In winter, keep warm and take things slowly slowly!

Greetings,

I have to admit to being somewhat tardy on both my progress made inside the house over these last three months, and on publishing a blog update.  Re the blog update I have been spurred by two friends who, in anticipation of my having said I would do an update early March, contacted me last week to say nothing heard or seen, and therefore checking if all is well.  I am well, and my apologies for my overdue blog update.

The fact is my progress over the last three months has not been significant.  I returned from my UK visit on the 2nd January and spent the first week back being rather lethargic while adjusting to the seven hour time zone difference, only to then be extremely unwell and essentially bedridden with a particularly painful occipital neuralgia attack for much of the second week.  Thereafter, what with the lack of daylight hours and cold, particularly when temperatures plummeted in February, I found it hard to motivate myself.  Beautiful though it was to look out at from the extremely comfortable warmth of my house ...

... February's temperatures forced down by the media publicised polar vortex to a very chilly -22C by early morning and maybe an afternoon high of -10C were not conducive cutting and sanding wood trims for doors and windows outside without ones hands losing all sensation and risking frostbite, even with working gloves on.  And now that I am living in the house I am long past doing that sort of work inside because of the dust it creates.  So, for much of February my efforts were pretty minimal, instead either binge watching Netflix box-sets or films, or curling up on one of my two leather sofas in the currently spartanly furnished Great Room in front of my log burner and reading a good book. Isn't that what one is meant to do and enjoy in winter?

The few small jobs I did achieve over that seven week period are as follows.  

Downstairs in the daylight walkout basement I stained and trimmed out the surround for the door into the under stairs half bathroom ...

... and stained the door into the family room and fitted the transom window.  

I'm sure readers will think the stencil print on the transom window a rather fitting theme for living out here in the mountains.

However, I have not yet fitted the door surround trims to the door entering the basement suite family room, partly because on the entrance lobby side I am trying to work out how I will hide the fact the drywall bulges out slightly at the bottom (an error by my framer but my dry-waller subsequently just botched it rather than bringing the matter to my attention before fitting the drywall, thus leaving me with a problem), and on the family room side for another reason I will explain in a moment.

So in the entrance lobby, other than trimming out the inside of my front door, plus trimming out and staining the lobby to garage door, then fitting baseboards (skirting boards for those in UK), the entrance lobby now has some semblance of at least half finish.  I don't intend to undertake any further work down here until the loft and main floor are totally complete, and until I have poured the concrete entrance steps and patio at the front of the house.

In the family room I have also stained both bedroom doors but I haven't yet trimmed these doors out for two reasons.  One is there are higher priorities as just mentioned in the loft suite and Great Room, during which the daylight walkout basement will continue to suffice as my current but unfinished living space.  Secondly I am not entirely comfortable with the off white hint of green paint colour I chose for the basement as I find it a little cold to look at.  Potentially planning to repaint in a warmer colour later on this year, it's much easier to do that paint before trimming out of doors and windows as that avoids the need to painstakingly cut in paint to the edges of those trims.

It has to be said I am also painfully slow at staining doors, as this is not an easy job if you want them to look good and streak free. This task tests my patience and I have found the only way forward is to do this task only when and if I have the whim, and then no more than one in any one day.

On the main floor landing readers may recall that before Christmas, with assistance from Chris Walsh (my build mentor and ex landlord) I built my office area, going from this ...

... to this state just before I flew to UK for Christmas.  

I have since fitted a door to the cabinet, applied three coats of stain to the whole structure, then another five coats of varnish lacquer to the desk, trimmed out the window above and the landing side of the open entrance into the Great Room, and finally removed the by now rather dirty manufacturers protective film and advertising and building code labels.

Further, in order to cover up the previously exposed main floor in-floor heating manifold ... 

... I have built and fitted a tongue and groove easily removable cover panel, and then fitted the baseboards below the desk.

I am still procrastinating about whether to build two small shelving cabinets either side under the desk.  Time will tell, and this is certainly not a current priority in the scale of other work that needs to be done.    

In anticipation of a possible visit from a couple that are friends from my days working at DRDC Toronto (2000-2003) I needed to assemble my second bed and sort out the second basement bedroom.  Unfortunately, when I moved everything out of storage in Cranbrook last summer and into the house at the time of gaining approval for occupancy, the one thing that became immediately obvious had gone missing (and very probably remained on the semi articulated trailer that moved my furniture across Canada in the summer of 2016) was the structural base side rails of the bed frame.  So, as I am always looking for the most cost-effective option, I rebuilt this using some lumber I have left over from internal wall framing, and stained the exposed sides to roughly match the rest of the bed. 

Then my anticipated first visitors were unable to make it!  Never mind, fixing this bed was a job I knew I eventually had to get to, and their potential appearance spurred me on.  Thereafter I decided to move to the inner of my two basement bedrooms as I wanted to try out both bedrooms prior to my eventual move up to the loft. The following two photos show the result, far from the finished vision I have for down here, but getting there.  (Incidentally, any comments about stepping out of bed onto a tiled floor, remember the floor is heated - complete bliss).

Having pottered around fairly ineffectively over the two coldest winter months, in mid February I made a sudden decision and booked a flight back to UK for the end of the month in order to surprise my Mother at a family gathering for her 80th.  This trip had not been previously planned as I couldn't afford two flights and associated UK travelling expenses in so short a time bracket, and so my Mother had asked me to be with her over the Christmas week, one year on from Dad passing away, rather than for her 80th.  In the end, my conscience said sod the money, and I financed the trip from some of the remaining house fund. Inevitably I used part of that second UK visit to also catch up with some friends that I had not seen for more than a year in the area between Around and Portchester, and also in London.  In spite of the often very divisive rows throughout the greater population over Brexit, and the complete political ineptness and lack of cohesion being shown by most MP's in seeking a compromise way forward for the benefit of the nation, and my meanwhile loving life out here in all this open space, family, lifelong friends, beautiful old buildings, English pubs and the vibrancy of London are things I will always miss about UK.  

On returning to BC mid March the thaw had started, and the longer daylight hours and temperatures reaching 10C or more in the day were far more conducive to focusing on the house finishing.  My enthusiasm increased, work is now progressing at a better pace.

Downstairs in the family room of the daylight walkout basement, work had actually started just before that second UK trip on building a wooden counter top for the kitchenette/wet bar.  Readers may recall I had RBM Lumber down in Montana make the counter tops for my main floor kitchen, but the fact I had subsequently experimented by making the office  desktop on the main landing using some of the 2" thick pine tongue and groove left over from the roof system, had given me confidence to embark on this kitchenette task.  The kitchenette had been used very much as a dumping area for tools and paperwork over the last six  months, so clearing all that away first ...

... I then spent time outside in the cold cutting to length and the requisite join angles, and then sanding the planks, prior to coming inside to assemble the counter top.   

Returning from the second UK trip, I then set to the task of screwing it all down, filling all the joints, cutting the hole for the sink and faucets, making a wooden back splash, and then applying three coats of stain, followed by five coats of varnish lacquer, plus a clear silicone seal at the counter top to back splash join.  RBM had quoted $US600 (equivalent to $CAN800 at current exchange rates) to just build the counter top, to which one has to also add my added cost of my fuel and time to go down to Montana.  The whole task in terms of cumulative hours took me approx 2½ days, including the additional cutting of the sink and faucets hole, and fitting the wooden back splash.  As most of the materials were left over from other tasks and therefore material costs already written off, this proved a pretty cost effective use of my semi-retired time. Practical tasks are never my forte, but I nevertheless feel quite pleased with the end result.

My plumber, Jason Sims of Premier Plumbing, is booked to fit the sink and connect up the faucets and drain end of this next week.

Up in the loft, again my motivation has vastly improved.  As readers will recall, I had the huge shower and bathroom area floor tiled just before Christmas, but I had made no further advances up there since returning from my UK Christmas trip.  On return from the second trip mid March, I then had the loft painted out, first sealing and priming the drywall, then applying two coats of paint.  The walk in closet has just been done using the same white as used on the ceilings downstairs (left over from previous tasks, so again a cost saving) while the main bedroom and bathroom walls have been done in a light greyish off white called "On the Rocks", and the gallery landing wall in a light stony beige that blends in with the timber roof system.  I then trimmed out the top of the pony wall that separates the bathroom area from the bedroom with a wood cap, in order to hide the rough top edge of the drywall. As I may have mentioned in an earlier post, I have discovered from my various trades that all this trim work one sees in a house is not really just to make things look exotic - it is to hide all the building mess and mistakes etc behind!

Subsequently, with Chris Walch's assistance, we hung the three doors and fitted the sink vanity countertop that I had got RBM to make at the same time as the kitchen tops, then cut the holes for the two sinks.  Again my plumber is booked end of this next week to properly fit and connect up the sinks, attach the shower fittings, and install the toilet.

I have also sanded and re-stained the central column plus both beams that sit on top of the external north concrete wall and internal load bearing wall, as these beams had all been badly marked with dust during the drywalling stage.  They now look as good as before. A few photos:

First, the bedroom NE wall, painted and the beam below re-stained and trimmed out at the drywall join.

Below, the door fitted leading out from the bedroom to the gallery above the Great Room, and in the second photo to the right of the central column, you  can see where an internal window will be fitted. This is all part of the airflow plan to support heating in winter and in summer the natural cooling ventilation flow at night via the Great Room transom windows up through the loft. 

Next, looking from the bedroom area to the walk in closet on the left, and on the right the bathroom area behind that pony wall.

Next, while a little fuzzy, the walk in closet.

Then turning to your right, behind the pony wall is the two sink vanity, the loo (toilet for Canadians) behind that door, and through the gap the route to the huge shower.

Next below is the vanity unit awaiting the plumbers finishing installation, after which I have to fit a back splash and the LCD mirrors - and fit a load of door knobs and drawer handles (a particularly slow task in order to make sure everything lines up, as once done, there is no option to correct a mistake).

Below is the view you get as you exit the shower area.

And finally looking from the top of the stairs along the gallery, with its light stony beige wall. I must admit this photo makes it look a little green - rest assured it's not.

One of my two priorities over the next two months will be completing the loft.  Not a small task in terms of the amount of wood trimming around where beams and rafters pass through or meet drywall in over 30 places, plus trimming out the edges of the tongue and groove bedroom ceiling on all four sides to hide the expansion gap, staining and trimming out three internal and one external doors, four external and one internal windows, fitting a back splash behind the sinks, then hanging the LCD mirrors. Another big task will be planning and then fitting out the walk in closet (so that I can finally unpack all those shirts and jackets I have had made in Oman and which I must admit I rarely wear in this red neck rural non showy lifestyle).  Then finally fitting a wood floor.  For the latter I am using the same hickory as I used in the Great Room, but as there is no underfloor heating in the loft (except electrical under the bathroom floor tiles) this will be nailed rather than glued.  Much easier and quicker and should be within my capability.

The other priority over this next two months will hopefully be on picking up where I left off when winter arrived outside, so I can finish building that retaining wall and entrance steps and then get the concrete front door entrance area and family room walk out basement patio poured.

Amongst all this I continue to begin to focus on beginning to explore the area.  A bit difficult in winter perhaps, but the options improve with the snow melt.  Last week, having spent a couple of decent days working on the house, and having big plans for the next day, I woke aching and as stiff as an old board. So plans changed and I gave myself a day out, including another trip up to Lussier Hot Springs where I soaked in the various temperature sulphur smelling pools for the best part of two hours.  With snow packed along part of the river bank where still shaded, the scenery was nice, but being the school March break week it was rather busy, and a few too many people around that really should keep their blobby bodies covered up. Politically incorrect I know, but I wont apologise, unlike the PM of this country who keeps apologising almost daily for things he, nor several generations of his family before him, had anything to do with.  Strange chap!

In amongst all my plans remains the anticipation of picking up some contract consulting work that I have been chasing for the last 5-6 months and had as good as one can get to a verbal assurance when it comes to anything that is interconnected with government driven contracts.  On flying to UK at Christmas the plan had been to start mid to late January but inevitably there has been slippage due to a change in government priorities.  Frustrating, but I understand too well from past experience working in the Canadian Department of Defence that government changes in the goal posts are beyond the control of all parties that chose to work in that environment.  Rather than looking elsewhere, I am holding on as this option offers me the balance of life I want in terms of not working full time and not needing to do a daily commute.  Fingers remain crossed - noting that while it will give me an income, it means less days will be committed to the house finishing.  But that income will offer me the chance to pay others to do some of the practical tasks I am less confident to undertake myself, so in a convoluted way may speed up the pace.

So, in conclusion, initially a very idle pace in January and February, but warmer weather and longer daylight hours on my return mid March has raised the tempo.  I shall plan to do my next blog update last week of May or first week of June.