The final (ish) product

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't actually posted photos of what it looks like finished. And, by the way, it is not really finished finished, even though I've been living in there for some time. There are a few tidying up things that need to be done, but it is habitable. I was house sitting for a few weeks, and now I'm up in the North Island a while more. There were problems with birds trying to build nests in the unfinished areas before I left, so if I return to a nest full of peeping walls, I'm going to be disappointed in my lack of thoroughness.

And having said that, I've found that I don't have a good photo with me. Will get onto it.

Shack 1 Earthquake 0

After snaring a mouse yesterday or the day before, I deemed it safe to return. Slept really well.

It was quite a humourous scene when I retreated back to the house on my official first night in the shack. I had the fire cranking up to 23, then at 11.51 the scratching started. Rodents. Deidre laughed at me. No words were needed, just me lugging my bedding dejectedly was enough.

Hung one curtain. Ended up going for just some bits of wood to act as curtain rails. The branches just weren't straight enough.

Had some trouble deciding what I was going to do for curtain rails. Ended up deciding I would use some tree branches. Spent far too long working on taking the bark off and grinding the little stalks flat.

Shack warming!

Started a bit before 9 and didn’t finish until about the same in the evening. A relentless but satisfying day. This was the day of the shack warming party, and I needed to get things in a state that gave an illusion of being completed. Went close.

It wasn't an easy decision to invite to the party only those who helped me in construction. There were others I wanted to invite, but I felt this was the better decision, otherwise it was going to be a case of come and look at what I've made, putting me in a position I didn't really want to be in. The people who came had a stake in it, can all point to a few things and say "I was involved in that".

The day began with some lining, finished that off, including some parts which were probably optional for now, but Deidre’s high standards meant we got them done. It was a good result, it is looking good in there now.

Then things turned roofside where I did some of the worst silicone chimney flashing sealing you’ll ever see. I’m just hoping that somewhere in that mass of sealant there are no gaps. Deidre proceeded to gum up the rest of the old nail holes in the iron on the roof. She then sealed the bottles up – they had tape on them previously, but look much cooler now that they have just a nice plug.

It was a battle against the clock all day. There was heaps to do, and some that still didn’t get done. Managed to put a piece of wood over the door to seal that end up, but still the majority of the area above the bricks isn’t finished.

The rest of the time was spent tidying the site up. That took many trips, but it was looking pleasingly tidy at the end.

Deidre really has been quite the star of recent days, working tirelessly, which inspired me to work longer than I would normally.



The bonfire was a bit of a fizzer, much like the shack warming party. There’s got to be something to do, and the bike track did provide that early on, until it got dark and everyone had had enough of riding. I had volleyball in mind, but it wasn’t really on once it got dark. The fire didn’t illuminate the way I’d anticipated either. As hoped, I held the lap record at 22.93. That’s very beatable though. Sub 20 seconds will be a good time.



Deidre and Julie made a good job of getting the food ready, the foil wrapped potatoes and veges were good. Garlic butter required a second brewing.

After that there was your choice of sit around in the shack – a maximum of 25.3 was registered – or hang out by the bonfire. It was so cosy and toasty in there, I really liked it. There were many chairs around and a heap of candles lighting things up. Something smelt really good, it could have been the candles or just the smell of the wooden walls heating up.

Diesel got the fire excited for a while, that was the most fun we had out there. Aaron took some great photos, that was pretty fun too. We had some good marshmallow sticks too.

Earlier on, I’d been recalling Chubbs’ word Grangerism of the photo involving Chay Blyth: “On the day of the foundation pouring, Nigel did not yet know how to build a house” or something like that. I had a similar thought running through my head as I raced to get things ready today: “On the day of the shack warming party, I had yet to complete the shack.”

Back to work today so I could only scramble an hour or so at night. Did some more lining of the ceiling. Obvious child remains the song of 2010.

That smoke alarm. Doesn’t deserve first mention today but I just saw it above. I think the battery that came with it was done. Beeping and carrying on.

What a day. Deidre and I worked from somewhere near 10 til a bit before 9. Spent.

So many things achieved, I’m sure I’ll forget some. Sealed up the window. Chopped a heap of the great pile of trees that I’ve accumulated and stowed them in the converted wood bin. Arranged the last of the batts. I really hate dealing with those batts. Put the remaining full length ceiling panels on.

Deidre swept the shack out and it looked great. Tidied up the bricks that were lying round outside and binned all of the pink batts wrappers which were littering up the place.

Yesterday I had it at about 18, which felt too warm. Today, 16-17, was about right.

We replaced the panels which have the electrical cords behind, I’m now covering up for the shack warming. I’ll come back and finish the electricals some other time.

Started panelling the skylight. This was fun and looked good. Won’t take too much more work to finish this off.

I hammered my fingers. Couple of times. They don’t feel the way they should right now.

Gave some consideration to curtains. Had difficulty working out where the lighting will go.

The roof. That punk shouldn’t leak anymore. Justin’s roof thing was by far the best. The lead molded nicely. Deidre beat the corrugs out of some iron in order to use it as flashing. I attached that all eventually. It was difficult because I was beating through multiple layers and I didn’t always know where the wood was. Looks really good up there now.

There’s a bit to do before Saturday night but I think it’s going to be looking semi finished.

I had errands to run from about 1 pm onwards, and I knew it. That being the case, I had to scramble in a day’s worth of work in a morning and a bit. Did pretty well.

The door closes now which is good times. ‘Closes’ is an interesting term, it kind of jambs shut. I tidied that up a bit, and it does a better job of keeping the air out now.

Some more work on the ceiling. I put some batts in as my final act of the day. Tomorrow Wednesday is pretty much my last full day before the shack warming. Needs to be a big one.

In recent days I’ve been trying to work out whether I have a common cold / flu or Batts Disease. Still undecided.

$45.10 on electrical fittings and smoke alarm.