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.

Oct 28 - 11:30

It is looking more like a cottage every day.  As of 11:30 this morning about half the roof trusses were installed and by the end of the day all the trusses should be in place.



As can be noted the entire 2nd floor has been framed including all the interior partitions.  A crane was being used to raise the large trusses into place.

One of the attic truss being lifted over the trees

The north wall is now closed in

Next week everything gets anchored down and the guys will begin installing the roof plywood.



Oct 25

The cottage started to take shape during the last five days.  The main floor exterior walls were all framed, the beams to support the floor were put in place, the Engineered Wood floor joists were all put in place and by the end of today the plywood on the floor will all be installed.

The framing package for the second floor walls is being delivered this afternoon and the engineered roof trusses should arrive shortly. 

By the end of this week the place should start to look like the cottage it will be.

View from the boat port

View from shore. 

The concrete block wall in the foreground will be covered in cultured stone. 

After some debate and a lot of looking, Christina and Mike locked in the style and colour of stone on Monday.  The stone mason will start installing it the week of November 1st. 

At a later date a covered deck and screened porch will be added on top of the block walls

Earlier I indicated that Engineered Wood joists were installed to hold the floor.  The above photo shows what they look like. These I joists revolutionized the way we build floors.  it allows for longer joists (available up to 48 feet), faster installation and better floors. 

The top and bottom chords of the wood I joists are manufactured from graded lumber.  The web is made from stress rated oriented strand board (chipboard).  They are engineered to provide strength and consistency.  The dimensional stability of engineeered wood joists helps them resist the warping, twisting and shrinkage that can lead to squeaky floors.  Their lengths allow for longer spans without beams which are inherent in traditional dimensional lumber floors. 

 

Here Jake is installing bridging to add stability to the longer joists, and Ben is applying lumber adhesive to glue the plywood to the joists before power nailing the plywood down.  The result will be a floor that does not squeak.

Finally this is the crew that is producing Christina and Mike's cottage.

From left, Jon, who is in charge of this job site, Jake, Ben, Adam and Harry Singer,

owner of Singer Construction (Tyler is absent enjoying his honeymoon)

Oct 17

Not a lot has happened in the last two weeks because our crew had to be pulled out for the first week to frame a boathouse which had been planned for completion before the start of this project, but was delayed due to permit problems, and Tyler took time off to get married.

They are back now and the ICF foundation has been put up, inspected and the concrete pour. The first floor exterior wall package has been delivered and the actual framing is starting. In another week it will start to look like a new cottage is happening.

For the uninitiated ICF stands for "Insulate Concrete Form" They are like giant Lego blocks and they assemble like them as well. Each block is 18" high and 96" long. They have 1-5/8" of insulating foam on each side and we add rebar to the inside and fill the cavity with concrete. The resulting wall is very strong, and has insulation value twice better than a wood frame wall. This is perfect for this cottage because it will protect the floor from the cold and frost and will make the heated concrete floor much more efficient.

The following pictures show some of the steps in building the foundation. The high wall at the back is to protect from the elevated back filling from the septic installation in the back yard.

 

Once the concrete was poured into the ICF blocks the foundation was ready to start the framing or building of the cottage

The area in the middle will be a heated concrete floor which will only be poured after the cottage is all framed and the roof is up.  At that time heating pipes will be added to the floor over insulating foam,  the concrete will be poured and the main floor interior walls will be added.

In the meantime the lumber to frame the walls and the second floor of the cottage is now on site and this week the guys will start to frame the structure.  Weather permitting, next week at this time we will be able to see the main floor walls all framed up. 

September 26-30

Last week’s progress saw the completion and pouring of the footings

and the back filling and compacting of the interior of the footings

The next step will see the installation after Thanksgiving

of the Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) for the foundation walls