greenspree.ca at The Sietch

It’s been a while since we updated with some photos so here we go. Later this week we’ll upload some photos of the M&E rough-in’s so far and some more interior work that has been done. Winter, the holidays, a new job, and finding out we are expecting has caused a bit of a slow down in work on the Shire Home, but we hope to get back on track soon!

Before rough backfilling could begin around the house conduit had to be laid to run the underground power into the house. Because of the overhang and supporting post footings this had to be dug by hand. A 20 foot trench three feet deep doesn’t sound that bad till you have to dig it yourself

Here the dozer is spreading out loads of fill over our septic field. Instead of hauling in loads of fill from elsewhere we got it from my wife’s sister’s lot next door where they were wanting to dig a pond! It saved us money on fill and they got the pond they wanted for free!

More fill dumped and ready to spread out around the house. Note the 24” apron of insulation at the base of the floating slab, this will prevent frost from getting under the slab and heaving it.

After the fill has been spread and sloped away from the house! We stockpiled some topsoil for spring next year to spread out over this and support some grass next year. Note too that the 24” of gray parging covered insulation is nearly covered, this also provides some frost protection.

A few days after having the rough grading done around the house we had a wind and rain storm, winds reached 130kph at some points in the Maritimes and was strong enough at our house to blow scaffolding over! Thankfully it didn’t damage anything and wasn’t to hard to straighten.

You can see here that it didn’t blow over completely and myself and my brother-in-law had little problem pushing it back into position.

Putting in the chimney was a snap till we tried to get it through the too snug flashing we had made up for the steel roofing.

Many attempts, shims, screwdrivers, jimmy’s and whatnot later we finally got the flue set properly!

Finally success and the “Unicorn” stove is lit!

Soffit installation at dusk in the cold…. Brrr!

Framing the window next to the future door.

Putting in the stops for the glazing unit to be installed next to the entry door. This was one of the glazing units that was salvaged from a local jobsite and featured triple pane, 2 layer low-e and argon gas! very beefy and efficient!

Straw finished off with a nice radius and openings ready for the small 12″x12″ glazing unit samples we installed on the north face of the building.

Exterior trims/glazing stops made of cedar where exposed and spruce where covered with metal flashings.

Finished glazing units in the kitchen. These fixed units will let in light under the upper cupboards and be super efficient.

Upstairs bedroom walls framed in. A 45 degree wall with a sloped ceiling makes for some tricky cuts on the stud tops. Note the interior window framed in the bedroom wall next to the stairwell opening. This will allow more natural light from the south windows into the bedroom.

Another view of the upstairs framing, this one including the laundry/linen closet between the bedroom and bathroom. The area the picture was taken from is an open living area with southern exposure.

The view down our stairwell opening. The stairs will be built of the same rough sawn 4×8’s the floor is made of along with 2×12 preiumium white fir.

Looking up from the first floor of the stairwell opening. Note the ultra cool exposed 4×8 floor framing!

Looking into the framed in porch with the new strand board temporary door.