A hobbit-hole in my backyard? It may sound crazy, but I can tell you that my kids love it. It is the coolest playhouse ever. Plus, they can enjoy the grassy hill for sledding in winter and water sliding in summer. This was all my wife's idea. She dreamt it, and I got to be the one to bring it to reality. I'm not a construction expert; this was a total do-it-yourself job by a complete amateur. It has turned out rather nicely, I think. Here is the story of how it came to be.

Since this is in blog format, the posts are in order from newest to oldest. To read this in chronological order, start with How it all Began and use the "Newer Post" links. Or click on the links under Blog Archive, in order.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Back to work

Spring has arrived, and so did part of a Saturday without rain!  So I made some progress today.  So far this year, I have only been able to do a few little things, during breaks in the cold and wet weather.  Now I feel like the season of hobbit-hole construction has finally arrived, and I will have many more opportunities to work on it. I hope I won't be too busy.  I also hope that we can continue the pattern of the past week, when it rained during the week and then was sunny for the weekend.  That is the opposite of last year, when it was sunny week after week except weekends.

Today, my focus was on the finishing touches of the exterior.  With both front and back reinforced with concrete retaining walls, I just need to finish the front wall with a nice stucco look over the raw concrete like I did the back, and then add a final moisture barrier for good measure, and then I can bury the thing.

Today, I finished sealing up the seam between the metal pipe and the concrete retaining walls using roofing pitch.  I will add some concrete sealant along the entire surface to be facing the dirt later--hopefully the next chance I get.  Also today, I prepped the remaining surfaces of the front wall that need stuccoing, and stuccoed one of those surfaces.  I have several more to go, but hope to be able to get that all done the next time I work on it, perhaps on a weeknight this coming week.

I can't wait to get the dirt over it, and the sod.  It's going to be so nice to have an attractive green hill out there, instead of an ugly metal pipe and a pile of rocks.
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