Dec.2009 status

Well winter arrived a couple weeks ago and has decided to stay for the season. Luckily we got the last of the roofing on before we were hit with a 20cm snow storm. We also got all the house wrap on as well so so the project is pretty weather tight. The windows and doors are ready and will be installed in a couple weeks. I'm really looking forward to seeing the windows in as the character of the house will really come to life then.

I've got a little over a week off for the hollidays and will be spending it on the house. Looks like the temperatures are going to warm up for some of that time which will make things a little nicer.

Ok, on with the pics.

View from the kitchen/dining area east to the hall. The stairs to the second floor will be to the right and the short, dark grey concrete wall will contain the interior garden.

Those large openings will be windows and patio doors. The center will be the fireplace. Natural light should no be a problem in this room!

Here's a shot from the lane showing the house on the right and the shop on the right.

Inside shot of the shop/garage showing the door and a couple windows. It's going to be a cool place to build airplanes.

Time to update this thing...................

Progress is a little slow but I'm not panicking yet. As you can see below, the foundation is in, and we have all the insulation on. I just had to leave my mark in the foundation where the fireplace will be. Looks like we'll have the floors poured within a couple weeks. I'm taking a month off work then so we can get it all framed in.

Best laid plans of mice.....................

So while excavating for the house footings we hit a huge rock that had to be removed. This left a large whole that needed to be filled before we could have the footings poured. Dad and I spent 8hrs shovelling, wheelbarrowing and compacting gravel. I was bagged by the end of the day but the spot is now rock solid and it passed inspection of both the city and the geotechnical engineer.

Here's a few shots of the house excavation. You can see we got a little closer to the water table than I wanted but it won't matter since I'm not having a basement or crawlspace. This will all be filled with gravel.

Here's some shots of us filling that hole or "the pit of doom" as I like to call it. This spot is rock solid now. I've decided to add re-bar to both the footings and foundation walls as it's not much extra money but will add a great deal of strength to the foundation. It should outlive me by a long shot!

Ground has been broken.

Great progress has been made so far!

Here is a photo of the lot with the house and garage stakes in place. This was taken just before the excavator started his work. The excavating took place on July 4, 2009 and was all done in one day.



Here is a stump being pulled up. The operator shook the root balls to remove most of the soil and then pilled up the stumps for me to deal with. I'm not sure that to do with them yet but the should be nice and dry for a new year's bonfire!



Next, the top soil was removed and then they changed to a 6ft wide bucket. Here's Wayne the master shovel operator changing over the bucket.



The top was leveled and then trenches for the footings were dug. I used a laser level to keep the depth consistent. This will be my garage/workshop!

Full Steam Ahead!

I picked up the building permit for the house yesterday and the city just called to say the garage permit is now ready so I'll pick it up tomorrow!

Things are really going to start moving now!!!!!

Come on city office!!!!

Well, I'm still waiting for the permit. I heard back from the building code reviewer and he's all finished up so I just need to wait for it to get through admin. I was hoping to have the permit last week but no luck. Maybe this week????

The site is all ready for the next stage. I have lined up the surveyors to come out and stake out the house and garage. They should be able to get it done this week. Then I can have the excavating done. After the excavation is done the surveyor will come back and spike the corners so the form guys will know where to build. I need to get an engineering inspection once the footing forms are in place but before the concrete is poured. This is probably the trickiest timing part of the project.

I'll try calling the city today to see where my permit stands but it's almost impossible to get a straight answer from them.

A Little Closer

Been a while since I've updated the blog but here's the status. I submitted my application on May 13 and received a list about a week later with 13 items that needed clarification or changes. I have about half of these items corrected and the engineer is working on the rest. I'm hoping to have the papers from him this week so I can get the changes back to the city.

This whole process is very trying for me as I really hate authority telling me what I can or cannot do. I really think there are way too many rules in this country/world.

We have been working on the lot preparing for the imminent excavating and foundation work. I hired a guy to come in and pull out a bunch of poplar trees. I was quite surprised when I saw the pile by the side of the road. They had to get a logging truck to remove them all.

There are all kinds of neat things out at my place. I've got a patch of Trilliums, there are marsh marigolds across the road from my (yellow flowers below).

This orange fungi is growing on an old stump where my driveway will be. I thought they were pretty neat looking.

I don't know what this is but Mom thought it warranted a photo.

So we've been burning the brush with a "campfire" and have a lot of it burnt. There is a large pile in the back that will be burnt this winter when I can have a "brush fire."

We had a little visitor one day. Mom and dad were out burning on a Friday and this little puppy wandered up to dad. They checked with the neighbors who in turn asked up and down the road and no one knew who she belonged to. Poor dad was all set to adopt her but I found the owners after stopping a farmer driving his tractor down the road. My phone call to the owners sure made a 12 year old girl very happy. She was even happier when mom and I returned "lulu"
to her. I guess dad will have to find his own puppy.

She sure did like dad and followed him everywhere.

Well, that's it for now. I just had a call from my engineer and I'm going to see him this afternoon to sort out the city's request.

Holding pattern continues.................

Well, I'm only waiting on the roof and floor layout/engineering. Once I have those I can apply for my building permit. It's getting so hard to wait but should be soon.

The house exterior is going to change a little. I was pricing out the cedar siding and after discovering that I would need to re-finish it every 5 years I've decided to not use it. The stuff is very expensive and I want a low maintenance exterior so I can spend my time playing and not maintaining. My architect, Andrew is looking into options and has come up with some cool options.

I was also feeling that the cedar siding was too "normal" and cottagy which is not what I'm looking for.

Ciao!

Still waiting............

Not much to report. I'm waiting on the heating calculations and design along with the roof truss report. I'm hoping to get these this week so we can apply for permit soon.

I did stake out the house and shop last weekend and am going to mark all the trees I need removed and then see about getting someone in to get rid of them. We (me, mom and dad) cleared a lot of trees last summer and it's a ton of work. I'm not interested in doing that again. I'm slowly learning to pick my battles.

Today, I picked up my 911 sign from the city office off Gladstone. Now I just have to find the paper that says where to place it. There are specifications for how high it has to be and how close to the lot line it must be.

Friggin rules for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

Paperwork.................

So I have the report from the geotechnical engineer and everything seems fine. I've forwarded the report to the structural engineer and architect. I'm waiting for the septic guy to get the septic permit and also waiting on the grading plan.

I've been having a hell of a time finding anyone to design my heating system. One, local company said they could do it no problem but have not responded to emails and I can't get a hold of them on the phone. If this is the way they treat a potential customer I would hate to see how they treat me after I've given them some money! I've got a few calls out but nothing so far. Can't get a building permit without a heating plan so this could hold me up some.

I have the drawings sent out to a couple roof and floor truss suppliers for quotes. I need to have an engineering report from the joist supplier to apply for a building permit as well.

On a more fun note, I'm flying down to Toronto on Friday morning so I can go to a lighting store with my architect. This store carries a lot of LED http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED lighting fixtures which I'm planning to use. LED's use less energy than floucescents and don't contain toxic mercury like flourescents. They cost a lot more but last for 15+ years so they are cost effective over the long run. I refuse to put any flourescent lights in my house. We might also go check out a tile store to select the tiles for my bathroom and shower stall.

I'll be coming home on Sunday so I can have a good visit with my sister and niece as well as an old buddy from HS who lives a few block from my sis.

That's all for now!

Digging into the past!

Well today was fun!

Had the geotechnical engineer out to dig a couple test holes. This was needed to evaluate the bearing strength of the soil.

It was a little amusing as the backhoe driver got stuck and almost flipped over! They had to get another operator (with way more skill) to come and get it out and finish the job. This guy was much better than the first guy.

They dug two holes 3m deep, one in the front of the lot and one behind where the house will be. I scored a few big rocks from the front hole which I'll use for something.

The back hole was really cool as they hit a layer about 2.8m deep loaded with tiny shells. These are from when the area was submerged in the Champlain Sea. That means they have to be at least 8,000 yrs old. I tried to collect a few bits of shell but they were really decomposed and just crumbled when I picked them out of the mud. This layer had a lot of water running through it but it should not be a problem as it's about 2m deeper than my footings will be.


It's hard to see but the little white specs in the photo below are the shells.


I should have the engineering report within a couple weeks at which time we should be ready to submit the plans.

I also stopped off at the city desk and ordered a 911 sign for my lot. At least contractors will be able to find my lot when I get that up.

Process begins!

Welcome to my house building adventure!

After many years of trying to design a house myself and a few false starts, things are finally on the go. I am very happy I hired an architect ( http://www.linebox.ca/ ) to create this amazing design.

The house is a fairly simple in layout with open living and makes good use of a small space. I'm building the smallest house that the city will let me. I would much rather have a smaller house of higher quality than one of those overgrown houses all the developers are building.

Some feature of this house are hydronic radiant heating with polished concrete floors on the main level. I'll be using a double stud wall to get at least R45 insulating values (normal house is R18-23). These features will greatly reduce the amount of heating energy I will use. We have also positioned the south facing windows to keep the hot sun out in the summer and let it in in the winter. This will help to keep the house cool in the summer and warm in winter. I have some other ideas to aid in heating but they will be down the road.

Progress last week:

- Had the guy doing the grading plan come out to the lot and start working on the drawing.