LIVING OFF GRID

This blog is about our travels in our solar powered "Airstream" and living off grid, in our passive solar home, near Bancroft, Ontario, Canada.

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Showing posts with label Construction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Construction. Show all posts

Tuesday, 4 October 2011

Construction October 4th

We had a busy weekend in Toronto visiting family and friends but now we are back in Bancroft and our construction continues. Tomorrow the roof trusses arrive so today the crew worked on the top sill plate and started the deck off the east wall.

Here TJ and Jeff check for level on the sill plate.

The bracing has been removed and the house is looking much cleaner.

Dave works on the far wall making sure everything is level and true.

Our deck starts to take shape.

The blue strip in the bottom right of the picture is snow and ice shield covering each beam. Now that's attention to detail, so typical of the workmanship here.

Kent lays down another strip of ice shield.

Looking across the south wall; can't wait until we are actually inside.
Thanks for stopping by. I'll post pictures tomorrow of the roof trusses being delivered.

Thursday, 22 September 2011

Lintels and Straight Walls

That was the agenda for today; lintels and straight walls. I was afraid the day would be shortened by the rain but it didn't come and the guys were able to start the lintels. A lintel is the space in a wall above any opening such as a door or window. Because our house is built from concrete, the lintels have to be very, very strong.

Construction site, early morning shot.

Can you guess why the wood chips are stuck in the wall? Go ahead, there must be a reason.....................
This was their method of straightening the wall. If it leaned then our crew used wedges to straighten it out. Now the wall will be braced and once the concrete is poured it will be straight and solid.

Here Jeff and Kent are working on the lintel. All the re-bar was bent first and now the bent pieces are placed together to give added strength to the concrete lintel over the window.

Looking across our floor to the south wall, a wall of glass when done.

Look carefully at the picture below. What do you see? Yes lots of re-bar, but did you notice the nail, a nail into mid-air? Seems strange at first but then you realize there is a reason, that nail will be surrounded by concrete, which will grip the nail and keep it tightly in place, thus holding the window-buck tight to the wall.

Pat's crew working together to get the walls up and lintels built. How's the holiday Pat?

Every job needs a superintendent. Here Mary wears the superintendent's white hat, to check on progress. She looks very pleased with all she sees.

Thanks for stopping by. Any questions?

Friday, 2 September 2011

Foggy Today

We are back living in our trailer. The cottage is empty, ready for the owners to return and we are once again adjusting to smaller quarters. Yesterday's construction went very well, the "frost" wall is now up and full of concrete.

The view out our window this morning. A little foggy but very peaceful.

We are camped in the trees away from any construction and the trucks that deliver all the "stuff"  we need.

Notice how all the cut blocks have been re-enforced with wood scraps and the openings sealed with expanding foam.

The pump truck is getting set up and the concrete truck is ready to pour.

Each block looks like this inside, re-bar running vertical and horizontal every 24"

The crew discuss the plan with the pump operator.

The concrete is flowing and we start in the far corner. This concrete is like soup, very watery so it flows easily into all the crevasses.

Can you see the concrete soup flowing?

TJ handled the flow pipe while the rest cleaned and trowelled as he moved along the wall.

We will let the concrete set for four days as this is a long weekend here in Canada.