One the reasons we were originally attracted to our home was the large maple tree that sits in the front yard. It’s quite large and quite beautiful, but we’ve come to realize that a large maple tree equals mountains of leaves in the fall and dead grass around it (who knew grass needed light to grow? Shocking, I ...
It’s been a few weeks, and we’ve made quite a lot of progress on the house. We had evaluated a number of manufacturers, but ultimately decided upon Nudura for our ICF foundation. Paul Stevens and his crew from Stevens Construction handled the formation and pour of the foundation, and by all accounts they did a smashing ...
Like a circus trainer guiding an elephant, a truck pulled up in front of our house yesterday with a massive excavator in tow. A crowd formed across the street with passerby’s stopping to watch as the excavator was backed off the trailer, guided up our driveway and set loose on the house. The excavator stood almost ...
It took twenty two days longer than we anticipated, but the City of Toronto has finally issued us our building and demolition permits. The house has been sitting vacant for more than a month now, but she’s finally coming down on Monday. Altius handled the submission of the various applications, which included the construction, engineering, electrical, and ...
Our construction drawings were submitted to the city a few weeks ago, so we’re in a bit of a holding pattern while we wait for our building permits. This process usually takes around 10 business days, so we’re expecting we’ll receive them this week. These latest set of drawings are quite comprehensive and illustrate in great detail ...
When compared to the construction itself, I suppose this may seem somewhat trivial, but I believe communication and collaboration are critical factors that shouldn’t be overlooked. Especially in the design stages of the project. Working with a constrained timeline has required that we communicate openly make decisions as quickly as possible. To maintain forward momentum, we insisted ...
When it comes to foundation construction in Canada, there are essentially 3 methods to consider: Block, Poured or ICF. Each is made with concrete, they all must be constructed on top of a concrete footing, and proper waterproofing, insulation and drainage is a must. This all sounds great, but what’s the difference? Concrete Block ...
I don’t believe this is particularly common, but we’re planning on building two extra rooms in our basement by excavating the space under our garage. In a typical garage, the floor is simply a concrete slab that sits on top of soil, however we’re going to approach things a bit differently. Because our foundation will be ...
After spending the better part of 2 hours trying to craft this into a witty and/or clever post, I’ve come to realize there isn’t a particularly glitzy way to spin this, so I’m just going to cut right to the chase. I’ve added a calendar to the site! Ahhh, that’s better. I still plan on ...
As part of the design process, we’ve also begun working with an energy consultant who will help us define the HVAC system for the new house. The first step in defining the system is determining what the heating and cooling requirements will be. To determine this, a data model is created that takes into account the house ...
