Be careful what you wish for

It has been an eventful fortnight. It didn't start well. Fatigue and carelessness were the route causes of a couple of painful mistakes. On Monday of the first week I was drilling countersink holes for the new entrance steps when the spade drill bit I was using hit a nail and piece broke off the drill and imbedded its in my right eye ball. It stuck in the sclera (white bit) about a sixteenth of an inch away from the iris. I  didn't realise what had happened at first. I didn't rub it thankfully but, blinked the eyelid instead and the shard scratched the inside of the eyelid. To cut a long story short I managed to get it out and went into Wardner Village to see a friend who confirmed that there wasn't anything else still in there.  It was painful for a couple of days but, the eyes heal very quickly and a visit to the doctor/hospital wasn't necessary. I'll spare you the photograph - it isn't petty.

Mid week I also stupidly allowed myself to become dehydrated and woke up in the early hours of Wednesday morning with crippling cramp in my thighs - loins to be more exact. That kept me awake for about two hours and an experience I never want to repeat. If you have ever had cramp in the thighs you will sympathise with me I'm sure.

On the bright side, I have made some good progress on the cabin:

Remember this, the unfinished gable end and dormers - not the lattice work. Well ……..

…… it now looks like this. You can still see the climbing rope I used to suspend myself, to put up the cladding and then stain it.

I also put the cladding on all the dormer sides, except for the shed dormer on the back of the North Wing that will have to wait until the North Wing deck is in place. Speaking of which, I am going down to MacDonald's mill in the morning to collect the lumber for the framing and so it shouldn't be too long before that deck is in place. It is going to be a challenge because of the height and size of the deck. I am hoping to have some help from Kevin and maybe one or two others to put in up but, first I must build the 'A' frames and the decking supports as per the two smaller balconies.

Before putting the cladding on the dormers, I first had to put up the water proof backing paper and …..

…..  to make it easier I cut and stained the cladding before installing it.

The North Wing dormers were the last to be done.

John Facey and High 'R' Expectations returned and worked hard to get all the insulation done.

The most difficult and tedious task was to cover, literally, everything in plastic sheeting to protect it from the foam spray.

There were two and sometimes three men working and it still took six days to get the job done.

I must congratulate John and his team on a job very well done. I have developed a set of seven key performance indicators on which to assess contractors and High 'R' Expectations scored very highly in all - Integrity, competence, capability, communication, reliability, outcome and respect. I won't bore you with the definitions of each, I am sure you get the drift.

The scene of the eye incident last week. The old temporary steps have now gone. The railings will have to wait, I have more pressing things to be getting on with.

There has been an abundance of wildlife around recently. There are about sixty mule deer on the Development at the moment along with a few elk and turkeys not to mention the geese and now the humming birds have returned, so I must get some food for my feeder.  

When the insulators finished I spent a couple of days getting the cabin sealed up and can now confidently say that there are very few places where the air can get in or out. So, as expected, I wanted to test the thermal properties of the cabin and winter duly obliged with two days of snow and sleet, which was just enough to put the wood burning stoves to test. Within an hour of lighting the stoves I was down to a T shirt and although I let the fires go out when I left in the evening, the cabin was still warm in the morning, with the logs radiating heat back into the cabin. I was mightily impressed. However, the return of winter meant I got cold and wet putting up the cladding on the last dormers. So I guess you should be careful what you wish for. 

On a more somber note, I haven't had a day off for over six weeks now and more generally I have been working hard pretty solidly with little pause for over 18 months. I have developed a couple of chronic repetitive stress injuries not to mention my old legacy injuries. The most acute and evident is carpal tunnel syndrome in both my wrists but, a tightness in the chest, shoulders and upper arms is perhaps a little more serious. Both are keeping me awake at night and I often have to resort to medicines to relieve the pain and inflamation. I may therefore be forced to take a break in work on the cabin. I don't plan on doing this just yet. I think I have enough strength left in me to complete the outside of the cabin but, when that is done I may take some down time, in which case I may suspend the blog. I will keep you all informed and try to limit the break to the minimum required to recharge my batteries.

The crowning finale to this last fortnight however, was the inspection of the insulation and the framing (long awaited) by the local planning office inspector who came over on Thursday and gave the thumbs up for both. The former was expected almost as a formality because of the quality of the work and the latter was a relief in that I had been waiting for over three months for all the ducks to get in a row. So, a significant milestone has been reached and I am now cleared to get the plumbing and drywalling done. The former I will try to get on with once the outside of the house is finished and the drywalling will have to wait. Needless to say I had a little celebration on Thursday night down at the local pub, where I sat with a silly grin all over my face while I ate my meal. Simple pleasures indeed.

Gas Gas Gas

I guess I should start by declaring that for a while I am going to post only every two weeks, instead of every week. I am working 12 hour days, seven days a week at the moment and to be honest I don’t really have the energy to put into writing a blog every week, with all that it entails with collecting photos etc. Also with so much mundane work going on, like the wiring, it doesn’t make for a good visual effect every week.

While readers in the UK are experiencing a nasty sting in winter’s tail we in BC, if not the rest of Canada, have been having a glorious Spring. Man and beast have come out from hibernation; green shoots are appearing everywhere and the robins and geese have returned for the summer. Temperatures have been in the high teens and the teens have all been out in shorts and T shirts. I have even caught the sun. The good weather has enabled me to resume work on the outside of the cabin and so I have been spending a few hours in the mornings working on the wiring and the rest of the day getting things done on the exterior.

I finished the ‘rough in’ of the wiring the previous week and called for the inspector, who came on Thursday and gave all the work a thumbs up, which was gratifying. There were a couple of minor things that I had to change because of recent code changes and I had them sorted by lunchtime the following day. So I have been busy since putting in receptacles, switches and some temporary lighting. I have done all of the basement, main floor and garage and so far all the circuits are working as they should be. Just the upstairs to do.

Outside there has been quite a change.

Remember this stuff, well ….

…. I converted it into these and …..

…. a couple of these …..

….. then put up the A frames (counter sinking them into the logs) and then ….

…… the board frames for the deck boards. 

Not the best picture I'll grant you but, at least it gives an impression of how the bedroom balconies will feel.

After a short delay John Facey and his team from High "R"  Expectations Inc arrived to start installing the spray foam insulation. The fumes are really noxious and I nearly dug out my old respirator but went outside to work instead. Never was a great lover of NBC warfare.

The foam goes on very quickly and easily but, ……

…. it takes a long time to do all the preparation which involves covering virtually everything, or else it will get covered in foam. This foam is more expensive than conventional insulation but, it is also a vapour barrier layer and therefore in the long run it is not that much more expensive and it saves a great deal of time and effort and has a higher "R" value. So, in my opinion, it is much better value for money. When they have finished, the house will be sealed and I am secretly hoping that there will be another cold spell so I can test how warm the cabin will be with the wood burning stoves providing the heat.

On my last trip to Kalispell in Montana, before Christmas, I bought the lattice work that you can see in the background here. 

I have now put it around the deck (except in front of the windows of the basement, which have to have free escape routes) and stained it all. Note that I have taken away the temporary steps leading up to the main entrance as I am in the process of building the permanent ones.

So things are looking a bit tidier around the sides of the cabin.

I have also now stained all the deck railings and spindles which were put up a couple of weeks ago.

Here you can see one of the bedroom balconies, which I hope will have it's railings in the next week or so.

The one on the other side of the prow. The balconies are 4'6" x 9', which is just enough room for a small Parisian coffee table and a couple of chairs to enjoy your breakfast on and soak up the view of the lake and the Rockies.

The lattice work outside the kitchen door.

Finally, the view of the house from the road.

Time for bed and a fist full of pain killers.

Bring me sunshine

Apologies for the delay this week but, I forgot to take my iPhone out to the cabin on Sunday and there was one last photo I wanted to take before posting. I continued with my main effort of getting the wiring done this week and was interrupted to collect wood for the two small, bedroom, balconies for the top floor. I did the planning and estimating for these balconies the previous week and placed an order for the wood expecting that it would be at least a week, if not two, before it was ready. It was ready the next day. I got the wood from McDonald's mill, which is very near the Indian Band's mill on Highway 93 just this side of the border with the US. The Indian Band are not running their mill full time at the moment and often they sub-contract out orders to McDonald's anyway so, I thought I might as well go straight to the horse's mouth as it were.

Collecting the wood for the balconies wasn't the only distraction. The weather was so good on Monday that I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and stain the wood for the garage door trims.

It was so warm that I got two coats on everything before about 1400 hrs.

By the end of the week all the snow was gone.

The garage trim in place.

I also put some guttering on the front deck roof to take the water away from the front of the house.

The wood from McDonald's for the bedroom balconies - not the North Wing balcony, that will require a lot more.

 I managed to complete all the circuit wiring and now all that remains for me to do before I call for the inspector is to check everything and wire up the main panel.

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.