Plumbing

So now Chris is busy working on the plumbing.
He's just finished all the vent/drain lines and they look very pro, almost makes me want to leave the walls exposed.




almost...

we had the drywall delivered and the driver picked up all the extra unused insulation, all 64 bags of it. Because we had so much extra insulation delivered, the drywall for the whole house ended up costing us less than $300
The drywall was craned in for the second floor through an upstairs window, it's the little things in life I find exciting now


so now it's just patiently sitting here while we finish up the plumbing and all the loose ends I've been working on, like last minute framing for the drywaller, installing vents and the phone/internet lines. More wiring so I probably won't be photographing that very much

Insulation

We put on our insulation proof gear and started packing the walls with all the Roxul, a really nice product to work with compared to the pink stuff.
It cuts easier, has less airborn particles, is made locally and from mostly recycled material.
It didn't take too long to get this in and then the next job was making sure the vapour barrier sealed it all in permanently.


A lot of stapling up plastic, taping the seams and using stinky and sticky black accoustic sealant which gets everywhere and makes such a mess. we tried hard but could not find an environmentally sound alternative that has a good reputation.

all the electrical outlets and sockets also had to be really well sealed so no puffs of air or insulation could escape.


In the middle of this we had an amazing visit from my cousins Glenn and Paul who on a saturday helped us rough in the second floor hot air ducts. They are so proficient and fast and it took them one day what would probably have taken us over a week. It's also always exciting to see someone do construction in a house with a chain saw.

chris started work on the ducting for the bathroom fans, all the little, never ending things, so he could eventually move on to plumbing

winter

.
it was a loooooooooooooooooooooooong, cooooooooooooooooooooooooold winter.
I didn't feel much like taking photos or doing much of anything,
but, we kept working and trying hard to stay warm.
we did go for a few nice walks and the last snow storm was so deep we needed snow shoes even on the trails in the park


the next large job was electrical. this took such a long time and got to be really boring.
There aren't many photos because it's really not that exciting to look at a bunch of wires


We passed the electrical inspection without having to make any changes, such a huge relief to have this part done, I actually was looking forward to working with insulation, anything other than more wiring.

Our regular building supplier was away when we ordered the insulation and the new guy ordered SLIGHTLY too much, but at least we had it at the house and the thoughts or warmth were, well, heart warming

Heat

Dad helped us take down the old bunky and Rachel's dad helped us take down an old fence so we could make a wood shed for the incoming wood stove.
Chris got up on the roof with the last window of good weather and secured the chimney and stove boot.

we got our first load of firewood delivered, 3 bushcords for this winter and some of next.

Rachel, Doron, Fraser and the kids came up to help build the shed and stack the wood

The stove was delivered and certified from the amazing folks at 'Hearth and Leisure wood stoves' and we're now finally in the heat.

Simple little things like defrosting are sooooooo much easier now

windows

the house got all wrapped up with it;s own house k-way and right before the windows arrived, we cut the holes and put on some peel and stick flashing.

this was kind of finicky and almost too cold for it to stick, the windows were super behind schedule but they finally arrived late one friday night and our neighbors helped us unload them off the truck. With Hamish's help, we got them in and Chris started the long finger-numbing work of leveling and flashing.


and now the wind only kind of whistles through!