Rainscreen II

As we work towards getting the house locked up and the insulation installed, one of the jobs is to apply the tar paper and the pressure treated strips over the wall studs. When the siding is installed (eventually) it will be fastened to the strips which allows air flow between the siding and the sheathing. Of course the easy part is now done and I'm madly gathering scaffolding bits to rig up the necessary structures for the second storey.

Fun with Concrete II

Our second project to make use of the minimum-amount concrete delivery was to try a prototype of the curbs which will be used to cap our rock column supports and walls. We constructed the re-usable form from smooth faced plywood, all screwed and clamped together. The experiment worked well, but next time we'll vibrate the concrete to eliminate the pock marks and maybe include some fiber reinforcement to provide a bit of strength when moving the completed (very heavy) curbs from the mold to the wall tops.

Fun with Concrete I

A couple of concrete based projects have occupied our weekend. One is a pad for the soon to be delivered hot tub (someone's 50th birthday present!) The site was selected to be fairly close to the house but with good star-viewing possibilities through the overhanging cedar boughs.

Door Hanging

Over the past few weeks we've been milling, assembling and pre-finishing all of the exterior door jamb for the house. The jambs are now all installed and Karen has begun using her series of jigs to fit and hang the doors as well as set all of the handles and locks.

The Big Suck

In order to get the workshop fully up and running for trimming out the house, we've focussed the last week on hooking up the dust collector we brought from our Victoria shop.  By using all metal ducting we've managed to get a much better pull than we had on the old system.

Other work has also involved ventilation, but in the house.  All of the "boring" jobs of getting holes in the walls for the dryer, kitchen fan, 2 bathroom fans and heat recovery ventilator.

Shop Walls Finished

Our big focus since we've moved out of the RV and are comfortably situated in an actual building, has been to finish the workshop.  We've now worked for a couple of weeks to complete the walls with plywood above the 5' level and spruce/pine 1" x 6" below.

Movin' on Up

This past weekend has seen us finally move out of the RV and into our temporary quarters. Our bedroom/living room is in the eventual office, the kitchen in the garage and a shower in the finishing room (Previously shown on the "Plumbing Improvements posting).  Our storage container has also headed down the road with everything it once held now placed in various locations in the shop, garage and our old cabin.