Day 233 - A busy Saturday

Here you can see the results of the electricians work. The yellow plastic grommets are snapped in place in the cutouts in the steel studs to prevent the electrical wire from getting cut or damaged by the sharp edge of the metal.

This is Heinz, the cabinet maker. Heinz is taking the exact measurements for the cabinets, so they will fit precisely. Here Heinz is comparing his drawings for the main bath with his measurements.


This is Thorson, whose company installs vapour barrier and ceiling insulation. Fiberglass batting costs $1.50/sf to place and blown-in cellulose costs $0.85/sf. We need the fiberlass on the cathedral ceilings (the blown in stuff will slip down the slope) and the blown in stuff will be over all the flat ceilings. From a budget perspective, we are going to skip insulating the garage which would put us 35% over budget for the insulation. Without the garage, we will be 4% over budget. We will need to insulate the ceiling whenever we hook up the heating in the garage slab.

Other people came too - Renee the drywaller, who I didn't even see because I was talking with Dave the electrician - and I am sure there were others.

Day 232 - A huge hurdle... accomplished!

Driveup - noon on Friday Nov 25th.

The final details of the roof were completed today. Since we are not doing the stucco and stone until next spring, the crew is installing Tyvek to protect the exposed plywood from the weather.

This is our driveway! The pit-run gravel was spread out and a layer of crushed stone was spread out. As the gravel and stone was starting to freeze as it was getting spread out, the driveway is a bit bumpy, so we need to drive on it to pack it down as much as possible.

This photo shows the framing for the planned entertainment center. This photo is taken from inside the closet looking towards the great room.

Here we had planned to install a flat screen tv flush with the wall, and have the other components in this closet. However, as we are over budget on the house construction itself, this will have to wait. In order to make it easier to add in the future, Dave has framed in this area so we can just remove the central rectangle and then finish the edges.


This is how the electrical is installed in the exterior ICF walls.

A slot is cut in the styrofoam with a sawzall or a drywall saw and the wire is pushed into it. A chunk of foam is cut out and the box is screwed to the concrete with a Tapcon. After installation, the ICF is foamed at the top plate to seal this off which will create a dead air space.

The surprise

In yesterday's entry I wrote that we had a surprise for the crew. Because we hit our major hurdle - our first bank draw - we took a hot lunch out to the crew as a thank you.

This is Freda serving the lasagna.

Here is a hungry Patrick getting ready to chow down.






Chris energetically tackling his plate of grub.

Day 231 - Lots of VSPs

Lots of snow today. As it's the first major snowfall of the season, there are the usual large number of accidents (48). Only crazy people don't have snow tires here in Ottawa!

Perry, driving the yellow Cat, came to spread the pit run gravel that was left here yesterday out on the driveway. While this brought the height of the driveway up to the garage door level, it also ensured the hydro trench is covered by the required depth. We will put a layer of crushed stone on top of that next week to provide a nice hardpack surface.

This is the propane heater in the garage that is preventing the freshly poured concrete from freezing. Concrete curing is an exothermic (heat releasing) reaction, but it needs some help in these temperatures. As it cures, the moisture is released. Also, the products of combustion from propane is carbon dioxide and water vapour. Between the moisture from the concrete curing and the propane heater, it creates a mini rainforest, warm and dripping water, under these tarps.

This is the crew taking a break in the stairwell to the garage. As noted above, this is probably the only warm spot in the house right now. The guys huddled in the small space, with the hoodies, toques and glove hands reminded me of a scene from (a) a prison movie or (b) some resistance fighters or special operatives from a WWII movie.

When I was at the site this morning, I spoke with Charles and Dave about the size/shape/location of the bulkheads. Dave and Charles had some really good ideas about it and Dave used his huge artistic skill to demonstrate the idea for the entrance from the hall to the great room - here's a shout out to Dave for that. I liked this idea better than what we had thought of, so we will do that.

I also spent some time going over the electrical plan with Dave, the electrician. You can see a photo of Dave from the June 3rd post, or click here. Dave was asking questions like how high do we want the lights in the bathroom. Huh? We've never even thought about that!!! Dave had lots of other questions, some of which I was able to answer. I will take some photos tomorrow so you can see how the wires and boxes are installed in a styrofoam & concrete house.

A surprise and thank you...
Friday should be a big milestone for us with hopefully getting the first bank draw. And it should also be the last day without heat, as the electrical hookup is now supposed to happen on Monday. (You may recall that we had expected it on Tuesday but Hydro One appeared to have "lost" the connection order... Bizzare...)

Anyway, back to the context... In appreciate of what the team has been able to accomplish, Freda and I have a surprise for the crew tomorrow. I can't post what it is because they read this blog too, and then it wouldn't be a surprise, would it???

Day 230 - Exciting times!!

Great news! The roofers finished the roof today, and the bank appraiser visited the site.

I spoke with Cathy. the bank lady, this afternoon. The appraiser offered to come back on Friday to see if some other work would be completed, which would increase the amount the bank could release to us. After a discussion with Charles, I didn't want to hold up the first advance for a small amount, especially since I thought it might not be achievable. I discussed this with Cathy and decided to pull the trigger on the first mortgage advance, since it wouldn't be much more if we waited until Friday -- and we really can't wait.

In order to trigger the draw, the appraiser has to send her report to Cathy, who sends paperwork to the mortgage department, who then sends the funds to our lawyer, who keeps 10% (Ontario law) and then gives us a cheque for the balance, after doing some legal stuff. This means we should get some funds in our hands on Friday sometime. We then take that cheque back to the bank, pay down our line of credit, and then draw it up again to give to Charles. Whew!

After that, visiting the windows company will be at the very top of our list.

All downhill from here...

Yesterday, the concrete was poured in the garage, so the concrete is all finished. Also, because the septic was inspected (and passed of course), it was backfilled (after covering the pipes with some styrofoam to help protect against freezing). The Hydro One guy did not come out to connect us up to the grid as we had expected, so hopefully that will happen today.

We are now passed the 50% stage and can have more trades involved in completing the building. Still to do:

This week and next: electrical and plumbing rough-in. The crew will be working on installing the vapour barrier, getting heat in the house (!!!), hurricane clips on the trusses, Tyvek wrap on the plywood exposed to the elements, stairs from garage to basement, and I am sure a myriad of other details. Hopefully the replacement windows and doors will arrive in this time (see Oct 14th entry for details). The aluminum soffits, fascia, etc, should be installed, as well as the garage doors.
Week of Dec 5th: electrical & plumbing inspections. air test, insulation blown in.
Week of Dec 12th: board and mud (drywall installation). Will likely only do one pass of the mudding in the basement (budget reasons) and no mudding in the garage (no heat there). This is expected to take 2 weeks. This must get done before Christmas!!
Week of Dec 26th: prime and prime check. Paint walls. Prime and paint trim separately.
Week of Jan 2nd: start flooring installation.
Week of Jan 9th: start trim & interior door installation. Cabinet installer can start here too.
Jan 16th: paint walls and trim, 2nd coat.
Jan 23rd: finish plumbing, electrical, and mechanical. Fix any wall damage, and paint touch up.

So - if everything goes exactly right, and nobody is sick or materials delayed or whatever, then we will be able to move as planned. But that is unlikely, whihc is why we need to find some other place to live. So far, the only place we've found will cost us over two thousand for one month... (Gak!)

Day 229 - Making progress

Pouring the garage floor.

Because the forecast was for the temperature to drop to -7C overnight, the crew was going to place some insulating tarps on the concrete, cover the garage doors with poly to keep the cold wind out, and also place a heater in the garage. Charles checked with his concrete experts to verify that this would be sufficient to keep the concrete from freezing and ensuring it could cure properly.

No roofers today.

Yeseterday evening's forecast was for bad weather today, but it turned out not to be too bad.


The solarium window with the missing pane installed.

The house is getting close to being weather tight.



The plumbers been here...

Hopes dashed

Yesterday, I wrote: " hope the rain mixed with snow holds off for two more days...." No such luck I'm afraid.

There was a light drizzle when I started out walking Tawny this morning. Then it turned to snow, then rain again, and then back to a very wet snow and stayed like that. That snow could be slippery on a plywood sheathing, so I hope that won't delay the roofing.

Day 228 - An incredible November morning

This is the status of the roofing on Monday morning. The shingling is pretty much done on the other side of the house at the back. The front is all done.

It was an incredible day for November, a balmy 6-7C! A great day for roofing, and much warmer than it was last week!

Yesterday I posted a picture of the solarium window with a piece of plywood fastened over it. Well, the missing solarium window arrived yesterday.

In other news...
The septic system was inspected today, and passed. Yippee! Now it can be backfilled.

The plumber came today to continue with the roughin.

The electrician was supposed to come tomorrow but won't be able to start until Wednesday due to a delay on the current job.

Concrete for garage floor should happen this week.

Fascia/soffit/etc should start this week. That will be the Sandalwood colour, as previously noted in the Nov 13th entry.

We are getting our final quotes for the trim. For some bizarre reason, the phone and fax for our supplier of choice say "The number you have reached is out of service" but they are still in business. Bizarre!

Confirmed that we are on the schedule for the garage doors installer. Hopefully he will be able to do that in a week or so. He needs the floor poured first (of course) and the aluminum wrap installed on the garage door frame. The doors will be Garaga Standard+ XL in Claystone with raised panels. I wanted to get the wide raised panels, but it is not available in the widths we need.

Schedule woes...
Charles told us on Saturday that it is pretty much certain that we won't be able to move as planned on Jan 25th. Unfortunately, this means we need to find some place to live for a few weeks, or a month at worst.

Soon, Soon, Real Soon Now.....

Talked to the roofers and they expect to be finished on Wednesday, and then we can get the bank draw initiated on Thursday and perhaps get funds from the lawyers by Friday.

I took some pictures and will post them this evening.

So I hope the rain mixed with snow holds off for two more days....

Day 227 - a day of details...

We met Charles and the roofers at the site today at 10am. We took a box of timbits for the roofers, to help them keep their strength up. We spent about 2 hrs with Charles going over details of placement of fireplace, showers, bathtubs, toilets, etc... Soo many details! And then after we got home, we spent about 4 hrs going over the trim requirements. Our brains hurt!

This photo is in the garage. There are four loops of heating tubes placed in the garage. It is not quite sufficient and there is a small gap there. It hardly seems necessary to put in another set of heating manifolds and buy another 1000' feet of tubing for this, so the tubes will just be shifted around slightly to fill in the gap.

This is the front door, sans window, secured against the elements etc. As previously noted, the doors were ordered without windows in error.

The blog entry from April 12th (architectural drawing) shows the windows in the doors.

This is the window for the solarium. As the glass for the central pane is missing, the crew put a piece of plywood over the opening and fastened it to the window frame. You may recall that the rough opening was a bit too big, so the window was raised up. The gap underneath was faced with styrofoam and filled with fiberglass insulation.

This the main bath area. As you can see, the drain for the tub is on the right, which makes it a right-hand (RH) tub. Charles asked us to confirm the dimensions of the tub and the installation method, so the walls could be framed precisely. We went to the plumbing supply place and discovered the order had a LH tub! Fortunately it is a stock item so there was no restocking fee.

This cloud turned out to have a silver lining... While we were there, Andre checked the status of the order, and everything had arrived excepted for the main bath sink and a towel bar. We looked up the main bath sink and discovered it was a sink with 8" centers, but the tap (which we bought months ago) has 4" centers. As the supplier hadn't shipped the sink yet (although it was schedule to ship on Monday), we asked him to cancel that order and change it to a 4" center. Hopefully Andre was successful in this!

Before we went into the house, we threw the kong around for Tawny. Despite the frosty temps, Tawny went into the water a few times and swam around. When we got into the house, she picked up this short piece of 2x4 here (in front of her) and ran around. It took me about 5 times to get a picture of her that wasn't a blur, and was only able to get this one because I got her to sit down first.