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.

Big Window Installed

Now that the large window is installed, all that remains is the front door/window combination and the basement windows. We need to install window wells before the basement windows can go in, and have someone scheduled to come and jackhammer out the frozen ground around the windows and install the side window wells. This will hopefully happen in the next week to ten days.
The gas line was trenched and placed last week so we will have temporary heat soon. Electrical rough-in also started this week.

Cold Cold Cold!

There's not a lot of progress to report over the last month and a half. With the extremely cold weather before Christmas, construction basically shut down. We have also been struggling to find someone who has the capability to install our big front window. A lift is required since it's on the second floor and is a heavy beast. We have an installer lined up for early next week and are crossing our fingers. Once the window is in we can close up the house and get going on more interior work (heating, plumbing, and electrical) and, more importantly, get our progress draw from the bank.

We did manage to get the garage framed last week:

Windows and stairs

Our window package arrived last week. As the company we ordered them from are not equipped to deliver the windows, we rented a truck and delivered them ourselves. The doors should arrive in the next week. The stairs were delivered to site last week and installed yesterday.

Mechanical and Plumbing

In the last few weeks we had the basement plumbing roughed in, the mechanical ducting installed and were lucky to avoid winter long enough to pour the garage slab. We also ordered the stairs and plumbing fixtures, and have been obtaining quotes for the cladding and electrical.

Second Floor Framing

Framing is almost complete. The framer missed a window on the front elevation, and the roof sheathing has been added since these photos were taken. Backfilling of the backyard is scheduled for Monday.

View from the loft looking towards the street: