just one year ago, a giant truck dropped off a house full of ARXX blocks And we started building. And we've been building over the last year, and wit

The next step for the Momplex is the basement slab.We could have poured the slab inside the footers, right after we put the footers in, but we ultimately decided to wait.  We wanted to elevate the slab above the footer so it is insulated on all sides, saving our Moms on future heating costs and removing the likelihood of cold floors closer to exterior walls.  Also, by waiting to pour the slab, we take away the risk of the slab being damaged by the bracing system, or worse yet

Have you been wondering what we are going to do about the exposed plywood on the gable ends of the Momplex?

It seems like we are working so hard up at the Momplex, but nothing is getting done DONE. As in you walk in and say "wow, alot has changed!" But regardless of how things may seem - oh how I dread the mechanical stage! - I have been hearing the big D-word - drywall- and it's being paired with other D-words like delivery and date. Things are happening, they are just happening very slowly, and are very expensive, tedious, and all we will have to show for it is as minimized as possible. Ho

Apparantly, you CAN teach an old DIYer new tricks.

Well, the bathroom in Momplex Unit A got a change order.

When we realized there was a good chance this little guy,

Might get potty trained in this bathroom,

We decided we simply must subway tile the walls.

Because there is no other reason to add subway tile to walls, is there, than pure practicality, right???  That's what I reasoned to the Ram.  This is not a cosmetic t

We have property!I am so excited to share with you that after much searching, miles of hiking numerous undeveloped parcels, lots of pros and cons lists, a few arguments, even a maybe-we-should-have-bought-the-other-lot moment, that we have found a home for the Momplex.  Finding just the right piece of property for the Momplex was supposed to be an easy task. We were after all hoping to buy the lot next door to our house. The adjoining lot checked off quite nicely: Flat - Easier

Most days we are pretty thankful to be working up on top of the Momplex hill.And we are usually pretty happy to just keep right on working into the evening.And sometimes we even run back up to enjoy a beautiful sunset.But beauty has it's price.And after three days of wind, especially terrible hilltop and with no barrier, gusting upwards of 60MPH on the top of the Momplex hill, we were downright frightened as we drove to assess the damage.Imagine holding a sheet of blueboard out the window as you

Mom, we love you, but not this much.  There are trusses delivered and sitting up at the Momplex right now.  And nobody wants to see that roof go up more than me, but with temperatures in the heat of the day rising to "extreme cold" with a feels like temperature of -26 degrees below zero, even if we did love our Mom's enough to work regardless of the weather, our tools don't love Mom that much.  At these temperatures, air compressors act funny, nailers don't nail, drill batterie

The Momplex, she just got her hair done. And now she's already going gray.

There's a heated battle going on up at the Momplex.

Or maybe I should say a battle over what type of heat system we should put upstairs in the Momplex.

 

 

Downstairs, in the bonus areas and the garages, we've got water tubing poured inside the concrete slab.  All we have to do to heat the downstairs is run hot water from a boiler through those pipes, and it will warm the floor, radiating heat throughout the lower floor.

With the interior doors hung,

this trim show can go on ..... it's time to case this joint!

Yeah, we really need to build some stairs, don't we?

Every time I've ever tackled stairs in the past, it's been quite a bit of figuring.  

Well, go figure (pun not intended), someone comes up with a stair building app.  I've lost my purpose in life.  

Just fill in the blanks, like how tall the overall rise is, what your tread thickness is, how deep your treads will be ..

And out comes your stringer pa

It really is more of a snort than a thingamajigger . . .  Book "Are You My Mother" by PD Eastman But whatever you want to call it, the Ram insisting it's a Excavator with a Thumb, we think it's well worth the $400 a day rental fee. You are going to think so to. While hauling the last of the trees off was certainly a luxury, it's not why we rented the snort.And it's not why we rented a loader for another $500 a day.Sounds like a lot of money for the boys to play on the sand hill fo

For a few weeks now, the Ram has been saying, "When it comes time to pour the slab at the Momplex, I'm just going to hire someone."  And while I've never said no, the do-it-yourself spirit in me felt like if we can get this far with family helping out, why can't we pour our own slab? Don't get me wrong, this is no easy task. The slab at the Momplex is 44 feet by 44 feet - quite large for a residential, and certainly a great challenge. Further progressing the challenge is the slab is p