Wind turbine goes up (yesterday)

Drywall mudding is complete down stairs (except for a few spots around the stairs that got dry walled after stairs went in).  Stairs (no railing yet) went in last Friday (forgot to post and take pictures).

Will add some pics (hopefully tonight).  Kitchen cabinets may go in today (nope, not until next week).

A bunch of catch up photos (pretty random order as is a pain to move them around):

Finally an update

Some of the not so good news....

I am stiiiiiiilllll waiting for the two south doors (it is over 3 months now since we gave them our deposit), the garden (French) and the balcony door, therefore the shingling is in fact not really completed as I will have to complete around the doors after they are installed.

The driveway is not completed.  I have been bugging the earth mover all summer to get it done.  He came last week and did a day and a half's work and then it poured creating a giant mud bog and then he went to Florida for Holidays.  I wish he had just told me he was not going to be able to get to it until late but spilt milk now.

Still siding, Plumbing, Electrical and Ducting roughed in

As the title says the siding is still ongoing.  Takes a long time to put on cedar shingles.  Have to go through the house and patch all the holes from the completed rough in of plumbing, electrical and ducting and any other areas (e.g., breaks in sole plates) before the insulation can start.

Still missing the front door, garden door and balcony door.  They are supposed to be all here next week so it will then (finally) be weather and lock tight  (fingers crossed).

Siding

Here are a few pictures of the Fraser eastern white cedar shingles.

They are rebutted and re-squared with two coats of Cabot factory applied solid stain (dark grey).

Unfortunately almost all of the boxes were packed before dry and are sticking together and when separated the paint often comes off in areas.  They are replacing 60% of the shingles as  ~ 40% is already installed and supplying the paint to repaint what is on and offering some yet to be determined compensation.  I am going to ask them to keep enough of the bad shingles to do a 16'X24' shed.  They were quite helpful but still a huge pain.

Started siding

We finally decided on a siding material.  Eastern white cedar shingles with 2 coats of factory applied Cabot solid stain (20 year warranty, limited of course), with home slicker 10, a Nylon mesh undercoating.  Not sure how enviro. friendly this nylon mesh is but it does appear to create a good water drainage layer and airflow.  I think all the old barns (and some houses) that still have their cedar shingles intact lasted because the air blew right through them.  The shingles are reasonably enviro. friendly as they are sourced fairly locally (northern New Brunswick) therefore lower embodied energy and through so called sustainable harvesting.  Pictures to follow.

Almost weather tight. No doors yet and one window for greenhouse needed.

Installed remaining windows today.  Ordered the south doors on the house (swinging french and door onto balcony) from same company as the windows approx. 4 weeks ago to get the better designed glass (high R and high solar heat gain) as the garden door is the biggest window downstairs and the door to the balcony is the biggest window upstairs so no point in compromise now.  Unfortunately there is still no word on the status of the doors.  Thought I could just pick up the other (3) exterior doors (Jeld-wen) off the shelf but had to order those as well so will be approx. 4 weeks to get those.  Looks like will have to use plywood if I want to insulate before the doors arrive.   Received the wrong size glazing panel for one of the greenhouse panels.  The seller doesn't want to take any responsibility for the error and wants to charge me $700.00 for the one piece of 4'X10' glazing (almost half of this is shipping).  I tried to convince him that he has to take some (of course in my eyes all) of the responsibility as I simply sent him my plans and he figured out the glazing and framing sizes required and the plans clearly indicate an eight foot panel would not fit.  He has me over a barrel as I need the panel but hopefully he does better than the $100.00 off he initially offered me.  Still trying to find a ducting / HRV contractor.  Only have one price so far.

Ploughing forward. Hurricane Irene doesn't amount to much.

Rammed Earth walls (two 36" wide X 4' tall by 7' long corner pillars) completed.

Roof finished.

Glazing on south green house completed.

Some good some bad

Quick Update

Working like a dog (I never understood this expression, must have been back when dogs were used to haul things, not pets).

The house and garage are sheathed in.

The green house and rammed earth wall are still sitting there ominously uncompleted.  You can't see the garage from this picture Brody took, but it does look like a house now, but still a long way from completion.  Baby steps I guess.

More Framing

It has been a while since the last post but essentially just more framing going on.  Thought I would post now as we started the roof and it seemed like a mini milestone.  I didn't post many of the details that

Floor joists completed, rammed earth wall forms up (get ramming)

Rammed Earth form set up.  Need to do 3 and a bit of these walls.  The wall is 3 feet wide total.  18" of rammed earth on the inside, 8" of EPS foam insulation in the middle and 10" of rammed earth on the outside.  Just about everyone that has seen the form so far thinks I am even crazier than when they saw the truss walls.  ~16 cu yards of compacted dirt and should compress approx. 100% therefore will need 32 cu. yards. 

Framing on first floor is now fully completed and sheathing is going on.

Roof trusses nearly complete (are complete at time of this posting, will add more photos tomorrow).  You can see the chase for the 8" ducting I added near the middle of the floor joist (the square without a diagonal brace).   Inside main floor walls are essentially complete.

Top view of open web floor joists.

More Framing

Again, not continuously updating but will try not to leave anything out.  A lot of pictures below that

Concrete work complete, Framing started

It has been a few days since our last post but things have been progressing (I just have not been

Main Slab Poured

In floor pipes complete - Ready for concrete - Water well drilled

Rebar & wire mesh complete

Maritime weather - Rained out

Added optimization for smart phones so the the site should look better on your smart phone now.  FYI I

Slab forms braced, 6" sub slab insulation placed, rebar started

Sub Slab HDPE dimpled membrane completed

Rocks from class A gravel are making dents but do not appear to be piercing membrane.  Taped all seams and around sub slab plumbing with Delta multiband tape (~$40.00 / roll 25m long by 60mm wide so pretty expensive).  Vacuumed all water off (had to buy a shop vac. but should come in handy.  It has a 2nd pump to pump out the water at the same time you suck it up through a garden hose) to finish but is

Rained Out

Final Grade for pad with a bit of gravel, Delta MS HDPE membrane and slab forms

Put on a little gravel (class A, which is supposed to be ~3/4" stone minus with a lot of fines for compacting) to get to final grade.  In hindsight I wouldn't have done this and just had Jeremy spend a couple more hours with the dozer and get to near final grade with the shale.  We compacted the gravel with a rented plate tamper but it didn't really compress very well on the very hard packed shale.  Also a

Sub Slab Plumbing

Plumber installed sub slab drains and vents.  I didn't realize so many vents were needed so didn't have it all marked out so had to rush around when they showed up.  Plumbers are go go go.   Not a big fan of rushing.  Hopefully I got them in the right place !@#@!  :-o.  Brody is now responsible for all picture

Site Grading for Concrete Pads

Jeremy showed up (yesterday) and did a great job grading and compacting the site for the concrete pads.  I am quite sore today from raking and shoveling.  Left ~1" below final grade (I used Jeremy's laser level) as can't get right on with this shale material.  Will need to bring in a little gravel (small sized stones 1/2"

Changed Title and Updated Brief History on May 16 post

Finished floor joists over basement including plywood with carpenter and his guys.
Dozer got dropped off so hopefully will start grading pad tomorrow.

Updated Design Principles and added a Brief History on May 16 post

Finished basement sub slab insulation.  started measuring off and placing floor joists for basement.
Concrete contractor may be able to back fill Monday now.  Fairly slow again due to inexperience.

 Sunny and 20deg !! Updated design principles on May 16 again with a little more info.  Picked up pneumatic tamper at post office (bought refurbished from Detroit as can't rent here).  Will need a 100cfm at 90PSI compressor to run this (the tow behind a vehicle kind.  Thankfully I can rent that here).  Ripped  inserts off basement walls concrete contractor didn't remove.  Put Delta MS in basement for under slab and started insulation. 
Went fairly slowly as first time and

Hauled basement floor trusses up to lot (had stored in old milk barn as had them built last fall in anticipation of starting construction).  Ordered and placed drain rock around basement drain.  Covered over with filter fabric and secured with rocks.  Hauled dirt back into basement :-( to bring root cellar up to desired grade.  Put down a layer of the drain rock as well.  Left enough dirt and stone to finish root cellar after basement poured.  Hard physical work.  Overworked back again and it is tender.  Will add some more pictures tonight.

The weather is still the story

I know I said I wouldn't say it but it is pouring even harder this morning and I am wasting time blogging.  Will go and build the rammed earth forms in the barn (or maybe an arc).   Drilled first hole for rammed earth wall forms in 1” plywood too small (1” instead of 3/4”) will have to sand/file out.  Thought pipes for RE wall were 3/4” OD but are 3/4” ID (apparently steel pipes go by ID.  Should have measured).  Brody seeing if old windows in red barn could

The first post on the actual date

Spent the morning (it is now 12:45 and I haven't done a stitch of physical work) e-mailing friends and getting this blog up.  Sill raining (I probably should only report the weather the next time it changes.)  I probably should get Angela to take over this blog :-)
Went to the lot and dropped off wheel barrow.  A mud hole and still pouring.  Went to Home depot to get drill bit (1 1/4") for rammed earth wall.  Basically accomplished zilch.  Hopefully better luck tomorrow.

A brief history, a brief explanation of house design principles, a few plan pictures and catch up postings

BRIEF HISTORY:

Why we are doing this can be partially garnered form the "Extra Message" (now removed) in the heading of this blog.

Some of the other motivating factors include the following:

Export surplus clean green renewable energy into the grid (there are issues with this such as energy storage);  conservation of non renewable fossil fuels and reduction of pollution; cultivate a lifestyle of conservation and non materialism; produce as much of our own food as possible, using organic permaculture, to address food quality issues, food security and pollution in its generation, processing and transportation; help spread awareness; get more involved and gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the natural world that ultimately sustains us,  eventually connect with and build meaningful relationships and community with like minded people ( for example http://communityplanet.org/blog ) and ultimately live a more enjoyable life.

Again, I must stress that although the things listed above are necessary for a better future, the current mass ignorance and/or  ambivalence about these issues are simply symptoms of our current system's underlying value disorders (that we can correct if we choose).  Solutions being attempted (unfortunately most environmental activism) under current "market systems" have proven incapable of affecting significant and lasting change (for example these things are often near impossible if you can't afford them in our current system).  Please see John McMurtry's (professor, University of Guelph) book, "The Cancer Stage of Capitalism" for further understanding.  Here is a link to a brief synopsis http://www.islandnet.com/plethora/mai/cancer.html.

We began doing our own research for this project in the summer of 2009.  I had drawn some preliminary designs in Google SketchUp but we decided (for many reasons) in October of 2009, after we had purchased the land,  that we would look for design help.  In February 2010 we started working with an ecotect (ecology versus arches in architecture) firm in Calgary called A.S.H Inc.