Category: My House that God built

We decided a few months ago that we would add an apartment in the shop Keith was building. We decided this based on a couple of things:

1.Apartments, rentals of any kind, here are ridiculously expensive and right now, there are no apartments or homes to be rented.

 2.IF there were apartments, we don’t think Evan’s minimum wage income could afford him a place that would be worth the money.

      So we built the shop and designed the efficiency apartment and told Evan “Soon.”  We lied.   Not intentionally, we thought we would get the apartment finished in a matter of weeks. We built a house in a year, of course we could fill/in build an apartment   “Soon.” This apartment has taken almost a year and we still need to dig the septic, hook up the water,(plumb) build the shower, put in sink, toilet, put cabinets in the kitchen. We still have MAJOR work to do.

One weekend, about 6 ago, Keith and Evan moved some of Evan’s stuff into his apartment, prior to the electric being hooked up.  Keith wanted to get the stuff out of his shop so he could get some room to do some work on the apartment.  This was all Evan needed. Evan got him an extension cord, and ran it from our house to the apartment, hooked up the window unit, and his lamp, another extension cord and electric strip, his TV, the cable box we have been paying not to use for 5 months, his playstation, his television and phone charger. He put sheets on his bed, and was home.

Evan obviously wanted to get out of Dodge!

Since his move we have finally added the electric, put in the switches, plugs (except the oven)put up lights(except the bathroom).  I spent all day putting in the coolest Ikea shelving. ALL DAY.  The shelves separate his room from the living/kitchen, and hold his electronics, collectible cars, and array of Evan stuff.

Evan makes treks over to the house for showers and bathroom. He insists on eating in his home, uses his microwave and George Foreman grill and electric griddle to cook. Keith attempted to wire the plug outlet for the oven, only to find it was the wrong one, when he went to buy the electrical plug (which does not come with oven).

This weekend the pump was finally put on the well we drilled a year ago. We have outdoor faucets for the house, but nothing hooked up in his apartment, yet. I have cabinets I finished for his apartment, sitting in the floor of the shop waiting for the kitchen sink to be hooked up with in and out plumbing. We have whitetile and a shower base to build a shower with, waiting for green board and plumbing to be brought in. The bath sink needs to be purchased, the toilet needs to be purchased.

All the plumbing can be hooked up, except the toilet. The grey water can drain out side, Lord knows theground would love the moisture. The toilet can not hook up yet  though, we have to rent some kind of equipment, AGAIN, to did a trench from the apartment to the septic tanks. The hard dry ground with caliche rock 1 foot below is impossible to penetrate by mere human hands.

In the mean time, Evan seems to be completely happy with his bachelor pad. The sink is full of dishes, which he brings over in his clothes basket to wash once a week t, after he comes over and washes hisclothes. He steps outsideto pee (he usually does ‘the other’ at work, he says)  and shows up here to shower. He never makes his bed. I think the only thing that will change when he gets plumbing, is he will shower at his place.