Three Eagles and a Wolf

It will  be a short blog posting this week as I have worked all through the weekend and I am shattered. My main effort this week has been the wiring and every time I get close to thinking I've finished the rough in, I think of some more circuits that need to be put in. For example, outlets on all the main decks, lights outside and above the garage doors. The list goes on and on but, I really do think that the top floor is now finished. I have to put some overhead lights in the study and dining area, which will require similar preparatory work to the kitchen and I should probably put some in the bar area by the kitchen. In the basement I need to put in some lighting and run power out to the septic. I hope to get most all this done next week.

The wiring was interrupted this week by a small crisis in the basement. I damp patch appeared in one corner of the basement concrete caused by snow melt water coming off the roof and running under the deck and down into the earth adjacent to the basement walls. I therefore spent three days rectifying the problem. The immediate action was to put dustbins under where the water was coming off the roof to catch the water so I could then dispose of it. That stopped the damp and it dried up within a day. The permanent solution was to put guttering up to take the water away without having to use the dustbins. For this I had to first put up some fascia and fortunately we had a couple of really warm days with sunshine so I could stain the fascia boards before putting them in place.

It isn't officially spring yet but, we have had a timely whiff of it that allowed me to stain some fascia boards.

In place the fascia looks quite good and I can't wait to get the rest of the cabin done. 

The damp patch in the basement was in only one place but while I was at it I thought that I might as well to the other side as well.

The guttering went up very quickly and easily, after I got all the right materials and I am going to experiment with a chain as a down pipe for the water to run down, instead of a conventional down pipe.

I'll get some chain next week and let you know how it goes. It probably won't rain, it never does when you want it to.

I took the opportunity, while the sun was out, to dry some of the fascia planks that have been sitting frozen together inside the cabin.

This is just a small fraction of what needs doing.

On a lighter note I saw a wolf on Thursday and three eagles standing on the side of the road having an argument. They completely ignored me while I watched them and it was quietly satisfying to observe a dysfunctional family in the animal kingdom other than a human one.

Friends you never knew you had.

Life is full of surprises isn't it and sometimes you discover who your real friends are. This week I discovered just how good a friend Stuart Doyle is, who came all the way down from Northern Alberta to give me a hand. So I start this week's blog by publicly saying a big thank you to Stu, it was fun having you here and you were a great help - not least for the tips on better ways to do things.

Stuart Doyle, dressed for the job. He even had a hard hat that was just as well because of the number of times I nearly dropped things on him. And I don't want any unkind words from his mates about not needing a hard hat. Oh yes, I've seen the comments of Facebook.

My goals this week were to get the wiring for the landing circuit in place and, if possible, to install the last of the railings on the main deck. For the former, we needed to finish laying the floor boards in the landing area and then build the front for the 'walk in' closet to match the one on the other side of the stairwell.

While we were waiting for the floor boards from the Indian Reservation we idled our time away putting up strips for the ceiling drywalling panels. They are not easy to identify here but, one is in the middle between the 2 x 12 with wiring through it and the beam.

Once we got the floor boards laid, it all looked pretty good and we were clear to put in the closet front.

With that in place we were able to get started on the wiring, which we almost completed and I finished off on Friday.

Looking back over the blog posting a couple of weeks ago, I see that I promised some photos of the work in the garage:

Here are the receptacles on the garage beam connected up and working.

The re-arranged spindles, making room on the shelves for more electrical equipment ……

…. and most of the ones you see here are now on the deck.

Before mounting them on the rails I put them all through this turning device to make sure they fitted easily.

Kevin came out on Wednesday and was joined by Keith on Thursday and between them they got all the deck railings in place. Well done to them too. I now want to get the materials for the two small decks for the bedrooms 1 and 2.

So, the deck is transformed and feels much more like a cabin deck than a terrace.

We left space for a set of steps on the SE side ….

…. and the deck doesn't really feel any smaller, which I was concerned it might.

I was hoping that the warm, dry weather forecast for the weekend would allow me to stain the railings but, ….. 

in the event the only opportunity I got was a short period on Saturday afternoon and I only managed to get the posts done. The forecast for Monday however is good so, it is hoped that I will get more done then.

What winter sunshine

Another week of steady if slow progress and only a few uninspiring photos to show for all the work. I really wasn't very happy about the length of the overhang on the kitchen island design and after thinking about it over last weekend I resolved to do something about it.

So on Monday morning I built another layer of support in front of the one I built last week. There is still 11 inches of space for knees and the whole thing looks much better balanced.

It doesn't look that different from the front but I am now happy that I have got it right. The difficulty now is deciding what I am going to make the top from. The two main contenders are granite/stone and wood. I was originally convinced that granite was the best option but since I have been researching options on the internet I am now not so certain. I have been looking at Houzz.com, which I very strongly recommend to anyone interested in home and garden design. I have been looking at rustic kitchen designs on the site and have found some very attractive alternatives to granite that I now feel may be more suited to my cabin.

While I was adding the additional support to the front, I decided also to make some temporary draw fascias to protect the inside of the draws while all the work is going on around the island. I bought some factory made fascias to get the dimensions right and then returned them. I am minded to make the final fascias and doors from beetle kill pine with it's lovely natural blue highlights.

For the remainder of the week I carried on with the wiring in the kitchen, this time getting all the recessed light fittings installed. For this I had to put in place first all the batons that will hold the dry wall boards that will go between the beams.

The ceiling here will be sound insulated to protect the bedroom above from the kitchen noise. To reduce the risk of fire, the building code requires isolation boxes for the recessed lights in order to separate them from the insulation material.

In total I have put in 12 x 50w lights. There is yet more wiring to do for the kitchen. Still required are separate circuits for the oven, the extractor fan above the gas cooker and the microwave.

I finished off the week putting in the wiring for the Thermostats for the base board heaters in the bedrooms. This took longer than anticipated because some re-routing of wiring was required. I should really have thought about this when I first started wiring but, fortunately, I had enough red 12/2 wire to finish the job without having to buy any more.

I also replaced some boxes that needed to be larger to accommodate two or more switches. Seen here are a Thermostat box on top and a double box for lights in Bedroom 2.

Weather permitting, I am going to take a break from the wiring next week and try to get the last remaining railings for the main deck in place. Kevin has promised to come out and give a hand and Stuart Doyle, who you may remember visited me in the autumn, is very kindly coming down from Northern Alberta to lend as hand as well. He is coming an equivalent distance to Yorkshire from the Sough of France and so it is a significant effort on his behave for which I am extremely grateful to him personally and to his wife who is lending him to me for a week.

I was going to wait until the spring to put these railings up, as I was concerned about them discolouring in the winter sunshine. The winter sunshine hasn't materialised and anyway the UV light levels are not high. I really just want to get them out of the house and get the deck finished, besides, it won't be long now before it is warm enough to stain them.

Kitchen Island

Apologies to those that eagerly await a posting every Sunday evening. Last week was long and because I am working alone it was difficult to get much done to show you. Even the internet has been uncooperative. It keeps dropping out on me and it is very frustrating trying to upload photos to the blog when the connection keeps failing. Sometimes it takes me three or four attempts just to upload one photo. The weekends don't help either because all the kids are home from school during the day and the internet capacity can't cope.

Anway, enough moaning about the internet. I spent the first two days of last week clearing up all the mess from the previous two weeks and then planning the wiring for the kitchen. That required building the framework for the island, which the code requires me to put sockets (receptacles) in. So that's now done.

This is the back of the island and the plaque (actually gas top) will be over the draws. I haven't bought the draw fascias for the draws in the cabinet because I want to make them myself to fit in with the rustic look of the cabin. All the ones you can buy look very nice and many of them are of solid wood but, frankly, they wouldn't really suit the theme and feel of the cabin, so I am going to make my own doors and draw fascias. You can also see the two double socket boxes already in.

This is the view of the island from the other side and you can see the wall sockets in the far wall where all the cabinets and go. The wiring at the top two logs has been countersunk to enable me to cover them without difficulty with either tiles or boards, probably the former.

I put this temporary top on the island to give me a better feel for the full size of it. That way I can plan the lighting and other things better. I am a little concerned by the length of the overhang and may put in some more support underneath it to reduce it.

I have also finished putting all the railings for the main deck together. I may put them up before staining them, just to get them out of the way. The UV light levels are not that bad here in the winter and spring and so I am not concerned about them discolouring before I get around to staining them.

Sorry for such a short and sweet blog this week and for its tardiness but, better late than never. A semaine prochaine.

"Time for bed." Said Zebedee

I am quite pleased with progress at the moment but it is going to slow down next week. I am now over half way to getting the electrical circuits roughed in and ready for inspection. Before I can complete the work however, I must put in a final stud wall on the landing for a cupboard but, I cannot do this until the new floorboards arrive and I don't have a date for them yet.

This is the first stud wall on the landing. It is the front of a large walk in closet for the main bedroom, there not really being enough room for a lot of closet space in the bedroom itself, without taking too much of the room up.

This shows the same closet looking in the other direction and you can see the area on the left at the far end where a similar closet for the second bedroom will go. Note the lack of floorboards there. 

Likewise, I have put in closet frontages for cupboards in the corridor leading to the North Wing (blame Tony Broom - he was the first to use the term). They will be for linen, other bedding, towels and the such.

Not much different from the other end of the corridor. I have had to put these in now so I can put socket (receptacle) and lighting circuits in the closets and corridors.

Putting circuits on stud walls is one thing, putting them through the logs is a totally different story. The 1/2" holes we pre-bored through the logs have proved far too small and we have had to bore virtually all of them out again in order to feed the wires through the logs to the receptacle boxes, which in the wood are metal - here a light switch ....

…. and here a receptacle box. There has been a little damage to the logs but, nothing that will not be covered or that cannot be repaired. 

The joy of working with wood is that it is generally pretty forgiving and none of the damage seen here will be visible when I'm finished. For those interested you can see two different circuits here. The one on the right of the photo is a standard two wire 110 v circuit and the one on the left is a three wire 240 v circuit for my UK printer and stereo system. Impressed? OK, not impressed.

 I did quite a lot of work in the basement this week. I put up the walls for the mechanical room which, for those uninitiated into these things, is where the furness for the hot air central heating system and the 'on demand' water heater will go. The manifolds for the hot and cold water systems will also be in there. Sadly, I forgot to take any photos so you will have to wait until next week to see this. Oh, alright, I'll take some photos tomorrow and post them here so you don't have to wait.

Most of the wiring this week will come off the main circuit panel in the storeroom. You can see the wires, all labelled ready to be connected to the box. I'll do this once all the circuits are in place. It is best to go in there once and get it over with. That way I can keep the power on uninterrupted. I also energised some of the circuits in the garage in order to give me power there for all the large power tools. I also connected the 240 v circuit for my UK tools and all this has already made life easier. I'm not sure if the inspector will be too happy but, I haven't done anything that hasn't already been done from the main box. I'll admit I did close my eyes when I first turned on the power to the sub-panel and energised the circuits, feeling a strange mixture of pride and relief that the whole thing didn't blow up. Anyway, it is all working as it should and I am particularly pleased with getting the 240 v circuit up and running from a 110 v system. I know that there is at least one person out there who will be impressed. I will also try to remember to post a photo of the garage circuits up and running.

Other work this week included top and tailing all the spindles that have yet to be used. I found that many of them were difficult to fit into the rails because of inconsistent work on the ends. I used a special tool for ensuring they are all the right size and took the opportunity to rationalise their storage while I was at it - again photos to follow.

While I was at it I made up a few of the railings for the deck, which you can see stacked up here. Quite a few more to make and I might get a chance to do some more next week. I just need some warm weather to stain them and then I can get them up, which will be difficult by myself.

Finally, on Saturday, I had a bit of a clean up on the ground floor and in the garage, not that I expect you will have noticed. If nothing else it made me feel better. In some ways it is a bit of a waste of time trying to keep the place too tidy and clean but, in other ways it's a good thing. It is nice to come to work to a tidy and clean workspace each morning and it helps to prevent damage to finished things already in place.

I'll sign off now.

"Time for bed," Said Zebedee.

Feeling nearly faded as my dreams

Well I'm back in Canada, my winter break's lease having all too short a date. It seems that I took the Canadian winter with me to Blighty and I stepped off the plane at Gatwick into the blizzard that was engulfing southern England at the time. London, in my absence, has been transforming itself. Everywhere I looked there were cranes on building sites. Skyscrapers appeared to be rising all over the place and the new Shard was very conspicuous on the South Bank.

I stayed with my brother Clive in Cockfosters and he was in good form considering the challenges he is facing. His strength and forbearance in the face of adversity is inspirational, as is the dedication and devotion of his partner Yuliang who is supporting him through his illness.

It was good to see my own family, particularly my children but, it was a stark reminder, as if I needed reminding, of the price one pays for a failed marriage - and it stung, like a frozen lash. I would liked to have stayed longer and visited friends, especially those who have been following this blog but, it wasn't to be - not this time. And all too quickly the visit was over and I left the grey winter skies of England feeling nearly faded as my dreams.

I stayed a couple of nights in Calgary on the way back, thank you Jeanette for putting up with me, before making my way down to South East British Columbia. It took a couple of days to get back into the swing of things, picking up the threads I had left blowing in the wind ten days ago. When I saw the cabin, with the sun shining on it, it made me feel good again and feeling good about the cabin is good enough, good enough for me.

I continued with the wiring but, the main effort this week has been putting up the last steel brackets to tie the beams and posts together and then to finish off the stairs so at least I can now get from the basement to the top floor without having to climb a ladder. That will make life a tad easier.

This bracket and the one on the other side were the last two to go in. I had to suspend myself with climbing equipment from the beam above and hold the brackets in place with parachute cord while I drilled and bolted them in place. The Middle Wallop Climbing Club would have been proud of me.

I raised the top level of the platform and straightened up the steps, which some of you may have noticed weren't exactly perfectly horizontal. 

Looking back down the first flight. The wood burning stove has once again proved useful for a hot lunch every day.

The second flight going up to the top floor from the platform.

To make it easier turning the corner on the platform, I have trimmed the bottom step.

I also put up a couple of new stud walls on either side of the stairwell at the top end of the stairs (note the wiring) ….

…. and have started laying the 2" floor boards but, ….

because I had to use more boards than planned to raise the level of the platform, I shall now have to order some more to finish the job.

There is still plenty of wiring to do and I will get on with this as concurrent activity while I do other work and wait for the engineer to come and do his inspection.

I thought you might like to see this panoramic view of the sun rising over the Rockies opposite the cabin, taken from the road coming into the Development.