House Construction Wrapup

The two weeks of building are over and we're back in Vancouver. Who knew that we could frame in an entire house and get it pretty much to lockup in 16 days. It never would have happened without the amazing support and help that we got.

It all started with Tom, Iain, and Mike who came up with me on the first weekend to build the floor. First thing on Saturday morning they were up and itchin' to cut into the lumber. In a day and a half the entire floor was leveled, squared, and ready to serve as foundation for the rest of the house.

When they left, Marc Lemieux showed up from Kingston to spend a week with us. In that week I learned more about framing than I could have imagined. Each day was dawn to dusk work with a delicious lunch, made by Rachelle, as the only break.

In that week we framed the entire place. The last wall went in at 5:45PM, the night before he left. The feeling of accomplishment that I had at the end of that week is indescribable. It was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life.

The next weekend, Jeff and Sarah came up and helped with sheeting the walls, installed the stud blocking, and raised the huge tarp that will serve as our roof for the next few weeks. It was Sarah's first time using a chop saw and an ax and both she and Jeff did amazing work.

My mom, Marilyn, was up for a week to cook deserts, snacks, and also some meals. On the weekdays when Rachelle was busy helping me, it was great to have someone to prepare meals to give Rachelle a break.

My longtime coworker and beer afficianado, Russell, came up on the last weekend and we strapped the roof with the help of Jules from Hornby.

Dan, unfortunately burned his candle a bit too hot at both ends and was too burned out to come up. His help was invaluable before the building by putting the chicken scratch that was Rachelle's design sketches onto the CAD system so that everyone could see what the house would actually look like.

Paul and Lisa own the gorgeous Japanese bungalow that is beside us on the Island. They gave it to us for the 2 weeks we were up there and didn't charge us a cent. This project never could have been as successful if it hadn't been for their incredible kindness. This is their place in the Hornby snowfall we had later in the second week.

For a blow by blow photo essay click here. I've put them all in chronological order with captions explaining the steps.