Worry not, I am still alive. Indeed, this is certainly a record for the blog… It’s been well over a month since I posted an update, and for that I must apologize. I usually spent some time on the weekend to update the site, but lately my weekends have been spent running around handling errands ...
I must admit, choosing the species of hardwood was actually quite difficult for us. If you haven’t had the luxury of walking into a hardwood store (or looking online for that matter), you’ll quickly discover that there are thousands of options to choose from. For us, we wanted something that was strong, aesthetically pleasing and cost ...
It’s been 222 days since we began construction, and we finally have drywall. I’m actually shocked how quickly everything was installed—The insulation and vapour barrier was delivered on March 21st and subsequently installed on the 31st. Drywall was delivered on April 1st, and installation was completed this afternoon. They still have to mud, tape and sand everything, ...
Our ICF foundation has 2 5/8” of foam on the exterior, which created a minor aesthetic challenge for us. To ensure everything was flush once we added the cladding, we needed to strap the exterior walls out to compensate. The ideal solution would have been a continuous layer of rigid foam (for complete thermal break), ...
When it comes to insulating a roof, there aren’t many options… and in the case of a flat roof, the options are even fewer. A traditionally pitched roof has a large ventilated space that sits between the insulation (typically cellulose or fiberglass) and the top of the roof. With a flat roof, there obviously isn’t room ...
Sure, things slowed down as we approached Christmas, but with New Years behind us, there’s definitely been some action at the house and it appears we’ve fully awoken from the holiday-induced coma. The plumbing is well underway, with most of the drains and vents already in place. As I mentioned back in May (I can’t believe ...
Things have been a little slow around the house this past week (‘tis the season, right?), so there hasn’t been much progress of late, however I did manage to climb up on the roof again to take a closer look at the completed roof and sun tunnel installation. As I mentioned previously, we have two Velux _“Rigid ...
We began weatherproofing the roof this week, despite a continued beatdown from Mother Nature. The sky has been perpetually grey and in between the snow and rain, we’ve been rolling out and torching down a SBS modified bitumen membrane (I know you want to say that 5 times fast). We’re using a product called TorchFlex, which is ...
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 ...
