Thursday, March 26, 2009

We are a planning!!

Kathleen has started working and therefore has limited time to keep the blog up to date. So bear with me __Jim

We have passed the rough in inspection on the main floor and loft house wiring. I will get back to doing the electrical in the garage and basement at a later time. I am now working on installing the plumbing rough in into the two main floor bathrooms. Lots of head scratching going on, and studying on the internet.
When the plumbing stalls me, I turn to furring in the dormers, and preparing them for insulation installtion.
We have placed the order for the kitchen cupboards the room should look like this image when we are done.

Life Lived Ass Backwards


Friday, March 20

Here it is the first day of spring and the heating ducts are here ready to be installed. By the time we are ready for the furnace to be installed, it should be warm enough that we won't require heat. Oh well...such is life. At present, Jim is finishing off little bits of electrical and blocking and is ready to begin the plumbing.

Winter is fighting hard to stay with us. All the warm weather we enjoyed in the fall is being paid for with a delayed spring.

Blog entries will be fewer as Jim is working alone and forgets to take the camera with him and I have taken on two part-time jobs. One is at a greenhouse and will be finished by the end of June so, I will return to being a happy construction worker at that time.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

We have shingles and loving it!



We finally have a roof! Great Canadian Roofing finished the last of the shingles this afternoon. No more water puddles for Jim to slip and slide in. His body is so thank full. While the contractor was working on the shingles, Jim was continuing with wiring the house. He has completed all the main and loft and now has the basement, garage and the outside to finish. He has till Friday, as next week he must morph into being a plumber.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Well, Well, Stairwells

Friday, March 13

Lucky day, Jim has finished the stairs to the loft upstairs. Prior to stairs, we had a ladder which wasn't too bad but the hole in the floor, at the top of the ladder, was very tiny. Now we can easily go up and down and not worry about gaining weight. The little bits and pieces of woodwork that needed to be done for our final lock-up paperwork has been accomplished and Jim is now moving back to being an electrician.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Wouldn't You Love To Own A Conveyor Doo-Hickey?

Wednesday, March 11

I forgot to tell you about our stairs. Jim beavered away on Friday to get the stairs from the main floor to the basement done so that the electrical crew could move around freely and, also, because we need it for our lock-up inspection to be complete. On Wednesday, Jim started working on the stairs that go from the main floor up to the loft. Our big news of the day is that the roofers came and conveyed not only the workers but the shingles up on to the roof using the truck-mounted conveyor doo-hickey. How cool is that?


Jim and I Change Jobs

Tuesday, March 11

There was no work in the cow pasture today. This is what -42C (and with the wind chill -52C) looks like in Beaumont, Alberta. The roads get quite slippery as the ice fog, as well as exhaust from the vehicles, freezes to the road. Jim and I both spent the day at New Beginnings Greenhouse, which is operated by friends of ours, helping get the new plants underway for our all-to-short summer. I can't even imagine what the utility bill for that bitter day was as the furnaces fought to keep it warm enough that the plants didn't freeze.

When is this crappy winter going to end?

Wire, Wire Everywhere



Saturday March 7

Ian, Allan, Coreen, Tyler and Jim all braved the snow storm and cold to start wiring the house. Ian was the foreman and all the rest were his eager, little workers. By the end of the day they had nearly half the main floor wired. Ian, Jim, Coreen and I returned on Sunday and, as it was bitterly cold again and extremely windy, Coreen and I only stayed for about 1 hour. In that little bit of time our tire tracks were completely blown in and the snow drifts across the road were becoming a tad daunting. Jim and Ian stayed about 2 hours longer and then fled. By the next day one of the drifts across the subdivision road was about 4 feet high and I imagine it gave the grader driver a bit of a test.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

I Didn't Know My House Came With A Pool

Thursday, March 5

Yesterday was the last day that Jim had help with the build. James and Perry finished off sheathing the sun room roof and closing in it's south-facing wall. One of the Leduc County building inspectors was out to check our progress and, as soon as Jim has the stairs finished, he will process the paperwork for the successful completion of this phase of our build. Our next inspection will happen after the electrical, plumbing, heating ducts, insulation and vapour barrier are completed.

Meanwhile, inside the house things were getting pretty damp. The day before we only reached a high of -12C but on Wednesday it went up to +4C and the snow on the roof, and some that had blown in, melted and formed pools inside. The kitchen (pictured here) had one of the most serious pools. However, as today a raging blizzard was blowing, preventing us from getting out to the cow pasture, and the temperature hovered back down around the -12C range those pools will have frozen into skating rinks. Yes, it will all melt eventually and I will be able to mop it up. At least I don't have to shovel the house out any more.


Help Jim or Get Food

Tuesday, March 3

We have a front door! Now we lock both doors even though the sun room wall is still open to the breezes. Jim spent today putting up the last interior wall (the wall that divides the kitchen from the sun room) and working on the stairs from the main floor to the basement. He wasn't going to install the front door but the wind was quite strong and the stairwell he's working on is just inside the door. To prevent any more unnecessary hardship, he decided to drag the door around from the basement all by himself and install it. I wasn't there to help as it was 10% discount day at the grocery store...I have my priorities, you know. I came at lunch and helped raise the kitchen wall and cart a whole bunch of wood from the snow at the front of the house down to the basement to preserve it from the elements.