Inspector came by and subject to two conditions, gave us our occupancy permit! We need to give him a certificate re the insulation put into the house, and an HVAC certificate. Former already provided; he should have the latter Monday morning.  So, we beat by 4 days the deadline we set last September.

We move in on Monday but there is lots left to do.  “Final” install of HVAC system done on Thursday, but still need to get timer wired for intake and exhaust fans, and a few floor vents installed.  Timing is very good as the forecast for the weeekend is for +38, about 13 degrees higher than normal.  Electricians mostly done except for a couple of fixtures, a few cover plates, and the panel for the cat5 and fibre optic cables.  Carpeting still not done as they ran out and need to get more (next week perhaps) for the guest bedroom and WIC.  And on the outside, the siding guys have to come back to replace a few pieces, install a few pieces of fascia, and put on the downspouts.  And we need to get the internet guys here to put on a satellite dish that will point at a tower on the other side of the valley.  And as I write this on Saturday morning, Dave the stucco  guy is finishing off the parging and should be taking away the last of his stuff.

The biggest issue is the kitchen countertop.  We were not happy with the edge (pitted and bumpy), the seam (visible and not even) and the opening for the range (not level).  A service guy came out and agreed, so they took out the countertop (had to remove the sink and faucet and broke a trim piece on the sink cabinet).  It was going to be repolished on the weekend and installed on Monday but  we found out on Friday that they are now going to remake the entire countertop so we will learn on Monday how long it will take.  Sigh.

The rest of the work to do is pretty much up to us – cabinets, doors, drawers, trim on the main floor.  Installing flooring and trim on the upper floor.  Deciding on and installing stairs to upper floor.  Completing some of the backfilling and a rock wall or two.

This will be the gable on the side of the cabinet in your bathroom.  Planed down some fir 1x4s, edge jointed them into panels, cut a dado (groove) in the  verticals and horizontals, and then glued them up.  This has been sanded and has one coat of oil – it will get one or two more and then I’ll put it in.  I need to get this one and the one in the ensuite done in order for the wall mirrors to go in.  I like the look of it but it did take be a lot more time than anticipated.

This is the soapstone countertop with the enhancer on it and the pendant lights installed.

T-shirt from my former life. I did a tour of several Asian capitals back in ’97 to sell them on an APEC trade facilitation initiative. One of my colleagues had the shirts made up for me and the fellow who joined me from Ottawa.

A railing is required to get the occupancy permit so I had to build a temporary one. Will see today if it meets with the approval of the inspector.

Took a load of cardboard and Styrofoam to the recycling depot. Nice to have it all out of the house.

This blog has become a bit like one of those cooking or motorcycle building shows where they are working against a deadline and just make it at the end of the show.  There will be lots and lots to do in the house over the next 6 days, 6 weeks and 6 months, but I am cautiously optimistic we will be able to get our occupancy permit next week.  I certainly hope so as we are moving in one week from today.

After almost 4 months, the stucco guys are nearing the end. This shows the parging on the shop/garage foundation that they did on Sunday.  Now that it is on, I can proceed with the rockwall building, backfilling and final grading.  Final grade shall likely be about 6″ below the stucco.  Also need to put the trim on the windows, but I expect that will be an early fall job.

Finally got around to completing the stairs to the top floor on the weekend. These are not the final stairs but I hope they shall be sufficient for the occupancy permit.  I made need to put proper handrails on rather than the 2x4s.  Was able to use up some left-over material.  Also built a railing around the stair opening on the upper floor.

We are happy with the maple flooring. Needs a good dusting and wet mopping.  Floor is various widths (3″ to 7″) with most of the pieces 7 to 9 feet long, rather than the usual 3 feet.  There are also a few pieces with some wild grain.

Kitchen appliances are now in, except for the slide-in range. The countertop installation was not good (they are coming back on Wednesday to address several issues) and it is not level beside the range opening.  All plumbing now done.

Stucco guys come back tomorrow ( they say) to finish the parging and floating of the foam insulation on the house.  Have been waiting for this day for almost 4 months.  Once completed, we can get the propane tanks installed (for the fireplace and BBQ), run the downspouts, and start on the finish grade around the house.  Electrician is back tomorrow to finish off all that is left, except for what cannot yet be done because I have not yet built the upper cabinets or the sunporch (valence lights, kitchen exhaust fan, porch lights).  Soapstone guy should be back on Wednesday to put on the “enhancer”.  Shower door guys are coming on Wednesday to measure.  John the building inspector comes on Wednesday  and hopefully approves everything but the mechanical (HVAC) which awaits final installation on Thursday.  Major jobs over the next week will be attending to whatever the inspector wants, finishing up the packing, and staying sane.  An end-of-the-day glass of Nikka 17 year old Taketsuru malt whiskey helps with the latter.

Heatwave coming with low 30’s mid-week and high 30’s by the weekend.  So far, the house has been really temperate.  Hope all is well in your world.

Carpet laid yesterday in bedroom and guest bedroom. They were 1 yard short so shall have to finish up when the re-order comes in. Sigh. But it was well done. Colour is not pumpkin but rather a colour that evokes Daisuke’s coat colour.

Started on the maple hardwood today and will finish tomorrow. The company we got it from buys the raw wood, mills it into hardwood flooring, and then stains and coats it with an oil/wax covering. Ours is natural unstained maple so it has lots of colour variation, mostly from heart and sapwood wood I believe. Much of it is 8′ lengths and it is in random widths from 3″ to 7″.

Another view of the wood. Needs a good dusting.

After 3.5 months, the stucco guys finally cleaned up their stuff and we regained the parking area.  A neighbour came by and picked up the pile of scrap wood and offcuts as well.  Still some pallets and a large pile of sand that will be used for parging and for backfilling.

And they finally finished the last wall of the garage.

The plumbers finished all the hooks ups of sinks, outside hoses, etc (but need to come back – hopefully tomorrow – to install one toilet, the dishwasher and the rain shower).  The tilers finished grouting the baseboard tiles in the two bathrooms.  The stove guys put in the fresh-air intake for the wood stove.  I built and installed the laundry counter and sink, did a bunch of odds jobs, and built the remaining flight of stairs to the upper floor.  These will be temporary stairs that will hopefully pass the inspection and will be replaced with some custom stairs once I have some time – perhaps Christmas, perhaps Christmas this year, perhaps not – on va voir.

After several months of warm sunny weather, we are getting a bit of welcome rain tonight – it smells really nice through the window.

Big week!  Lots of visual progress.

New granite countertop went in on Wednesday. Mostly pleased but seam is more visible than it should be.  We are discussing.  I installed cork floor today.  Colour resembles Daisuke’s coat.  Plumber will be back (is supposed to be back) next week to connect up all the sinks. The rest of the kitchen is in my hands and will be completed in the fullness of time.:)

Quartz sink in the guest bathroom.

My favorite – soapstone in the ensuite. It will be matte black with white veining after we put some “enhancer” on it. Decided to go with one sink rather than two – less to clean and we don’t need to get up and rush out in the mornings at the same time anymore.

Heat exchanger installed on Friday. Final hookups for the HVAC will be done on the 25th.  Stucco guys finally cleaned up most of their mess and we have regained the upper parking area.

Next week should be appliance delivery, install of tile toekicks in the bathrooms, completion of the acrylic stucco and starting of the parging, hook up of the last toilet, 3 sinks (4 if I get the laundry cabinet built in time), the dishwasher, fridge and two hose bibs, and a Lee Valley shipment (stuff needed for the drawers and doors).  We also expect to have the maple flooring delivered, and some carpet installed in two bedrooms. I need to get new tires for the car (I think racing around the F1 track in Bahrain took a few years off the tires), we will continue packing and moving some of the fragile stuff, and make some decision on shower doors and mirrors.  I hope to build the laundry sink cabinet, complete the cork toe kick in the kitchen, finish building a rock wall, do some more backfilling, buy a few more light fixtures, complete some cedar edging in the ensuite, make a few drawers, and start on the trim.

Weather great, still have loads of fun.  Sleeping well.  cheers.

These are the kitchen cabinet bases, with cherry edging.  Tall cabinets in back left will be the pantry and microwave house.  Range on far wall, sink on right hand side below window, peninsula in foreground with two pendants overhead.  Should have granite countertop and sink installed this week and, if I get to it, cork flooring.

Guest bathroom cabinets, with fir edging. This one will have a quartz countertop and fir doors and drawers.

Ensuite cabinets. They will have cedar edging applied in situ. This cabinet will be built more like a piece of furniture than a regular vanity. Countertop will be soapstone extending over the pony wall.

Shop and garage. Lights installed. Stucco finished except for one wall of garage. They were going to finish it this morning but got part way through and ran out of acrylic stucco. So they will need to float another coat  over the entire wall and finish it on Friday.  Wood in foreground is from a dead tree B in Law Steve cut down a few weeks ago and I split with our new wood splitter from Princess Auto.  Really slick hydraulic splitter.

Stucco guys make a bit of a mess. They still have the one wall to do, and some parging on the exterior foam. All this junk should be history soon (he says optimistically). We have been having a heat wave with the past few days about 33 above, but going down to 15 at night.

Some of the local peas – there is a vegetable farmer just up the road and he has a sign that indicates what is ready. Two weeks ago it was peas. Really tasty.  Especially with butter.

Busy week ahead.  3 countertops to be installed, fresh air intake for the stove, stucco and clean up, window cleaning and screen installation, heat pump install, putting cork floor in kitchen, designing stairs and cabinet for laundry room, and packing.  Moving day is T – 20.

Cam came to town for 8 plus 2 days to help build cabinets and to share his knowledge and experience with me.  In a very full and very fun ten days, we made some jigs for the equipment, and built and installed base cabinets for the kitchen, guest bathroom and ensuite.  We also built 5 drawers, and two cabinet drawers.  We also put in two door jambs and cut the material for 2 interior doors and did a number of other odd jobs.  Photo below is Cam cutting tenons for a cabinet door.  A man with many skills and much patience.

New (to me) planer. A two year old machine with helical cutters that I got for less than 1/2 the price of a new one.  Powerful machine that does a great job surfacing wood and planing it to the thickness desired.  Glad I put in the 220 v outlets.

Drawers and doors – Drawers are Baltic birch bottoms, maple veneer plywood sides, and cherry hardwood edging and fronts.  There will be a bank of five drawers in the peninsula (and another 25 or so scattered around the kitchen).  Drawers now need to be scraped and sanded, sprayed with 3 coats of polyurethane, and then have the fronts installed and the finished drawers installed in the cabinets.  The doors are 3/4″ cherry hardwood with 1/2″ cherry veneered sheets.  These will be oiled.  Over time, the cherry will darken into a warm rich hue.  The helmet is for the ATV, Cam’s preferred choice of transport between the rental house and the building site.

This is the first of many interior fir doors.  The wood is mostly clear, much of it vertical grained.  The rails and stiles are 1 1/2″ thick so the doors will weigh a lot (they will need 4 hinges).  Joinery is mortise and tenon and they will be finished with tung oil.  We cut and fit the material for two doors – guest bathroom and guest bedroom.  They need to be sanded, assembled, sanded, oiled and then hung.  Assembly has to wait until I can get 4 more 40″ Bessey clamps – I had to order some as none were to be had here in Kelowna.  The rest of the interior doors will be a fall project.

This wood all came from the Oyama Sawmill which stopped cutting about 4 years ago and has been selling off all its wood. Got to know the only guy left working there (2 days a week) and have been getting really good deals (like 75% off lumber store prices) and really good wood.  But it has become harder and harder to find what I want as the good stuff has been mostly picked over (I should have been there 2 years ago).  As such, I decided to load up and get most of what I will need for the interior doors, interior trim, and the exterior post and beams for the two porches. Because there was not enough clear 1×6 for the interior trim, I got several hundred feet of 1×3 clear T&G flooring that I will edge joint and use instead.  Not shown is the cherry and the various veneered plywood – good place in town that specializes in hardwood and veneers.  This wood will keep me busy for many many months, once I get time to start on it.  Truck will have to park outside for the winter.

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