Bathroom progress

I'm getting right into this bathroom thing. Bathrooms seem to have the most complicated challenges for the builder. Plumbing, of course, and how to keep it all from freezing when it's all on an outside wall. You will notice the pink super insulation. I have four inches behind all the piping which should be plenty. There is a wallboard to put up as backing for our tiling and then the tiles.

Plumbing in place

All insulation completed

Curb in place for mortar and shower membrane

We will have a small partition with glass on top for the other wall of the shower. It starts to get tricky at this point, since there will also be a small shelf along the top. We are going to have a nice fir post at each end of the partition which will eventually support the glass. This will be in keeping with the theme of our house, that is, the more wood the better.

A small wall for starters.

Tomorrow I will put the first layer of mortar down as the base for the membrane, then more mortar on top of that as a base fore the floor tiling.

Len

Planning, building, and putting it altogether

This week Len has been scratching his head, mulling over the plans for the master bath.  We are trying to find some very specific parts and here in the Cariboo, it isn't as easy as running to the local specialty store.  SO...

What you can't readily buy, you might just as well make.  He started by making two posts for the frame of the glass, using one big post and cutting it down

One big piece of wood 8x8

Cut using a variety of implements 

The final two pieces

Smoothing them out in the planer

 He also was a good guy and got the toilet in.  He had to do some of the tiling first.  We have our priorities!

First the tiles went in

Its a start

The rest of the bathroom has a way to go before completion

 Len decided to use some aluminum he has to make the clips to hold the 4' X 4' piece of glass that will make up one wall of the shower.  He couldn't  a. wait to have them shipped or b. pay what was being asked.

Finely crafted

Drilling holes to be tapped for screws

Store bought

Made in the Aune machine shop

Loft stairwell to garage room

 The drywall crew was also busy Wed, Thurs and today.  Two coats on already.
The weather is pretty good and so we took time for a couple of skiing outings since the snow is so perfect.  It will be interesting to see if Len actually takes the weekend off.  We hope to do a bit more skiing and will practice music too.

Cath

One last thing to finish the great room

This week the baseboards were completed and the room looks great. Here are some shots of the finished and "long awaited for" great room area.

From the dining room

From the loft

Bird's eye view

Now it's time to finish the ensuite which, of course, is the most complicated room in the house. We have this great plan for a walk-in, walk-out shower with a big chunk of glass on a 45 degree angle to the corner. Hope it works.  First things first, the floor is strengthened for tiles by adding some more plywood.

All the bits are waiting

First the plywood goes down

 Then the sun came out and whoops the snow-stop on the sun side could not hold back 16 inches of snow and with the help of a bit of gravity, down it came.  Too wet and heavy to shovel so, what the heck, get the snow blower.

Quite a pile but it worked

About 20 inches of solid avalanche

It was hard sloggin' as the snow had compacted on impact and froze to the deck. That might have something to do with nursing a sore back today. See the bright blue sky, very nice up here in the sun.

I'm going to tile the front half of the bathroom to set the toilet in place for someone's nocturnal needs and then work on the curb and wall for the shower. Should be interesting.  We are also waiting for the drywall finishers to come next week sometime to get started on finishing the garage loft walls and ceiling.

Kyla is out for a birthday weekend visit, along with Deuce, her chocolate lab.  We have gone for a couple of skis and will go again today, once it warms up a bit.

Len

It only took 2 years, 7 months and 20 days

Today was especially gratifying for yours truly. A single piece of paper says it all, we have passed our final building inspection. Our first permit was taken out in May of 2010 when the boys at 100 Mile started working on the footings for the house. We got the house to lockup that year and I came out the next year in April to continue with the finishing and the construction of the shop.   We spent a cold winter in the house doing insulating and drywalling. The next year we got to the outside finishing and the final touches to the inside which brings us to today, enjoying a beautiful home in the beautiful land of snow, 108 Mile Ranch.

All that for this little piece of paper

All they write is FILE COMPLETE , hoo boy

 One other piece of paperwork was also nice to get, our final electrical inspection. This is a pretty complicated house for power distribution and I think Bob the inspector was duly impressed. It isn't such a big deal when you take all the pieces one at a time but the paper is still great to have.

Final electrical inspection, more paperwork for the I love me wall

Back to work.  I have finished all the doors except the master bath and now I am finished with baseboards in the great room. I am waiting for 2 baseboard heater vets to finish the kitchen and the painting of all these pieces tends to slow down the process somewhat. I will finish the Master bedroom and put another coat of paint on pieces tomorrow to finish the office and the bathroom.  I am leaving the laundry room for now as I will have to create a vanity wash area which I think I will do at the same time as the master bath vanity.

Stairway baseboard

Great room looking pretty finished now.

Our last task will be to do some cleanup and finish work on the posts and beams but that is down the priority list at this time.

A fine end to a fine day, Jan 15, 2013

Finishing and other delights

Since our last post, Len has done most of the framing around all the interior doors and installed the closet doors too.  Don't get too excited - that is a total of 2 closets on the main floor, one in the office and one in the front hall.

He is staying true to his word to not work (too much) on weekends and has been observed reading novels and going out to a couple of movies.  Most recently we saw the Hobbit and Life of Pi.  The Hobbit was what you would expect from a Lord of the Rings-type trilogy.  Life of Pi was fantastic.  The CG effects were outstanding - I would love to see the "Making Of" to find out when we were looking at real animals and when they were CG.  But I digress....

Measuring for the laundry room trim

Office junk is now hidden.  The door still needs to be painted.

A front hall closet, what a concept!

We also had our final electrical inspection - passed with flying colours!

This weekend is a bit chilly, but we bundled up and headed out to see some dog sled races at the local gathering place.  You can see by the picture that the snow was perfect and the sky was blue.

6 huskies - eager to run

Now Len is back to reading while I blog and make dinner.  It's a nice life!

Cath

Holidays are over get back to work

Yes the holidays have come to an abrupt end.  We did however finish the year with a nice visit from Sid and Shawn Tozer of Vernon bluegrass fame. We brought in the new year with bubbly and a warm hot tub. Thanks guys it was great to actually stay up late enough to see in the new year. We did some cross country on new years day in the Walker Valley. Great snow.

 My first project was to contain any floods from the water softener system. A big rectangular tupperware container and some tubing.

Lots of drains

We bought a whole house humidifier so that was the next job on the list. It was a 2 day project.

Cutting a square hole, no challenge for an aircraft structures professional like I are

The round hole on the return duct was next

A bit of connection plenum 

Lots of wiring and tubing

The humidity has gone from 20 to 32 overnight

 There were extra wires running to the upstairs thermostat so I borrowed a couple for the humidistat and voila she's up and running.

Now I will be starting closet doors so the frames will be finished for baseboard work.  There are two closets and two pocket doors to finish.  Cathryn has painted what I estimate will be all of the trim needed for the main floor.

 I will have to take doors and some mouldings down from the garage loft so our drywaller can start finishing up there. Maybe Monday.

Len