Electrifying News

The biggest news of the week is that we finally have real power from the hydro company!! No more generator - no more running off Deirdres alternative set-up and most imporantly, we can run water now by simply opening the spigot. We are drawing nearer to civilization. The electricians wired the garage completely, so once we install some bulbs and rearrange things in there, we have usable space. Additionally, in the house, we have a couple of real working outlets. Woohoo!! Bill Fisher also connected our generator and panel, so in the event of a power failure, we can continue to operate. FULL STEAM AHEAD!

Meanwhile

While the window openings were being shaped, Justin was working feverishly (as he always does) to stuff any and all interior holes that were visible. With a bucket of loose straw fastened to his belt, and frequent refills of same, around the building he goes, seeking stuffing and sealing any openings in the walls.

While he was doing that, Andre was busy greeting the many visitors to the site. Our youngest son Rob and his girlfriend Celine got rained out of their maritime holiday by "Hurricane Bill", so as they had a little extra time, they visited and pitched their tent for a night before returning to Toronto. The electricians returned; the building inspector performed our insulation inspection, which we passed; several neighbors stopped by; the project manager stopped by with drywall contractors and site-visitors; the concrete guys returned to execute a fix to the garage slab; and friends drove out to visit. And it's only Wednesday!!

While all of this was going on, I got a start cutting the window sills. We used a router to cut a dado on the underside of the sill, a circular saw with a guide to rip-cut the full depth of it's blade to meet the dado, a second circular saw to cut to length and shape and finally a jig-saw for the rounded corners and to compete the saw cuts. Each sill was done one at a time, start to finish.

I am not posting any pictures of the operation itself, as I sustained enough grief over my router "ensemble". But I will show you the weapons of choice and some of the sills.

The Windows Get Some Attention

Deirdre started her magic by shaping the window openings on the inside. They are rounded and this is achieved with artisitic flare and much patience. Deirdre uses "Tenax" plastic mesh which she fastens to the window bucks, stuffs with straw and pins into place with large wire clips. I hope we haven't divulged any trade secrets here.

Let the Detailing Begin

So the drill with the bales was that they were placed between the wall trusses, the strings were cut, they expanded slightly, and we stuffed the spaces between the bales and trusses. Any spaces on the corners of the bales were filled with corkscrewed handfuls of straw. Fold the longer straw over, twist the loose ends, place in a wall void and twist into place. The plaster crew does not want to have to deal with much loose straw.

Once the holes were roughly filled, then Justin and Andre spent the day making certain the walls were relatively straight. This was achieved by one being inside, one being outside, and each with a "persuader" - (the large mallets) beating the walls straight. It's amazing what a difference that step makes. Everything is brought to attention and the walls looks wonderful.

Did you know?

It seems that we have a regular following of blog readers, which is great as it sure saves us sending out several emails with pictures attached. But someone suggested that I make the pictures larger so I just wanted to let you know that the photos are "clickable" and will enlarge when you cursor over and click the mouse.
As to why there are no comments allowed on the blog, it's because we don't have time to answer them!!

Waiting for the Bales

Monday of Week 7 was the last bale delivery. We had pretty well placed all of the bales we had on site in the walls, so were happy when Alvin arrived with the last 50 we needed. I busied myself while waiting with a creative endeavour and fashioned some light-tubes, but more of those later.

In three days, we had placed almost 300 bales. The few remaining will be used for detailing. Here Deirdre is pitching bales out of the trailer. Again, Andre and the guys loaded them up the ramp, Justin fired them in the doorway and I stacked them, but not for long as they were quickly used up.

Week Seven Comes and Goes

After a crazy weekend where we packed the town garage contents into a rented vehicle and trucked it down the highway to our new abode, we feel only slightly further ahead. The garage has not been wired yet and there is a gap between the sill plate and the floor slab that needs to be dealt with. Once that is done, we can call for the framing inspection. So that means that we can't place anything against the walls. Our original intention was to have the garage built in the first couple of weeks of our build, so that building materials and tools could be secured there and any work on ancillary items could happen in there. Now we have a new garage - piled high in the middle with a random assortment of boxes, tools and various garage minutia.
This is a public thanks to Doug who assisted with the garage relocation, and Doris who helped me to pack the last of the kitchen while the gents were busy with the bigger items. Andre wishes it to be known that this is the last time he is relocating my tools!!! No pics as it wasn't pretty!