Landscaping and Fence

Landscaping is in progress. The trees and sod have been placed and the turfstone parking pad installed. We are using prefinished corrugated metal for the fence on the sides and vertical cedar at the front and back (not yet installed).

Kitchen and Floor Install

The IKEA kitchen cabinets were installed last week. Underneath the blue protective plastic are high gloss white cabinet doors.

Cork floor install was also completed on the stairs.
We chose to go with concrete countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms. Here's a photo of the countertop after it has been installed and received a finish coat.

Electrical and Grading

Rough and final grading was completed this week. We've scheduled the surveyors to prepare the grading certificate and want to ensure that grading is approved by the City before beginning landscaping.



Electrical finishing started today. Most of the lights, electrical receptacles, smoke detectors, doorbells, etc. were installed. The remaining items will be completed after countertops, tile backsplash, and mirrors are completed.

Rails and Second Floor Bath Progress

The metal rails were fitted and installed. Measurements were taken so that the glass can be ordered for the loft guardrail. We will be taking the exterior railing off the front porch to get powdercoated. The interior rails will be painted.


The second floor bath is also showing progress. Both floor tile and mosaic wall tile are finished, and the vanity is in place so that countertops can be measured. Special thanks to Dave for the beautiful custom vanities!

Paint and Tile

Interior painting was finished this week, which includes the walls, ceilings, exterior doors, and clear sealing the wood window frames. There is one accent colour: a medium grey painted on the wall that separates the stairs on all three levels.



Tile installation began yesterday. Here's a photo of the wall tile in the basement bathroom:


Floor tile and preparation for wall tile in the upstairs bathroom:

Cork Floor Completed

Installation of the cork floor on the main and second floor was completed this week. The installer also mocked up the mitred stair detail to ensure it will work. We've decided to wait until everything else is completed (including furniture moved in) to complete the stairs.

Flooring and Finish Carpentry

The cork floor install started today. The cork floor will be throughout the main floor and second floor, with the exception of the upstairs bathroom.


The first phase of the finish carpentry was also completed, which includes interior doors, casings, and closet shelving.

Concrete and Basement Painting

Exterior concrete work was poured this week, including the front walkway, window well, landing at the side entrance, and driveway pad. The remaining cement board panels have also been installed. The grey panels will be painted white to match the others - for some reason they did not ship pre-painted this time.

Priming is also finished in the basement. A coating was also applied to the ceilings to provide a smooth finish for painting (as the ceilings will not be textured). We are protecting the basement slab as we intend to leave it exposed and seal it as the finished floor.

Taping and Painting

Taping is now complete and the main and second floors have been primed. View from the loft:


Second floor bathroom:

The cork floor was also delivered this week:

Drywall, Taping and Decks

Drywall is now complete for the entire house. Taping is ongoing for the main and second floors and will start soon in the basement.

Our deck and front steps are also framed. The front steps will require a guardrail. The rear deck will not as it's less than 2' above grade.

Cladding and Basement Framing

Cement board cladding is now complete. The basement framing was also completed at the beginning of the month. Electrical and mechanical rough in will happen next and we'll try to catch the basement up to the rest of the house during the drywall stage.

Spray Foam Insulation

We had the underside of the roof and the joist ends on all levels insulated using a closed cell structure spray foam insulation. The product is made using a soybean oil and recycled plastic bottles, and provides an R value of R7 per inch thickness
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Cement Board and Batt Insulation

The cement board panel installation is almost complete, with only the top half of the front face remaining. With the correct front door finally installed, the cedar siding was able to be finished.

Batt insulation was installed this week in the exterior walls. We are spraying the roof with a closed cell insulation that allows us to achieve the unvented soffit and no overhang detail. The spray foam is scheduled for next week.

Basement Slab and Cement Board Panel Install

The basement slab was poured this week. Our goal is to get it framed, plumbing and electrical roughed in, and insulated so that the entire house can be drywalled at the same time.

Cement board siding installation has also started. The panels are 4x8' in size and installed vertically. Our replacement front door also arrived this week - it's under the blue tarp in the photo above.

Garage Door and Basement Slab Prep

The garage door was installed this week. This is nice as it gives us more secure storage during construction. We also had power service hooked up so we don't have to depend on the neighbor anymore. The basement slab will be poured soon - this photo shows the leveling of the gravel base. We're going to remove about an inch of the gravel to provide more space for the rigid insulation that will be placed on top (our goal is to maximize the ceiling height).

Cedar siding

The house has been wrapped in Tyvek and some of the cedar siding has been installed. The cedar areas on the front elevation can't go up until our front door unit is replaced with the correct one. The primary cladding of the house is going to be 4 x 8' cement board panels painted white. The material is scheduled to arrive at the end of next week.




We also insulated and installed the vapor barrier in the upstairs bathroom so that the bath tub plumbing can be installed prior to the insulation in the rest of the house.

March Update

Now that it's finally above -30C degrees outside we hope the pace of construction will pick up. Here are some progress photos since the last update:

The holes for the window wells did get excavated in the frozen ground conditions with a jackhammer. We will be using conventional corrugated metal wells for the side windows and a custom timber window well in the front yard.


The front door and window combination was also installed. Unfortunately, the wrong door swing was ordered. The hinges are supposed to be against the wall, not on the centre mullion. The replacement door is scheduled to arrive March 24th.

A temporary furnace has been hung in the basement. Once the gas meter is installed, we will be able to provide temporary heat, allowing us to pour the basement floor slab and insulate the roof with spray foam insulation.