Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Ya Hoo!! The Roof Is On And Jim Didn't Even Fall Off





Just in time for Christmas! Our neighbour, Dave, had a day off work and donated his time and talent to help Jim get the west side sheathed. Now it can snow.

And just in case you didn't know where the shop is in relation to the house...


Sunday, December 21, 2014

Two Posts in One Day!!





Thanks to both neighbours Dave and Russell, the east side roof was sheathed by 3:30 PM when it starts to get too dark to continue.

It's The Winter Soltice, Again...

...and the Farrell's are still making sawdust in the great outdoors. As far as the weather goes, it has been unseasonably warm, lately, which is nice if you have to work outside. And, HOORAY!!!,the days will start getting longer.  Okay, it's only by a few seconds each day to start but it's a step in the right direction. The snow and the cold are what most complain about while living in "The Great White North" but it's the very short days that make it tough.

As of last weekend, the final trusses were stood and braced into place. 

Jim spent the week up to now finishing the sheathing on the north side, blocking, installing the look-outs and insulation chutes on the roof. He used up some of the left over OSB to make the chutes rather than buy the cardboard inserts.  These are the things that stop the wind from blowing up under the eaves and repositioning the insulation all to the peak of the roof.

Next, on went the fascia boards.  Many thanks to our neighbour, Russell for all the help. Now the shop is ready for the roof sheathing.




Thursday, December 11, 2014

From The Snow And The Cold To The Mud

Five trusses have been erected and, on a particularly cold day, Jim hauled himself up the three levels of scaffold and braced them so that the wind wouldn't blow them down. He had previously shoveled snow out from the inside as we had a 30cm snow storm earlier. And then, this week, El Nino kicked in and it's been so warm that the snow is mostly gone replaced by mud, mud, and more mud. Regardless, Jim has manage to get all the sheathing on the south wall and has moved the scaffold to the north to both finish sheathing it and place the remainder of the trusses.


Sunday, November 23, 2014

Curse You, Overhead Power Lines!

 If you look closely, you will see that the roof trusses have been lifted into the centre of the roof. They are resting on scaffold that was pre-positioned to hold them. Jim will stand and brace them from there.  Our neighbour, Terry, came down with his bucket truck again and lifted them in place. His son, Greg, and our friend, Craig, were on hand to help. There was only one fly in the ointment. On the way home, Terry forgot to lower the boom on the tuck and managed to snag and bring down a power line. Luckily, it didn't break, no one was hurt and it was easily and quickly re-installed.

Jim and Craig managed to get a little of the sheeting on the south side done, as well, but, unlike the gorgeous weather today, yesterday was very snowy. Still, it was a good day on the scaffold.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

All Walls Present and Accounted For

As is obvious from the pictures, winter did not stay away.  We don't have too much snow but Jim is back to building in the winter.  It was the one thing that he really wanted to avoid.  Luckily, this project isn't critical (don't tell him that I said that) and he can pick and choose the days that he works.



The north wall was stood this morning and Jim has started sheeting it in.


Wednesday, November 5, 2014

One Wall At A Time

The south wall is in position and Jim is building the north wall, hoping to get it lifted into position this coming weekend. How many more of these beautiful fall days can we expect to get before winter hits? There is one door and three windows on this wall. The east and west walls each have one window and the north will have two windows and a double door.


Sunday, October 26, 2014

Wind, Wind, Stay Away

The east and west walls are up and braced waiting for the end walls to be built and erected. Until everything is in place and sheeted, we are seriously hoping the winds stay calm or at least calmer.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Poor Bob






About a month ago Bob came to visit and whenever Bob comes to visit, we put him to work.  This time he had the pleasure (?) of shoveling dirt around inside the shop to level the floor and, shoveling more dirt on top of the septic mound in the hopes that it won't freeze this winter. But the biggest job, by far, was installing the overhead door with Jim. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Our Little Bunker

We are hoping to get more done on the shop this year but, if nothing else can get done, it's at least closed in for the winter.  Jim finished putting the main floor down and has sheeted the sides.  One of our neighbours, while getting left over clay for his yard, placed some extra inside the basement so that the floor can be leveled and readied for cement next spring.




Yes that's Jim playing in the little backhoe.  The pond managed to get filled in during the excavation process so he is trying to re-dig it and and, at the same time, make it deeper...looks like it might take a while.


Tuesday, September 2, 2014

We Are Floored...Well, Nearly

It took about a week (and all done after work) but the floor joists are all in.

This weekend, Jim was able to start putting the floor down

Sunday, August 24, 2014

We're Beaming!


The basement walls are up and partially sheeted to give them a little strength, in case the wind gets up.

The main beam has been set and we are now ready to put in the floor joists.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Plugging Away...A Little Reluctantly...But Plugging

 Yesterday, through all the heat and humidity, Jim put the gasket seal and rim board on top of the cement wall, in preparation for the basement wall construction to begin. Today, although a little cooler, was still very humid but he toughed it out and started constructing the outer walls. For the record, I was not only supervising construction but was also mowing.

We have quite a lot of clay left over from the excavation stage and, luckily, a couple of neighbours require fill.  We are hoping that by the time they have enough, we will have little or none to deal with.


Monday, July 7, 2014

Mudslide at the Shop

Our next door neighbour, Mike, very kindly spent 2 days back filling the shop. He started on Friday and then that night we had a thunderstorm which nicely packed down all the fill he had moved.  Saturday he was back at it and we had another thunderstorm that night, as well, which not only packed down the fill but flooded the shop basement with mud...nothing a shovel won't fix.  We have spent a lot of this summer either vacationing or cutting grass so work on the shop has suffered but the floor package has been ordered. When it arrives, the yard work and vacationing will have to slow down.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

The Sunroom is Finished and...

...the shop is underway, again.
 All the ducting, that allows us to direct the heat generated in the sunroom throughout the house, is in place and disguised behind this new wall. Note the nifty, outdoor, vent louvre that Jim painted the same colour as the wall. It covers the hot air return vents and a vent that goes directly into the loft. The sunroom is now finished...whew!

The weather has finally decided to co-operate and Jim has been able to get the foundation tarred. The washed rock has been delivered so next up is laying the weeping tile, covering it with the rock and calling for an inspection.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Ian and Coreens Wedding

The Wapiti Room at the Bufalo Mountain Lodge in Banff was the venue for Ian and Coreens wedding. March 29 dawned with a new carpet of light, fluffy snow but the sun decided to shine and it had all but disappeared by the 1 PM wedding time. The entire family, such as it is, were all tubbed and scrubbed and turned out in our best duds for the event...yes, even Jim shucked his coveralls. 

Ian, in his new suit, didn't show too many nerves as the final moments before the ceremony ticked away. And Coreen was calm and lovely.
There was an excellent dinner followed by speeches.  Jim, nervous though he was, did a great job. There were exactly the right number of people celebrating this event to make the dance fun.  We knew most of the people, met a few more and had a blast. Hopefully, we will be able to access more pictures when we get to see what the photographer took.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

The Continuing Saga of the Basement

As Jim acquired cabinetry from a Totem/Rona sale, we did not require a vanity for storage and decided to try out a pedestal sink in the basement bathroom.  This has allowed this very spacious room to feel even bigger.

We installed the same all-in-one type of tub as is in the main bathroom upstairs. Jim took a towel tower (from the same Totem/Rona sale) and built it in before he drywalled. There is tons of storage now.

Finally, our bedroom in the basement which is directly under the sunroom.  At 14'x15', it's huge. After much discussion, we decided not to put a closet in this room as there is plenty of room to add an armoire. Instead, we thought it would be a good room to double as an exercise room...or, lets be honest...storage for the equipment that I dust, occasionally.  Plus, we have a Murphy bed that folds nicely out of the way.

The rooms are nearly done...just waiting for the suspended ceilings to be installed.  These rooms have extra ducting because of the Venmar so the ceilings will be dropped down to 8' from their original 9' to accommodate it.