Keeping the Vision

Darn it! I forgot to bring the camera so I don't have any new photos to show you. We have been making progress though, mainly with the insulation, electrical and drywall. I won't go into details about our foundation disaster during last Friday's downpour. The lesson learned is keep your seals dry and backfill your foundation walls as soon as you can. Anyhow, here is a look at the latest design concept, with the new colours. Hope you like it.

Report on the Work in Progress

I've been away from internetland for about a month now, so I though it might be time to give you an upadate on what has been happening with me.

Work is progessing well on the renovation and addition to the cottage. I am spending just about all of my time out there now, until the project is completed.

Here's what we've done so far....


It all started with single rotting beam under the cottage, that had to be replaced.

The old cedar floor joists appeared intact, so we decided to reinforce them and put them on a concrete foundation, and, while we were at it, to expand the living space by building an addition.

After clearing the land and raising the cottage on blocks, we excavated the foundation for the foundation under the addition. This was around July 12th.

Next we built the forms into which we would pour the concrete.

While the project requires most of our attention, we do find time for other distractions.

Around July 15 there was some rain so we went picking chantarelles.

In the early morning of July 30 we enjoyed a magnificent moonset in the western sky.

Louise has been working hard cleaning the beach....

....but has also found time for relaxing and enjoying the sun.

The foundation slab was poured on July 16.

The space under the old cottage was excavated by hand.

A new foundation was built for the old cottage, around July 25th.

The foundation perimeter wall was parged and sealed with tar.

The floor joists were installed over the crawl space and slab.

The exterior walls were framed and sheathed at the beginning of August.

We began installing the roof trusses at 8 a.m. on August 3rd....

and were done by 11 a.m., thanks to the expert carpenters and engineered trusses.

Installation of the new septic tank.

The septic byproducts will be pumped to a weeping field.

The house is already starting to look a bit like what we had planned.