The autumn of 2024 we were at it once again. This time not only did Pam's dad (Art) travel up from NY to help, her Mom (Sue) joined too. During this time, drainage lines were set and connected to our septic inlet. Hot & cold water lines(PEX) were laid out for everything that required plumbing. The walls were Insulated, sheet-rocked and the shower was layered with cement board. This was followed by adding a water proof membrane called the schluter system. One of the last things we did before calling it quits was add the Bathroom vanity.
This intensive construction overlapped with Pam's birthday. As a very practical gift her parents bought us a toilet and installed it! I told them that I felt like it was my birthday too. That evening we went out to eat at the best restaurant in Kenai (Louie's seafood).
After Pam's folks left, we decided we had eough money to hire a company to spray foam our rafters. This would help deal with condensation and add a higher R value than fiber glass. They also sparyed around the rim joists, the only area in the crawl space that wasn't insulated. But before they could spray I had to add ductwork for the bathroom fan. We paid a little bit more money to get a fan that had a moisture detector built in it. This was to ensures that while we are away, the fan will automatically expel any excess moisture. We didn't have enough money to pay for the heating system. So we decided to hold off from running water through our lines, to avoid unnessary damages.
Time Jump! September 2025, we traveled right back to our home. This time Pam's dad Art wasn't able to come up and help us. He said something along the lines of "You got this kids". We didn't exactly feel that way. We felt a little uneasy because we hadn't actually ran any water through our pipes yet. We had this fear that maybe something wouldn't work (well pump, pressure tank, septic system).
One of the first things we did was flip th breaker to the well/pressure tank. Water started gushing out of a open pipe in the crawlspace and we both said "well atleast the pump works". We stuck a ball valve on it and that solved that. Then we ran the water in the bathroom sink for about 10 minutes and it went from grey to black. I shut off the breaker because I thought I saw smoke coming out of the sink. Our neighbor Eli came over to help us out, he cleared the line and he found a litteral bug. He said this is common to happen when you plumb, but dont put your fixtures in right away. He said with water wells they don't clear up until several weeks to a month. This helped us with our anxiety.
We then ran water to the toilet and it was a sort of hallelujah moment, specially since we had attached the bidet. It felt like a true rags to riches moment.