Second Floor

and then the angels from b.c. came to town.
Kathyrn, Kurt, Lily and Ezra descended and whooped our butts and house into shape. We can't wait to spend more time with them when they move to Erin

Kurt helped us get the first floor kinks worked out and then pretty much rocked out for 5 days straight without leaving the property. The second floor floor joists went up lickety split thanks to many coffees a day on the trusted faema

We had the best week of summer while they were visiting which was soooooooooooo amazing

Really it was Kathryn who did all the real work


and then there were walls on the second floor too!

First floor madness

Chris and my dad moved the oil tank while it was still half full in the basement, this was a very nerve racking moment as the floor boards groaned with the weight of it. After all the gravel and weeping tile was around the outdoor perimeter, we trenched it away from the house for future rainstorms. (and a nice picture of all the layers of outside work on the foundation)

The theater we live in.. .
Putting up a wall Mono style

some photos of walls going up, the satisfaction cannot be overstated

at this point, we officially have an inside and an outside! Chris is on the ladder where the future staircase will be

the first picture is looking out the kitchen window, the second one is the living room window looking into the spruce and the provincial park

and that's the first floor done.

finishing the foundation

we had to paint the entire exterior of the foundation with this horrible tar stuff, then we used drain board/roxul insulation to wick the water away when it comes into contact with the foundation.

Dad helped rebury the well pump lines that we redirected through the house rather than outside as they had been before

once all the insulation/drainboard was on, we covered the top 3' with galvanized mesh to hold on the cement parge. We had lots of onlookers and helpers to keep this phase moving along and always at the end of it, Kristine had a beautiful, delicious meal for us

when all this was done, we had a gravel truck come in and pour huge amounts of gravel around the perimeter, he was only able to access 2 sides of the house, so dad and I huffed all the gravel for the other 2 sides with a creaky old wheel barrow the dump manager gave us.

then the building inspector came again and gave us the next check mark and the go ahead to back fill

shanty towns base camp

finished base camp, the office

our lovely flushing outhouse, plumbed in directly to the septic
the outdoor shower, with hot water of course


the skunk proof kitchen overlooking the wild apple tree

First lumber delivery

This was definitely the largest lumber order I'd ever placed.
and then it rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained
our neighbors lent us their trailer for our overnight friends and guests, we have the BEST neighbors in the world

Ground floor platform

with the exceptional help of Hamish, quick work was made of the ground floor platform, finally working with wood, everything started to go faster and smoother

our "new" basement turned out to be much larger than we thought, enough room for a man cave and a few jars of preserves