The Honest Courtesan

It’s amazing how much faster work goes at floor level.  I framed this passageway in a single afternoon, then finished it in just another day and a half.  The steel building is the shop, which forms the south wall of the atrium; you may recognize the blue tarp (which will soon be obsolete) as the cover for the electrical panel on the east wall of the house.  Grace wanted this passage so she could go into her shop even in cold, rainy weather without getting drenched.  I used some of the leftover roof panels to extend the roof of the shop building forward to cover the passage, then sealed the joins with silicone window & door sealant so rainwater can’t get between the shop roof and the new panels.  Right now the skin is just plain OSB, but next month I’ll put siding on the outside to make it look nice.  We were able to get two strip curtains from an internet company for a very reasonable price; they’ll keep out the wind and rain while allowing someone with arms full of packages or tools to get through without opening a door, though we’ll probably later need to hang a door from that big post to the right, so we can close it more securely during severe storms or worse-than-usual cold.  In this picture, taken just after I installed the curtains on June 22nd, there’s an open space (center top of picture) where rain can still get in, but last weekend I installed a partial roof panel in the gap, and later I’ll build a little wall above the inner curtain.  There are a few other minor details to complete, but I’ll get to them while doing all the finish work next month, before we move on to the inside features.  And I have plenty more to show you over the next few weeks!