March 2012

March I continued work on the interior window trim, and also set about retrieving the donor van from Kitchener.   My friend Don took me up to Kitchener where the money was transferred, and we got the transit licence I needed to move the van, to Newbury and eventually to Newfoundland.   Dean, my son-in-law had a trip scheduled to join some of his friends living in Toronto, and go to a rock concert (Van Halen).   When that was completed he took the train to Glencoe, where I picked him up and I had company for a few days, and we got the  interior of the solar chimney lined with whiteboard.  We checked out the van thoroughly and I loaned him a tool set just in case, and he was off.   Everything went very smoothly, he made it to the Ferrry  terminal in North Sydney in 29 hours.

Framing the guest room window.

Putting the meleamine lining in the bathroom window well.

Unfinished window well in entry hall.

Aluminum flashing on the mounting of the meter box and of the power entry into the mainpanel in the garage.

Starting work on the melamine liner of kitchen windows.

Partly done melamine in small kitchen window.

Melamine done in big kitchen window.

The donor van for the clutch/transaxle transplant brought home from Kitchener.

Getting ready to put the whiteboard liner in the solar chimney.

Dean working on the solar chimney lining.

More on the chimney lining.

Mostly done on the lining of the solar chimney and border trim

Finished the melamine and oak trim on kitchen windows.

Finished melamine and oak trim on master bath window.

Spring has sprung!

The unseasonal warmth has persisted with brief interludes of more typical early Spring temperatures for the region. The result is that I have been able to finish the putting the steel shingles on my roof. The last part of that was shingling the top of the solar chimney. I delayed going up there after discovering that all the pollen, and leaf bud fallout from the big trees around my lot rendered the roof quite slippy, which was a significant deterrent. After a couple good rains, the traction on the roof was acceptable, and I had at it. I had also been ruminating about a safe way to get from the roof ridge up onto the top of the solar chimney, and the final successful plan was to screw 3 2×4 pieces to the corner of the chimney to form a sort of ladder so I could climb up onto the flat top. It worked well, and I got the shingles on, and caulked around the edges and back down as it was getting to quitting time. So I left my ladder in place, knowing I would need to remove it later. I decided it would be fun to get pictures of me up there at the top turret of my castle, so got my neighbor down the street to come and photograph me as I was up there to take down the ladder steps. Below are pix showing the roof finished status and me on top.

April 15, On the roof, to remove the temporary ladder.

Beginning interior framing, temporary windows, and shingles, shingles, shingles.

On Wednesday November 11 the framing crew finished what I had contracted them to do. The deck was complete on the breezeway, and interior framing of the solar chimney and the ends of the cathedral ceiling was complete. I had started the shingle preparation, putting the starter edge on the south face of the garage roof, installing the ridge caps for the hips on its edges, and putting the EaveGuard on the south edge of the roof. Then began screw shingles into place. Slow process as I am learning the procedure and with expensive materials don’t want to make mistakes. Pretty much every morning has been a slow start for roof work this week, with frost or dew on the roof that has to dry off before it is safe to be on the surface, and with the short daylight hours too dark to work safely past 5:30PM.

By Friday shutdown time I had nearly completed the shingles on the south face of the garage, and had starter edge on the east roof face and the EaveGuard in place too. More sunny days forecast, so hoping to move right along, and pick up speed as my confidence in managing the steel shingles builds.

The interior of the house is now starting to look and feel like a house. I am very pleased that sun patterns are happening exactly as designed. FIrst light in late Fall winter comes into the dining area, and warms up the whole great room all the way to where the back wall will be. The solar chimney has been framed inside, and has plywood panels in place defining how it will bring light into the back of the great room, and exhaust hot air in summer. Pictures below show light patterns early morning, and again about noon.

Dining room, great room sun at 8:00 AM.

Master bedroom, sun at 8:00 AM

Great room, sun at about noon. Note the solar chimney above the sweeper.

East face of garage roof, starter edge and EaveGuard in place.

Friday, November 13, South face of garage shingles nearly complete.

I continued to work systematically whenever the roof was safe, to install the shingles. Unfortunately the occurrence of either frost or dew on most mornings, meant that I could not be on the roof till near noon and some real rain also slowed things down. With the short days, the effective work day was cut in half. In the mornings when the roof was not accessible I put my plastic window substitutes in place, to keep the wind and weather out of of the interior. Now have all except the entry door in the house, and the two doors in the garage covered tightly. The lower temperatures also take their toll on my hands and joints, hot showers help but summer is much more fun!

November 23, Garage roof south, east, and north faces complete, ridge vent installed.

View of roof from the north, garage roof shingles and breezeway underlayment.

FIrst shingles on the house roof, west face of roof begun.

Still working away as the weather permits on the shingles, a good day’s output after the roof drys off, is three courses before it is too dark. The set of pictures below are status completed just before the snow and rain came through on December 8 and the cold and wind set upon me. I have continued to work at getting the garage door framing completed for installation of the insulated overhead door, and reframing the small garage door so it will accommodate a 36 inch door. Praying for a warming trend with sun and low wind 🙂

December 8, South face of house roof. This side dries off fastest in the morning, so it is where most progress is made.

Shingle status on the north face of the house roof.

Looking past the NE corner of the house at the breezeway and garage. Note the plywood sheets keeping snow out of the garage bay.

Shingle status on the west face of the house roof.

Continued to plug away, at roof when it was dry and to hang the entry doors to the house and garage. The overhead door will wait till after New Year. I now have the south face of the roof complete except for the last course of shingles from the solar chimney to the east. This is because I have flashing to install around the chimney base, then the last of those shingles will go on. Yesterday (December 18) I got a good session in the afternoon on the north face of the roof. Unfortunately overnight there was light snow so waiting for melting and drying to see when I get on the roof again. Pictures of progress below.

December 19, South face of house roof complete to the ridge except for one course from solar chimney to the east end.

Entry door to the house, hung and sealed.

Looking down the breezeway at the garage entry door, hung and sealed.

North face of house roof, shingles up to the top of the hip on the east end.

I was offered a good price on a kerosene construction heater by my friend Ron who built the strawbale house just down the street from me. I fired it up in hopes that the heat would warm the roof and speed the melting and drying. Unfortunately the efficacy was minimal, but the sun came out and I systematically used a broom with an extension handle to brush the snow off. The sun then did its thing, and I was able first to get more shingles on West face, which got direct sunlight. The north face dried and the humidity was such that Wednesday morning December 23, it was safe to get on the roof before 10 AM. so I got a lot of shingles on. Christmas Eve day was similarly good conditions and I was on the roof by 9 AM, and finished (with suitable breaks for food and warmth) a 5:30PM when it was too dark to be safe and accurate. Driving rain and wind overnight and all day on Christmas, a dusting of snow by Boxing Day morning. Pictures of the progress below.

December 23, South face of house roof complete to the ridge.

More progress on the west face of the roof.

North face of roof, shingles up to the top of hip on the East end, most of the overnight snow swept of to let the shingles dry off.

December 24, progress mid-day when I broke to warm up and have lunch.

Status at end of daylight on Christmas Eve, finished to ridge on the East end, 6 courses from top on the West end.

I continued to pick away at the west face of the roof when the snow melted, but kept getting more to torment me. Yesterday December 29, was dry and sunny, but very cold and windy. I brushed off snow with my extension broom, and let things dry off. Today it was dry, warmer and much less wind. I got on the roof for several hours and finished the north face of the roof to the ridge all the way to the west end, and all but one course of shingles on the west face up to the gable face. Will see what the weather brings tomorrow, supposed to be mild, but likely snow 😦 Pictures below of the latest status of north and west faces.

December 30, North face of roof finished to the ridge completely.

West face of house roof, one course left to the gable face.