Merry Christmas

Well - Santa was able to sneak in the house undetected yet again and this was with Christy taking the ladder down to raise the degree of difficulty! Things will be quiet on the Construction front for the next few days as we take time to reflect the Holiday Season and enjoy fellowship with family and friends.


Always trying to make the best of the situation, we have determined a new use for the plastic hoarding - it is an excellent back drop for all of our Christmas cards and images.

Merry Christmas to all and check back in the new year when we will hopefully be celebrating a roof over our heads and heat through the space!!

CBC News Follow-up

Yesterday started with a number of emails telling me that they had heard me on CBC Radio 1. The story was being played up as "Family's Renovation Nightmare". What was going on??? Another friend had called to say that she had seen Sarah and Joshua on a commercial playing Wii and Christy and I setting the dining room table all in our winter jackets. Then later Richard came into the office wondering what I said - the line he had heard on the radio was "City causes delays" (go to a previous post for details). I was going to have all of the City Inspectors really looking at things in great detail now. I honestly began to regret being interviewed - this wasn't the non story that I wanted to portray.

On the way home after work my phone rang and it was Michylo - the reporter. He needed confirmation of the spelling of my last name. During the conversation I told him that I was getting a few calls and emails about the story and how it was being played up on the radio - what was that about? He assured me that the story was more of a human interest puff piece. So it was with great trepidation that we sat down to watch the news last night. In the end it was a fun little segment. I don't think I have to worry about the City Inspectors or anything else.

To see the full story go to http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/news/. This takes you to the main news site, then look for the Watch News at Six title. Below that is a link to watch the latest news cast. This link will only be over the weekend until the Monday news is broadcast. The story will be on around the 18:00 minute mark. I will try and get a copy of the video to post here.

For anyone who has seen the piece - it really isn't that cold in the house. We have the blankets on the walls and space heaters in the cold zones but overall it is livable. The jackets were left on more for the story than anything else. I wish I could say that "TV really adds 10lbs" or "I was wearing my big jacket" but in watching the news - I really need to loose some weight!!

My cell phone did ring once right after the news. It was Mike Maciejko, a friend from way back. He had seen the piece and was concerened that we were really freezing in the house. He wanted to stop by and see what he could do to "stop the cold" for us. I think he was really suprised when he made it over - the house is comfortable. Instead we had a good visit. Thanks for the concern though Mike - I appreciate the friendship.

CBC News

Our friend Erin was having lunch with the anchor of the CBC Winnipeg 6:00pm newscast and they were talking about how everyone is doing the same stories regarding the "poor Canada Post Employee / Gas Meter Person / Construction Worker" having to work in the cold. Erin mentioned that she had friends who were renovating and we didn't have a roof on our house. This prompted a call from someone at CBC to see if there was a story and I sent them to the Blog. Apparently there was enough information as Christy, Sarah, Joshua and I were interviewed and gave a tour of the house. I am still trying to guess what the story is but there might be a segment on the 6:00 news tomorrow night. If there is I am sure there will be a link and I will post that here.

Walls are up!!

The last of the walls were built today - that was a feat in itself. The tall angled walls have really filled in the front corner and finished off the structure. The exterior sheathing will give the addition the additional "bulk" but the framework is there. The windows were delivered and we will be having the doors delivered tomorrow. All in all the shell should be completed in the next week.

This shot from the street looking South shows the angled wall and the openings for the two windows. To put the scale in perspective, the bottom of both windows are 7'-0" off the finished floor of the second floor and the top of the stairwell window is a further 5'-0" above that. The height of the stairwell will easily be 23'-0" from the dining room to the ceiling. Trust me there will not be a chandelier hung at all though that would look cool from outside. I just don't want to have to change that bulb!

This close up of the front corner shows the windows in greater detail.

Not surprisingly the amount of car traffic coming around this side of the bay has increased. Most people are probably wondering what the crazy people are doing building in December. Some cars are taking laps around or just stopping in front of the house to review things. I have given some tours to the curious when I happened to be out at the same time. I am sure that there are probably more curious people out there - hopefully this site will suffice for now. With the ADI group sign on the building now I probably should post a bit of a detail on our portfolio and have a link from the site to the Blog. It will be interesting to see if that drives traffic to the site!

Frozen Pipes...

It was inevetable. With -30 temperatures, high wind chill and an exposed part of the house you knew that something was going to give at some point.

I woke up this morning and for some reason I peaked outside the bedroom window. I noticed that the street was shiney just in front of our house and it looked like ice. My first thought was that there had been a water main break in front of our house (the last thing that we needed). As I looked back towards the house I noticed that our sump pump outlet had a small hole bored through the snow at the discharge point. I could actually see the reflection of water in the centre of the hole. These are not good signs.

As I started down the stairs I heard our washing machine beeping and running water. After 6 hours of sleep this is not a good sound. When I got to the base of the stairs the beeping of the washing machine wasn't the greatest of my issues, the 1/2" of water at the foot of the stairs was. Due to the cold weather and the extreme temperatures, the supply hose to the washing machine froze and cracked. It must have happened in the early morning hours - thankfully I am a somewhat early riser. Our main drain is in our Family room (or what we are refering to as our Living Room / Dining Room or main oasis from construction) so the water made it's way to there. I am so thankful that we tiled the floor! Nothing a shop vac and a bit of time wasn't able to fix.

I would hate to think as to what the damage would have been if we weren't here.

Weather Update

According to the Weather Network the next 48 hours is as follows;

Saturday afternoon - Light snow and temperatures of -21 degrees Celsius. There are predicted winds of up to 25km/h and the wind chill will make the temperature feel like -32 degrees Celsius.

Saturday evening - Drifting snow and temperatures are dropping to - 27 degrees Celsius. The winds are going to pick up and should be closer to 30km/h. The projected windchill temperature is -42 degrees Celsius.

Saturday overnight - Continued drifting snow and -28 degree Celsius. The winds will be picking up to 35km/h and a windchill of -44 degrees Celsius

Sunday morning - Again more drifting snow, -27 degree Celsius and 35km/h winds keeping the windchill temperature close to -43 degrees Celsius.

Sunday afternoon - Will see the temperature warm up to -24 degrees Celsius and light snow.

Overall they are predicting 5cm (2") of the white stuff to fall in the next 24 hours. Hopefully if it does fall it will add a layer of insulation on the second level floor deck or what is currently the roof of the main interior.

Yes we live in Winnipeg by choice. With weather like this one should sit in front of the fireplace, have slippers and warm blankets and drink hot chocolate. An addition... oh well think of the stories and the adventure (that is my story and I am sticking too it).

Second Level Bedrooms

The second level bedrooms are taking shape, especially now that there is the semblence of a roof above them. Even with all of the massing of the roof trusses they will still have the standard 8'-0" ceilinging height. The bathroom (from where the picture below was taken) will have a 10'-0" ceiling and a full window at the 7'-0" height.

The image below was taken from the first bedroom looking down the hall. The two other bedroom doors can be seen

Below Kyle Blaquiere our Structural Engineer inspects the building. It was with him (because of him) that we were able to design the uniqueness of the addition, especially the cantilevered floor deck and the angled wall and roof system.

Roof Trusses

Yesterday saw the installation of the roof trusses for the main structure of the house. The full mass of the "Jetson Wing" (as Christy calls it) can be seen below. The angled wall and the front wall at the stairs haven't been built and the trusses are being supported on the internal wall and the south exterior wall. From this perspective it looks like the roof is floating but that will change - hopefully by the end of day Monday.

Tha garage hasn't been built yet and this will alter the look of the property yet again. It will be built in the same location of the old garage but instead of a flat roof at the front there will be a gambrel (barn style) roof at the front portion. There will also be a roof deck patio above the main roof.

Below is a close up of the roof trusses as they float. It is hard to see but the foremost truss is a cathedral ceiling and will be 23'-0" above the stair starting point on the main level.

This final image shows the massing of the house from the back NE corner of the yard. From here it looks like the front trusses are floating.

It's c-c-c-cold in here!!!

There is something to be said for timing things properly. If all things had gone according to plan we would be putting the finishing touches on our Christmas Decorations and getting ready to celebrate the first Christmas in our new home. Instead we are bundled up under multiple blankets and watching the mercury drop waiting for the structure to be completed. This past week has been the coldest yet in Winnipeg and it is expected to stay the course. The few inches of snow that fell today is actually a welcomed occurance as the extra layer will give us that much more insulation.

I met with Nate Yerex of North 49 Heating and Air Conditioning yesterday and we planned out the layout for the heating system - now I just have to get that onto a plan so that we can get into the City for a permit and construction. It looks like we will be starting in the first bit of January and have some heat in the full building by mid January. Hopefully Electrical and Plumbing will follow suit so that drywall will be started by the end of January.

Second Storey Structure

Most of the Main floor work has been completed and the second storey structure is taking shape. The first three trusses above the first back bedroom are shown peaking above the existing house. The rest of the normal walls are seen around the perimeter of the two south bedrooms above. I say normal as the north wall will have a 5 degree pitch out and does require some thought and calculation as to how it will be built.

The southern portion of the addition will be the lowest part of the second level, not much higher than it is showing in the picture below. The garage will need to be framed in but not until the roof trusses are up.

Without the windows and doors the structure has a true box feeling. As soon as the roof trusses are on and the openings in place the building will take a different feel.

Finally the cantilever of the bedroom floor comes out 5'-0". Not only did it allow us to extend the size of the footprint of the second storey but it also creates a great overhang to hide from the rain!

One last thing. If you are heading East along Fermor, when you see the play structure of Papoose Park look left. You should be able to see the house from there.

Basement Access

To access the new basement area we had to have a door access cut into the existing foundation wall. Using a concrete saw the opening was cut to accomodate a new door through our existing laundry room.


A true testament to the Logix Foundation system, there is no heat in this area yet aside from any warmth that transfers through the opening inthe window and door (trust me there isn't much). With the excess rains that we had in October and November the groundwater is still extremely high. You can see in the corners where the water hasn't been pumped out yet and the amazing thing is that it isn't frozen.

What a View

The Main Floor living space is framed in. The back wall of the existing house is still in place but the rest of the space is taking shape and the Second Floor layout is 50% complete. The bedroom cantilever is shown in the image below - it is a 5'-0" overhang.

This is the view from the Spare bedroom looking West. The Gambrel roof of the garage will block most if not all of the street but this really indicates how high above the street level this is.

This is from the washroom looking North. The reality howeveris that the window in this washroom is at the 7'-0" height so this view will never be seen. The four posts of the Pergola look small when one is looking down at them.

This will be the view from the two bedrooms on the East.

Way off in the distance one can actually see the traffic on Fermor. This will be the only site line from the Roof Top Patio. Additional designs for the flooring in this are was planned today so ity will be interesting to see what actually is built!!

Garage Grade Beam

The saga of the concrete work is almost complete. The Garage grade beams have been poured and the garage framing should be able be to start soon. The garage pad will not get poured until the Spring so yet another winter with the van onthe driveway. It looks like we will be getting command start installed for sure this year.

Main Floor Walls

After all of the delays of the summer, between the Concrete issues and the City of Winnipeg delays, we can finally really start to get going. The main floor exterior walls shouldn't take too long to be built and then the mass of the building will really take shape.


Here the image shows where the new kitchen will go. The two windows are above the lower cabinets. The opening on the East Wall (or the one one the left of the image) will be above the sink. The opening on the North Wall (the other smaller opening) will be the drive thru pass through window. If the kids want something but mom and dad want them to stay outside...



As soon as the walls were framed the exterior sheathing is added so that there is added stability but more importantly it slows the weather penetration. It still is getting cold nonetheless.



The large yellow beam sticking past the exterior wall is not a mistake. This is how far (5'-0") the second storey room will cantilever over the main storey. The beam is actually 32'-0" long and will support the entire north side of the second floor.

This area will be in the garage and will be the new main entrance for us inside the garage. No more worries about falling down the stairs when someone else comes in the door.

Tree Damage

An unfortunate result of the excavation and front mud pile is that the Excavator and the tree came into too close of a proximity. The upper arm extension hit the main branches a few times, and with enough force that it cracked two of the main branches on the front American Elm tree.


The image below is a close up of the damage that was done at the crux of the branches.

The removal of the mud pile also scraped the top protective earth and bark from the main tree roots. Hopefully the damage isn't severe enough to shock the tree and that it had already started going into hibernation for the winter. We quickly covered the exposed roots with topsoil and then thankfully the snow came the next day which should mitigate some of the damage.

The two branches that had been cracked need to be removed back to the trunk. Hopefully this will not unbalance the canopy and will allow the tree to recover over the next few monthes. The arborist from ASAP Tree Services is concerened - the tree has a 50 / 50 survival rate. We will need to ensure that the roots are protected in the Spring and that no further damage is done.

Winnipeg in November

It was inevitable. This is Winnipeg in November and as such we knew that snow could be imminent. Yesterday started with rain and wind. The afternoon brought colder temperatures and that turned the rain into sleet or snow pellets This morning we awoke to find 2 centimeters of snow!!!

Yesterday's work included shutting off the power to the house and relocating the hydro meter to a new temporary location. The image below shows four posts that will eventually turn into the pergola from a previous post.

While the dusting of snow has hidden the ugly mud it does make things more difficult to work on site. The negative temperatures aren't ideal working conditions but the house must be built. Hopefully this is a hic-cup and not a large delay.

There is a house there...

...behind all of that mud. With all of the earth that they excavated, there was only one truckload that didn't fit back in the hole. The drive way is pretty much a mess until the spring but at least we will be able to use it again soon.

Its a few days late but Happy Halloween.

Foundations are in!!!

With the Foundation finally being poured we were able to back fill the site and get rid of the piles of mud from the front and back yards. Again the big machinery had to come out and get things going but it sure made quick work of things.


Once the big piles were gone, the smaller skid steer leveled off the yard. All of the TLC to the grass ovetr the years was erased in one fell swoop but this way we will be able to start fresh in the Spring.

Foundation

With the issues that we had with the 1st Concrete Contractor, having to scramble to find another, then the weather really not co-operating and the rain not subsiding I was beginning to doubt that this day would ever come. A picture is worth a 1000 words so below is the basement foundation for the addition.



To put the scale of the basement into perspective, here is Art Peters and his son Stephen of MGS Concrete pouring the concrete into the forms. The pumper truck is on the street and unfortunately blocked things off for a few hours but at least it is done.

This image was taken from our old garage door looking straight down. The blocks are really just like LEGO and make the forms stage that much easier. They also eliminate a few steps as these pieces now are part of my basement and insulation.

This last picture is a close up of the forms looking through the old basement window. The rebar gets threaded through the blocks.