The Waterproofing

We primed the outside of the wall and footing with Polyguard LT, some nasty smelling, strangely sticky, pink goo. It went on with a paint roller. If the wall was too wet, the primer would pull off in strings, reminiscent of an even more unwholesome version of cotton candy.

Once the primer cured, we adhered sheets of Polyguard waterproofing membrane. First we applied a strip to the base of the footing, folding it up toward the wall. Next we cut a much longer sheet. With one person on the roof and one on the ground, we positioned the rolled sheet of Polyguard. The roof-person held the top edge and let the roll fall. The ground-person lined the bottom of the edge and lifted the sheet to allow the backing to be peeled off. The roof-person began peeling off the backing and pass it to the ground-person. Then both would smooth and press the sheet onto the wall. The top of the sheets wrapped six inches or so onto the plywood of the roof.

Money Spent: $736

$   72 2 gallons everclear

$ 664 waterproofing for walls

The Front Door (Swoon!)

We have been working on the Hobbit House for nine months now and things are starting to get pretty!

The wall was framed in an uncharacteristically typical fashion: a flat face of 2x4 studs covered in plywood. Of course after that it went atypical with curved tops to the window and door frames. We stuffed in fiberglass batting into the stud gaps. Then we covered that with 1 1/2 inch blue board. Outside of that went a chunk of 6-mil black plastic that had been part of the roof-tarp complex. The next layer was 1x6 tongue and groove boards leftover from a project Ben had completed long ago.

Under the wall went a layer of plywood--basically an extension of the floor out to the edge of the footing. We laid two inches of blue board between the footing and the plywood. Since that plywood is outside, we put flashing scrounged from Grandpa's scrap piles over it.

We needed long screws--four inches so they could get through all the layers. The depth also lead to a door of extraordinary depth. The door is made of an inner layer of foam insulation sandwiched between 1x6 boards and another layer of 1x6s around the edges and crossbuck, that slightly swooping diagonal board. These layers are secured by pegs driven and glued into holes drilled through the whole door.  The pegs stand out from the surface, proud, and are rounded of for a nice finished look. To protect the wood from water and light, the door is finished with spar varnish. The door's window required round frames made of thin strips of wood glued into hoops, one for each side of the door. Ben also crafted a pair of steel hinges beefy enough to support this ponderous door.

The windows themselves were custom fabricated in town. Holding the windows in their frames necessitated thin strips of wood fastened with brads and silicone caulk.

I thought this was pretty adorable. It was just the beginning.

The weather outside is still often frightful, so all openings had to be covered with plywood when not being actively worked on.

Here is Ben working on the front door. The design went through several modifications.

We are all thrilled with the result.

A super thick custom door requires heavy duty custom hinges. So Ben made some. Like you do.

Getting more adorable with each step...

Windows in place. Wood on top of the foam insulation layer.

My heart bursts with the beauty of this.

The view from the road.

The view from inside.

The circular window frames the landscape so nicely. Those black squares will be removed, of course.

It's like a real hobbit hole!

Money Spent: $112
$  33 3/4" 4x8 thermax r 4.5, 3 1x6-10 3&BTR fir and larch

$ 19 6 4/4 poplar

$ 4 2x6-08 #2 & btr fir & larch

$ 20 6mil 10x25 black sheeting

$ 7 4 2" white china bristle brush

$ 9 subzero weatherstrip

$ 20 #2 whitewood