Today we experienced a major breakthrough. I cut two doorway openings and a large window opening in container number 2!

My goal is to remove the 40-foot-long wall in container 2, the one that abuts container 1. But first I needed to ventilate the container because it has been sitting pretty much closed up for two years now. The pesticide fumes from the flooring were wicked.

So I decided to cut holes for the doorways and the window to get some air moving through the container. This also brings a lot of light into the container and will make cutting out the big wall a lot more pleasant. I cut the holes with a thin cutoff disk made to cut metal, mounted in the big angle grinder, affectionately called The Beast. One doorway consumes three disks, and each disk costs $3.25, or about $10 per doorway. Here is a photo of the first doorway that will go into the kitchen (all photos by Cynthia):

Even though I can buy cheaper disks, I find the DeWalt brand to be a good value. The cheap no-name disks are consumed rapidly and are much more prone to breaking and flying in all directions.

Here is the same doorway but photographed from inside the container. By the way Cynthia, nice composition!

In the next photo, the far doorway goes to the kitchen. The closer doorway will be for a half bath off the kitchen/den. This bathroom will be under the flight of stairs that will go to the loft and the roof deck:

The third hole I cut today is for a large window in the kitchen. This window will have operating louvers (jalousies) on the bottom part of the window and a fixed pane of glass above. By the way, that nifty apron that I am wearing… Cynthia made it for me from an old pair of jeans. Pretty cleaver that gal-o-mine.

Next I’ll be cutting out that gray wall that is behind me. We should run a lottery as to how many disks it will take to do the job.

Here’s another view:

Here you can see how the kitchen door connects to the big floor dining room and living room. This window has a good view to the front gate and the front door.

After all that horsing around with The Beast, I’m dog tired like Jabo.

In other news, Sunday I put a ladder against container 2 and Cynthia and I climbed onto the roof. In the next photo is the view from the loft down into the dining room and out to the front steps. There will be a wall of windows where the beam cuts across the floor, and you can see where the front door will be:

Also seen from the roof is a horse eating grass across the way. The Cattle Egrets love the bugs that the horse stirs up:

That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by.