Farewell Cow Pasture

Last May, we sold our home out in the country and started the move into town. Although it was time, it was hard to say good-bye to our wonderful neighbours and our lovely surroundings.

 

You would think that we would be satisfied with an existing home or condo...OH NO...NOT US! We decided that we had to build a new home in town. Clearly we did not learn from our previous experience. So off to the Farrell Finale we go!

How time flies

Wind Turbine

The shop project has continued with many steps being missed in the blog.
We are now Dec 2017 and the lower level of the shop has received interior walls to hold insulation, poly and drywall on most of it. The electrical has been added and it has its own sub- panel installed, so that if something blows you do not have to head up the outside stairs to remedy it. The plan was to try and have the shop heating system be as efficient as possible. So Jim made some home made thermal solar panels, which feed into an electric hot water heater which is the centre core of the heating system.  The pumps that circulate the hot water around are 12 volt and are fed from a 12 volt deep cycle battery. It receives its charge from 2 - 100 watt PV panels mounted on the shop upper deck. The lower heating element of the hot water heater has been replaced with a 48 volt DC element. Which is wired into the wind turbine.(seen in photo) As we are located on a hill and get some wind in the winter Jim felt it would assist in lowering the heating costs of the shop. It sure has all the neighbors talking, ie is it as space portal?


The ceiling/floor heating pipes was more work than expected had a few labor intense steps. Drilling and adding the pex pipe in the cold of winter, not an easy task. Then adding heat transfer plates to increase transfer of heat in a floor. Then below that a tin foil layer to reflex extra heat back up to the floor. Finishing with a layer of insulation to force the heat up to the upper floor.

Lots of pipes and wiring to control where the heat goes and when.

WE'RE FLOORED!!

Apres the electrical inspection, the trench for the electrical cable was filled in and waiting for grass seed.

With the help of Craig Sprout, Jim has put laminate flooring down on the upper level of the shop

It's Electrifying!!

 So... when we first built the house, we neglected to put a man door in the garage. Jim decided that, as he was working on connecting the house electricity to the shop, now would be a good time to remedy that. Cement will still have to be jack hammered out before the door is framed in. When done, we will be able to go in and out of this door rather than have the big garage doors always open.

 Electrical wires have been fed through the basement and garage to this point. It's worth noting that a 200 amp service was installed in the house to accommodate the shop when the house was first built.

 One of our very kind and generous neighbours lent Jim his small backhoe to dig the trench to the garage where the electrical cable will be buried.

The electrical box in the garage is awaiting more parts before the connections can be completed.

Why Are There No Songs Written About Strawberry Moons?

 The Summer Solstice and the full moon will only happen together again in 46 years. In honour of this event, Jim set up the tripod and attached the telephoto lens to the camera. The clouds held off long enough for these shots from our back deck. There is no filter on the camera. The moon was honestly pink.

So...You Know How We Were Suffering Through a Drought...

...well it started raining and has had a hard time trying to figure out how to stop.  This has Jim running between working on his tan doing yard work and keeping dry finishing the interior of the shop. Obviously from the picture, he finished the mudding and priming and now has the painting done.  The upper cupboards have been installed and now some major consideration has to be given to arranging the work benches, etc. BUT, luckily the sun has decided to shine so it's back outside to the yard.

 There is a significant drop off between the septic tanks and the house down into the back yard. In order to continue landscaping, 16" cement rings (complete with black, rubber gaskets) had to be added to the existing tanks to raise them up sufficiently to add enough soil around them to make the slope a little gentler.

By the way, the eaves trough on the shop has been installed. The rain has put the lines, that connect the eaves trough from the house to the pond, to the test and they have passed with flying colours and the pond is nearly full.

One Project On Hold While Another Gets Underway

The mudding has been finished and it's waiting for primer but, in the meantime, spring has come early. Jim has been working on a system of underground pipes that connect the eaves troughs to the pond. In case we get any rain this year.

The Inside Story

 Okay... so a little bit of stuff has happened in the shop since the floor was poured in the basement part 2 months ago. The basement remains the basement for the time being. The insulation has been purchased and is stored there but that's all. BUT...the main floor is coming along nicely.

The wiring rough-in is complete and the inspection passed. Insulation and poly is complete, as well as, the acoustic caulk.  Aside: did you know that waterless hand cleaner takes black acoustic caulk off of pretty, white stools that Kathleen is very attached to? Trust me when I tell you it's a life saver.

I have started installing OSB on the east and west walls that will be covered by drywall. This allows me to mount anything I want on the ample space provided by these two walls Because of the large windows on the south side, the solar gain plus a little space heater, allows me to work quite comfortably.

This Could Cement Our Relationship With Winter!

On Saturday17 September, as Jim was putzing along getting things ready for the cement to arrive on Monday, the phone rang and we were notified that the cement was on its way. Panic stations!! Luckily, Jim was nearly finished all the prep work..and thus...the floor in the shop has been poured.

At the same time, we had some extra cement added to the driveway as it had managed to subside quite a bit over the years.  By the 15th of November, we should be able to drive on all of it.  Woo Hoo!! Just in time for winter.

Sidewalks, Trees, InFloor Heating, Can It Get More Exciting?

 The basement floor of the shop is already for the concrete. With any luck we can get it poured within a couple of weeks. Once that is accomplished, the shop is ready for the winter.

 We bought a 6' Colorado Spruce from Canadian Tire and added it to our tree collection in the front yard. It's supposed to be very drought resistant...YAY!! Jim has been putting in a front sidewalk of interlocking brick which has turned out very nicely.

Dingo's Aren't Only In Australia

Now that the siding, soffit and fascia are completed, the next step is getting the floor poured in the basement of the shop. Soil has to be removed and then sand added before he can proceed so Jim went to Home Depot and rented a Toro "Dingo". It's a little skid steer which is perfect for this small space job.

A Siding We Will Go, A Siding We Will Go...

 Yep..It's siding time again.  To match the house, we are continuing to use Hardie Board.  Jim is very careful to follow the Canadian installation instructions (flashing behind the seams, caulking the corner seams) and uses the larger headed roofing nails to hold the siding tighter to the wall. This method has been very effective with the house, as we have nothing but praise for this product.

 This is the view from inside the shop looking toward the south-facing back.  The door takes you out on to the deck which is also the roof of the trailer storage area. The roof is an 8-12 pitch which has allowed for a 4-12 pitch ceiling and combined with the 9 foot walls, makes it very roomy.

And this is the interior of the shop facing the front (north-facing). The double doors allow material to come into this upper level which is intended to be for wood-working. The basement area is for machinery/vehicle storage. As Jim doesn't want any sawdust to migrate down, the access to the downstairs is from the outside. In floor heating will negate the necessity for furnace ducting.

The Backyard is Changing

 The backyard is getting some attention this year. Jim muscled some 6x6's into place to create a retaining wall for the back walk out. He used up the left over moisture barrier from the ICF basement walls to provide water-proofing for the wood.

We have also added a few new trees to the back. 4 Evans Cherry and 7 May Day's are praying for rain.  We water regularly but nothing is as effective as rain.

The hill between the house and the shop has been refined to accommodate the garage door into the shop. Jim is on the hunt for rocks to "Rip-Wrap" the bank and prevent it from returning to it's original state. Believe it or not, field rocks are hard to come by...especially when you want them for free.

Not Quite All Decked Out

So...it looks like a deck is being added to the shop.  It also looks like the proportions are just a little bit off. BUT, when all is finished this will be the trailer port...like a car port but instead it will house the travel trailer. If Jim wants to sit out and enjoy the surroundings, he may want to consider using the deck off the house as this "deck" will be covered in rolled roofing.

We Have Shingles!! No! No! Not the Disease...

Jim hired a roofing company to shingle the shop roof. The weather has been so nice that the work he had thought would have to wait until spring could go ahead early.

While the roofer was busy outside, Jim was busy putting up suspended ceiling in the basement. The bedroom and bathroom are now finished.

 

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...

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.

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.