Boxed In on Boxing Day

This is as far up the driveway as the car would come this morning (that's it by the road), after having slid down it sideways. Son's girlfriend is an avid boxing day shopper and so she and I were going to drive into Perth to see what was happening, but after Andre was barely able to stop the car just at the bottom of the driveway, we have decided to stay put until the melt starts. The front steps are covered with a sheet of ice. So the coffee pot is getting a work out this morning. Happily this happened overnight after we returned from Christmas dinner at his parents in Ottawa, so we are all happily stuffed and content just to spend the time doing nothing for a change. Hope everyone who reads this has had a wonderful holiday.

Happy Post Christmas Everyone!

So What's Left To Do?

Lots, but nothing more this year. We were hoping to have counter-tops for the holidays, but seeing as that is this coming week, and the company making them is closed until after the new year, I guess we'll remain sink less over the holidays. Oh well, plywood counters are seriously under-rated. You can put hot pots directly onto them, and cut directly on them. Forget about wiping them, as all you pick up are slivers, so the vacuuming of the counter-tops has become a ritual.

And as soon as it warms up a bit, and after the holidays, I hope to finish trimming out "the other side" of all the doors and baseboards. A little electrical stuff still needs doing, such as the under cabinet lighting and hood-fan in the kitchen. I have an old chandelier for the little bathroom that needs re-wiring and there are still a couple of walls that need paint. All in good time.

The Garage is Closed In

The Soffit and fascia went on last week. The doors and windows are trimmed. We love it. Finally, no more wind-driven rain or snow blowing in. Can't wait for some warmer weather to really start getting things sorted out in there.

Stop Sniffing the Garage!

The fellows who installed the eavestoughs (Rainman Seamless Eavestroughs out of Carleton Place) are the same chaps who are installing the siding on the garage. Andre and I have run out of steam and these guys were available and willing. It means we can have the building closed in this year rather than in the spring. Besides, we like them, and the level of service is pretty amazing. We were simply mentioning that the garage was the last thing we had to finish on the exterior, and the next day they were back with siding samples and prices. And the siding they sourced is cedar from Manitoulin Island, for only a couple more hundred dollars than what we would have paid for pine, which was our original intention. So we went from pine board and batten to cedar board on board and are very happy with our decision. It smells heavenly and each time we come and go from the property, we pause, inhale, and delight in our choice, but besides smelling good, it looks great. Can't wait to see the finished product. And no painting or staining required or desired. We both love the weathered look.

A side note about the ladder they are using. It has come to be known as the "city" ladder. It is one of those that can be contorted into several positions. When I first brought it up the hill to the house while under construction, it was shunned. "Too small", "awkward", "not up to the task". I had bought it a couple of years ago to use painting the stairwell in our last house and it had only been used once, just before we moved, to do just that. Well, it appears that "city" ladder is not so bad after-all, as it assisted us here in ceiling strapping, tongue and groove ceiling work, soffit and fascia installation, interior painting, overhead trim work, siding on the front porch, electrical work, probably several more tasks that don't come to mind, and now again for the garage siding. If inanimate objects had life, it's become the ugly duckling of the ladder world.

First snowfall of the season

We got the furniture just in time as the following week we received snow which appears to be here to stay. With its arrival we got to hear for the first time what snow shedding off the steel roof sounds like. It ain't quiet!! The good news is the eavestroughs are still there! We contemplated which sort to purchase and are happy with our decision to install a very rigid leafguard on the troughs. Just adds to their rigidity and the literature shows someone hanging off them, a claim we will happily accept without having to experience it.

These are the views out the front windows. Lovely.

Move Day

It's funny. I couldn't sleep with excitement of finally getting our stuff out of storage. I could hardly wait to sleep in our own real bed, as we had been sleeping on an inflatable mattress since we vacated the trailer. Andre, on the other hand, was only thinking of the onslaught of stuff that we would have to deal with AGAIN! I don't know what his problem is!!

The other big move was the trailer. "Paradise Hotel" as it's previous owners had labled it, has left the building site. The trailer park is officially closed!

The Interior Push

We had given ourselves until Thursday of last week to have the interior all painted and trimmed, (and we are not talking about for Christmas) but door trim, baseboards, kitchen crown and valences etc. etc. Maybe a bit too ambitious, as I quit trimming at 9:00 on Thursday evening and the movers were arriving at 8:30 Friday morning. Running trim into plastered walls takes a little longer as each corner has to be scribed to fit. I am a demon with my jigsaw now! But we did manage to get all of the common areas completed, and our bedroom is complete as in paint, baseboards, closet, and lighting, so we do have a room to escape to. These are the before and after pictures.

Just because

Loki looking out for whatever might provide some amusement. That could be a jogger or a squirrel, or one of nine million sticks laying around.

The Garage is Getting Some Lovin'

Andre has spent the day in there (again) trying to better organize the remaining stuff as the movers arrive tomorrow and there is a lot of stuff that will have to reside there. But in addition to that, the strapping is up and hopefully it will be sided next week if the weather cooperates.

The Final, Final Exterior Work is Done (for this year)

The last thing we hoped to get done has been completed. We can't claim any credit for the work, as we hired it out, and I felt bad for the guys who did it. It must hurt to work at something that doesn't show. This blends so effortlessly with the soffit and fascia that if it weren't for the downspouts you'd never know they were here. And just in time as last night we had heavy rains all through the night!! In December!

We are connected

Andre got up the other morning and noted was a treat it was to shower, do laundry and check emails all from the house. All of those tasks used to require a trip into town. For our city friends I thought I would share what our internet connection looks like. Nice eh? We had hoped to have it down near the garage where it would blend in a bit better and run the wire through the same pipe as the phones will be run in, but that couldn't work due to our 100 year old tree blocking the line of site for the signal. Anyway, it is what it is and eventually, we won't even notice it anymore.

The Horse Down the Road

We drive past a few farms on our roadway to get to our house, but past us is all residential which dead-ends in a small sub-division. We are zoned rural, and one of the houses just past us now has a horse. A large horse which comes out and stomps his foot and snorts at our dog. Sure livens up the dog walk.
But a neighbor across from the horse said the owners bring the horse over to his place to graze on his lawn as theirs is all eaten up. I'm seriously considering offering them the back yard which is still quite high with alfalfa and timothy that we seeded early this year to stop erosion. Why not? How cool would that be?? Maybe the dog would learn to love the horse...

The Yard Cleanup

Finally, Andre has been able to get at the yard before the snow arrives. The driveway has received a good grading and layer of crushed screening, so it will be easy to maintain through the winter. It's much nicer to drive up on already. The remnants of construction waste have been sorted, donated or disposed of. The overhang of the garage has been cleared and will provide shelter for a vehicle.
The trees that were whacked by the excavator during the site-work have been all cleaned up, so no more dead or ugly broken branches hanging around. (And coincidentally just in-time for Christmas decor as I now have large piles of pine and cedar boughs at my disposal.)
The screened gazebo has been dismantled and moved from down by the trailer and the trailer is expected to leave in the next few days, so in the next couple of weeks it will almost be normal around here. Yeah! And tomorrow we retrieve his father's snow blower which has been kindly donated to the cause. This is a welcome gift as we had a small single car city driveway that our plastic shovel could handle.

Nigglie Pigglie Time

Just realized it has been a while since we posted anything and that's because the stuff we are working at is small and doesn't really have much visual impact. We are still missing pieces for the kitchen, so drawers have no faces and the sink cabinet has no doors. Counter tops are still being shopped for. One of the local companies wanted as much for laminate as we would pay for beautiful concrete counters, so we are still looking.
On the accomplishment side of things, the cabinets that have doors or drawers are all hung or installed. The bathroom vanity is installed with handles and all, but no counter-top. The kick plates in the kitchen are installed. Two built in closets are completed in the master bedroom and the front entrance. Actually the front entrance is the only room nearing completion. It just needs the trim to be painted.
Interior doors are hung but need trim. Paint is complete in the front entrance, master bedroom and bath, kitchen and den and a huge test patch is on the longest wall which is 42', so it has to be a color we love. Some new lighting has been installed. So the list of things to do is smaller than before, but we have given ourselves until next week to have the major things all done as our furniture is expected the end of the week.

The Almost Final Look

All that's left on the outside is the eaves-troughing, which we will have done in the near future and then paint the stucco in the spring, but that's it on the exterior for now. Whew. So nice not to have to think about it. We are blessed with unseasonably warm weather, so today I was caulking around the window and door on the front porch, but the rest can wait until spring.

Finished on the Outside

D. and Justin returned for one last day to finish up the siding and the soffit and fascia on the front porch. And like that they were gone! It's gonna be strange not seeing their happy shiney faces around here anymore.

GAK!

I'm not sure if I should call this a failed experiment or what, but my light tubes in the wall are breaking. So now I have this "Alice in Wonderland" hole in my wall, well on one side anyway.

Could be the heat/cold thing, warm inside and cold outside. Could be expansion/contraction of the plaster. Could be that the glass was just too old and frail for this use, as the manufacturer never expected these things to be plastered into walls. Regardless, I now have to come up with a fix. Thinking, thinking, thinking...

Goodbye Laundromat

Yes the day has finally arrived. We purchased and took delivery of a new fridge and stove and washer and dryer. The little bar fridge can go back down to the garage as we are livin' large now! I haven't used the stove yet as I am still admiring it! But the washer and dryer rock!! We will have to amend our social lives yet again to fill the void left by no longer frequenting the suds-o-matic, which I feel could have been much more enjoyable had they had wireless capability.

Getting Ahead of Oneself

We haven't been sitting around waiting for kitchen stuff. We decided to paint the walls where the cabinets and built-ins are going, so we have been busy painting and installing trim. The problem is, I can't install trim until Andre paints, or he would prefer I didn't. So I have also been doing a little painting and am getting better at it. Now we have the master bathroom painted, ceiling and walls, the shower is completely tiled and caulked, the tub is now connected to the plumbing and Andre hung my little chandelier over the tub. Vanity is one third built.
The kitchen and den have been painted, well at least the drywall walls are painted. Then we fabricated and installed trim along the tongue and groove ceiling before we installed the kitchen cabinets.
The master bedroom closet has been painted and trimmed, as we have started the built-in in there. And the front door and window in the porch have been trimmed ahead of the paint. Oops!
It's difficult choosing paint without your furnishings. We chose a brown for the kitchen, as the cabinets will be creamy white, and while we weren't sure about it, everyone who has seen it loves it. Go figure.
Might I add that there are a couple of spots on the wall which have had to have been touched up due to fur.

Fun with Boxes

I should probably have named this post differently as I suspect the real fun with boxes won't occur until the moving van arrives with our stuff. Anyway, we have continued on with our kitchen construction. After three weeks of waiting for parts to arrive that are still not in stock and can therefore not even be ordered, we decided to fabricate our own cover panels and move ahead. We needed to get this kitchen on the wall as the appliances were arriving at any minute. (They arrived Friday).

To complicate things, I have been nursing a useless right arm. My left arm has always been useless, so now I feel totally helpless. A trip into the doc and he diagnosed a repetitive strain injury from too much screwing. Not that kind!! Actually it might be from from chopping wood for the back yard fire-pit, or even from lifting too much. Don't know how I got it, but it really has me gibbled, so now I can only give instructions and hand tools to Andre, who must be loving his life right about now!!

Just kidding. He had been a very good sport and has basically installed this kitchen on his own with my coaching and has done a fantastic job. Those big boxes are not easy to hoist and fasten at the same time.

The Front Entrance

I had been given the name of a carpenter when I was trying to find someone who could frame the garage. I was told he was young, hungry and very good. When I found his business card pinned to the bulletin board at the pizza joint we frequent, I felt it was meant to be, so called him up to see about building us some stairs up to the door of the house. The deal was, he could build whatever struck his fancy, so long as it was in keeping with the house. He came back to us with a couple of sketches of his ideas and once we selected one, he set to work. We decided to use pressure treated wood, which is kind of a compromise, as I have been trying to keep it eco-friendly, but we don't have an unlimited budget so will paint or stain it come the spring when the rest of the exterior painting gets done.

Here is what he came up with and we love it. The attention to detail in outstanding. The skilled young mans name is Ben Elliott.

Another lifestyle change

The weather has definitely changed and aside from the noticeable chill in the air, we have had a few hard frosts now. It's one thing to have to scrape the windshields, but now that we have a dog and are trying to fit dog-walks into our building schedule, we are even more aware of our natural surroundings. We have discovered the beaver-dam which is just up a little road to some cottages which isn't far from our place. This is it one frosty morning.

So now the daily routine once again involves going outside early in the morning to pee, only this time its the dogs turn. Feed the dog, walk the dog, build some stuff, play with the dog, build some more stuff, walk the dog. We have been walking her in town and taking her almost everywhere we go, to try to get her more comfortable and hopefully change the way she greets people, which is very loudly. Another work in progress shall we say!

The Biggest News

We have a dog. Not just any dog, but Andres dream dog. She is a rescue from Bytown Animal Rescue of Canines ("Kanine" so the acronym would work)
We picked her up today and she is lovely. That anyone could part with her is sad. We are really looking forward to our life with her in it.

So dream house, dream dog, it's just keeps getting better and better.

Oh yah, she came named - "Loki" - norse god of mischief

Indoor Progress

We have been moving forward and backwards on the interior work. Started the kitchen but have to wait for parts, so while it is assembled sort of, it awaits installation. The shower is awaiting some caulk and the tub is not installed, but it can wait. I think it's caused enough hernias already. So we have placed the cabinets against the walls. D. left us her hot-plate to use, Doug and Doris loaned a microwave and the bar fridge from the garage got moved up. How nice to have space to move around and a little warmth.

We have been shopping, returning things and shopping some more. This week I found light fixtures at the Habitat for Humanity Restore that cost me the same for five fixtures as it might have for one of them new, so it's been a good week.

Tanks a Lot

These are the tanks in the utility room. They are the pressure tank for the well, the water softener and its brine tank, the hot water tank, and behind it the relief tank for the flooring controls (I think that's what its called). Anyway, they are now all working and we had heat in the house Thursday of last week. The electricians finished everything they needed to to get the plumber connected to fire up the floors, and the HRV was installed and balanced. So when we left the house Thursday evening, all systems were go.

We headed into Ottawa to run a series of appointments that night and were expecting to return Friday afternoon. But we stayed over Friday night and had dinner with friends and a warm big bed as it was a miserable rainy night. We returned Saturday morning to find the thermostat at 88 degrees!!! Someone must have forgotten to set it. Talk about feast or famine. We went from freezing in our little trailer to sweltering in our new house. So after a day of all the doors and windows open, it finally got down to 68 degrees and we really slept in there on Saturday night. By Sunday evening, it was a little chilly, so we thought we would attempt a little heat. Set the thermostat again and woke up to a warm 77 degrees. Hhmmm. A call to the electrician who returned and replaced the thermostat which was not recognising the signals from the boiler so we should be good to go now.

Almost finished on the outside

We are getting there. Need to order a bit more fascia material and install a few more pieces of siding, then front stairs so that we no longer have to practice agility. We thought we had a contractor to build the stairs to allow us to move on to the inside, but he has not arrived yet, so we wait. D. and Justin have moved onto another plastering job, but will return for one last kick at the cat on the soffit and fascia.

Can you spot what's missing?

For the untrained eye, it may be hard to notice, but for us, as it has been a landmark and the first thing we saw upon approach to our property. This is where the rented port-a-potty used to sit or rather where we used to sit on the rented port-a-potty. We were so delighted to return to the site today and find it gone. We only regret that we didn't get a chance to steal the toilet paper before it left!!

Foiled Yet Again

Turns out the lack of heat in the house really hampers things curing entirely. The floor is still not completely dry, and we have learned that tile glue also takes awhile to cure in the cold. We slept in the house one night and scratched the floor with the feet of the bed, so we are back down in the trailer. Hope the heat gets connected soon.

The Trades Return

This week, now that the floors are done, the plumbers have returned and have been working on the plumbing portion for the radiant floors. Our utility room now belongs in a scene from an old submarine movie, what with all the valves and pipes and gauges. They have gone as far as they can until the electrician returns and wires up a thermostat and coil of some sort. Claudio, our neighbor from so long ago when we lived in Ottawa, appeared with the tiles for the shower and set to work on that project, and on Saturday, the electricians returned and connected all of the lights, switches and plugs. He showed us what has been wired to stay on via the generator in the event of a power failure and there doesn't appear to be much that won't be on. I had purchased a light fixture from the local antique purveyor, and our electrician rewired and repaired it. His wife even repainted the hardware on it and it looks as good as new.
It's Saturday, rainy and warm and I think we plan to barbeque and then sleep in our newly lit house. It will be cool, but not nearly as cold as the trailer has been. We can almost taste it now!!
On a sad note, Deirdre pulled the Boler, her home away from home, out of its resting place and towed it home to Peterborough, as they have but one days work left. The Kenyon Road Trailer Park is down to only one trailer, ours! It will be sad to see her and Justin leave for good, as we have looked forward to their return each week. This project has been such a joy for us.
On a happy note, we are looking forward to another warm bed and meal courtesy of sympathetic friends who, through our blog, we have guilted into feeling sorry for our plight. Love this blog!!

Another Before and After

Justin and Deirdre installed the strapping on the gable before proceeding with the steel installation. Here they are taking a moment to plan out the next step. And here they have completed the steel on the roof, the little skirt roof and the valley. All that is left to install for the steel is the flashing that runs along the vestibule roof edge along the gable.

Ready for the siding and after that the soffit and fascia.

What your newspapers become

The insulation that we blew into the attic was cellulose, which is basically shredded up paper. The depth was marked on the trusses with flagging tape, trouble lights were strung so as to provide some visibility and then Deirdre, the smallest and likely most flexible of us, climbed up there and went to work. This is what our cozy attic looks like now that it has been insulated.

We were aiming for R50 and I think we succeeded!

Back at it

If only the weather would be a bit more cooperative, as in not so cold, we might move along a bit faster. The exterior work has continued on the outside, but this time the neglected front porch area is receiving some love. Dierdre mentioned that she was glad to actually start it, as it has been the saddest looking part and is the highest profile. We were waiting to install the roofing steel until we had completed the insulation, as it was being blown in from above. Also, yet to be built were the valleys where the porch met the house, so it was all scheduled to happen in one fell swoop.

As they were up on the roof working out the details, I installed the door hardware on three doors. I work very slowly and what I thought would take me no time actually consumed most of one day. How discouraging. At this rate, I'll have all the interior doors hung and hardware on in about two years!!

Floor Pics

Now that we are finally able to get back into the house, we thought we might share a couple of floor pictures. Most people would get a surprised look upon their faces when we told them the concrete was our finished floor, but this is what we were hoping for and we are most delighted with the outcome. They truly look weathered, or as Justin described it, "rusted".

Once they were completed, Andre got started sealing the drywall. He spent three cold days in the house a-lot warmer than the three of us who were working on the exterior.

A ton to share but everything else pales compared to this

I am at the pub a couple of pints in and not much in the mood for blogging, however we had to share this most important development. Our new favorite people are the plumbers, and just in the nick of time, because our port-a-potty people have really started to stink as we are once again in discussion with them about service issues. Although the plumbers were here to work on the radiant heating, we felt this was their most impressive piece of work!!

You will notice the clean lines of the American Standard Cadet 3, which won awards for receiving the top flushing standards of the industry, scoring 1000 out of 1000. No Poo!!

Fall Is Definately in the Air

We are freezing in our little trailer, and as bad as it is for us, it`s Justin who is living in our garage that we really feel for. It is unheated and uninsulated, so he may as well be sleeping outside. The overnight temperatures are minus 4 and 5, and the warmest it gets in our trailer with our little heater is 7 degrees. The drinking water is frozen in the morning and we now keep things in the fridge to keep them from freezing!! I`m certain Deirdre and Justin are looking forward to finishing here and moving onto a warmer project. The good news is that we have had the propane tanks delivered for the in-floor heat, so we are hopeful the plumber can return and hook that up in short order, whatever that involves. On the positive side, Mother Nature has provided us with the most beautiful carpet for our outdoor living situation.

Work Continues on the Exterior

The colder weather hasn`t stopped the work and this week we moved ahead with the final finishing. Deirdre and Justin always work to an order of operations, so first was strapping and siding, then the soffit and fascia. They were up the scaffolding and I stayed on the ground and did the cutting. We simply ran out of daylight hours, so will finish what is left on the rear of the house before moving on.

We also started the cellulose installation. We are blowing 16 inches in the attic, so all of the prep work for that was done which involved dropping down the requisite hoses for the HRV and dryer vents, and sealing those perforations in the vapour barrier. This will be one snug little house.

The First Glimpse of the Building Without the Tarps

Andre and I removed the tarps on Monday afternoon so that work could start first thing Tuesday morning on the exterior finishing. This is what the building looks like. Andre thinks if it had a bell tower, it could be a church. The flooring guy says it feels like a school-house. Either way, I love its simplicity. It will not be painted until next spring, so we have a whole season to think about color. The paint will be a mineral silicate or organic paint, which is an integral part of the process. www.eco-house.com

We're Floored

What was supposed to take 5 days ended up taking two weeks. The lousy weather and lack of heat really hindered the curing process and it wasn't until we added heat that we were able to make a bit of progress in this regard. Actually, we had nothing to do with it, but are happy to report that the floors are finally completed. No pictures of the completed floor yet, but stay tuned. This was the during.

The look we are hoping for is worn leather and it's heading that way.

We tried to add electric heat, but the dinky little electric heaters we had were not up to the task and blew the breaker. So we rented a larger unit. Can't rent a propane model as none of us were trained in it`s use. Apparently, someone on site has to have a propane certificate so we rented a kerosene model. Basically a rocket engine sitting on a tank of gas, but supposedly safer. We fired it up outside and stuffed the hose in the bathroom window and secured the other end of the hose to a framed door opening. But it was very effective and raised the temperature from 7 to 14 degrees in an hour. We are going to keep this thing around for a little while so that Andre can prime the new drywall.

I think we are caught up now

Having the floors done means we can't get into the house at all for this week and now it's looking like maybe the start of next week as well. Garage is cleaned, material all on site for the next phases of the project which are siding, soffits, fascia and the last little bits of roofing. Thanksgiving weekend is here and we are tired of being cold and wet. The kids are coming for a visit from Toronto, so we have rented a cottage for the weekend. I have already been advised that I should make some plans for Sunday that doesn't include the guys as apparently there is a football game or two on the television. Wait, what's that word?? TV? Yes, we are going to gorge ourselves on real food cooked indoors and showers whenever we want, but most importantly, warmth. Two straight weeks of rain is misery in a small habitat. That's why our blogging is up. No construction work to do and cold wet weather have put us on a first name basis with the matron at the library and the server at the pub, although tonight we will steer clear of our favorite pub as it's their "romantic steak dinner for two" night and well...er.. ah ...we just ate beef!!

My most favourite thing that makes me smile everyday

Well, besides my husband (awwww) are the light tubes. These are made of vintage light fixtures which were taped to clear glass vases to make them all the same width as the bales. They were then set into holes Justin cut in the bales using a hole saw and the chain saw, and then they were plastered around. They are like little gemstones in the wall and I love 'em.