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.