Thursday June 12, 2026 – Tuesday July 14, 2026

It’s been a busy month since our last post and we have some progress to show!

We began last month hoping to get started on painting the exterior, since the caulking was finally done. There were still a few things to do prepping vents, electrical sockets, mini-split lineset holes, etc., but we finished all that up and then waited on a stretch of rain-free weather to do the actual painting.

The weather didn’t cooperate right away, so we switched to working on oiling the interior wood with Danish Oil. We could do that even if it rained and the temperatures were finally above 60 inside which would allow the Danish Oil to properly cure. We masked off all the interior windows and doors with plastic and covered up everything to protect from overspray. Rob built some temporary staging that could be quickly dismantled and moved around to provide access to the ceiling T&G (tongue and groove) and beams. He used his new airless paint sprayer to apply the Danish Oil, which was a six step process (for 2000 sq. ft!):

• Spray on a coat of oil
• Brush it in to ensure uniform penetration
• Wait 20 mins and then wipe it off with paper towels
• Spray on a second coat
• Brush it in again
• Wait 20-30 mins and wipe it off again

It took 6 days all together including masking and building and moving the staging. NOT FUN! It was a messy and claustrophobic process wearing the respirator and having the Danish Oil misting around and getting on everything. It took almost 10 gallons of Danish Oil. The results look very nice though.

Just as the oiling was finished, a stretch of good weather was forecast so we jumped right in on the exterior painting. Rob used the sprayer to paint the siding, which required masking off all the external doors and windows as well as the exterior timber posts and beams and T&G. It took two days to do the masking and two days to apply two coats. The first coat went on a bit unevenly because Rob was getting the hang of using the sprayer. The next coat evened out things quite well once he got the technique down. Next the trim had to be painted and there is A LOT of trim on this house! The trim was brushed on rather than spraying and took another four days to apply two coats. As soon as the trim was complete, we had the rain gutters installed.

Our plan is to work from the outside in as we continue construction, so we will try to finish up the exterior as much as possible before moving inside. After painting, Rob finished up the front porch and back porch T&G ceilings, including trimming out the edges.

While doing the painting there was a massive hatching of Pine Bark Beetles that made it interesting to be outdoors. White Spotted Sawyer Beetles (Pine Bark Beetles) are very large beetles with extremely long antennae. They can be more than 3 inches long and are constantly landing on you or flying into you. FUN especially when you’re up on ladder! Pine Bark Beetles lay their eggs on dead and dying softwood trees. The larvae tunnel into the tree and lay dormant for up to 5 years until they chew their way out of the wood and emerge as full grown beetles. Fortunately, they don’t re-infest already dead wood, so they are no danger to our timbers!

The next project on the exterior is to add the front and back porch steps and garage to utility room steps. This will require pouring some concrete footings for the front and back porch steps. Then we’ll need to add the front and back porch decking material, which we still need to choose. Once those things are complete, the exterior will be essentially done and we can move on to the interior.

Here are a few non-construction related pics.

We’ll be heading back to NY for a few weeks at the end of July to handle some things back home and will be restarting construction in mid August.