Home Away from Trailer

Above is the cabin so generously offered to us by our neighbors. It is heated by a wood stove which keeps it nice and warm and it has a kitchen, bathroom and a small loft bedroom - perfect!

The neighbors on Charlton have been amazing, Corky and Evelyn who have allowed us to camp on their vacant lot, Bryan and Joyce who have welcomed us and shared their garden produce, Robert and Rya who offered the use of their sauna and shower and Alec and Fiona the owners of the cabin: very kind, welcoming and generous people. We look forward to getting to know them all better and being able to welcome and entertain them in our new home some day soon.

Our Fireplaces Arrive

Our fireplace and wood stove were delivered late today. The wood stove goes into Roy's shop.
I can see him now with a group of friends, beers in hand, telling stories and laughing it up gathered around that stove.... can life get any better?
The wood-burning fireplace goes into our house. The unit is quite large and has to be brought in through a patio door opening. It will be a focal point in our open concept kitchen/living & dining room. In this cold - we can't get it fired up soon enough! Mmmmm, I can almost feel the warmth.

Abandoning ship..

November 23 2010
The forecast was for cold temperatures overnight last night, so we left the heat on in the trailer and spent the night at Dad's in Courtenay. Unfortunately. the water lines froze up anyway, so this morning when we returned it was to no pump/no water/no toilet. It is late November and thinking we might have made it through to when the house was ready was probably unrealistic.
Luckily for us, we have been blessed with wonderful neighbors. A couple living 3 houses down offered us the use of their guest cabin for as long as we needed it...hopefully no later than early January. We have gratefully accepted and moved a few meagre belongings in tonight.
It's a wonderful log cabin with a wood stove and it is warm and cozy. I feel like I'm dreaming and some evil gnome is yet to come along and pinch me...
More on the cabin and the wonderful people living on Charlton Drive later.
We will do our best to shut down the trailer - it's been fun.
Bye-Bye for now.

Where in the World...

November 22, 2010
Where in the world were these photos taken?
Northern Ontario? The Yukon? Siberia?

Answer: East Coast of Vancouver Island
Yes, my friends we got walloped again today. A front came in from the east with high winds whipping the snow into total white-out conditions. I know. I attempted the drive to Courtenay and was forced to turn back when I couldn't see past the hood of my car.
Later when things settled down and with Roy at the wheel we were able to make the trip.
They tell me this is highly unusual weather - earlier snowfall and colder temperatures...
I'm starting to get a complex.

A Tour for Pat

My sister has told me that it's really hard to figure out what the house is about from the pictures I've posted so lets take a tour...


Approaching from the street the furthest door to the left is the entry to the mudroom, laundry, mechanicals and a washroom handy to Roy's workshop. Guests would enter by the door in the center of the shot which brings you into the sun room, behind that wall of windows. From inside the front door I'm looking back and out at Roy, the workshop and carport.


Top left: From the sun room I'm looking to the back of the house where we have 3 patio doors onto the woods and creek. To the left is the kitchen and pantry, to the right the fireplace and sleeping quarters. Top Right: from in front of the fireplace I'm looking at the kitchen and pantry and beyond that to the mudroom door. Through the window: Roy's workshop.


Above Left: Now I'm standing in the kitchen looking toward the bedrooms. The missing rake window is where the wood-burning fireplace will go. Above Right: A half turn and I'm looking back toward the street and the sun room windows. You may have noticed that we have power and lights now, courtesy of our team of hard-working electricians. Light is good, heat will be even better. Tsk, tsk, some people are never satisfied...



Above right: view of the house from the woods (I'm behind the workshop) - at the mudroom, kitchen window and patio doors. Above right: a view down the bedroom side, the woods and Roy's wood pile in the background. The "jut out" is the ensuite bathroom.
The yellow power cords runs to the boundary of our lot, over the fence of our neighbors (Corky and Evelyn) and across their lot to the neighboring lot (also Corky's) where we reside in our trailer. Power is a little limited - we can run the heater OR the kettle Or the toaster, but ONLY one at a time. Keeps things interesting...


Above left: our home for the last 6 months, looking a little desolate and scary in the snow. Above right: completing the tour I'm standing on the road in front of Corky's hedge and looking at our lot, and the cars, trucks and trailers of the tradespeople working on our house. In this small community we are an employer of means, by no means. Pat, I hope the tour helps .

Friday, November 20

I rented a movie for Roy and I to watch - it's Friday night after all. We watch movies on our 15" computer monitor as we don't have TV in the trailer. So we're watching the movie, it's pitch dark out (and I mean pitch dark - no street lights out here in the country) and we notice this ethereal glow coming through the window... what could it be? SNOW, falling lightly but steadily down, and settling on the ferns and cedars....and staying. Hmmmm, that's not supposed to happen here.


End of our driveway, view down Charlton Drive and detail shots that make me shiver.

It's not an "eastern-style deep freeze" on Saturday morning and only a few inches have accumulated, but folks here get a little "freaked" when dealing with the white stuff, so the guy that was coming to grind our floors cancels and suddenly we're free for the day. We take a run up to Courtenay and I'm back to shooting through the windshield again.


The road at Deep Bay, mountains in the background and pit stop at Buckley Bay for gas.


We have heard that the Weather Forecasters are predicting that this will be the longest and coldest winter in the last 57 years. Where do they get this stuff? Roy and I have even been accused of bringing the cold weather with us from Ontario. All in good fun right?... Right?


The Estuary in Courtenay, the Puntledge River and the mountains of the Comox Valley.

Decision Time

We have enjoyed a wonderful time with our framer/carpenters, a time when most things have been in the plans and pretty predictable. Small issues have been relatively easy to correct and most times common sense has dictated the outcome. The crew have been extremely good to work with, generous with their knowledge and their explanations and patient with answers to stupid questions. Their skill at their trade made everything seem easy. I have been lulled into a false sense of security and well-being, congratulating myself on how well everything has been going ....then WHAM!! It's Decision time!


The Siding guys making short work of our cedar and a detail of the trim around the windows.

Suddenly we're at the mercy of the "other" Trades - the "Siding" guy wants to know how we want to handle the detail of the siding...."no framing around the windows, or 4 or 5 piece framing? how wide is the framing, how thick? Details at the bottom, drip ledges, bug screen, type of rainwall, how many rows of shakes and on and on. All of these decisions have consequences: cost of course, and how the house will ultimately look. Will we be happy with the outcome?
Everyone keeps asking me "what is the look I'm after?" If I tell them "rustic-contemporary west coast beach-house" do you think it will help?


The crazy "wire" wall (a work in progress) and we now have power

Same with the Electrician, stuff you don't think much about - where to place switches? What kind of lighting and where? These may be simple decisions in a traditional home, but it gets complicated in an open concept home with lots of windows and lots of pocket doors. We don't have a lot of walls for switches. Funny, the things you don't anticipate. Lighting has been painful.

Today we had the siding guys & the electricians, the plumbers paid a visit as did the flooring guy.
At one point it seems they all wanted to talk to me and I don't recall what I said to who.
I hope the siding guy is not installing the tub and the flooring guy hanging lights....
And where you ask was Roy? Hiding in the trailer.

Life on an Island

Vancouver Island is the largest island off the west coast of North America, about 320 miles (or 500k) long. To live here doesn't really feel like an island; everything you could want is here. It may take a bit of a drive, but there is shopping too - Costco, Home Depot and all the other big boxes of interest to someone building a home....hmm, not quite ALL of the big boxes. There is no IKEA on Vancouver Island and I have wanted to check out their kitchen cabinets and wardrobes and some other housewares at before final decision time.
To get there means a trip to Vancouver and suddenly "You know you are on an Island".
Don't laugh: Roy and I got up at 6:00 AM to drive to Dukes Point to catch the 7:45 ferry to Tsawwassen (a 2 hour crossing) to get to the store by 10:00AM. Cost: $72.00 each way. Yikes. We won't be doing this too often.
The trip to Vancouver reminded us of all the things we dislike about the city: crowds and traffic and although we went on a weekday, IKEA was packed. Turns out that Remembrance Day is a big holiday out here in western Canada, not just for banks and the LCBO.
Anyway it was a worthwhile exercise just to know that the logistics would be insane. Imagine mistakes and having to do returns...

Locked Up at Last

The doors and windows are in and we have a complete roof - WooHoo!
The "Wet Coast" can be as wet as it wants now and we will not lay awake at night worrying about it. What a relief this is for both of us.
Next up: electrical outlets and lighting, insulation and poly for the ceilings, then exterior siding and soffits, (before drywall, because pounding on the outside walls ruins finished drywall on the inside-who would have thought?) grinding the floors, installing the fireplace and finally drywall. Then the fun part: the kitchen....

It's Official

We've joined the ranks of farmers and rednecks. We wear work boots and plaid jackets and we finally broke down and bought a pick-up. If my friends on Bay Street could only see me now...
It was impossible to lug home 2x4's and other building materials in the Acura. The folks at the local Irly store were really tasked to come up with new and creative ways to make things fit whenever I went in there. Eventually when the building part is behind us, it will be gardening materials and plants and who knows what all else. So the Sports Car as Roy called it will have to go. It's been a great car. Lots of memories.... but a truck has possibilities for bigger and better things!

Ever Closer to Lock-up

On Monday Roy went to work reading meters for Qualicum Bay-Horne Lake Waterworks - did I ever mention that he had a part-time job with them...? Hmmm, may have been overlooked (long story)... but he does.
Monday was also another Pacific Rain Forest Day (rained) and no trades came to "play" at our house.





Tuesday morning, Roy's workshop got a shiny, new concrete floor. The shop is sure to be his "Man-Cave" and will probably never look this good again...





Our carpenters were back to strap the gable portion of the roof in preparation for the installation of the metal roofing and to finish hanging the fascia boards. I have learned that carpenters are akin to tightrope walkers: unbelievable balance and no fear of heights. I can't watch as they walk along the tops of walls, stepping over trusses and carrying heavy pieces of lumber, skylights etc...
I had spent Tuesday morning squeegeeing Monday's rain, but a small pool remained on the floor and I was able to get some interesting reflections of our "aerial acrobats" at work on the roof.



More frightening than the carpenters on the roof is Roy on the roof..and they've entrusted him with a power nailer!



Wednesday saw the return of the roofers to finish the flat roof and the arrival of the HRV (heat recovery ventilation) guys to start the installation of the ducts and vents that will provide fresh air in our house. Because we have in-floor heating instead of forced-air an HRV system is necessary for air replacement and circulation and the removal of humidity in the bathrooms, kitchen & laundry. Quiet and unobtrusive vents in every room will do the job for us.



..and today they noticed me lurking around and decided to put me to work papering windows. Marcel patiently gave me "Window paper and Blueskin 101" and turned me loose with a tacker. Code requires these relatively new measures be taken to prevent water seepage, much of this resulting from the "Leaky Condo" scandal that took place in Vancouver a number of years ago.
So much time and effort dedicated to preventing all of this rain from getting into a house, about proper air circulation and ventilation...not concerns that I recall from Ontario - but huge here.
Welcome to a brave new world: wood framing and lots and lots of moisture.



This week ended on a very high note: we completed the fascia on the gable (ready for the metal roof) and installed most of the windows and the garage door. Man doors still to come.



All going well - Tuesday our roof will be completed and we will be able to install the remainder of the windows & doors and start to dry the place out...and I will finally "hang up" my squeegee!