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As I’m sure all renovations go, we’re way behind schedule. Christmas has come and gone and it feels like we’ve gotten nothing done. I have to keep reminding myself that since the last post we’ve insulated and drywalled our East wall, completed the mudding and taping, assembled a few cabinets, and gotten a couple electrical tasks taken care of. All that amidst a flurry of unanticipated business for Chris, and we aren’t doing too badly.
The tricky part about all this is just that in the demolition phase, we ended up with crazy jagged cracks and seams to patch up. We’re lucky that our neighbour (an experienced taper) showed us how to deal with it. Still, it puts further delays on the actual construction phase and can be a little discouraging.
All 209 pieces of our cabinetry arrived this Friday. They are patiently awaiting installation from their current location in the dining room and office. On the bright side, if we physically can’t fit into the office to work, we’ll be forced to get ahead on the kitchen. The escape clause of course being that both Chris and I are lucky enough to have laptops
The cabinet finish is gorgeous. A bit darker than what Chris remembers, but I think the tone is going to be honey warm, and a gazillion times better than what we had.
I don’t know what it was about the previous owners of this house, but everything about it was all about WHITE! From the exterior wood siding, to the walls inside, the cabinets, the appliances, not to mention even the anemonies and yarrow in the garden. Then our first car after moving in was this retro-funky white ford station wagon - tinted windows and all. We called it the ‘BFG’.
Now we have the hole cut in the east wall for the recycling chute, the roxul recycled insulation packed between the studs, and most of the vapour barrier up. And Chris is going to skip bowling tonight so we can put the drywall up. For now, it’s clutter time.
It’s minus 34 tonight and the generator just quit. Why did we say no to Hydro?
Anastasia Ledwon
Re-posted with author’s permission
Originally Published by TheTyee.ca
A friend who visited recently calls. “My roommate’s got all the lights on,” she complains over the phone, “and I keep thinking I should be turning off power bars.” I have to laugh; after spending 10 days with me in my off-the-grid house in northern B.C., my friend has become adept at tracking down phantom loads and power drains. Not exactly a big concern in her Vancouver condo with its cost-shared Hydro, but I do what I can to encourage people to conserve.
Not that I set out to be a champion of rugged self-sufficiency. Hydro made it almost a no-brainer. When my ex-partner and I first bought this house, it was wired for 110V and the previous owners had run a large diesel generator for power during waking hours. Deciding this was noisier and more polluting than we’d like, we looked into alternative power sources and compared them with putting in Hydro. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s a clip of our progress from today, though it felt way more like destruction than progress. I was left wondering if we were ruining our house rather than fixing it up! Check out the new crater in our ceiling…
Time for an update on the house! “Step Five - Stucco” has been started but put on hold! We got caught by the cold and snowy weather and the fact that we were relying on hoses run from my sister-in-laws house for water to make the stucco and only managed to get two walls covered with the discovery coat. We tarped the exterior as well as we could and are going to concentrate on interior work for the time being.
Speaking of interior work, here is what we have gotten done since the last update on stucco. We bought and installed a second hand wood stove (yay heat!). The stove is a Lakewood “Unicorn” model that was produced in New Brunswick. It’s called the “unicorn” model because the cast iron doors on the front of it have unicorns cast into it. It’s a catalytic stove and there is next to no info on it on the web. We are learning it’s quirks and are grateful for the amount of heat it gives of and the blower that came with it that circulates the heat nicely. Read the rest of this entry »
Brett gave us the sombre news just after he finished most of the plumbing work. Our Water Heater has reached the end of its useful life. Don’t you just love how I capitalized ‘water heater’ as though it were an old reliable friend, and not a hunk of inefficient metal?
So, now the cost of our dream kitchen renovation is spiraling ever upward. I know it’s an upgrade aside from the kitchen, but it’s all at once, and a tad overwhelming. Now comes the question of an on-demand water heater or a high efficiency storage water tank. Any insights? I’d like to install a solar water heating system in the future, so whatever we choose needs to be compatible with that upgrade.
On another note, our cabinets will be delivered on Friday, with appliances on the way on Tuesday. Things are really rolling now - I just hope we have time this week to take care of some other jobs (ceiling, recycling chute, paint, knobs….etc). Then again, it’s already Wednesday.
Here are some recent photos of our East wall and reclaimed window installation:
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In one evening and an afternoon our dining room and kitchen have been made one. That’s right, we tore out the wall in between them and my wrist muscles are feeling it. We were so on a roll last night that we chipped almost all the plaster off the east wall with the window in it as well (we’re insulating that wall since we have to hack it apart to replace the window regardless).
In the spirit of being good neighbours, we rented a bin (sheesh those things are pricey!) to throw all the unsalvageable bits and pieces. I really wanted to save our lower cabinets to build the box for the recycling chute, but alas the wood twisted and split too much when we wrenched it from the wall.
All is not lost though, as we saved some monster studs from the wall we removed. And there’s about 8 good lengths of it! I’ll be reusing most of the cabinet doors for other projects to boot (as shelves in closets and storage areas). In general though, Chris and I are feeling really great about our recent work. The room has just opened up and there is so much natural light that makes the space glow. It’s really great to see.
Here are some shots of the past two days progress.
So it was 7:30 am and there was a strange call from an urgent-sounding man who said he was calling from ‘Highway 13′ and needed to speak to Chris. Seeing as it was the first few words I’d spoken that day, I took his number and hung up. But Chris had no idea what this was regarding either. Then, the guy calls again saying that he had to arrange delivery of an order of cookstoves.
Not long after I told him he had the wrong number did I realize that it was our wall oven he was referring to! That was a day ago. That shiny hunk of metal is now in our front entry way waiting for it’s new life. I unpacked and hauled the beast in with the help of the delivery fella. He sure had a strange ring tone, that guy. That was an hour ago.
Now, my cousin Brett has returned to complete phase II of our plumbing job. He’s doing a great job, I just didn’t realize how much wall patching etc would have to be done. See, our water pressure has been the pitts, and Chris arranged for us to get this new manifold with larger pex pipe and everything. After Brett sealed off water flow to the kitchen, he showed us the nasty buildup that was in our pipes, and I’m glad we’re doing it. It’s not something you like to see - the ugly origins of your drinking water!
These days nearly every web site dedicated to sustainable living has a green gifts guide. We’ve gathered the best of what we’ve seen including green gift ideas, eco-wrapping alternatives, and even planet-friendly decorating tips.
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Time for an update on the house! “Step Five - Stucco” has been started but put on hold! We got caught by the cold and snowy weather and the fact that we were relying on hoses run from my sister-in-laws house for water to make the stucco and only managed to get two walls covered with the discovery coat. We tarped the exterior as well as we could and are going to concentrate on interior work for the time being.
