It's raining....Nope, we're pouring.

Week of January 14, 2013

Marc and Huguette are ready to pour the footings and the cistern floor! The Regional District of Nanaimo and the engineer have given their approval, it's all systems go, and the concrete arrives on the 8:30 ferry Wednesday morning.

The photos show the forms and the steel for this stage of the foundation. The strip footings, on which the foundation walls sit, have two pieces of re-bar that run horizontally and some vertical pieces that support the horizontal steel in the walls.

The vertical steel is drilled into the bedrock and grouted in with expanding grout.
In the cistern, you can see the 1’ x 1’ grid of 1/2” rebar. It is bent to follow (as closely as possible) the contour of the ground and the rock. The idea is to have the rebar 3” from the ground.  The brick you see in some photos keeps the steel above the ground the proper distance during the pour.

In the last photo, you'll see a white strip of material all the way around the cistern. This is the water-stop, a membrane that assures the water-tightness of the floor/wall joint. The cistern floor will come to the center of the strip and the top 3” will be cast in the walls. The water-stop is wired to the vertical rebar to prevent it from moving during the floor pour and bending during the wall pour.

What you don't see in the photos is Huguette practicing her acrobatic skills. Marc was not well. so without his weight to help, H bounced up and down on the rebar to make sure it followed the shape of the floor as closely as possible.

Attention, water lovers - a happy surprise.

January 11, 2013

After a lot of heavy lifting and rock breaking, it's no wonder M & H felt like prisoners doing hard-time. Their work will be much-appreciated when we take a bath or wash clothes without worrying about water! So worth it considering how much the removal of the rock increased the volume of the cistern (easy for me to say as I was warm and dry in Vancouver). We had estimated about 13,000 gallon capacity for the cistern - thanks to their ingenuity and sweat, we think we may be well over that amount. Talk about a happy surprise!

As you can see, Marc and Huguette have also placed the forms for the footings and the edge of the cistern floor.  After that, the steel grid in the cistern floor will be installed and then they will finish placing the re-bar for the footings.

Where was I? We interrupt this building to bring you a post on flooring.

While I've been enjoying summer holidays, H & M have been working - hard!
More about that later.....

While we're not anywhere near ready for flooring, a professional I trust, Carrie McCarthy, (check out her beautiful work at http://mccarthyhinder.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html) advises picking flooring (a major element) before you pick other interior finishings/paint. There will probably only be 2 types of flooring in the house; mostly wood and a hard-surface finishing for entryway/bathrooms, etc.

So, I spent time this summer peering at small samples of wood (and maybe pestering Todd and friends a few too many times), pondering and re-pondering various wood choices...

We (Well, let's be honest, "I") want a Scandi-modern look; Todd just wants something that functions well and looks good. So my first pick was wide-plank white oak; something like Carrie used in this modern townhouse "Blanc".

It turns out that white oak is very expensive because it's quartersawn (more labour/more technology), so I don't think it's a realistic option. 

Hmmm....how about hickory? We liked a sample we picked up from Green Works in Vancouver. When we investigated further, we discovered the small sample was misleading; there's a reason they call hickory the "calico wood". 

Beautiful floor, and not the look we want. 

Bamboo? Still a possibility. As you research bamboo, you find that you really get what you pay for. While it's entirely possible to buy bamboo flooring for less than $3.00/square foot, buyer beware. Bamboo is produced in China; less reputable manufacturers don't dry it properly so it buckles and warps after being laid. They also use urea formeldahyde...not exactly what we want to be breathing along with those fresh ocean breezes. There are some reliable manufacturers, and I'm still not convinced that I like the uniformity of it (hickory too much; bamboo not enough variety?).  Yes, I'm picky...but as the old song goes...it's my party... 

What about going darker? Walnut or acacia? I'm a fan of high contrast; Todd prefers something lighter. 

So, finally, what about Douglas Fir? It doesn't get much more "West Coast" than fir. 

And is there a way to use lye/wax to "Scandinavianize it" at a reasonable cost for product/labour? Look at these beautiful Dinesen floors - the company has been producing gorgeous Douglas fir floors in Denmark since 1898. 

I'm simply "floored" by the choices (groan here). And in the end, I know we'll pick something that we'll love at a price that doesn't blow the budget. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the research and learning a lot about flooring.  

Back on the Chain Gang

January 5, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK3uf5V0pDA

As "luck" would have it, a rock runs through it - and just where we want to put the cistern. We  can't leave it as that negatively affects the amount of water (think future baths) we'll be able to store. Our comfort and yours is at stake. Dynamite and jack-hammering are expensive - but M & H have a new trick up their sleeves.  

After a bit of research, they decided to try a new (to them) method of removing some of the big rocks limiting the volume of the cistern. They rented a rock drill and bits and purchased a product called Ecobust (EcoBust.ca). The very cool idea is to drill 1.5” holes in the rock and pour in the product; as the EcoBust sets, it expands with a force of 20,000 PSI and cracks (we hope) the rock into manageable pieces.

They started drilling Saturday afternoon, hoping to remove a few parts of the offending - I mean protruding- rock in the cistern area and trim and slope another. As you can see from the pictures, the biggest rock runs along the west edge of the cistern. It is much too large and too hard  to remove it all, so the plan is to "carve it" to increase the volume of the cistern and facilitate the pour of the floor and the forming of the cistern wall. 

H did most of the drilling on Saturday, and they were able to fill a few holes with EcoBust before it got dark. By Sunday morning, there were already signs of cracking. Apparently, EcoBust needs 24-48 hours to work its full magic, so the early cracks were pretty encouraging.

Look Ma - no more rock! By Tuesday, the rock had cracked and they were able to use the jack-hammer to finish the clean-up. 

Crudely put, that's "FM"! Too bad Chrissy's chain gang didn't have access to this stuff.

Still, busting rocks is not for sissies - glad that M&H celebrated in Nanaimo with a burger and a film! 

In the beginning, there was a hole.

Hey - what happened to Strong? 

December 16, 2012 

In the beginning, there was a hole - to be precise, a hole to throw money in.  

M & H took delivery of the first batch of materials and got the tool tent set up (this makes their commute even shorter and allows room on the property for future deliveries). 

Next step - string out lines for the walls. These show the position of the house in relation to the property lines and the rocks (ah yes, the rocks - more about those in another post).  Turns out they needed to inch the house over a little to maximize the cistern volume and avoid a big boulder (well, at least that's what we thought). 

They also scraped the entire bottom of the hole to remove all organic material and any loose rubble. Remember that other than help from Bob and his big machine, it's just the two of them. Very impressive.  

Powering Up!

12-12-12 Let there be light (well, at least power). Here's Bob setting the service pole. 

Magician 2

Et voila - Marc! We tease them that their names "Marc et Huguette" sound like the hosts of a cheesy French sitcom. 

However, these two are no joke. But why call them magicians? (Todd tells me that while performing amazing feats, magicians can be sneaky and not to be trusted - perhaps just a juggler's bias, although I think he's probably in a pretty good position to judge). Clearly not the best analogy here (because Marc and Huguette are firmly among the most trustworthy people we know). 

What else do you call two people, who through inspiration and a lot (really a lot) of perspiration, turn piles of building materials - sticks, stones and the occasional tile and sink - into beautiful homes?