So close... and yet so far

First of all, thanks to one and all for the emails and calls.  I guess begging works!

Today, Saturday, we had the heating guys here, supposedly to get the slabs in the garage and shop heated.  Things just didn't work out, the header in the garage is cracked and has to be replaced and the glycol mix was so cold it wouldn't flow in the shop.

So if we are lucky they will be back on Monday and they will continue to work on getting things completed.  I sure hope our damaged unit arrives soon as it is the part of the system that heats the main floor.  Len says we have tri-level heating: not bad in the basement, cold on the main floor, and toasty in the loft.  I like working in the basment because if my feet are warm, I am warm.  And the floor is nice and warm.

Len is almost finished the wiring of the basement.  Just one little change in wiring. Then we will be looking for more to be done in the basement. Mom and Dad, we took down the temporary walls of your bedroom down there so you might want to wait until the drywall is up. 

Len is complaining that all the pictures have him in them.  Well it makes sense as he is the one doing the work.  I do the clean-up, and domestic duties.  Anyway, I captured a couple of pictures when Len wasn't looking and here they are.

those headlights sure come in handy!

one of the heating guys, Mike?

Len had to work out in the -15 cold to get this light wired

How to put wire in foam blocks using a skill saw - makes quite a mess too

Ok, that's it for now.  Take care everyone!
Cath

Ongoing progress

Hi all.  No pictures, sorry. 
The good news is that the heating system is up and running....sort of.  By that I mean that the basement floor is being heated (yes!) but the air circulation system isn't (rats!).  Also we are just using the electric boiler and are not hooked up to the geothermal wells yet.  Still, it is toasty warm in the basement which has inspired Len to get all the wiring finished there.  On the main floor the temperature is creeping upward, only to 8.5 so far.  Unfortunately the blower for the air circulation was damaged in transit and we are waiting for replacement parts.  Meanwhile the house is ready for vapour barrier and then drywall.  Oh yes, I guess there is a little bit of plumbing still to be done.

The days are shorter and shorter, so it will be nice when the house is warm enough to work in during the evenings.  Once we get it above 10 consistently, we can stain, paint and do other work more comfortably.

It sometimes feels like we are talking to the air.  I know you are out there! We would love to hear from our friends from far and wide!  Let us know what you are up to.  Email us at lcaune@shaw.ca or give us a call or even (dare I suggest it?) send me a message on facebook -  cathanurse@gmail.com.   Stay warm, be happy.  Cath

What we did on the weekend - instead of vapour barrier

We wanted to move all the insulation from the house, so decided, what the heck, let's insulate the garage. This was a bit of a challenge as it is full of stuff! Len put plywood on the door openings and we insulated that too. 

Garage full of stuff

Len had to crawl behind boxes to get the job done

We also did a big cleanup of the house, vacuuming up all the little bits of Roxul everywhere. 

Cleaning required a mask and a hat - quite the fashion statement

Len went out and did some reorganization of the wood piles and made sure everything was snow-ready.  Then to top off the weekend, we went up to the Lone Butte Pub and then to Deka Lake to celebrate Elmer's 70th birthday. Had lots of snow over that way, but once in 100 Mile, not very  much.  Just a dusting overnight and now the sky is blue and the ground is white.  Beautiful!

Hoping for heat today.  We'll keep you posted.

11/11/11

Today, besides being Remembrance Day, is Mom and Dad's 61st Anniversary and Kathleen's birthday.  So a special day all around.

Here in the Cariboo we started with a wonderfully warm day so I loaded up the truck and went to the dump. Meanwhile Len was finishing off the last of the insulation in the house, way up top. He is also doing the vapour barrier at the same time so that the scaffold can come down once he is done. (Until drywall I guess).

Early today it was already warm

That's using your head, Len!

About 2 pm the sky turned dark and we heard the rumble of thunder.  The temperature dropped about 5 degrees and it began to snow!  Although it is sticking a bit, it isn't really cold outside.

The darkness coming from the West.  Sun still shining from the East.

Here comes the snow!

Yesterday the heating guys got us 95% toward having heat.  Unfortunately, there was some kind of problem with the boiler and they couldn't get it done before they left for the long weekend.  If the problem isn't too huge we should have heat next week.

Mike and Glen - our heating guys

Meanwhile, we are planning to put up more vapour barrier and do some clean up.  We might get out to play music with Pat this evening if his cold is better.

Len putting up the last of the insulation

We are remembering all of you, our friends and family today, and so thankful for all your support.

HVAC progress

Notice it is progress - not completion!

There are many pipes, valves and gubbins in the utility room now.  We are getting closer.

There are ins and outs for the garage, the shop and the house.

Once it is completed and beautiful, we'll show you.  I suspect we will need a course to know how this system works, but if it works, I guess it doesn't really matter whether we understand it or not.

On the weather front, we had some snow which is sticking so I guess winter is on the way.

Cath

It's So Warm, Can't Sleep... A Nice Problem to Have

The weekend was dedicated to re-insulating the garage loft where we are living.  We had finished the walls, which didn't need to be changed, but the ceiling was started using too much insulation.  The building inspectors want 2.5 inches of air space above the batts, so we needed to change it.  That meant removing all the batts and putting in R14 under R22.  After too full days, it is done!  We  put on one heater and the room stayed at 21 all night.  Too warm to sleep!  So now we are having to experiment with how to set the heater control so that it is more comfortable.  And we can retire 3 other heaters no longer needed.  A nice problem to have.

Len watched movies while doing the work.  It was messy!

Finishing off the entrance.  Len is standing on boards above the stairway

Banjo keeping warm during the process

We are still waiting for  parts to complete our HVAC system.  So while we are toasty in the loft, it is -2 on the main floor. Although Len swears he likes working in the cool, I don't think he would complain if we could get it above freezing.  Maybe today will be the day!  Wouldn't it be  ironic if we ended up having a nice warm house after finally getting the loft warm?  Believe me there will be no complaints.

You'll be the first to know.
Cath

Going green

Still heavy into insulation but making great progress. It's amazing that no matter how much insulation we put in the house, it is still cool inside.  It was a balmy 2 degrees C when I started this morning. A nice temperature for this job. I would hate to be doing this in the heat of the summer so my plan is panning out quite well.

I started with the soffit baffles which will keep the blown in cellulose from falling out of the trusses.

Soffit baffles in the bedroom ceiling 

Insulation in the kitchen walls

Kitchen ceiling

Appropriate garb for sure

I found that wearing a hoody keeps the nasties from my neck and nice and cozy warm as a side benefit.  This stuff is way better than fiberglass but it still can irritate the throat.

Mr. Cool

We have gone through a large number of these packages, R14 is for the ceiling 

Every construction site needs a good ghetto blaster with a good solid case to take a lot of abuse. This seems to work out great.  This fireplace will be working some day so the radio may have to go.

Since wiring the office I had to complete the circuit which included the porch and entry lighting. We now have our first switched light in the house. Progress.

The heating guys have brought some more equipment and should be here tomorrow to start hooking things up.  They are still short the manifold for the basement in-floor heating, any day now they say.

Still toasty warm in the loft so I am not complaining too loudly. Cathryn is in Victoria and Vancouver this week so Banjo snuggles up to me at night. I think that he would stay up there all day if I didn't rouse him for some fresh air.

Going to tackle the great room loft tomorrow.

Len