Window holes

On Monday the window holes were cut out, and the place was transformed from a dark and cavernous space into a house. I had been looking forward to that day since we first started putting on the tongue in groove pine. Here is the south side:

And the east side: The lower window is in the master bedroom.

Here is the view standing in the kitchen, looking toward the living room and west wall:

And here is the view standing in the living room looking toward the kitchen (lower right) and the east wall:

Work Safe!

Last Saturday we put the top row of roof panels on the south roof. And when I say 'we' I mean Erick and I by ourselves. There was nothing to tie ourselves to, and for the most part we were standing on the 8" ledge formed by the second-to-the-top row of panels while lugging around the top row. Plus the bracing on the roof went up the north side, so we had to climb up the ladder onto the north roof, then climb up the north roof, and then climb over the peak to stand on the little 8" ledge. I was nervous at first, but I got used to it somewhat. It's a fun place to sit up there - you can see everything!

Anyway, there were lots of cars passing by as we were up there and one of our kind and concerned neighbours must have (out of the goodness of their little heart) called Work Safe NB - just to be sure no one gets hurt. So we were paid a visit by Work Safe NB the other day. They recommended that we buy these special brackets for fall arrest, and really they sound like a good idea.

Oh yeah - the top photo is of our pond. Pretty isn't it? :)

Portrait of Ice

With all the house work, I haven't had much time for painting. I have done a little bit however. Here is a commission I recently completed. 'Ice' is a rescue. His current owner used to walk by where he lived, every day, and see him chained in the yard with a rut where he ran back and forth. One day his current owner knocked on the door and asked if she could take him for a walk, and then a few weeks later she asked if she could buy him. She's had him for seven years.

Ice, 16 x 20 inches, 2010 soft pastel

The panoramic view

I thought it was time for another panoramic view since the last time I posted a panorama the buildings hadn't been started yet:
The barn is coming along as you can see. It's 28' x 48', and the end closer to the house will have two 9 x 12 box stalls, and a small tack and feed room, in addition to a bathroom and plenty of storage for hay. The other half will be used however Mike sees fit. :)

Here you can see some of the interior framing in the house, looking from the living room. The kitchen is on the right, and the stairs will be going up the corner on the left. Behind there is a hallway leading to the master bedroom and the bathroom.

How Emma and Kirby help

Emma and Kirby do their best to help us out in this house building adventure. They have each taken roles upon themselves according to what they do best.

Emma's role is to gather all small (bite sized) pieces of wood lying around and turn them into sawdust. It keeps the mess down and reduces tripping hazards. Very beneficial. Kirby's role is to protect all of our wood (and house) from catching on fire. Here he is in action, putting down one of those pesky straying sparks. Of course, that sometimes means that he loses some whiskers, but it's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

The inside view

I thought I'd post the floorplans today because a) I haven't posted them before, b) not everyone is as well acquainted with the layout as Erick and I, and c) the interior photos will make more sense. ;)

The front door is on the south side. The layout of things in the bathroom will be different, but everything else is pretty much as it will be.
And here is the second floor. We will complete this as needed, and although we have allowed for a bathroom on the 2nd floor, it won't be between the two bedrooms like it's shown here. There will be no walls enclosing the open area, it will just be railing there.

Here are some shots of the interior before we framed the inside walls. If/when we have a climbing wall, it will go up the right side of the roof in this photo. This was taken standing in the living room looking toward the stairs and north east corner.

This was taken standing by the front door, looking north west toward the living room, mudroom, and studio (on the second floor).

This one is looking at what will be the stairs, bathroom, and master bedroom, looking north east.

Panels started

Last week we started putting on the structural insulated panels. For those that don't know what they are, structural insulated panels (as the name implies) provide both structural support and insulation. They are a sandwhich composed of OSB and rigid foam insulation. They perform better than a conventially insulated stud frame wall of an equivalent R-value because there are no studs (which make cold spots). Our wall panels are R-24, and the roof panels are R-42. You screw these babies right onto the frame, and once they're all on, you seal all the seams between panels with maximum expanding wet foam. We haven't gotten to that part yet!

Starting on the panels for the south roof:

Starting the panels for the south wall:

You'll note that there's a gap in the panels on the top of the roof. This is because the pieces we had for that area were too short, so we had to wait until more could be shipped to us. We have the correct panels now, but haven't been back up on the roof since we got them.

More about pine...

As you can see from the pictures I’ve been posting, our house is sheathed in tongue in groove pine. And I must say, it looks lovely. But putting it on there is not so lovely. Take the roof for example – putting the pine on the roof (which has a pitch of 12/12 or 45°) is a lot like slab climbing with a nail gun in one hand and a 12’ board in the other. Then there are the logistics of getting all this pine up there – fortunately we have the zoom boom which makes this a snap, provided you don’t have to measure each piece. When you have to measure each piece separately, you have to cut each piece on the ground and then somehow get that piece up three lifts of staging to the person with the nail gun. This is a lot like climbing Cassonade in Kamouraska with a board in one hand. In the rain. Good times!

When we completed the top portion of the pine on the north roof, we had our harnesses on and were clipping into anchors. Due to the width of the roof (44’) we were perpetually clipping and unclipping from several anchors that traversed the width of the roof. The slack you needed to move around meant a fall of up to 10 feet, which thankfully neither of us had to experience. When the boys (who don’t wear safety gear) helped Erick finish the pine on the south roof, Erick had his harness on until Jared asked him “Hey Erick – Is your nail gun sad that it has a pussy behind it?” And that was the end of the harness wearing.

The pine slog continues

Last week Erick and I both took a 'vacation' from our jobs in order to work on the house. On Saturday (May 29th) we finished putting the tongue in groove pine on the north roof. On Sunday (May 30th) with Chris Norfolk's help, we put the first 15 feet of tongue in groove pine on the south roof. You can see both in the picture below (kindly taken by Chris):
We've done a lot more since then, so I will post more pictures throughout the week. I am actually glad to be back to work this week, because I am exhausted (as is Erick) and need a break!