I'm in - but it ain't over until the fat lady sings!

An old friend asked in early July "Are you in yet" while referring to a longstanding joke about an actress and a bishop. At the time my answer was "not yet" but as of the afternoon of Friday 3rd August the answer now is "yes."  It would be a mild understatement to consider the last two months as anything but intense, and the work is far from over yet.  But having worked almost without a break for the last three months, twelve hours a day, seven days a week, I do intend to now ease back a little and give myself a couple of days a week to start thinking outside the house finishing and start exploring the region in order to appreciate why I moved to this area.

So what has been achieved since I did my last update in mid June?

Having reported in my last update that I had stained my two cedar garage doors in the workshop at Duffy's Doors, Mike installed them a few days after my last update. While double the price of a plastic wood look-alike, I am sure readers would agree they fit with the cedar siding and post and beam features, and the alternative of a mock wood would have been a retrograde step. Much more recently I also covered the remaining exposed white polystyrene Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) around the front door and garage in plywood.  This was partly in preparation for the forthcoming stonemason's work, but also a requirement for when I changed from my construction insurance to an owner occupied insurance.

Also immediately after I last wrote I had Dale Bryant back up to do some work primarily at the rear of the house.  As was to be expected post the back fill against the basement rear wall, the land closest to the house had gradually settled over the winter and spring melt, and so the grade needed re-profiling to ensure, in spite of the hill above, the land adjacent to the house slopes gently away and to the sides, taking rain water away. As I may have mentioned before this building with its steep roofs and general layout does not have or generally need eaves troughs (gutters to UK readers), and indeed our strata design rules and guidelines actively discourage them.  But after a winter of snow, melt and then rain in the Spring I now have decided to have an eaves trough fitted at the back and front of the garage roof line to ensure water does not make a mud bath behind the house, nor splash mud over my garage doors at the front.  As the positions of the post and beam structure does not readily lend itself to fitting conventional downpipes I intend to use rain-chains to channel the water down from the eaves troughs - as one neighbour put it to me, it's as mountain design thing.  So a part of Dale's work was to fit and bury a gently sloped pipe that will take the rainwater pouring down one chain situated at where the valley (see photo below) meets the over garage deck open roof away and around to the side of the house where it can freely drain down the hill.  We've chosen the far end as the route as if at the near end there is a danger the added rain water could saturate my septic tank field.  

In addition to some other minor groundwork, Dale straightened the line of the raised earth bank where my concrete patio will eventually go at the front of the walk out basement, providing me with a straight and flat area to build a stone wall.  

He just about squeezed his Bob Cat in the patio space between the walkout basement and the posts supporting the deck (and roof overhang) above, in order to flatten all the earth he had dumped there for subsequent compacting.  Five minutes work with his machine versus two days hard manual labour if I was to move all that earth myself - an easy decision!

At the rear of the house readers may recall for the internal of the two bedrooms in the walkout basement I have a concrete well window and egress sized window.  This is a building code requirement to enable escape in the event of a fire. A well window wasn't necessary on the other bedroom as that window is at the side of the house on the natural slope.  Both en suite bathrooms also have a tiny window.  My original framers thought me slightly mad on this one, but I had two reasons.  One, in the event of a power failure, it offers an alternative means of ventilation.  Two, they do, in spite of others doubt, allow quite a reasonable amount of daylight into each bathroom.  Of those, one bathroom window is in the concrete well, but the other I needed to build a small well for.  The easy option is to use a corrugated steel frame but aesthetically they are just cheap and ugly.  So, after reviewing You Tube to learn how to do this, I used pressure treated 2"x4" timbers (stops them rotting underground) and built the additional small well as shown below, filled it internally and around its external base with gravel for added drainage and then back filled back up to grade level.

Up in the loft shed dormer I still had spray foam insulation exposed where this had been sprayed from below, as opposed to the rest of the heavy timber roof system where the foam was sprayed from above onto 2" tongue and groove (T&G) pine nailed to the big fir rafters that are exposed elsewhere throughout the house.

All internal foam, be it the ICF polystyrene or the roof spray foam, has to be covered by a material that allows sufficient delay in the case of a fire in terms of burn through and flame spread (30 minutes), to allow occupants to get out of the house before the more noxious substances are likely to poison occupants trying to escape a fire.  It was imperative to cover this prior to my Occupancy Inspection.  I purchased some lighter 1" thick pine T&G (as opposed to the stronger but heavier 2" T&G used in the main roof), then clear stained (varnished) it, and then over a couple of days, with the assistance of my Landlord and building mentor, Chris Walch, fitted it.  Having suffered for 3+ years with a neck issue that makes my neck creak and sometimes impinges on the occipital nerve, I suffered for some days afterwards. The result of the work is pleasing, the neck pain and violent headache in the side of my head was not, but the money saved on paying another contractor was some compensation.  Needs must when it comes to the budget.

Later on, once I have painted the loft bedroom walls, I will have to put in place a piece of trim to hide the expansion gap (essential for wood as it moves with the seasons) between the walls and the main ridge beam and the T&G ceiling.  

Some of you may have noticed that there are flush mounted lights in that loft T&G.  Both my electrical and plumbing contractors (Neil Johnson Electrical and Jason Sims of Premier Plumbing)  came back on site and put in some considerable work throughout the house to take their systems from the previous roughed in status to live-in functionality.  You have no idea how exciting it is to find you can get light at the flick of a switch, rather than trailing a long lead from the mechanical room to a builders halogen lamp, and to find hot and cold running water, sinks and toilets in place.  My bathrooms are by no means complete, as much work remains to be done putting in splash backs and shower screens, but with a bit of care, they are usable.  Neil Johnson will be back on site in a couple of weeks to install my external lights, double oven (quite a saga to be explained in due course) and the bathroom LED mirrors, and both he and the plumber have a minimal amount of work to do later in the year when I focus on the master suite up in the loft. Part of my getting ready for the electrician involved a trip to Calgary to choose light fittings outside the pot and flush mounted lighting he was providing, two trips down to RBM Lumber in Montana to sort out and pick up my wooden counter tops, choosing sinks and toilets (exciting stuff!), and waiting on delivery for the various kitchen appliances. I also did a trip to Pine Profiles in Creston with my trailer to pick up an enormous load of kiln dried fir which will be used in due course to trim many items but primarily the internal doors and windows.  In a week I put more than my monthly norm of 2000 km on the truck.

To give an overview of the electrical and plumbing quantum advances, here is a quick tour.

First, the two basement bedroom en suite bathroom showers.

Then, as shown below, flush mounted LED lights are in my ceilings throughout most of the house and in T&G roofs over the external decks (you can just see one in the third photo).

Neil also fitted my Great Room ceiling fan.  Not a job for a man like me who hates heights.

In the stairwell I have gone for some external type lights as I think these fit the cavernous and earthy wood nature of the stairwell rather well.

In the kitchen photos below you can see the wooden counter tops, the sink and various appliances in place (at the time of taking these photos I was still awaiting my double oven and microwave hence the two gaping holes in two cabinets.

The finishing of the bar in the dining area below, with its wine and beer fridge, is at the bottom of the list at the moment , until I see how my bank balance settles out over the next few months.

You may also notice in the photos above a number of stacked boxes around the perimeter of the main floor.  These contain my hickory wood flooring, which has to be brought into the house at least a month ahead of fitting to allow it to acclimate.

I mentioned in my mid June update that I had been somewhat less than pleased with Home Depot's central office in Toronto and particularly the manufacture (Thomasville Nouveau) over certain issues with my kitchen cabinets. My persistence meant these problems were ultimately sorted out satisfactorily.  But the kitchen saga continued with delivery of my various kitchen appliances, specifically my double oven from Whirlpool.  Booked for 19 June, on delivery the oven had a bad dent in it at the back.  This was initially pointed out by the local haulage company (Williams) who receive goods direct on behalf of Home Depot from a long haul company (Overland).  It has become apparent in the subsequent heated discussions that Overland are known to be less than careful in how they handle their deliveries and regularly forward damaged items to the local haulage company. I went into much fraught discussion with both the local Home Depot and ultimately Whirlpool.  Whirlpool agreed to ship another double oven, saying they would over wrap it for protection.  I explained to them that guaranteed nothing, as if some incompetent hits it with a fork lift it will still be damaged.  The replacement was due for delivery early July, but then that became late July! Then it got lost!  Whirlpool claimed they had evidence it had been delivered to the local hauler.  From my own visit to that haulier, who I know well as they have stored my furniture for two years, I had no doubt Overland had it.  Simply put Whirlpool were clueless in terms of tracking the item, nor knew what was going on in their own organisation. A real case of "right hand this is left hand, over."  So then Whirlpool decided to deliver a third, but not until second week of August.  I exploded!  And then, late July the missing second oven miraculously materialised out of the ether and was delivered by Overland to Williams in Cranbrook.  But guess what? As predicted the over wrapping had achieved nothing and it had a dent in it at the back - admittedly rather less than the original one and again not where I could see it once installed, but that's not really the point.  Taking the stance of "I told you so" on the over wrapping debate, I felt inclined to be absolutely stubborn and say take it back and try again.  Ultimately I said they had a choice, either give me 15% refund or this will go on until such time as you can supply an oven without a dent.  I now have my 15% refund and a double oven sitting on the floor in the kitchen.  I have agreed with my electrician wiring and fitting can wait a few weeks until he comes in to do his final items.

Meanwhile I have to say the manager of Home Depot in Cranbrook has been remarkably sympathetic, and I do realise many of the issues both with Thomasville Nouveau and Whirlpool were beyond his control.  He had said some time ago he would compensate me when all was done.  Short story, he has given me the following patio set free (originally priced at $CAN1298 and then reduced in an early end of season clearance o $CAN798).  I will be picking it up next week.

Readers may remember that within the build there are a number of structural laminated veneer lumber (LVL) beams to carry the wider span loads.  Most are hidden above ceilings or within walls, but two that are 18" deep rather than 12" are very visual: one in the open plan main floor at the front of the loft, and one in the family room of the daylight walkout basement.   Readers may recall the ugly yellow.  While a number of options exist, the preferred method is to trim these out in stained timber and so with Chris's assistance this has now been achieved.

So on the open plan main floor we went from this - first photo before drywall, so you can see one that is 18" deep at the front of the photo and a 12" deep one further back tied into the main column but which then is hidden in the drywalled ceiling -

- and second photo after drywall ...

to this ...

Downstairs in the family room at the front of the daylight walk out basement, we went from this (photographed before all drywall was complete and before tiling) ...

... to this.

Readers may note something else from the fourth photo back, but just in case, here it is again.

The addition is that mid July I eventually took delivery and installation of my wood burning stove, a US made Hearthstone Mansfield.  This has been on order for over a year and put aside for me for probably six to eight months.  The team at The Fireplace in Cranbrook have been hugely tolerant of my ongoing delays and winter build shutdown.  Access had always been a major concern but on the day it all worked seamlessly, with the owner of The Fireplace reversing around to the rear of my house, doing about six back and forth manoeuvres in a rather large Toyota Tundra pick up truck, until his rear wheels were a foot beyond my concrete window and the tailgate at exactly the height and level of my backdoor above grade (2½ ft as there are currently no kitchen steps).  They then wheeled it in on a trolley jack.  It's rather a more stunning look than the standard cast iron stove as its covered in soapstone tiles.  But these are not just aesthetic - they provide a long term heat sink which means the stove will emit heat for several hours after the fire inside has gone out.  

The Fireplace team have actually still got to come out to fit the  join to my external air supply as a part was missing.  Likewise the tiling you see in the photo is enough top meet the building code and manufactures requirements (I actually extended the tiling in front as I didn't think it enough to protect a wooden floor should burning embers fly out when opening the door), but I also intend to extend the tiles a further 1' either side.  

My occupancy inspection took place on 16th July, but inevitably had some minor pick ups, three in total.  One was a requirement for a self closing swing hinge on my garage to mechanical room as the Inspectors said that the mechanical room was within the heated envelope of the house, even though there is no door directly into the house, only the garage.  Another was a requirement for a step from the garage to house as the existing rise was 11" and therefore without a step outside building code.  And the third was a requirement to reduce the gap in the rafters at either end of my small loft bedroom deck to 4" or less, in accordance the same requirement for the spacing of spindles in the guardrails, so that a child cannot get its head stuck or fall through.  These took me about a days work to rectify, and  a quick re-inspection took place on 23rd July, approving my occupancy.

At this stage life really became a mad rush.  Much paperwork changing over construction to owner occupied insurances, changing from my moderate construction mortgage to an owners mortgage, organising for all my furniture that had been stored in Cranbrook since my move from Ottawa at the end of June 2016 to be moved, and getting microwave Internet fitted.  The list was never ending. More important, I had agreed several months before to move out of the apartment over Chris's garage that I have been living in for the last two years, and now I was committed as he had three extended AirBnB rentals confirmed for August. 

In side my house I needed to get hanging and shelf space built into both basement bedroom and the two lobby closets (wardrobes) so that I had somewhere to hang clothes.  A simple task but nevertheless, cutting, sanding and clear staining the materials, and then fitting them to the wall studs took two days.  The end result is below.  Note the serving or retired RN officers required standard issue striped shirts and chino's! That said, my ex Commanding Officers would cringe to see that hoody hidden away on the left!

I was also maxed out doing a further big clean to remove the remaining grout haze from the tiles in the walkout basement, then sealing the grout - a painstaking slow job applying the sealant with an artists paint brush and one that took a big toll on my knees and lower back.  The objective was to get everything clean in the walkout basement so that I could live comfortably down there. As for the main floor, it is still a big work in progress, bare concrete slab and much drywall dust, so until completed, it is purely a cooking area.

Wednesday 1st August was a full day moving my furniture from the storage in Cranbrook and into the house.  Next day, the last three months working non stop seven days a week twelve + hours ultimately took its toil in terms of fatigue and my neck issues causing a monstrous stabbing headache, and I had to bail out and go to bed for a day.  A little rested but clearly needing to slow down, the night of Friday 3rd August saw me have my first night in my home and next day complete the "cleaning for rounds" of the over garage apartment at Chris's house, ready for his AirBnB guests.

Somewhat jaded, it took me a few days to really appreciate and enjoy the fact I was at long last living in my own place - a design that I had created and then project managed the build.  Quite a feeling!  It has taken days to unpack and organise what I need, fit out one bedroom and a sitting area at one end of the family room, unpack kitchen stuff, and then cram furniture that will ultimately go on the main floor into the other downstairs bedroom and the other end of the family room.  There are just masses of unpacked boxes squeezed into the under stairs storage space in my mechanical room, the garage itself still being full of materials and tools for finishing the house.  It's still semi-camping, but the space is mine after two years.

So I shall now give you a quick guided tour of the daylight walkout basement where I am living but I'm not going to show the main floor as you've already seen the latest pictures and it's purely where I go to make my pot of tea, cook and do laundry until that floor is properly fitted out over the next couple of months.

Access to the house remains via the garage door, as until I get the concrete patio and front door steps in place, use of the front door would just mean traipsing in a lot of dry earth, just adding to the dust issue.  

Note the piles of shoes, sandals and flip-flops either side of the entrance into the family room.  Current routine involves a change of outdoor shoes to clean flip-flops before entering the family room, and if going upstairs, again back into a dirtier set of shoes.  This is all so I can control the amount of dirt coming into the house, and keep my current living quarters clean.

The stairs will remain covered in the protecting cardboard until all work on the main floor is complete.

Storage are by the front door and ... 

... the under stairs toilet.

As mentioned, there is just masses of boxes stored in the mechanical room but no photo of that.

At the further half of the family room I have made a pretty pleasant sitting area, although for part of next week I will have to move everything back so my stonemason can work on that gas fireplace. I've bought a piece of timber with what is called a live edge from which I shall make the mantelpiece.

And at the entrance are, in spite of too much furniture waiting to go upstairs when that is finished, I have set myself up with an office area.  I am a long way off any decision about the counter top for the kitchenette wet bar off to your right.  

My current bedroom and beyond bathroom at the back on the north side wall.  I am not showing you the other bedroom as its a bit of a storage jungle at present.

But I reckon work continues for another 4-6 months, depending on how measured a pace I now take, and to use that colloquial phrase in my title to this update, "it ain't over until the fat lady sings." 

Externally, as I indicated much earlier, I was sheeting the remaining exposed ICF around my front door and garage with plywood while being dive bombed by a mother Robin who was feeding and protecting her young in the nest in the overhead deck beams near my front door.

The youngsters flew the nest next day, an impressive sight as they take their first attempt to fly.  Next year I shall encourage any would be nesting birds to go and choose another location. Meanwhile the abundance of resident deer remained content to continue feeding near the house while keeping a careful watch on me ...

... and both turkeys and what looks like a family of grouse, regularly patrol around the place with their muted cries.

Hardly moved in I was in search of a thin veneer stone, and after shopping around for options in terms of price and availability, I drove down to Montana Rockworks last Wednesday 8th and hauled back just over 1½ pallets (approx 3,500 lbs) of Tumbled MacGregor Lake veneer on my trailer.

My stonemason set to work next day, fitting his base support grid-iron, backing materials and a wire mesh lath for his concrete. What you see below is his progress as of this Friday afternoon. All going well he should complete by the end of next week.

I am currently focused on two immediate areas.  Cutting and staining kiln dried fir ready for Dwight Hulbert to come and trim all the internal windows on my front prow wall on the main floor. Having spoken to him on Friday, both my wish to slow down and his own workload means we have delayed until week of 20th August. There is also work commencing this next week to build two concrete pads at the back of the house for my kitchen steps (that door currently has to be locked and blocked off for safety in terms of my occupancy as it's a 2½ foot drop adjacent to a window well) and the steps from my concrete deck.

Both jobs require external contractors.  Once I have prepared for them, my own work over the next six weeks will be focused at a more measured pace on trimming all the other windows on the main floor, plus my bedroom downstairs (so I can then put up curtains), fitting back splashes in bathrooms, taking delivery and then staining internal doors ready for subsequent fitting, and then laying the wood floor on the main floor.   My objective (ha!) is to have this work completed by mid September so I can then spread out from the basement and live in comfort and not clutter.  The loft suite is a much bigger project that I intend to focus on come October or November.  No rush as I have two bedrooms at the bottom of the house - just no internal doors yet.  This does require some discrete management if I have a female visitor wanting to use the bathroom. Talking of which I had a quick 30 minute flying visit from Clare and her son Nicholas while they were driving from Vancouver to Lethbridge as their route took them within 5 km of me.  Clare is one of three sisters to Suzie Snook, and therefore sister-in-law to my now fully retired RN and RCN friend, Raymond Snook.  Suzie sadly passed away in January 2016 while I was still living in Ottawa, following a very brave and determined battle against cancer.

The weather has been very hot this last week.  Mid to high 30's and on Friday it hit 40 deg C late afternoon.  At least it's a dry rather than a humid heat.  The house in terms of insulation, solar gain protection and opening windows at night to let in the cooler air (it tends to drop to about 12-14C by 6AM) has performed well without air conditioning, as had been hoped in the design phase. Basement at a steady 20-22C, main floor and loft reaching 24-25 deg C.  Of course this philosophy relies on the night time ventilation flush.  The only day this hasn't worked was overnight Friday, as what with the unusual daytime high of 40 deg C and a static high pressure air mass sitting over the interior, overnight temperatures only dropped to 22C.  The main floor reached 26½ deg C next day and the loft 27.  I can live with that as long as its only 3-5 days of the summer.

We are into wildfire season at the moment and on opening the on line map the initial picture looks rather horrifying, until you change the scale from the whole of BC (more than four times the size of UK) to something more local.  There are some big fires and in my area about 25km away a few new start small ones as a result of dry thunder cell lightning that came through yesterday and struck on what is now tinder dry ground.  The air as a result is a little hazy, but so far we are not into the records of last year.    

So, that's an update after 2 months and below is a view of the house as of today.

By the next time I write the stonework should have enhanced the external look and I hope my main floor is almost ready to relax in. I shall probably aim to do another update mid September once I have made sufficient progress.

Tally ho!