We are in about week 3 of stucco.  Matt, sometimes joined by the owner Dave, has been putting on the tar paper ( 2 layers) and the wire for the past 3  weeks.  Involves a lot of scaffold.  Last week they started the scratch coat and it is about 1/2 done.  Three pallets of cement and 12 yards of sand have been delivered so far.  Fortunate that we were able to get the pressure tank installed early last week so that they have water to mix the mud.

Got the garage doors installed. We needed them as we need to heat the garage/shop for the taping of the drywall. One is operating and the other two are just standing up – they will have the tracks installed once the drywall is done. Doors are insulated to R12.

The drywall board installers finished up on Tuesday. More or less. Overall, they did a really good job. There are very few joints to tape as they ordered and used 8′, 9′, 10′, 12′ and 14′ boards. They did forget a few spots but we will remedy that easily. The taper started on Wednesday – lots of mud, tape and bead.

Here is Mizuho inspecting the drywall. We need to review all the electrical and place a final order for fixtures. Then we will be deciding the flooring, the paint and the tile. I will continue with some cedar siding, some grading and backfilling (although most can only be done after the scaffolding is removed), and sourcing some timbers and trim. Weather has been really good – sunny, warm and dry.

Lots happened last week.  Enjoyed some warm and mostly sunny weather.  View of the shop just after the drywallers installed the gypsum wall board. Scaffolding was lent by a neighbour.  Saw and dust collector on right – really happy with them.

Had 15,000 sq ft of drywall delivered with 4 guys placing it on each floor and separated into 8,9,10,12 and 14 foot lengths, and 54″ widths.  View of drywallers at work. They are doing really good work, but because they like to use large boards with few seams, there is likely more scrap than there would be if I did it (but will look way better).  They will finish this coming week and we will be ready for taping (after installing some temporary construction heaters).

We used up the left over insulation to provide some sound isolation of the laundry room, bathroom and utility room – installed with care and creatively by Susan and Mizuho.  Not sure if it will make a huge difference, but it will be an improvement.

Installed the last 3 pocket door frames. After they are drywalled, all I need to do is build the doors and install them (likely a winter project:)

Stucco guys continued to erect their scaffolding. They should be able to start the first coat later this week or early next. I think their motto is slow and steady.

Big news is that sister Susan and B in L Steve came out for 4 days last week to help out. Susan helped clean up the site and filled about 10 garbage bags. Steve was invaluable in doing some back framing around the stairs and fireplace, helping with the cedar soffits (finished on the weekend with Mizuho), and cutting and installing plywood framing strips for the garage door jambs. But the piece de resistance is the gap. Steve brought his chainsaw and Susan brought her energy and work gloves and they cut a swath through the piled-up fallen trees. I will now be able to get the bobcat around to the back of the garage/shop and house to backfill and landscape.

Beautiful week of weather – valley turned green during the week. Coopie came out for a week to provide guidance and a helping hand – made lots of progress and had a blast. Stucco guy continued his paper and stucco.

Insulators worked on the house last week, and on the shop and garage this week. It only took them about a day and a half to do the shop/garage – R40 in the ceiling, R20 in the walls. Missing fascia delivered, Mizuho painted. Gutters put on. I decided I did not like having the garage wall door tracks hanging in the high ceiling so I got 2 12″ by 26′ long trusses and coop and I built the posts and installed. Will make a platform for storage after drywall.

Stucco guy, Matt, worked by himself. Brought his two large friendly dogs with him to work.

Bought a 3hp saw and 3hp dust collector used. Really good deal. Came with lots of attachments and guides.

This is the beam Coop and I put in. Went much easier than anticipated. Pleased with results.

An example of the spray foam. Building code changed as of Jan 1 but I was grandfathered because I got my permit last year. Most of what we are doing is at or above new code, but some elements are really expensive and rather questionable.

Coop and I got a lot done. We built the posts and installed the beam in the garage, started the cedar soffits, installed locksets on 3 doors, installed two exterior doors, re-installed two supports for roof, reflashed two pipe vents for plumbing, took out temporary beam at the front door and put in an temporary angle post which may well presage the final post. Inspector approved insulation and we decided not to apply for zoning variance to allow for a suite – long story.  Lots to do before all is ready for stucco and for drywall.  Stay tuned.  Another update in a week.

A big week on the mountain. Finished the flashing around the foundation – took longer that planned as the insulation was neither plumb nor level in many places due to some less than stellar work by the contractor. I had to add some additional foam and some nailer strips. Richard and I did the slab prep for the garage and shop on Mon/Tues – final grading and compacting, closing off the openings, laying poly and drilling the foundation to place the rebar 2′ apart and tying the bar together. Poured both slabs on Thursday with the help of Hubert a neighbour wheeling wheelbarrows and Richard’s 70 plus year old father and one other guy. Hubert also licensed his GMC van for the day (it has 540,000 kms) and we put 50 pieces of 20′ rebar on the roof rack. Started pouring 11 metres cubed at 8am (2 trucks) and we had about 4 barrows left over out of about 144 – sign of a good estimate and well prepared base. Finished the power troweling by about 6pm and tarped all the openings until Monday. Hime now has two paw prints on the floor. Pretty excited about soon having a garage and shop that will be covered, insulated, powered and with a floor – we just missed being able to pour the floor before it got cold in December.

Two drywallers came up to measure and give me a quote for boarding and taping. I checked prices with a few suppliers around town – not a lot of price competition on drywall in Kelowna. Got three quotes for garage doors. Will go with side motors and track that follows the vaulted ceiling. Fireplace guys finished the install but did not have the two blower fans so will need to come back. Electricians finished the rough in on Tuesday. Soffit/fascia guys worked well and fast all week. Looking good. They ran out of fascia so will bring more next week. They also put on house wrap for the part that will have siding. Good guys. I put up some backing and they installed the cedar supports I had made for the two eyebrow roofs. Plumber finished his rough-in (except for one shower pan). He cut 2 holes in my brand new roof that will need to be flashed.

The building inspector (good guy) did his thing on Wednesday and passed the framing and mechanical subject to a few details (another smoke alarm, some firestops, a AAV valve for the downstairs sink, and some baffles for the cold air return.

Ended up the week by cleaning the house with Mizuho, taping the joints on the ducting, and with a visit to the regional district to discuss a zoning variance (I need one for the separate suite) and had to go to Canada Customs to amend our import declaration – a long and incredibly bureaucratic story. Really good weather – part sun and cloud, highs about +6 to +9, lows about -1. Stucco guy began to bring over his stuff as well as he will start next week. Ripped 3 sheets of plywood into nailing strips for the window trim, completed all the fire stops, and picked up up some supplies, including an extension ladder, on the weekend.

It has been a busy 10 days.  On the weekend, we had +13 one day and +10 the other, and lots of sun.  The snow is gone and winter is fading fast.  Having released my contractor 3 weeks ago, things are going smoothly, quickly and with much more fun.

We decided on colours for the house, decided on siding (mostly stucco, some hardie plank), and decided on trim (charcoal soffit, fascia and gutters, and white window trim). We selected our soffit/fascia/gutter guy, and painted 250 ft of fascia. We selected our stucco guy, and he agreed to throw in the parging. We decided on an insulation company, and they did some pre-insulation. We got 4 pocket door frames and will install in a few weeks.  Also talked to a drywall boarder about putting up 14,000 sq ft of drywall about 3 weeks from now.  Mechanical rough in was completed on Friday.  Back framing was completed today, and the electrical rough in should be done by tomorrow (lots and lots of decision made on location of lights, plugs and switches.

Once the plumbing rough-in is done, we can get another inspection and proceed to insulation and drywall.  Inspector coming tomorrow to ok the garage/shop.  Rough in for chimney for wood stove in shop also planned for tomorrow.  Need to finish central vac rough-in and flashing for foundation.

Shop floor is now level, at the correct height, and compacted. Will put poly down tomorrow and get 50 20′ pieces of rebar with my neighbour’s van, and then hopefully pour the following week.

Framers worked on Saturday and Sunday to sheath the floor, put up the remaining walls, and drop the ceilings where necessary. They work hard, hustle, and do a good job.

This is the man-cave-to-be. Lots of space, good view.  Debating whether to drywall ceiling or use tongue and groove pine, fir or cedar.

view of the ducting in the basement – a bit larger than anticipated, but the airflow, quiet and efficiency should be very good.

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.

These are the framers – we are having a (almost) lock up party on Friday afternoon after installing the doors that arrived.  Jeff and his crew did a great job and were great to work with – I highly recommend them if you are looking for a framer.  They will be back to do the back-framing in 2 to 3 weeks.

Three months to the day we started work on the foundation footings, we have all the windows in, the roof shingled, the mechanical work started (ducts) and the rough-in plumbing underway. We are about 3 weeks behind my original guesstimate as we had to wait 2 weeks for roof trusses and had about a week of weather delays (with more snow forecast for tonight.  The snow does slow down the work, e.g., the roofers had to shovel off the roof before putting down ice and water shield over the entire roof, and then shingles. The doors arrive tomorrow morning from Vancouver (weather permitting) although two of them will now not arrive until March! Got this news earlier this week. Not a show stopper, but does slow things down a bit again.

We are now busy deciding on plumbing fixtures, insulation, siding, flooring, etc etc.

The windows are high-performance and we have put blue-skin membranes on the sides and a red membrane on the sill – these membranes close over nail holes and seal tight to the wall (when it warms up).

View of the heating/cooling ducts that will be under the floor in the living/dining/kitchen area. The ducts and joist sit on the slab (which is insulated underneath and isolated from the foundation walls). The sub-floor should go on in a few weeks after we run some electrical and pipes for the central vac.

This is the double wall chimney pipe for the wood stove that will go in the basement. The chimney will run through a closed chase through the guest bedroom and the upper floor – should be a great draft.

Kelowna gets an average of 60cm of snow per year. It usually falls a few centimetres a time, and melts within a few days. The past 2 days we got 40 cm. Dry powder snow. The most they have had here since the 1930s. That was 80 years ago. It is beautiful, but does cause problems when you are building. I spent 5 hours plowing the driveway yesterday, and another 2 today.

This is a snow covered tree outside our window. Looks like a cartoon character.

Thankfully, we had the roof on before it snowed. But there is snow everywhere. The roofer had to shovel off the roof before he could continue working.

Photo of garage and shop framed with trusses on. Might be awhile before I get the floor poured and am able to use the shop.

The Okanagan is Canada’s main source of fruits. Best know for apples, grapes and wine. You can buy apples at the apple cooperative year round – they currently have about 15 varieties for sale.

They also have pears, cherries, nectarines, etc, etc.

Some very nice sunsets from the mountain. This was December 29th.