An Tigin: Our Third Anniversary

We closed on an tigin 3 years ago. We started with a house that hadn't been lived in for 15 years.

The yard was overgrown with scrub bushes, briars, saplings, plus a couple of huge pine trees that were in the way for putting in a septic system. There was no insulation. The electricity had been disconnected and the water turned off. The house only had one tap, no bathroom. It took us a while to find the outhouse.

One year after clearing out, tearing down, removing trees and brush.

Our second year saw lots of changes. We added a story, renovated the barn, and dug out a basement. We brought electricity and water to the house. Windows and exterior doors were installed.

We made huge leaps of progress in our third year. The house is roofed and shingled. The basement and barn have concrete slabs. We put in the septic system. Insulation has been started. Plumbing, heating, and electrical work are in the making. 

I've also added a perennial flower bed to the front and have a good start on a hedgerow on the east side of the property. The mailbox post is in along with a stone walkway along the front. 

Martin has finished renovating the barn and turned it into a very usable workshop.

The back yard has been leveled and needs to be seeded with grass. 

We've picked out and purchased interior doors and kitchen cabinets. They are just hanging around waiting to be installed.

I found an antique wood cookstove that would have been perfect for an tigin. It was small for a wood cookstove. It was in good shape and it was adorable.

The problem is that a wood cookstove is not air tight nor efficient. It would have been difficulty to use the wood cookstove as our main heat source. Also, it doesn't meet EPA standards for emissions and air quality. 

SO

Martin purchased an EPA approved, efficient, reburner wood stove (Can't cook on it very well and certainly can't bake in it.)

We've installed it in our house for the rest of the heating season and are storing the old stove that we used to use. Once we put the newer stove in an tigin, we will put our old stove back.

beginnings of finishing the inside

 We've picked out the shower base for the upstairs bathroom.

 The door in the bathroom for the washer/dryer closet is framed in.

The doors for the master bedroom closets are framed in.