It has been rather quiet on the site these past 3 weeks.  We are all waiting for the mechanical guys to come back and finish their work.  Once they are done, the framers can finish the back framing, the plumber can finish the rough in, and the electrician can wire the house.  Hopefully, the ducting will be done this week.  We had another big snowfall yesterday, and it is snowing again today (we have already exceeded the monthly average snowfall for February in the first 2 days!).  I believe this is now the snowiest winter on record here in Kelowna.  It looks beautiful, but it really slows things done.  I have done a few things at the house – building stairs to the top floor, insulating, poly and plywood in the mechanical room, beginning to rough in the central vac, installing the skylights in the shop, and figuring out were I want the 220 and 110 in the shop.

As we wait for contractors, we have been finalizing the plumbing choices – taps, showers, bath, sinks – and should be able to order them this week.  We met 2 weeks ago with a lighting specialist and will be meeting her on site later this week to go over the plan and be ready for the electrician.  I have been interviewing contractors for soffits, fascia and gutters, as well as insulators and the bids are coming in.

We have also been going back and forth on whether to go with stucco or with 4′ x 10′ cement fibre panels and on colours for the outside.  We are leaning towards more colour than less – I believe life is too short for beige or taupe.  Some photos are below which indicate what we are considering.

So, over the next 3 weeks I hope to have the mechanical done, the back-framing, and the rough in plumbing.  I hope also to decide on the soffits, fascia and gutters and get them installed this month.  Once we decide on either stucco or CFB, we can either paper and wire or wrap the house in tyvek.  When this is done, and after we get the framing, plumbing and electrical inspection, we can insulate (will need to get a bit of pre-insulation done before the back framing so will need to decide on an insulator sooner rather than later).

Lots of fun, lots of work.