An Inside Job

No, it's not rain or snow that's forced everyone inside - the plumber's come! He's hooked up the pipes for the sinks and toilets and cut the holes out for the tub drains. I guess he's waiting until the actual units arrive so he knows exactly where to put them. This is more or less what the tub in our ensuite will look like:
"69 x 39 race track oval tub. The same as the Pacific 1, but with a little more designer appeal without the rectangle decking. Raised rolled rim head rest, dual lumbar supports and dual continuous armrests are really eye catching. Available in any designer colour. 4, 6, or 8 jet whirlpool systems, therapeutic air massage, lights, pillows and heaters are all available in this tub." Available, but for a price, as always. Unfortuantely, ours will most likely be just the basic floor model, but still a nice looking soaker tub.
Darcy and Graham are finishing up the stairs to the basement. They'll be done by the end of the day.
Brian is busy working hard on the roof. It was a nice, sunny day for him to be up there. He's got the left side finished and is putting down the tar paper to work on the right side. He figures it will take him about a week to get the roof done by himself. A bit longer if the weather doesn't cooperate, so we're hoping for more sunny days like this one!

The Shingle, Most Important Thing...

...on your house is the roof! So here's Brian putting on the tar paper and some shingles! The shingles are called Weathered Wood and they are the same color as all the other shingles on the lane, as per Quality Control requirements.

Darcy is putting up the last of the fascia and finishing off the roof so Brian can work.

We decided to go with a single light fixture hanging from the middle of the beam over the deck so before Darcy finished the roof here we had Chris come by and drill the hole and put the wire through so that it can go under the roof.

At Fascia Value

The fascia (the trim that's currently white) is being put up now. Darcy's saving some at the back for the girls to paint before he puts it up. It's much easier to paint it ahead of time than to try and paint around the posts and roof after it's up. Rachael and Kaitlyn are so excited to help with the house and are looking forward to painting.

The roof of the deck is half finished. It's tongue and groove planking, so it actually is slightly different than the decking we'll put on the front deck. That will have tiny spaces in between.

Deck the Halls

The trusses, if you could call them that, for the back deck are all up now (though not in this picture).

The roof is almost all sheeted. They'll keep working on it today and finish it up tomorrow. The deck roof doesn't get sheeted, it gets those pieces of wood that you'd normally put on the floor of the deck on top of these beams so that it looks nice from the bottom. Then on top of that they do the shingles.

Due to the snowy weather Brian and Jeff will not be here until Monday to put the shingles on the roof.

Deck Post

No too many workers here today. Most are taking an extended Christmas holiday or called in sick. But they managed to get the last post up for the front deck and the roof framed and ready for sheeting.
More plywood is getting put on the roof and we're almost ready for Brian to come put the shingles on.
This snowy weather isn't helping things, though. But, it's only supposed to last for today. At least there's no where near the 10cm they were expecting! It's not even covering the grass.

Christmas Eve

Well, it's Christmas Eve day and not much is happening over at the house. There's a few guys who are finishing up sheeting the roof, and Darcy and Torrey put up the middle post and beam for the roof of the deck, as well as one of the side pieces.

Here you can see a bit more detail at the end of the post - nice angled edges. You can also see how close those trees are! Yes, they're almost touching the house!

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone! We'll post more after a little holiday break. (Hopefully I can convince Darcy to take some much-needed time off!)

Now That's What I Call A Post & Beam!

Who's the best post-and-beam timber frame carptenter? You know it!

Here's the beginnings of our timber framed roof over the back deck.

Check out the precision cutting on this joint! You only get one shot at the cut, so it better fit, and fit it does!

It took 8 (yes, eight!) guys using nothing but sheer brute strength to lift that one beam. Crazy!

I SAW It With My Own Eyes...

...and I'd never seen such a big hand-held saw! But, massive as this thing is, it still won't cut all the way through these enormous posts! They have to cut them on one side, then turn the post over and cut it again!

Since I showed you the nice view from the back of the house, I though I'd show you the little bit of a view from the front rooms, too. It's not much of a view - mostly the tops of the houses in the next subdivision, but better than a view of the neighbour's house like I get from the kitchen window downstairs.

And this is the view from the craft room. Hey, I can see my house from here! These older houses may one day in the future be buldozed and replaced with newer houses. At least that's what the developer wants. Not sure what the owner thinks, though.

New Posts

The posts for the front porch are up. These will be rough-finished and stained to match the timber framed roof on the back deck (yet to be built). They're each one solid piece of wood.

And more progress on the roof.

Same Song, Second Verse

More of the same again today. We have another gable up now.

The roof is half sheeted.

The little roof over the dining room, under the ensuite is up and sheeted.

Windows have been ordered, but with Christmas holidays coming up they won't be delivered until mid January.

Green Gables?

Actually, they'll have cedar shakes on them, stained brown, but the rest of the house's siding will be Sage green, and the fascia will be painted dark green. But here they are actually making the gable. And part of the roof is now sheeted, so it won't be long now 'till Brian comes to put on the shingles.

Singing In The Rain

More of the same today - setting the trusses. In the rain. Again.

Go To Your Room!

Daddy finished the stairs, so Rachael and Kaitlyn got to see how big their room will be!

And here's the nice vault in Mommy and Daddy's room. Darcy measured out how big our bed is, and it will get lost in there, that room's so big! Darcy suggested we put a ping pong table in there, cuz we'd still have lots of room to run around it!

I don't know what we'll put in there to make it not look so empty, but it will NOT be a ping pong table!

Truss Me Again

A look at the house from the front and the back yard.


Here you can kinda see the vaulted trusses that will be the ceiling of the master bedroom.

The guys are busy working in the rain (hence the little white dot!).

Truss Me

Trusses showed up just before noon, so not too long of a wait.

The crane lifts them directly to the top of the walls, so no one has to lift them up. That can be tricky.

This is the view of our new house from the house we're in now.

The Waiting Game

The walls are all up and the trusses are coming first thing this morning. At least, that's what we were told. But it's already 9:30, so maybe not quite first thing. So we're waiting.

But while we're waiting, there's lots to do! Darcy has already finished the first half of the stairs going up. So much nicer than a ladder. And there's all kinds of backframing to do - framing in the closets and drops in the ceiling, etc. The kind of stuff that you don't do in your rush to get the roof on.

A Room With A View

Check it out! In the winter (because there's no leaves on the trees) we have a great view from our master bedroom and ensuite! This picture is taken right where the soaker tub will go. At night you can see the lights of Mission.

And we have most of the interior walls up. The is the girls bedroom. They will share a room because they just got bunk beds in spring and they would be very lonely going to bed by themselves. They have a window out the front as well as a side window. This will be very nice for ventelation in the summer, as their room faces south and will likely get pretty toasty. Unless the weather is like it was this summer.

This shows the guest room (on the left) and the laundry room. These also face south. And yes, there will be a wall between the two! I think I'm really going to like having the laundry on the bedroom floor. No hauling heavy baskets full of clothes up and down the stairs.

This is our master bedroom. The trusses come tomorrow and they will be vaulted in here! I'm also getting French doors and I'm very excited about these two features!

And this is our ensuite. There is also a bathroom for the girls on this floor and another bedroom that will be used as my craft room (yay!) but the walls weren't finished for those rooms yet. I think I will wait to take pictures of those rooms until Darcy has built the stairs. Stairs are so much nicer than a ladder.