DIY Renos

We don't need a building permit for re-roofing. Go figure!

If I had my way (and the $$$), I would have built the roof like a French Mansard type with a sun deck on top, so I could moon the police chopper pilots.

In the case of a major reconstruction to that kind of roof, I would have had to put a whole new foundation too.

 

Mother to her soldier son: "My dear son, I'm writing slow, 'cause I know you don't read too fast."

 

Mother said to me, get to work, if it's cold work harder and you'll stay warm

 

Can you believe it! From -42C this morning, to -3C overnight! Crazy weather!:banghead3:

Yep! 2 more days and I'm done! On the outside, by Sunday afternoon.

 

What are you doing on the outside...brrrr. I thought you were working on the inside :confused:

 

The upstairs is not insulated, so I made a temporary trap door over the new stairwell. The little heaters can't keep up when its that cold up there, so I keep one heater close to the new water lines for the new bathroom fixtures. I got the wires pulled and installed to the main panel, but I couldn't work with bare hands to install the plug and light box wires (about 28 of them with the switch and thermostat boxes).

The next few days are good though to wrap up. Then its insulation time.

 

Your doing an amazing job. You've been at it for a while now, many others you have drifted away from such an enormous project.

 

Sure glad I don't have to buy camera film and picture development. The drain plumbing and the stairs were the toughest head-gymnastics to get my head around.

I told my wife, that if there is a next one, I'll snoopervise and run the project, but I ain't doin' it myself! She really loves how its coming along and where its going, and that's all that matters. The decorating work is all her territory. She's the artiste! I'm the grunt!

 

It's lookin good so far Norman. Nice trap door.

 

No pic??? No dancing bares!?

 

Just got back with the last few electrical boxes and wire, to wrap it up. Should be done for the insulators to come, later today.

But they hit a snag. Seems their guys have never worked with the ROXUL batts. They made noises since we got the grant in 2009 that they could, and now, the new operations manager is saying they don't work with anything but the PINK stuff. That's a deal breaker for me. Ain't gonna happen.

I rebuilt all the rafters based on their troubleshooter's agreement that they would use the 8" roxul (R32) in between, and the PINK they want to use is only R28. I even offered to pay the upcharge (one time cost). His troubleshooter was supposed to call me last Friday, or even Yesterday. Not a peep! "Br'er rabbit, he lay low!"

I told the Op Mgr. that if I couldn't have ROXUL with them, that I'd have to call the Hydro company to make another deal with Hydro. This ain't rocket science. Every month this drags on, my Hydro bill looks like the National Deficit!

They've got one of those big "Blown Insulation" trucks, but they can't blow in the ROXUL Rockfill fibre fill, because its made from stone and iron slag - grinds their equipment to shreds. I offered to put it in for free. They supply, I install it manually. Nope.:banghead3:

My buttons are being pushed just a bit beyond my threshold.

 

Still no callback. I'll give them until Friday AM, and talk to the headcheese.:banghead3: Nice guys, but they don't seem to want to say they won't or can't.

Anyway, I got all my electric boxes up. Since I told them that I'd leave the interior partitions until they finished, I had to 'install' them temporarily on boards hanging off the furred rafters. Without partitions, the insulation is a piece of cake - no obstacles. But its costing me a bit more wire to guesstimate the final box locations.

Also got the master bedroom plugs wired in, and will finish the bathroom and front bedrooms today as well as the ceiling lights.

The master bedroom has 9 outlets. 2 are for lighting inside the His/Hers closets. 2 for a wall mounted media rack, 2 for the wife's makeup vanity, and one each for each side of the bed frame. the last one is close to her vanity counter. She'll have GFCI plugs there, in case she uses water there. And one telephone/data cable connection each side of the bed. I can sleep through a drag race and her snoring, but when she's asleep, I always try to catch the phone before she wakes.

Only the ceiling fan and thermostat to wire in (on the missing partitions )

I always try to do the hardest jobs first, so I can coast through the others. Good confidence builder.

Anyway, I've got a Plan B insulation strategy. Seems the ROXUL R32, 8" X 24" batts are stocked in eastern Canada. I found a supplier who'll reroute his semi-driver, if I call him by the 12th of February. All the other Roxul batts and fibre fill are stocked here. I need the 8" for the furred out rafters. GRRR!:banghead3:

 

So is there a time line for completion?

 

Umm, last summer....?

...just kidding bud...

 

They extended it once, because they got too busy. That was in 2010!

I don't know why they think that the remnants of Noah's Ark are in the Afghanistan mountains. The flood happened when the Ice Age started, and that's why the Red River valley exists. And where is Winnipeg? Noah's Ark is my renovation project!

All kinds of issues, including non-square structures, but mostly its my insistence to do it right, ONLY ONCE! So far, its working.