October 26 Siding and Insulation Completed

It's been a busy week for siding and insulation. We were hit with snow which caused us to lose a day but both were completed yesterday.

The furnace got fired up this week and we're now ready for dry wall to start on Monday

 The Ener-Spray truck. This houses the spray material.

 The ceiling in the suite. Not yet completed.

 The purple is a two pound foam that was sprayed at the ceiling ends. The rest was filed with fibreglass. The cost of spraying everything was a lot more so we went with this hybrid solution.

 Garage ceiling sprayed with 1/2 pound foam.

The completed garage. Foam spray in the ceiling and poly and batts on the wall.

 Almost completed in the suite.

Insulation completed. I spent a few hours in the suite adding backing plates to where we would hang towel bars, cabinets etc. All swept up and ready for the next stage,

Siding crew at work.

 Siding completed on the house. Just need to install the rock veneer along the front. I expect the overhead doors to arrive within two weeks

 Another view. There are still a few things to complete on the overhang over the main entrance.

October 19, Siding and Inspections

They started siding today. And to help things along, I spent a good half of the day applying two coats of paint to the smart trim boards that will go around all of the windows and doors.

And the framing  plumbing and electrical inspections all took place today and they all passed. No more inspections until the final inspection at the end.

 My office today. On the left you can see some of the bards I already painted and the unpainted boards on the sawhorses.

 This is light. Some days there were 4 or 5 trucks and trailers in the alley. It was a bit of a gauntlet for people trying to maneuver down the alley.

 The siding guys move pretty quick. Here you can see the first wall they started on. They've wrapped it and are almost half way done the siding.

Preparing the back of the garage. They completed the north side of the garage and the east side. They'll be back tomorrow and should finish up on Monday.

October 18 Electric almost done

Roy is almost done. A little more work need to be done tomorrow morning because he called his ispection in for tomorrow.

I called my siding guy last night and he said he could start tomorrow. He dropped off his supplies today. need less to say i was a little in shock. Most trades need several days warning.

 The siding laying in wait for tomorrow.

 Lots of pot lights in the kitchen

And in the living room area.

October 17 Gimme Gas

Finally, the underground gas lines were installed today. I've had this trench dug for over two months. Next week, I have a Bobcat coming in the bring in fill and cover up these trenches. My kitchen designer was in today as well to take measurements. Bad news is, it's another 6 weeks till the cabinets will be ready. That means I'll be here till the second week of December if everything else goes well.

 The final gas lines

 The garbage bin was finally filled so I had it hauled away today. I then cleaned out the area in preparation for some infill next week.

October 16 Finishing up the Trades

My framers came in today as well as the HVAC guys who installed the fireplace and took care of a few minor details ahead of their inspection set for tomorrow.
Roy was back. Guess we have a lot of wires to set in place. Nancy made sure we have lots of outlets.

We didn't pass the framing inspection the other day. It was not the fault of the framers. There was a drawing that needed to be verified by an engineer and we had to make some modifications to the landing in the garage to satisfy fire code. My ever reliable framers made the modifications and framed in the fireplace. Unfortunately he forgot and framed it to the ceiling instead of leaving it open for a mantel. They're back Friday when I 'll get him to change that.

October 15 Let the Trades Begin

Another busy day for the trades. My electrician, Roy Oler started doing his rough-ins today. The plumbers came and finished up as well as the HVAC guys. And just when we thought it wasn't busy enough, my framers showed up to work. as well.

 Electric spaghetti everywhere.

October 14 Concrete Apron

They poured the apron to the garage today. That's all of the concrete in place now.

October 10th and 11th My Head is Reeling

Yesterday and today the place was hopping. The plumbers and the HVAC guys both arrived at 8:00 am on the 10th
Part way through the day,  my framers showed up. That was a surprise since I hadn't expected them. My electrician came by to check on progress and decided he'll come back Monday to do his rough-ins. A guy from Thomson Doors came by to scope out the place. As it turns out, I decided to call another installer and saved over $700 by going with him. It'll be a bit of a wait for his doors to arrive but worth it

Today's the 11th, the HVAC guys came back to finish up and my fireplace was delivered.
It was pretty tricky for the trades trying not to get in each other's way.

One of the plumbers working on the pipes.

Our HVAC guy laying out a template to cut the heat register in Nancy's pocket office. The draftsman gave us joists that were strong but only 12" apart which meant that the heat registers had to run lengthwise with the joists meaning that in some places they run perpendicular to our windows. We're not too happy about that.

You can see all the plumbing converging in the mechanical room.

The octopus also known as our furnace.

Main ductwork. Lots of pipes...

And more pipes.

The framers were able to complete the entranceway to the suite. They still need to come back to hang the firedoor later. They ran out of daylight.

The pony wall and closet at the top of the stairs.

The dryer vent went in today.

Our new fireplace. Nancy arrives for a couple of days tomorrow. She'll decide whether she wants to place it flat against the wall or on a diagonal.

Our new tub. We went with a l6 inchonger tub than normal. Unfortunately the walls are about 1/2 inch wider than needed so the framers are going to have to come back and fix it or we'll have issues with our drywall.

October 6 Testosterone in the air

The line of asphalt in the alley was quite ragged since I removed the fence and excavation took place so we needed to cut the asphalt and create a nice clean line. Enter Denver. We rented a pavement cutter form Home Depot and then we went back and rented a demo hammer which is basically a smaller electric powered jackhammer,

Thanks to Denver for manning both of these testosterone inducing hunks of manly equipment.

 I forgot to get a photo of the pavement cutter but here's Denver with the hammer chipping away the asphalt along the cut line. I laid my shovel down and you can see that I have some catching up to do.

 It made for a nice clean edge.

Denver with the "weapon". It was really helpful that Denver has used one of these often at work in the summer.

October 5 Plumbers arrive

It's been a quiet week but today the plumbers showed up and started running their pipes. They didn't complete everything today but I think they're coming back Tuesday to finish up.

The bathtub arrived and they'll be putting that in place when they come back.

As well, I hired someone to come in and install the skylight. He's been installing skylights for over 30 years and when he saw the work that the roofers did he was quite dismayed. I think we would have had real problems if I hadn't had him come in to fox things. It doesn't help either that it's a remote control, rain and wind sensing skylight that has a number of electronics to be lined up correctly.

 The hole for the toilet. What else do we need?

The hookups and drain for the washing machine in the walk-in closet.

 On the left you can see the white water lines for the bathroom sink, in the centre, the lines for the kitchen sink, and just to the right of the skylight, the water line for the fridge.

Our skylight in place. Now how do I get those labels off?

October 1 Stairs! We have stairs- well almost

 Working on the walls

 This is the "almost" part. The door has to be raised to build the landing to meet the stairs and then we're good to go.

Looking up the stairs. Now the rest of the trades can come in and do their thing. I'm glad Nancy designed the suite with 4 foot stairs. Most homes have stairs that are only3 feet wide or less.