So, this may not be a typical house building blog post, since it's all about snow, but the weather definitely has an impact on any house building project. We were cruising right through winter, getting some siding done on the house in January, and just when everyone was wondering why were weren't getting any snow… it came, and it came all at once! It started with the "Blizzard of 2015." It put a halt to any outdoor work at the building site, and put us in snow mode rather quickly.
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| Driveway after plowing. |
The Blizzard began Monday evening of January 26th, and most of the snow fell on the morning of Tuesday, January 27th. The state was closed with travel bans and just about every business that could close, did. The Blizzard brought what was expected to our area of the state, dropping two feet of snow along with vicious winds and steep snowdrifts.
Luckily, we had done our final snow preparations before we knew we were getting a blizzard, just after a smaller snow storm arrived. The Caterpillar has been turned into a snow-plowing machine, and we were about to put it to the test! We has already purchased a plow, and this was mounted to the front of the machine. This worked out well, because it allowed the bucket to stay elevated and weigh down the plow.
Since the Caterpillar is two wheel drive, we knew extra traction would be necessary to successfully plow with this machine, so we purchased tire chains. The tire chains are massive and weigh 70 pounds per tire! It took quite a while to get them on the tires, cut them to fit, and then add the chain tensioners. But, they definitely did their job, and the tractor worked great in the snow!
I ended up being at home during the Blizzard, and Steve worked for two days straight, so we were not able to clear out the driveway right away at the building site. Back at home (photos below), the snow was pretty impressive!
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| Bedroom balcony filled with snow. |
The snow was so deep in the road, that the road completely disappeared. The winds blew snow drifts over 5' high, just in our road!
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| Looking down the road. |
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| Looking up the road. |
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| Snow on the beach. |
Believe it or not, I needed my snowshoes to take a walk in the snow, otherwise I was sinking past my knees!!!
I was convinced that I would be stuck at home for at least a day… but then a bucket loader came to save the day! A regular plow truck had attempted to plow the road, with absolutely no luck whatsoever. Since I had never had a bucket loader need to plow me out, this was definitely picture worthy!
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| Plowing the road with the bucket loader. |
This machine certainly didn't have any trouble with all this snow. After a couple of scoops that were dumped across the street, he went right up the road!
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| This machine is bigger than it looks! |
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| Done! |
Other than the snow plowing tractor, the other winter project we took on was installing a wood stove in the workshop area of the garage. It was really cold in the house, and propane heat is really expensive, especially when there is a big pile of wood outside! We had an old wood stove that was handed down to us… a Riteway Model 37. It's been refurbished, and although this wood stove is old, it's a workhorse! It fits 24" logs and is rated for 73,000 BTU's. I don't know the year it was manufactured, but it's at least 25 years old. This stove heated my aunt's house for years, and it still puts out some serious heat. The garage roof is not insulated, so we loose some heat, but it's still able to heat up the garage, and it's certainly nice to warm up next to a wood stove! It was well worth the extra effort to get this permit, which took a month to get approved!
So, the snow decided to keep on coming. One week later, we got another storm on Monday that closed schools, and kept me home from work… about 6-12 inches across the state, and lots of ice in this area. Luckily, the Caterpillar plow was working great and we had no problems plowing out the driveway at the building site.
One week later… a 3 day snow storm arrived. More snow and sleet created icy conditions. So, we concentrated on inside work at the house… and also decided that it would be a good time to take a short break from working on the house and take advantage of all the snow! We escaped to Vermont for two days over Valentine's Day weekend to ski at Sugarbush and Mad River Glen, and it was FANTASTIC! There's nothing like fresh powder and awesome ski mountains to rejuvenate you!
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| Mad River Glen Selfie |
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| Tree Skiing at Mad River Glen |
The weekend of our ski trip brought more snow, and there are still lots of snowflakes in the upcoming forecast! It looks like the snow will be here for a while, but we have a lot of inside work to do. The last stretch of homebuilding is fast approaching… the finishing stage, and that is super exciting!
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| February 15, 2015 |
More updates to come as we finish up with plumbing, electrical and everything else in the walls before sheetrock!
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