A Revolution, la Bête Lumineuse, some varnish and lots more drywall

Lucas and Sofia with my mom

The past few days have been a bit nerve wracking for my family. My sister lives in Cairo with her family. The protests have continued and it is unclear what will become of all the chaos. We are waiting to hear if they will be evacuated. Then, perhaps we can breathe a sigh of relief.  In the meantime, we are praying and awaiting any updates. It is frustrating that they don't have internet access. I wish I could just hear my sisters voice. Unfortunately, the government has blocked most forms of communication. Luckily, my sister can call the embassy and they can connect a call to my mother.

La Bête Lumineuse
Despite all the concerns for her and her family, the construction continues. When Gilles went out today, he noticed the call of a moose in the woods. He did not see it but just heard the low guttural sound. Steve and I went outside to see if we could witness the same, but to no avail. Gilles swore he really heard it and living in the woods I felt compelled to believe him. This reminded me of my initiation into Quebecois culture when I first started coming with Gilles. The whole family watched La Bête Lumineuse. (The Shimmering Beast in English) Basically, it is a story about men that go on a moose hunt and nothing really happens for 127 minutes just as I had no real moose sighting. Needless to say, I dare you to watch the whole thing.

Some Varnish
The varnish continues on the steps. It is a bit of a slow process especially since all of the coats have to dry for a few hours. It is back breaking work since the steps are so low to the ground, but it is exciting to be able to help.

View from my craft room and onto the bedroom

View of the bedroom

View from the bathroom

Drywall

It has been so exciting to see the drywall go up. It really changes the look and feel of the place. Steve and Gilles have been doing a fantastic job. They really work well together.  Tomorrow is Sunday, so Steve and I will take time out to go to mass at St. Benoit du Lac where there is a lovely Gregorian Mass. Then, we will probably try to enjoy a poutine somewhere before heading back to work.

Steve sporting his Vancity sweatshirt "It's right here"

Working on the living room

Living Room view

Great job around the wood stove

Enjoying the View of the finished East wall

Steve working hard

Drywall, drywall, drywall

Day 1: Just Drywall

After the obligatory site briefing, instructional video and drywall quiz, Gilles and Steve got to work on the drywall upstairs. They started out with a very tricky area: the stairwell. It looked a bit scary as they were perched on a plywood. Regardless of the risks, they got the job done and it looks great!

Stairwell ceiling - Thank goodness Steve is so tall. It really comes in handy.

Tricky drywalling

When all else fails, Chulita likes to chase her tail

In easier spots, they are able to use a tool that helps them hold up the drywall

Steve is now certified in drywalling

Day 2: Drywall with a dash of varnishing

Luckily, Gilles and Steve had lots more room to work in. Surprisingly, drywall is a lot more time consuming that it may seem. There are outlets and windows to be cut out. The seems need to be staggered and lots of other details to consider.

On a trivial note, lunch was greatly improved. I decided to put the sandwiches on a pizza pan. After a few minutes in the wood stove, the cheese was melted and we had a warm meal. Life at the construction site was never better: good food, good company and great results.

It was much easier today to work in such a large space

Having a little fun!

 It was time to get the steps varnished and ready to be installed. Today, we set up 8 of the 16 steps and I got busy varnishing them. The true colour of the maple is really coming out and it looks great!

Enjoying varnishing with all the light coming in

It was not easy being so low to the ground, but lots of fun

Winter explosion in Sutton and why insulation is so important

It is a quiet Sunday night in Sutton. Gilles, Steve, Chulita and I are gathered around the wood stove while watching the Sunday night line up. Steve and I are on the sofa near the windows and patio doors wondering why it feels chilly despite the warm fire burning right in front of us. Anyways, I was eager to read my magazine. All of a sudden, there was an explosion. It felt like and sounded like a snow ball was thrown right at me. I looked down at my magazine and it was splattered with wet spots. We all look at each other trying to figure out what happened. Gilles, who was over at the kitchen table was splashed as well. It turns out that a can of coke behind the chair I was in froze and exploded. I thought I was being clever storing extra beer, coke and sprite behind this arm chair since the kitchen has very little storage. It turns out that there was coke everywhere including the kitchen hood, the window across the room from the explosion site and all over the explosion area. What I did not fully realize until now was that the air behind the chair was so cold that it could freeze any liquid nearby. I must admit that tonight is one of the coldest nights wee have seen so far (-24C/ -11F). However, it is incredible to think that a house built only 3 years ago could be so poorly insulated. We regularly complain about the cold floors or the cold toilet in the downstairs bathroom, but this is quite ridiculous.
Thank goodness, Gilles has taken the issue of insulation very seriously. In fact, today when we went to the construction site, the house was pleasantly warm despite that there is no electrical heating. I cannot imagine what our electrical bill will be this month as it seems we have the heater on but not much gets heated. Gilles has spent lots of time with foam, double wall construction, insulation and having urethane shot to seal between the floor joists. Our new house will be very efficient and warm. I can't imagine any winter explosions in our super insulated house.

Site Inspection, Ice Cider and a new knitted tuque

We are so excited to have Steve back helping us with the house. If you recall, he came last September and helped Gilles with the framing. While he was here, the changes were spectacular. The construction site went from a concrete slab foundation to a two-story framed house. You can look back at some of the pictures by clicking on this link.
Since his visit, so much has changed. We no longer have to worry about the rain or any other weather issues. The goal for this visit is to get the drywall up and ready. We also have a few decor issues that we would like to discuss with Steve and come to some agreement. There are soooo many decisions to make that it is great to discuss it with someone with such good tastes. By the time he leaves, the changes will be quite dramatic. I will post some pictures as we proceed on round 2 of Habitat for Sutton.

First impressions

Today, we chose to take it a bit easy and allow Steve a chance to get acclimatized to the cold weather and the time difference. We spent the first part of the day visiting the construction site and getting Steve up to speed. 

Lots of analysis and discussions despite the cold

Checking out the insulation

Getting a feel for the space - hard to do by pictures alone

Closet with pocket door

Upstairs discussing the details of the space

Discussion #100 - how to frame the window

After a lengthy visit to the construction site, we decided to visit the Domaine Pinnacle and taste their ciders. Last time Steve was here, Gilles did not get to come with us.  So, Gilles finally got to visit and taste test the ice ciders and all of their lovely delicacies. Needless to say, we all had a blast. We bought a few bottles. Tonight for dinner, we had some delicious smoked salmon that Steve brought from Vancouver and the Domaine Pinnacle Sparkling Ice Cider. What an amazing combination!!

So much fun!!

All of their ciders that we tasted

Hmmm, which one is next?

Apple Trees - The frozen apples have now been picked to make ice cider

While the world may not revolve around knitting, Steve provided me a great opportunity to get to work on a new knitting project. He forgot his tuque and it is freezing here at -24C / -11F. So, I grabbed a few balls of black alpaca and some double pointed needles and off we went to spend the day having fun. I cast on on the way to the house. I began the ribbed bottom while we toured the house and discussed the details. I continued in the car as we went to Pinnacle and on our other stops. I knit and knit until it was dinner and then, it was done. Steve can be warm and now no more excuses. We'll put him to work first thing in the morning

Plumbing, La plomberie, La plomeria

Aburrido! Boring!

It doesn't matter what language you use, Chulita and I can agree that most of it is pretty boring! Nothing but pipes and ventilation. By the way, did you know that there was ventilation in plumbing?? I am learning so much more about plumbing than I ever thought I would. There are different colors and tubing for cold and hot water and ventilation. For more detailed info on plumbing ventilation, click on the link.
I have included a few pictures of the plumbing so you can see just how exciting it is. Actually, in many ways it is very cool since it marks a key turning point in the construction schedule. Now, the house is ready for the drywall.

Split piping

Washer Dryer hook up

Plumbing for the bathroom downstairs

Plumbing for the kitchen island sink

Plumbing comes from the outside and then travels to the West side (basement view)

 While most of the above pics are less than thrilling, the most exciting part of the day came when RONA delivered my beautiful bathtub. The brand of bathtub is Oceania and it is made right here in Quebec, about 200 km away from Sutton. It is simple and elegant. I can't wait to be able to take a bath on a cold winters day and see the snow covered trees in the window.

Gilles tests where we want to put the free standing faucet

Full view of tub

Valve testing

View from bathtub

Ventiliation, Electricity and lots more happening on the construction site

It has been a while since I updated everyone on how the construction is going. A few reasons include:

• We are now working on the non-sexy part of the house, namely the guts. A lot of work goes into it but at the end of the day there is not much to photograph and talk about
• Perhaps the main reason for not blogging as much: I have gotten the knitting bug. I am now obsessed with knitting, organizing my books and yarns. Basically, I am having too much fun

Chulita inspects the maple treads

Anyways, life at the house is moving along smoothly. There have been some big advances in the past few days. I will try to capture them all.

• Ventiliation: Previously, I discussed the insulation of the house and someone commented that it was like putting a layer of Gortex all around. It was an accurate description. But, we all know what happens with Gortex since it doesn't breathe. To avoid the sweaty, smelliness of a house that doesn't breathe, we had to add the lungs/ ventilation system. We chose a Venmar air exchange system. To learn more about the benefits and what it actually does, click on the link. It was not hard to install, but there were lots of pieces that mad it a bit time consuming. We also had to install vents to the outside to allow for the air exchange. Lots of "tapponage", to use a good Quebecois expression.

 

Venmar Air Exchange System - The lungs of the house

The white vent which is connected to the Venmar system

The outdoor vent

• WIRED: The exciting news here is that the house is now fully wired for electricity, cable, phone, internet and speakers. It looks a bit messy, but once the drywall is on, it will be perfect. One cool thing is that the generator will be housed in the shed (don't worry, it will be well ventilated). So, if the electricity goes out we can still keep the heat on, the fridge going and a few other critical pieces.

• Stairs: We received the stair treads that will go from the first floor to the second. They are made of Maple and are solid hardwood. BEAUTIFUL!! Also, it looks like I might be getting a promotion. Instead of being the expert cleaner/ sweeper of the construction site, I will get to varnish these babies. Tomorrow, I start my new position. Hopefully, I can live up to the expectations ;-) Once the drywall is in, the treads will like they are suspended in the wall.

 

• Drywall: The drywall was delivered last Monday. While this may not be exciting to most people, we were quite thrilled. The driveway leading up to the house is a bit tricky when there is lots of snow. The last time we had a delivery from Rona, the truck could not make it up the driveway and Gilles had to carry the stuff up to the house. Well, with a few warmer days and the snow melted completely from the driveway, we took advantage of the conditions to have the delivery. They came on Monday. Unfortunately, the truck got stuck and had to get towed. Gilles was getting worried. Unlike last time, he would not really be able to carry it up. 2 sheets of drywall weigh about 170 pounds. The other option they gave him was that he would have to remove the windows on the West side to get them in. Gilles was not thrilled with this option since the windows were already sealed. The next day, they came back with another truck and like magic, they got it in on the first shot. Now, the drywall is in, dry and awaiting the visit of Steve on January 22 when he comes back for another stint of habitat for Sutton. We can't wait for his visit.

• Kitchen Cabinets: On Wednesday, they came to measure the kitchen cabinets. The delivery date will be March 15. By then, the flooring, drywall and painting will be done. I will be ready to move in once they are in. Not sure if Gilles will let me since there will likely be lots of little finishing things to do. We'll see.
• Plumbing: On Monday, the plumber is coming and it should take 2-3 days for the rough in.
• Hardwood Floors: Yesterday, they came to measure the space for the flooring. We will have maple hardwood floors throughout including the kitchen and bathrooms.

Boy that  is a lot to write about. I hope you enjoy reading and keeping up. In the meantime, I will get back to my knitting. If you are a knitter, I recommend www.ravelry.com. Look me up. I am tejedora99. So much fun to be had.