There’s no feeling like your brakes going out while driving!  So the Beast is in the shop again, hopefully with a not-too-expensive repair in his future.  My loan was just paid off, too!  At least that means I can take a new one if needed.

Now that Spring is officially here, along with wonderfully warm and dry weather, I’ve been able to get some major work done.  The skylight is in!  To line the well, I pulled out a few sheets of bead board I purchased at the Restore.  After a coat of paint, they look good and reflect light into the house interior nicely.  I still have to put up corner trim, which will hide the small gaps at the corners and to disguise the weird angle of one of the corners.  The skylight itself still needs some paint, and a latch to hold it shut, but even loose most of the rain is staying out.  I found a leak under one corner, and when the truck is back home I’ll check to see if my weatherizing did the trick to fix it.  If not…well, that means the leak is coming from the roof most likely, and that won’t be fixed until I get the liquid rubber applied.  That should be the last thing needed to complete the roof.  It will be great to have that whole project complete!

Interior of skylight well (please ignore the filthy windows)

I spent the entire day yesterday putting in the door.  I’d recommend if you don’t want a hassle, and have more money to spend, to buy a new, pre-hung door.  Making lots of reclaimed pieces play nice together takes a tremendous amount of effort and time.  The Quick Hangers did make it easier.  Not easy, just easier.  Once again, I find that seemingly simple tasks are made harder because of my lack of height/upper body strength.  I do think that if I had experience, that would make up in large part for my weaknesses, but the three combined caused a lot of staggering around with an unwieldy door and casing.  Also once again, after a lot of do-overs, I was able to get the thing together and functioning.   This is the most important lesson:  be willing to tear things apart and start over if necessary.  Trying to work around a problem makes more problems, and usually takes more time than simply starting over with a troublesome issue.

Danced with the door and casing for hours before getting it all hung properly

Finally got the door to hang properly in the casing. Mortising the hinges was the easiest part

Using the Quick Hangers helped me a lot in hanging the casing straight.

Another example of that important lesson cropped up in my skylight.  The trim wasn’t laying flat, and initially instead of fixing it, I tried to quickly slap some weather-stripping on just to keep forecasted rain out.  Unsuccessfully.  Once I pulled off the offending trim and shimmed (then sealed) it properly, I had a nice flat surface to work with, and a much better looking skylight.  It took less than a half-hour to do the entire fix, a very good trade-off.

The house is now light gray instead of green, a welcome update. 🙂  The neutral color contrasts well with the red of the truck.  After dropping off the Beast at the shop earlier today, I started painting the door trim in a dark gray, which I think looks great with the lighter gray structure.  I’m still playing around with color combinations in my head, but for now the windows and door will remain white.  I’m hoping the classic and understated colors will offset the somewhat janky nature of the build, lol.  I’m putting a lot of faith into the power of a good paint job!

New light gray outside. Pretty!

I’ve gotten so used to being busy that now that the rain has forced me inside I’m feeling a little cabin fever.  Luckily, there are tasks still available.  I pulled the door today out of the designated “warm” room where it’s been curing, to see if it needs more putty.  I took sandpaper and steel wool to it and found a few small places that need more putty (around one of the wood plugs and in a couple small dents).  The layers of putty are thin enough so that even outside of the warm room it was dry within a couple hours.  It’s looking good!

this face of the door is nearly ready for painting

it looks rough but is almost completely smooth to the touch

the upper plug needs one more smoothing with putty

While waiting for the putty to dry, I pried off the old pet door surround at the bottom of the door.  It was de-laminated and starting to rot so had to go.  Now, I actually want an opening in the door, for running a water hose through to fill the tank just inside.  Once again, poking through my store of materials for the original Oliver’s Nest turned up a solution in the form of a brand-new (found at a local thrift store) pet door I forgot I’d purchased.  All that I have to do is enlarge the hold a little, and screw the new pet door on!

It’s just bleh plastic, but still nicer than what was there originally.

I called my mechanic and bad news.  The tank will need to be dropped, drained, cleaned and (oh no!) possibly even replaced!  Depending on if it’s rusted out.  Apparently the fact that the “water in fuel line” indicator light comes on means there is a LOT of water in the tank, way too much for an additive to take care of.  He also recommended I take the Beast to a dedicated diesel shop for this.  Luckily there is one only a mile up the road from me so that’s handled.  I can easily walk home and then back when the truck’s ready to pick up.  Yay!  Now if only I find $400 laying on the side of the road to pay for this. But, that’s what credit cards are for, right?

I think I’m going to take the evening off from fretting about this and play a video game instead.