Week #10 - Back on Track

(March 22-28, 2010)

You may have noted the title of the this week's update and might be wondering what the heck this means? Last week was a whirlwind of activity (including a business trip to Edmonton to set the week in motion) none of which had anything to do with Casa Roa. My sister Carmen was married on the first day of spring (20th) to Mike. Congratulations!! It was a fantastic day preceeded by a week of festivities and preparations. Fun times and well worth the distraction from the construction homefront to partake in the celebrations. So, despite feeling a wee bit tired, I'm getting back on track...

Here is the weekly shot of the exterior of Casa Roa. As you can see, not much has changed since last week. The Jameswood crew tidied up the front yard and the security fence is down leaving a clearer view of the house from the street. Its looking more like home and less like a construction zone!

Quick recap of the week...

The HVAC crew was in to continue with the furnace installation. The furnaces were delivered. Yes, two furnaces - one to heat the upstairs and the other to heat the main floor and basement. Perhaps this is overkill but considering (a) 8 years of space heaters and slippers round-the-clock and (b) this is the overbuilt house, this HVAC set-up is entirely appropriate.

The electricians arrived on Friday to start on the wiring. Nothing to report just yet on this part of construction.

Now that the basement floor is complete, the framing for the new section of the basement was started. If you check out the picture below, you can see where the old wall was cut out (left side of photo). Its a solid chunk of concrete that has some decorative appeal (once you get up close to see the exposed aggregate). :)

And last but not least, the bath tub has been installed!! It was a surprise to see it sitting there all by its lonely self. And look! More insulation. Now we have three times as much insulation as the old house.

Week #9 - A Brief Update

(March 15-21, 2010)

This has been an incredibly busy week!! My sister Carmen was married on Saturday. What a great way to mark the first day of Spring. I had many bridesmaid duties (not to mention a whirlwind trip to Edmonton for a business meeting) that kept me away from the house. The show did however, go on in my absence - thank goodness!!

I haven't had an opportunity to take any Week #9 progress pics but I've listed the highlights below. I'll write more in next week's blog, complete with photos.

• Temporary locks have been installed on all the doors. The front security fence was taken down.
• The basement floor was poured on Friday. It was covered and heated over the weekend to help with the curing process.
• The HVAC crew was in on Thursday to start installing the duct work for the furnace.
• The Jameswood crew installed the rest of the basement windows and tidied up the site. Looking good.

Next week: the electrican(s) start Monday, HVAC continues installation and I'm sure there is lots of selection work for me to get done.

Week #8 - Work Moves Indoors

(March 8-14, 2010)





This is a shot of Casa Roa at the beginning and end of Week #8.

As expected, work began indoors. The plumbing rough-ins were completed.

On Friday, Paul and I did a walk-thru of the house to review everything electrical. We went through every room in the house to check placement and type of electrical component. Good thing! We made only a few but important changes. Without them, we would have had those annoying light switches in places that make no sense. Okay, it was only one but a great save nonetheless. :) All set for the electrican(s) to come in and wire the house up.

The basement...we aren't doing a great deal of development in the basement. In the short term, its primary use will be a fitness area. Joey is in charge of getting this set up. In the meantime, we are having the walls framed and we will take care of the rest, with the help of our brother in-law Sean and others. This is what the basement is looking like right now. There is a big engineered wall offering some support to the main floor. Apparently it is overbuilt, like much of the original foundation, but its better to be safe than sorry.




So, Joey and I often speak about the lack of insulation in the old house. Demolition revealed how energy inefficient this house truly was. The following picture shows how much more efficient the new house already is! Not sure how this piece of insulation found its way into the house but I appreciate the humour in finding it all by its lonesome. A sign of things being on track...

One of the items that Joey and I had on our wish list for the project was the use of recycling for the construction materials. At the time we initated the project, Paul was exploring construction recycling options only to tell us this was not something that was readily available but would continue to check it out. Since this time, Paul has found a recycling solution and I/we are thrilled. In our backyard are two bins - a white bin for waste and a blue bin for recyclables (new construction material only (cardboard, plastic, etc.), not demolition waste). Signs are posted throughout the house that detail which materials are waste and which ones can be recycled. The recyclables are trucked to Okotoks to be sorted. Waste goes to the dump. The company that is responsible for this set-up will track the ratio of recycled material to waste and provide us with a report of this breakdown at the completion of the project. Why is this significant? Other than making us feel good about the amount of material we're not putting in the landfill, this reporting mechanism will be used for future construction projects where homebuilders can recoup portions of an anticipated waste levy that will eventually be paid to the City during the permitting process. We did not pay a levy but apparently its just around the corner. Nonetheless, we're happy that our builder was able to implement a recycling program. Thanks Jameswood!!

Week #7 - Final Framing Bits and a Roof!

(March 1-7, 2010)

The week's activities focused on finishing up the framing. This included installing the front door, the basement walls (including the heavy duty engineered wall), skirting on the front porch, cutting out the vents and other final details.

A roofing crew descended on the house for a few days to shingle the roof.

When time permits, I will post some pics of the house with the new roof and front door. I suspect that the visual progress will start to slow as the trades move in doors.

Next week: plumbing rough-ins and HVAC

Week #6 - A Roof Over our Heads

(February 22-28, 2010)

It was another full week of framing magic at Casa Roa. As of Friday, the house is nearly enclosed.

The rest of the trusses were installed and the roof was sheeted this week. The roof is ready for shingles which could be started on Monday. As this picture shows, it really looks like a house. Its hard to believe that it was a pit of concrete a mere 4 weeks ago. With the exception of the basement windows and front door, the windows and doors are installed. Love it!

The front porch and back deck were also framed during week #6. Of particular interest is the 'barrel' that I had set my sights on for the house design. The arch on the front porch is one of several that have been incorporated into the house design (rest are inside). I'm thrilled with how it has turned out. Curb appeal?? Yes...but then again, I'm a wee bit biased. Ok - it requires some work yet but it has lots of promise. The fourth picture below shows what we will see when standing from inside the front door. The crew also worked on various backframing items inside throughout the week.




Pics of the back of the house below. The first is a photo from the inside looking through the mudroom to our back door. We created a 4ft entry so that moving bikes and gear in and out of the basement can be done with minimal damage to persons and the walls. For those of you having had the privilege of going into the basement at the old house, you will appreciate this enhancement.

Week #7 plans: shingles, remainder of windows and front door, skirting on the front porch, plumbing rough-ins and perhaps the concrete floor will be poured in the new part of the basement.

Week #5 - Framing continues...

(February 15-21, 2010)

As of Saturday morning (my latest visit to the house), the house now has a second story complete with rooms and the start of the roof. I had an opportunity to walk through the house for the first time. I was a bit teary-eyed by the time I got upstairs. I can't believe this is our house. I was so excited by what I saw. I've included some pictures from my tour to give you an idea of how some of the rooms are shaping up.

Upstairs Shots

Master bedroom (facing east)

Kieran's room with downtown view out west window - better view than in old house!!

Main Floor Shots

View from inside of Great Rm looking towards front of house; Great Rm (looking at back of house); Kitchen

Exterior Framing

As I mentioned, the exterior walls on the second floor went up this week. All of the trusses were trucked over later in the week. A crane was used to lift the building materials onto the property. I've included pictures of the exterior framing progress from the week as well as the crane at work.

Backfill

Kieran missed out on the machines this week that were used to backfill the hole left remaining around the new foundation. The 'Deep Excavation' is now gone and we can walk around in the backyard once again. This has freed up a great deal of space as well for construction activities.

Behind the scenes was more selection work. We have a direction for the 'look' of the fireplaces and I'm slowly getting some ideas for the tile. I might even brave a tile store or two this week. haha! With Paul's help (Paul is the senior project manager for Jamewood Homes with a hidden talent for decor), the toilet selections were finalized and the finer points of bathtubs and showers explored. H'mm...still so many decisions to make.

Next week: The framers are scheduled to wrap up their work with the completion of the roof, all backframing, front porch and back deck. Sounds like a lot of work to me but I have no doubt that, judging by the way they work, all will be done according to the current timeline.

Week #4 - Framing Well Underway

(February 8-12, 2010)

This week of work at Casa Roa did not disappoint in the progress department!

The framing crew put the first floor of the house together beginning with the exterior walls and then the interior framing for all rooms. The first wall went up on Monday and the rest followed with the exterior shell of the house being complete mid-week. The framers framed the various rooms (backframing) on the main floor bringing paper plans to reality. Very, very exciting.

The second floor building materials were delivered early Thursday morning. A crane was brought in to lift the floor joists on top of the main floor. Some of the joists were constructed in lengths that made it impossible to move them up by hand.

The second floor framing was well underway on Friday. The crew had all of the second floor joists installed and the floor sheeted (plywood nailed down) by the end of the day. Great stuff! They will start next week off with building and erecting the second floor exterior walls. With any luck, we'll have a roof on the house by the end of next week (week #5). The framer will continue to backframe the interior.

The pictures below show where the week started; the fourth picture shows the joists installed on the second floor.

Supports for Front Porch

Kieran was thrilled to see another 4-wheeled machine at the house this week! A bobcat was brought in (with some difficulties I might add - they built a ramp up the retaining wall to get it on the property) to auger holes for the 4 support posts that the front porch will be built on. They drilled down as 15ft to ensure a hard ground beneath each of the steel supports. Both the front porch and backyard deck are now ready for framers to work their magic. And yes, the bobcat made it safely back down the retaining wall!

Foundation Inspection

Finally, the city inspected the new foundation on Friday. I wasn't there when the inspector arrived but I'm going to assume that no news is good news. Assuming that we got a passing grade on the foundation, the remaining excavated ground around the new foundation will be backfilled during week #5.

It seems as though at the rate things have been going the past couple of weeks, we should be moving in by April! Haha! We might have some windows and doors installed before February is over but I know that there are many, many weeks of work to be done inside. I have a pile of library books on tile to get some ideas for the kitchen backsplash, tile floors and showers and whatever other surface is destined for tile. I better get to it!