Working up in the loft

Greetings, late again by a month, I know. Apologies.

When I published my last blog update on 31st March I stated that I had two priorities in the coming months.  One was to complete the loft.  The other was to pick up on where I had left off when last winter finally hit and made conditions too cold to work outside, and get the front area of the house completed in terms of the walkout basement patio, front door entrance steps and garage aprons - not a small task as this involves completing the stone fascia wall in front of the patio (serving partly for aesthetics but also as the form for the concrete patio pour), building a concrete form for the steps and garage aprons, ground compacting, then fitting rebar, prior to a contractor undertaking the concrete pour and finishing. Over egging my expectations as ever, the work at the front of the house has yet to start, and frankly I doubt now I shall deal with that until late summer or early Fall (autumn).  So externally outside nothing has changed much other than a verdant green mass of growing weeds. 

 

In spite of the front of the house remaining unfinished, the views from my decks remain as stunning as ever, even if it has been an unusually wet second half of June and first week of July instead of the long days of sunshine and blue skies normal for this time of year.  While some are moaning about the rain I remind them it's welcome mitigation against wildfires.

Progress in the loft has been more successful. While again underestimating the scale of the task, I have generally aimed to stick to my plan of two days a week on the house finishing in order to allow me the balance of life to do other things.  In addition my anticipated contract consulting work finally kicked-off in mid April following a five month plus wait while my client worked through the convoluted process of becoming one of many contractors in a federal government shipbuilding contract for the RCN. Work loading has so far only been at about 35% of the planned 100 hours a month (three days a week) pace, so not yet producing the income I need or want, but I have reasonable confidence the pace will accelerate in the next month. So, as you can see below, my office is now up and running.  

I also took some time away, flying to Ottawa and Toronto for two weeks some three years after departing Ontario, in order to catch up with friends, a second cousin, and attend a forum at UofT run by a friend/colleague on flood risk in order to maintain some sort of professional interest in Critical Infrastructure Protection.  More important, as some readers know, having been flooded out of my home during a tropical cyclone while living in a desert (Tropical Cyclone GONU, Muscat, June 2007) I remain rather fixated re flood risk.  That was an excellent two weeks away and I returned to BC mentally refreshed, and thankfully not broke as I was able to fund the flights with Air Canada Aeroplan miles and my hotel in Toronto with Marriott points - all built up by the credit card spend over the last two years on build materials. There are some added perks resulting from spending huge quantities of money building a house. In addition I have also had two weekends away in Calgary (4 hours away by road) and as I publish this update am just sitting in Vancouver International airport for my return flight to Cranbrook after a long weekend celebrating a friends 50th. 

So, in the 14 weeks since I last updated readers, with balance of life distractions, time away and the start of some paid work I have committed 28 days spread over 12 weeks at home to the loft finishing work and one task outside the house. That first external task in early April was a long overdue burn of the roots from the trees I cut down on the house build site in the Fall of 2016.  

In addition, all around the house were various piles of lumber off-cuts left over from all the gable, loft, internal wall and sub floor framing.  Last Fall I had sorted through these to cut what I could use as kindling with which to light my Great Rooms' wood burning stove in winter.  But much of this detritus has paints, oil based stains or glue within the plywood or joist remains, and therefore is not suited to kindling as the glues and paints might adhere to the chimney and lead to a chimney fire. 

I chose to do this burn early in the spring while the ground remained damp after the snow melt, while also rigging two water hoses as mitigation with which to soak the dry grass that remained from the previous summer, prior to new spring growth.  It was also imperative to get the main burn done early, as once dryer summer weather approaches with the increased risk of wildfires, the local authorities can and do bring in a progressive scale fire sized restrictions and ultimately complete fire bans.  Seeing the ferocity of the start of my burn below, readers will understand my caution.    

Once the initial high flames had died down to something that did not require me to be ready with hoses, I left them running to keep the ground very damp around the fire while spending the first day wheeling down wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of the aforementioned lumber off-cuts.  I lost count after the first 25 and was sore for days.  The fire burned and ultimately smouldered to its extinction over three days, although there is still the residue of a couple of big roots to get rid of before the summer fire ban comes into force.  

That task more or less done I then turned to starting work in the loft. Other than the fact the bathroom area and shower had been tiled last December (update "It's Christmas Time" dated 29 Dec 2018) and then hanging three doors, fitting the double sink vanity countertop and painting the walls (update 31 March 2019), the loft remained rather bare, as you can see from these five photos. 

First my plumber finished the final part of his contract by connecting up the sinks, fitting the toilet, and the various shower fittings. You'll see this in the photos I'll show a little later.  My own tasks were a long list - building the hanging spaces and shelving in the walk in closet, tiling the sinks backsplash, hanging the LED mirrors, and just days and days of work trimming in wood around the windows, ceiling and beam intersections to the drywall, then fitting a wood floor before finally trimming out of doors and baseboards.    

My initial focus in the loft was in the 10 ft x 6½ ft walk-in-closet (WIC) building hanging and shelving spaces. This photo of the space is prior to fitting it out - apologies, it's a little out of focus. 

I had previously spent days looking at options of what I could buy in terms of pre-built units and found these might cost anything between $3,000 and $4,000 and would not be optimised to the dimensions of the space, let alone still requiring two to three days to install.  The alternative of designing and building myself using the copious quantities of 2 inch thick pine tongue and groove left over from my main roof build, and currently stacked in my garage, plus some 3/4" pine for shelving that I bought last year, was at no additional cost on my budget other my own time, a bag of extra screws, a small pot of clear varnish, plus the hanging rails.  The basic closet outfitting took me five days.  As shown in the photos below (three looking inward, and two looking back from the far wall to the door) I have built shelving units either side of the entrance area, double height hanging spaces either side in the middle sections, and at the far end on the left shoe rack shelving, and on the right full height hanging for the vague eventuality of a woman in this very rural part of Canada needing to hang her ball gown!  

Thereafter, I turned to staining the three doors in the loft and trimming out the windows.  I've mentioned before how much I loathe staining doors as patience and timing is critical in order to avoid ending up with a streaky result.  As for window trimming, again this takes considerable time.  For example, trimming out these two windows either side of where my bed will eventually go... 

... was five hours work - first having to rip Fir 7 inch by 14 ft boards to half that width on the table saw in my garage two floors below, then move up one floor to the main level where my covered concrete deck is, to sand and stain them, and once dry, cut to length on a chop saw.  But it doesn't end there because you always cut slightly over size rather than risk too short and then spend an inordinate amount of time going up and down stairs between the loft and back to the chop saw on the main level, to trim by typically a blade and later a ½ blade width to get the perfect fit and alignment.  Often three trips per piece.  And as you can work out there are four pieces making up the window jam extension within the walls, and four pieces of trim on the walls.  Those stairs are keeping my weight down.  Of course I could have placed the chop saw in the loft, but then sawdust will just spread throughout the house where I am living - and I am afraid I am long past wanting that mess.

My work progressed steadily on trimming out the other windows in the enclosed toilet (the loo to this of us from UK, but a term that always amuses Canadians and Americans) and sink vanity area, then trimming out most of the high up areas where the beams and rafters go through the drywall and at the join between the tongue and groove ceiling and walls.  Much of this high up work necessitated me cutting to width, sanding, staining and pre-cutting to length the wood in advance of Chris Walch (my ex Landlord from my first two years here and building mentor) coming in to lend a hand with fitting - it being nigh on impossible to fit trim this high up on your own - at least not without spending an inordinate amount of effort, a lot of swearing, and risk of falling off a ladder.     

Most of the trim work done, in early June Chris and I fitted the wood floor.  Originally my plan had been to fit something up there that was rustic and therefore cheaper than the polished fit I have on the main floor.  But in the end, wanting to maintain the aesthetic look on both floors, I ended up using the same expensive engineered Hickory that I have on the main level.  But instead of gluing it as on the main level to a concrete substrate with in-floor hydronic heating, the loft floor could be nailed straight down onto the plywood sub floor. 

Somebody asked me recently what was the difference between engineered and laminate.  Somewhat flabbergasted, I explained that laminate is cheap and plastic, solid wood was my preference but is not guaranteed to be stable with underfloor heating, and engineered is a solid layer of wood with underlying ply layers to give that stability.  Engineered was essential on my main floor because of the underfloor heating, but not in the loft, but provided the aesthetic match.  In addition, while initially appearing more expensive than solid wood, when one accounts for the rental of a floor sander and my time to undertake that task then stain and lacquer it, the extra cost versus time saved is worth it.     

Floor fitted, I then trimmed out the various doors and baseboards.  Then in an extravagant moment, I decided to spend $340 and a days work to line the hanging space of my WIC with eastern aromatic red cedar.  Besides a very pleasant smell, it's a deterrent to bugs and moths.  

So now, the bulk of work up in the loft is nearly complete.   I've probably got another four to five days work trimming certain areas (e.g. like the enclosed toilet where the ceiling joins the drywall walls), and a couple of high up areas (with Chris's help there), making templates in order to trim the rounded undersides of the tree trunk sized ridge beams where they go through the walls, and fitting the internal window from the bedroom to the gallery.  Then I plan to build a king size (80 inches by 76 inches) bed and side tables, and perhaps a small dressing table in the nook area just to the left of the WIC door - once again using the residue of timber I have stacked in the garage - probably five to six days work.  Meanwhile, here is a photo tour of the almost finished loft.  

First, the WIC with door trimmed and aromatic cedar lining the hanging area.  

The ridge beam has still to be trimmed at the drywall and higher up but barely visible, the rafters as well - but the latter, out of sight, will be a job long in the future one winter when I have time on my hands to spare.

A day after cedar lining the WIC I had a thrilling time unpacking clothes, many of which I have not seen for three years, as they were stored in a unit in Cranbrook for two years after my move across Canada, and since last August, just stacked in hanging cartons at one end of my family room downstairs in the walkout basement. It was like Christmas.  By any peoples standards, I have an excess of good shirts and jackets, having taken advantage of the excellent priced tailoring while living and subsequently revisiting the Sultanate of Oman.  

Next, is the shower room now with its fittings - on the left a rain can shower head and hand held, and on the right a single shower over the bench for when I am old and feeble and need to sit down to take a shower. :-)  

Stepping out of the shower room, we move into the double sink vanity area with fitted sinks and faucets (taps for you people back in UK), my tiled stone back-splash, and LED mirrors.  Forgive the building dust that an amateur photographer failed to notice at the time of doing his photo shoot and the protective polythene that remains on the mirrors.  

Next, in this photo below is the enclosed loo where you can see the window, door and baseboard trims are fitted, but I have yet to trim the rafter and tongue and groove ceiling join at the drywall.  

In the main bedroom (approx 20 x 20 feet) this next photo is looking from the entrance door towards the door out onto the small rear deck, and shows all the trim around doors, windows, baseboards and ceiling join to wall - and the wood floor.

The next two photos below are looking from the bed area to the bedroom door, WIC and bathroom area.  You can see most of the trim work is complete except I have to make that template in order to trim around the underside of the ridge beam...

... and in the two photos below fit one baseboard in the bathroom tiled area once my electrician has pulled the tiled electrical underfloor heating cables through the wall, plus a little more trimming to the left of the ridge beam once I have found a ladder in order to work in that tight space up there.  

In the next photo we are looking from the bathroom vanity sink area. Work remains for me to stain, fit and trim the internal window and build a small dressing table in that area, in much the same stile and materials as my office desk on the main floor.  That window is part of the grand plan for summer cooling at night - allowing cool night air (typically 12-14C) to flow from the Great Room transom windows up through the loft and out.  

In the next two photos we are looking back into the bedroom from the bathroom area.

And finally, in this little corner nook under the valley beam joining the two right angled roofs, sitting to the right of the shower area and the back external wall, I have still to fit baseboards.  This will wait until I have decided whether to also fit some shelves in there. The part hidden away on the right behind the enclosed loo may serve as a suitcase storage area.  

Outside on the loft gallery, while I still have one run of baseboard to fit this side of the bedroom door, plus fit and trim the internal window, this is the new view (as opposed to dusty plywood subfloor).  

Exactly how to finish the edge of the loft gallery flooring required a bit of thought as I did not want to go for the $600 expense of stair nosing, the traditional means of finishing an edge.  In the end I bought three 10ft lengths of oak moulding at about $70 total - much more price efficient and works well in terms of hiding the edge of the engineered flooring at the lip of the Fir dressed Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) structural beam supporting that edge of the loft.   

I am aiming to move my bedroom from downstairs in the walkout basement up to the loft end of July.  Thereafter, I will focus on finishing the remaining trim work down in my open plan main floor (Great Room/Kitchen/Dining), fitting a door to block off the laundry area, and in the loo paint the walls, then trim out the door and window.

Nevertheless, even now, things are beginning to look more lived in on the main floor.  For most of last winter the sitting area of my Great Room consisted of two leather sofas, a trestle table, and the comfort of a wood burning stove, but really it was a bit spartan.  I've now moved a rug and some side tables up from the basement, two occasional chairs, and bought some plants and cushions. 

Overall my aim is that by mid August, the loft and main floor will be finished and pictures hung so I begin to feel as if I really am at home, in spite of other work still to be completed. The tentative plan beyond August is to work on the the patio and entrance area and get that poured late September or early October.  Then in October/Novemeber trim the stair gable windows that look under the roof that covers the concrete deck, and clean up my grand timber stairs, which are still covered in cardboard in order to protect them while taking materials up and down.  Then this winter, having moved out of the daylight walkout basement where I have slept and watched TV since moving in last August, trim out its windows and doors and fit baseboards - ready for guests next year.

So, my next update is planned for late August, when I hope to show my master bedroom loft suite as my new sleeping quarters plus main floor completely finished and pictures hung on those two floors - and a start on work for the outside patio and entrance area.  

Until then, toodle pip!