Dec 16th

Year End up-date

Our office and jobsite will be closing on Wednesday Dec 21st and will remain closed until Wednesday January 4th, so this posting is a summary as to the status of the project

Siding

the siding has all been delivered to the site and the guys have started the installation.  the first step is to strap the entire building prior to installing the the prefinished wood siding.  this is required for the siding to breath and prevent moisture from building up behind it causing warping.

Pre-stained cedar shakes have been installed on one gable end.  Unfortunately our supplier made an error and shipped us only half of the shakes.  Luckily it is not holding us up and they are rushing to correct their mistake and get us the rest asap.

Windows and Doors

The big news this week is that most of the doors and windows have been delivered (the rest will come next Monday) and installed.  We think that they look great, and by next Wednesday we will have a closed in building ready for some heat.

Insulation

The next big step will be insulating the building.  All the material has been delivered and the guys have the strapping and blocking, needed for the insulation and wall covering, almost all completed and they have  already started to insulate.  The spray foam guys will be in next Monday to apply sound insulation foam to the main floor ceiling, and insulating foam to the perimeter of the second floor joists.

Attic Storage

Attic trusses where installed on each side of the Master bedroom thus creating two attic storage space which will be accessible via fold-down attic stairs in the hallway.  Building code regulations forbids us from closing in the walls of this space which would create an illegal room (due to the lack of escape options) so we have only enclosed it with a 4 foot high wall to allow a more secure storage space and prevent anyone form moving to the rest of the attic and falling through the ceiling.

 

Antique Beams

Mike and Christina have obtained a number of old wood beams which will be installed in the Living Room and Master Bedroom.  The photo below shows one of the beam in place under the engineered floor joists prior to the ceiling being completed.  One beam will be used for the mantle of the fireplace.

Electrical

Darren and his crew will have all the electrical rough-in completed by the end of today ready for electrical inspection and the place is a maze of wires.  I have difficulty understanding how they keep track of what wire goes where.

Plumbing

We passed the plumbing inspection last week so now the plumbers are hard at work adding the pressure tanks, and other fittings ready for the bathroom appliances and kitchen cabinets when they are installed

Electronics

The electronic people were in and rough-in the wiring for the TV and sound system, the CCTV, etc.  Their wiring look more complex that the electrical system.  Those green wires in the control panel and in the Great Room are about one inch in diameter.

Heating and Ventilation

The pipes for the main in-floor heating were all installed before the concrete floor was poured.  The installers have been back to install the pipes for the second floor heating in the bathroom floor and for the radiators in the bedrooms.  The systems supporting the heating and the hot water like the HRV have also been installed, ready to be connected.

Washer/Dryer

The washer and dryer will be located in a second floor closet.  The power, water supply, drain and venting are now all in place

Fireplace

As reported earlier the fireplace has been installed and certified by a WETT installer. 

Natural Gas

A large natural gas tank has been installed behind the garage and a line to the cottage is now in place (yellow pipe below) and the black distribution line can be seen near the bottom of the building which will deliver the gas to the kitchen stove and the heating boiler.

Septic System

The above photo also shows the sewage pipe coming out of the wall which will connect to the sewage pump and tank which appear on the left in the photo.  The pump and tank will be buried when landscaping is completed in the spring.

Cultured Stone

The good weather has allowed our stone mason to completed the stone on the deck perimeter wall and he has been able to do part of the cottage wall.  he will be able to resume once the windows are all installed, weather permitting.  if it is too cold he will move inside and work on the framing and the stone work for the fireplace.

On behalf of

Harry, Gail, Marcel, Jon, Adam, Ben and Matt

please accept our best wishes for a

Joyous Holiday Season

and a

Very Happy New Year.

See you again in 2012

Dec 2nd

This week I have nothing visual to report, but I have very important news.

This week the guys spent a large portion of their time doing all the nitty gritty things that have little if any visual impact, but are nonetheless important to have a good and sturdy building.  That included things like blocking, tying all the walls together, making sure things are squared, etc, etc.

The outcome of that tedious work is that today WE PASSED "FRAMING AND PLUMBING INSPECTION".

That means we can now proceed with the electrical, the heating and the insulation.  The aim to to be able to have heat in the cottage by Christmas, and that is a little ahead of schedule.

Nov 28

The weather is still co-operating, so we continue to make real progress with the exterior of the cottage.

The main roof is now shingled, so that as soon as the windows arrive and are installed within the next week or so, the cottage will be water tight.  It was decided to hold off shingling the porch roof to allow us to use that roof to stage our scaffolds to install the siding (which will be on site in about a week)



The boat port was also reshingled to match the cottage.



The fireplace is now installed and the chimney framed in.  The fireplace could theroretically be lit



The stone mason has completed the deck wall and can be seen installing the lath on the cottage wall in preperation to installing the stone on the front and side walls.



Finally the interior partitions are all going up and are now defining the interior space of the cottage.



To paraphrase a famous politicain 'the cottage is evolving as it should"

November 18, 2011

The guys were back from the hunt camp.  Jon reports that the hunting was a bust, but the camaraderie was a success. 

This week they succeeded in getting most of the porch roof framed.

The roofers were scheduled to start shingling the roof this week with weather conditions including four inches of snow on Thursday prevented them from starting.  A wet plywood gives a poorer roof.

Don is making good progress on getting the stone installed on the deck wall.

Finally the fireplace was installed on Friday.  It still requires the insulated chimney to be added (they were send a damaged elbow and had to get a replacement) the fireplace walls still have to be framed in, and the stone facing installed, but combined with the in-floor heating tubing last week the cottage is getting closer to being winterized. (pardon the bad focus on the last photo)

Overall things are progressing as scheduled

Nov 11



This week was mainly devoted to the sub-trades getting the concrete main floor poured.  Very little was done with the framing since most of ort guys were off for the annual male bonding week.  As is traditional in North country at this time of year, most of our guys were off to their "hunt camp". 

Nature even co-operated by giving them our first snowfall.  The snow only stayed on the ground for a few days but it set the tone.

Before leaving they did get the sand under the floor compacted and the SM Styrofoam insulation in place for the plumber and the heating guys to install the mesh re-enforcement and the tubing for the in-floor heating.

On Friday the concrete was poured and levelled ready for the main floor interior finishing to come.

 Meanwhile the stonemason, Don, was busy installing the cultured stone to the front wall deck.

  

Nov 7

A lot of progress was achieved last week.  The site has been a beehive of activities with most of the sub-trades spending some time on site getting organized.  A lot of the material needed over the next few weeks have been delivered.

1.  The Stonerox cultured stone for the exterior of the deck and walls as well as the chimney are now on site and the stone mason has started to get the walls ready for installation.  The current good weather is going to allow him to get a good head start on the stone work

2.  The "Tall Wall" for the vaulted ceiling in the Master Bedroom is now framed.  Notice that one of the porch roof truss was put in place to determine the height of the porch posts and beams.

3.  The Cottage roof was framed in and sheathed.  As soon as the porch roof is done we can get the shingles installed. 

4.  Notice all the equipment in the above picture.  It was hard at work for most of the week getting the first phases of the septic system installed.  The picture below shows the septic tank and the two pumps required for the system to work.  The pump nearest the cottage will grind the sewage and move it to the tank, and the second pump will move the treated sewage up to the septic bed will be located to the left between the cottage and the garage.

5.  The plumber was in to install the drainage pipes that will be buried under the floor and will connect with the septic system.  The electrician was on site to install the hydro panel below so that we now have power within the cottage.  The rest of the wiring will come later when the framing is all complete.

6.  The deck joists have all been installed in order to organize the location of the posts for the porch roof, and to give the workers a safer work platform.  The joists will be temporarily covered in plywood and the actual cedar decking will only be installed next spring.  (Please note that the deck will not overhang as far as shown.  The joists will be trimmed back once the porch roof is installled).

Finally we are quite proud of our work, so we are taking the liberty of showing who we are, with signs visible both from the road and from the water.