Season opener 2015!

Opening up for the season is always dependent on the ferry schedule. Since we had such a brutal winter, the schedule for the Kelleys Island Ferry was delayed into April again and supposed to start on Wednesday, April 8th. Well for some reason, they decided to start running boats on Friday, April 3rd. I had already planned on a long weekend starting April 10th, but how could I resist not getting up to the island to take a peek at the cottage a week early?

Anyway, I took quick 24-hour solo trip to open-up for the season...

Here is a boring ferry photo from inside my truck since it was raining (big surprise). This is the first official trip to the island for 2015, but not very photo worthy.

Empty ferry ride in the rain

Upon opening the cottage, most things worked fine... Good news - the furnace, well pump, pex manifold, and tankless water heater all good! Bad news - One toilet must have froze and the works inside the tank split and will need to be replaced (this sucks because this is same issue from last year, just on the other toilet) Also, I discovered the main drain pipe (4 inch pvc) to the septic tank has a small leak, at a joint, right before it exists the crawlspace. Tim Arnold said he could fix this real quick this week, so hopefully no big deal.

Funny note, when I was charging up the well pump and checking water pressure etc., I forgot the valves in the unfinished master bathroom were left open to allow for any expansion over the winter shut-down. So yes, I flooded the bathroom and had to mop-up for an hour. Nice move. No damage done, just dumb hassle and totally my own fault.

Here is a nice photo of the cottage from the street. The grass looks pretty good considering the ground is super muddy. One big plus is that after days of rain, we really had no standing puddles in the yard or driveway. Very happy that the overall grading from last September held up nicely.

"Our house" - early spring 2015!

I did try to do some interior finish work. I was able to trim-out the "build-in" wall shelves for the bar and the master bathroom. Overall, this was a low feedback trip as far as completing project work.

Master bathroom wall shelf trim

I will be trimming the entire cottage... floors, doors, windows, closets, ceiling, etc. over the next few months. I did a rough estimate and I think we need over 600 lin ft of miscellaneous trim wood. WOW! 

I'll be headed back up on Friday, April 10th to hopefully wrap-up all remaining plumbing issues and maybe start on some interior trim.

Later...