Man there are days when I could just scream obscenities from the roof top.  Brian still refuses to wear a tool belt so everything takes longer when you take three screws up a ladder for a job that needs six and then have to walk twenty feet to get more.  Plus if one drops you have to get off the ladder  to pick it up.   He will need two drivers but only have one with him etc.  Gheeze Louise  we bought him a lovely new one for this and one for doing electrical work.

On Tuesday I was pulling rusted nails out of the floor of the old  addition and the force needed toppled me off my working platform.  It was only a couple of feet but when I landed it pulled some muscles in my leg.  I tried walking downtown yesterday thinking exercise would be good for it but had to turn back.  Anyway  a day of ice, heat and this cream called MuscleCare and it"s not as sore today.  A very medicinal smell though.

We are still not finished the joists since there is so much we have to fix with the old house before we can get anything done.  We have most of them done but not enough to make me happy.
Brian is finding it hard because he is trying to juggle a lot of things.  Dave A. stopped in on Tuesday and they went through the heated floor, boiler, HRV, and other electronic systems.
Today Dave B. comes in to lay out the lines for most of those systems.  That will take hours.

Drew is here filling in the backfill and levelling some of the yard to drain away from the house.
Cecil just dropped off another load of stone for him.

We have been approached by a few people who are looking to help out and I am so surprised at the difference in wages they expect.  One guy if it is on call wants $30 and hour for he and his friend, $25 if we hire them for the rest of the build.
Some one who lives around the corner stopped last nigh and said he's fine with on call and $20 and hour.  He's a carpenter and brick layer and has all his own tools too.  He smelled a bit like booze but it was late evening when we talked to him.

I'm glad we have enough yard for all this equipment.

E/B

Well we are finally almost finished the joists.
As usual we think it will take a day and it takes two or three.  Mostly trying to square and level floor joists and beams.
Plus we are cutting the joists very tight to the walls so it takes forever to get them in.  Lots of hammering.
We met a friend of Evan's who lives in Picton at the moment.  He is quite the character and would be fun to have around when the boys are here.
 Too tired to be very chatty tonight.

The membrane and house wrap.

Another easy job that took three days.

These guys just park where ever they feel like parking.

Holding the joist until someone gets to the basement to receive it.

The last large joist going in.

Will be  where all the mechanical stuff goes..

We all like the area under the joists they give a nice shady area.

E/B

Sunday and it's hot out there.  We though are not at the beach enjoying the water we are still in the ground finishing up the membrane and the foundation wrap.
THEN!!! we can put the joists in, maybe.
We have to wait for the concrete guys to come and get there massive power trowel that is still in the basement.  We can get some joists done but will have to leave a few off for them.
Graham headed back to Montreal yesterday to see to some friends and to take care of some business but we hope to have him back later tonight.  I don't like him making that drive too often since it ends up being a five hour drive.
Yesterday was fun when we put the header in the basement.  It is four 2 by 10 by 12 foot boards glued then screwed together.  Just Brian ,Evan and myself to lift it 7 feet in the air.  We only almost dropped it once but Brian and Evan saved it with their heads and I with my shoulder.  Lucky there were no injuries but it has made us aware of the fact that future massive beams may be beyond the strength quota of a couple of old fools and one young guy.  So we will have someone place the big ones that need done in the garage.
It is odd having a hole in the floor.  I keep putting things in front of it so I won't fall into it at night when I sometimes wonder the house.  I hope we don't wait too long to put the stairs in.

Narrow space is hard to work in.

Being in the ground with the sun cooking you is not my idea of fun.

Cutting and knocking out the old beams to make room for the new.

Lots of muscle needed for this.

This is the beam in place.  It is even heavier with all those screws in it.

That back wall is where we found so much black mould.  I sprayed it with thyme oil let it sit for a while then wiped it down with paper towel.  Thyme oil is smelly but what a great thing to use on mould.

Well getting the membrane on is way harder and more time consuming than we imagined.  We are still working at it and find trying to manipulate it in 30+ weather is nasty.

We really like Castle lumber though all Brian has to do is call and they deliver everything we need.   Unlike the Home Hardware here they know who we are and take a discount off things without being asked.  They are trying to get us to make them our  store of choice and it is working.

We moved a wash tub into the kitchen and will leave the awful stove out there as well.  Everything else gets moved into the old kitchen/entrance room for now.  The stove is awful because it gets so hot you cannot touch it when the oven is on.  It didn't do this when we first got it but it certainly does now.  The little area that the sink and stove take up will be the last piece to get torn down.  It may be out in the rain and cold for a while but the stove will keep the outdoors warm.

Putting in the sink took up most of the day because we don't have all our stuff here we had to go out and pick up small pieces to finish the job.

Still waiting to put up the joists and get out of the ground but we are now going to put another layer over the membrane to protect it from backfill.  Foundation wrap will be easier to apply so maybe we can get to it when it is darker at the back of the house.

Way to time consuming.

Cutting the membrane , notice how they were doing a lot of pieces the same length so set up a stop at the distance required and cut.

Still working.  This reminds me of cottaging except I have hot water and a drain.

Couldn't get that plumber butt right but he tried.

The new /old kitchen.

Will be the new stairway to the basement.

Dirty dirty you should see the mould that was under the sink cabinet. That required gloves and a mask.

E/B

What a busy few days.  We have had the garage backfilled the sunroom backfilled the basement floor poured.

Gerry who runs Power Concrete here has been a great help.  He gives us advice on how to make things simpler but still be within code and not skimp on material quality.  Brian would not even consider taking a shortcut but Gerry has been doing this for a long time and knows how to get the job done.

The basement floor looks great and is another task that is nice to have done so we can now put up the joists that are sitting in the driveway.  Once that is done the floor can be put up and we can start the next level.  Although today we need to finish the waterproof membrane on the outside basement walls. It started off being a pain because it stuck to everything but once it was started putting it up went pretty smoothly.  Brian was great because instead of getting angry he laughed about the stickiness.  It made the whole process less stressful.

Lots to do and the weather has turned really warm again.  We went from wearing sweaters to tank tops again.

This is what happens when a little girl finds screws and nails., not a birdhouse but apple people.

Concrete guys making our neighbours happy by blocking their  driveways

This is where they set up the concrete truck.

And this is where they carted it.

They are very good at what they do.  The floor looks wonderful.

The joist delivery.  These allow us to span the basement without using jack posts so we get a clear span.

This is the delivery of styrofoam for the garage/workshop floor.  On top of this goes the heating coils and then concrete.

The hired help.  Who now relax in the evenings by playing TuroGrafx games. I can't believe how listening to that music brings back so many memories of their childhood.  They loved that game system, still do.

The second load of stone this morning, another one to go to fill that hole.

E/B

No photos today.  It was a great weekend though because Suzie brought the kids down for the weekend.  It was so nice to see them.  Although we skye a lot it is not enough.  That hands on snuggling and Brian always gets his walk in with Faida.  Just the two of them no one else, they go and watch the boats and ducks in the harbour.

The pour was pretty clean so Brian, Graham and I took the bracing down and stacked it ready for the next level.  We really need to sort all the tools again.  Put them back in the boxes they belong in and be ready for our next step.  Then we cleaned off the deck for the garage workshop so we can get that filled as well.  Which will lead to the more complicated aspect which is heating coils in the concrete floors.  This will set us back in our timeline.  Mostly because none of the supplies are lined up yet so we may meet delays if materials are not available.  Then placing the stuff could be a nightmare but we will try to think positive thoughts.

We also got the basement portion ready so that the floor can be done today or tomorrow.  That was mostly taking braces down and cleaning up rest of the area. Then the floor joists can be put up and we can back fill.  The we are out of the ground which is what I have been waiting for.   BUT!!! we also have to put a waterproofing membrane on anything that is completely out of the ground.  The membrane that was sent with the NuDura is a roll of material that seems to have a fair bit of tar on it.  Rubber gloves for sure and Evan is bringing coveralls for the lucky people that get to go in the pit to apply it.

We also have another offer from the same people.  It is better but not where we need to be.  The hard part is trying to figure out if our agent is working for us or them.  We'll see when we send this back today.
E/B

It should say anything in the ground needs waterproofing and the rubber gloves did not work at all they just stuck to the tar and were hard to get off.
E/B

Wow two  very late nights.  All to get ready for the pour today.  Lots of holes to drill for water, electricity, all the services we will need because we don't want to try and drill them all later, especially through concrete.

It was better because we came in for dinner at 5:30 and went out again and worked till after nine, not like the night before when we worked until 8:30 before we came in to eat and were we grumpy.

  Of course Brian had been a swearing, throwing grump all day the day before.  No one ever knew what he wanted and he would swear even if things were going good.  I think it was because we had put up the north wall without putting in a buck? for the door.  Even when I have been complaining about the lack of planning going on.  So that required taking the wall down and removing a bunch of steel so the door opening could get cut in.  Hours of work that could have been spent doing stuff that we had to do the next day.

Yesterday was much better we were more organized having some people cutting steel(me) taping walls(me) cutting holes(them)doing string lines(us)putting a lot steel in the walls(them)re-inforcing the walls(them) and lots of other jobs that take up the day.

We lose Evan again for a few days but Graham is here so that will help.  He is quite strong for such a skinny guy but I think he is getting more muscular with all this work.  Evan has had more muscle anyway ever since he worked as a baggage handler at Pearson Airport.

Anyway on the 3rd truck of concrete and I hope the last but we may need four.  At one point there were ten men outside I'm not sure why but anywhere you find trucks you'll find a group of guys.  I'm pretty sure at least a few of the older guys will show up to see how it is going.  They show up every once in a while to check, I'm thinking they then go for coffee and fill in the other men because we then get a lot of slow moving vehicles on the street looking at the build.  Part of being n a small town that I love.

Love these pumper trucks.

New old guy who has not been here .

Brian in yellow vest, Graham in blue t-shirt.

Evan and Graham putting in steel the kid who operates the big machines.

The owner of the company gets mad because his guys won't wear proper safety gear.

Trucks lined up on the street.

E/B

Today was a great say for getting things done.  We are almost ready for a concrete pour on Friday, YEAH!!!!
Gerry showed up to see how we are doing and when we needed concrete.  It's great because we don't have to call him.  He shows up looks over the site and does most of the estimates for concrete.
I was explaining to him how most of the time would be spent cutting the 10 & 15 m steel for reinforcing.  He says "how about I bring over my electric steel cutter?"  I was all over that even though Brian was not sure if it was needed but man was that a good idea.  The guys got so much steel cut without being so exhausted they could lift a beer.  The thing cuts steel like a hot knife through butter.
So tomorrow is taping the top of the walls to be poured and cutting and placing more steel.  With that cutter it does not seem so awful.
Drew finished a rough grading of the driveway and it looks really rough.  A lot of bigger stones so it is hard to walk on but getting rid of all that clay in the driveway is amazing.
The guys are really helping out Evan washed the dinner dishes and Brian has been doing his share of the wash-up as well.  Nice.
I have discovered that I need to have music outside.  It really helps me keep calm and happy, there is just something about a song that soothes the soul.  When I was getting a little tired and cranky Brian sent Evan to put the music, which they had turned off at lunch, back on.

Great to have Evan here we really need the extra person.

This is how tall the first pour needs to be at the back. It needs to be higher than the backyard.

We put one more course of Nudura on the wall to the left.

We are getting pretty good at climbing and walking on narrow scaffolding.

The front of the garage eventually. That driveway will be able to hold nine cars.

E/B

Still working on that lower level it is hard to know when we will be done but we have to work slowly so we don't make mistakes.  Things we will regret once the concrete is poured like not leaving room for doors and windows.
It will be interesting to see if we can get the guys in the pump truck to listen and stop pouring when Brian tells them to.  They seem to be hard of hearing so shouting "STOP!!"  may need to be louder.
We have the brackets and supports up and nailed down so we can finish the back wall.  Always a bit of a gamble because it will be higher than some doors so the level of concrete going in is critical.  Otherwise we rent concrete saws to cut them back.

Today is finding the right grade for the driveway and having clay removed and stone put in.  Reason is we need a cleaner surface and the clay just gets everywhere and we want the stone down so it will be compacted by all the trucks and be ready for concrete when the job is done.
Besides in a major rain Friday a lot of silt ran down the drive and down the street to catch basins.  We both get upset about that kind of thing.

Brian had bought a nice laser level when we started and we have gotten pretty good at using it, using it again for the driveway.  Won't use it after the house is done but it was a good investment, unless the place is not level or square then it's a piece of crap.

Now Drew is hauling more dirt away and hauling stone in.  Emerson got to watch for a while on skype and he kept asking for more, big-big truck with a lot of "ohs" thrown in.
Drew has a pinched nerve and is a lot of pain but he insists on working while he waits for a chiropractor to see him.  He doesn't like his doctor who he thinks is just a pill pusher.  He also told Brian that work is in short supply right now and if anyone tries to tell us they are really busy they're lying according to him and his banker anyway.  We have found most people we contact get back to us really quickly.
We just need a way of taking about one foot of crushed 1" stone out of part of the basement.  We don't know why but they put way to much rock in and it isn't close to the floor level.  It is such hard work and would be easier if we had a conveyor belt to just throw the stone on.  Ah well we still search for something.

All those brackets, scaffolding and supports.

It will be harder building up the back wall since the forms will have to go over the supports to start.  We need about four more rows high in the back it has to be higher than the backfill.

Drew has been at it for hours already.

Nice big stone that has no clay in it.

More stone to spread out.

E/B