Simple man, simple plan.

Temporary Propane Line and Cold Weather

2012-01-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

Winter has finally arrived in Northern Alberta. It has been a very abnormally mild winter up until now. Now it is all of a sudden, real stupid cold. There don't seem to be such a thing as in between weather, which would be perfect for winter in my book. Me and my poor little dog almost froze to death last night. Actually I was pretty toasty under all those blankets, but the little dog woke up shaking pretty bad. For the first time since we been chumming together, I actually had to bring her in under the blankets with me, and keep her warm. I kinda felt like a mother hen there for awhile. But we survived. The thermometer on the wall read 8 celcius, but it is mounted high on the wall, pretty close to the ceiling. It was much colder than that down below. I have decieded that this is my last winter in this little shack. I don't mind the little, but that cold, just aint good.

A few days ago, I finally hooked the shack into the big 1000 gallon propane tank. And just in time too. The hundred pound bottles don't last long in this weather and are a pain to be changing all the time. It has been in the minus 30's all day today, and tonight is supposed to get right close to minus 40 plus a wind chill factor. I heard them saying on the radio wind chills of minus 50 or colder. That will defianately put the propane situation to the test. So far so good. Anyway, I got a piece of 30 foot pipe from a brother of mine. It costed me a 40 pounder of Gibsons Gold. I needed something to protect my propane line as it crossed the driveway.

I scraped some of the packed snow and ice off the driveway, with the backhoe, where the pipe was to be. Then I brought in a bucket or two of gravel that I have stored away for emergencies. I raked the gravel in there so all the pipe would be supported from movement when I drive over it.

Then about 3 buckets of gravel over top. The finished product. If you look close enough, you will see the propane hose coming out the end of the pipe, ready to be hooked up.

Then the hose coming out the other end and over to the wood pile.

Then from the wood pile to the tank. That is 150 feet of 3/4 inch propane line in all. (Three 50 footers). I went in to get a permit to do this, and it costed $150.oo. Did'nt really expect that to happen, but it did. Pleading and arguing did'nt change their minds. lol.

This is the only picture of this post that was taken today. After discovering how cold it was in the shack this morning, I decided to go to town and get some syrofoam insulation for the floor of my shack. I know it aint pretty, but it sure does feel better than that cold floor. I had a pop explode on the floor once this winter at about 3 in the morning one night. Scared the daylights outta me. Im not quite done with the floor yet, but it does make a little difference so far.

In the basement of the house, I have been trying to get my gas lines all done, but I hav'nt had a whole lot of time. This heater is one of two that will be down in the basement. I am hoping that these two heaters will keep things from freezing up when I am away for prolonged periods of time.

There's a glance at the wood stove that I am getting real eager to be stokeing up. I don't even care if I have to get up a couple times in the night to do that, as long as I am nice and toasty. I love the warm and I'm really starting to hate the cold. I'm not going to spend another winter in the shack, I just decided that. I will either be in the house or migrated south with the geese.

Some Stuff

2011-12-28T18:04:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a good Christmas holiday. I finally had a few days off from work myself for a change. It was good. I hav'nt done a darned thing on the house since the last blog, however I did find some new aquired items. I got my 1000 gallon propane tank and the next day it was filled to about 75% full. 80% is the maximum allowed, but it was a pretty cold day, and just incase I don't happen to use any of it by the time summer rolls around, I kinda thought we should maybe hold back a bit and allow for expansion on the hotter days. I kinda wanted to buy my own used tank and I will be kinda keeping my eyes open for a good deal some day. This one costs $180/year to rent, and $175 to bring it out. That price includes the haul away I understand. It costed $2142.66 to fill the tank to 75%, including taxes. That is 2967 liters of propane. Usually a fill from empty to 80% would 3200 liters.

This is my honda 2000 generator that I have been using ever since I moved out here. I actually purchased this baby brand new on ebay and it came from somewhere in North Carolina if I remember correctly. I managed to save myself a little over $300 on it by the time all the shipping and importation fees etc. were all said and done. They are expensive for the size, but they are quiet, and very reliable. It is the inverter type generator also. It hardly ever gets used in the summer, but this time of the year I start it up quite often as the sun is pretty low and not out for very many hours in the winter up here.

I managed to get my Drolet woodstove home. This sucker weighs about 375 lbs.

So used the backhoe to shove it into the house. I did'nt take it down stairs yet, just incase there may be some reason that it may not pass the inspection for some reason or another. Maybe it's too big or something, who knows. I don't think so, but it's just better to be safe than sorry I guess. I think I can get it downstairs myself easy enough, but bringing it back up could be a bit of a chore.

I went auction saleing again and purchased a new generator. I looked up powetek on the internet, but could'nt find it, although I think I figured out that this is actually quite a popular generator, just sold under alot of different names. $600.00. I see the same thing advertised quite aften ranging from $1200-over $2500. It is diesel and is supposed to be quite quiet when in action. It is not the fancy inverter style generator, but I'm going to try it out and see how it goes anyway. I was kinda planning on a Honda eu65000, but they cost over $5000.00 new. That just don't seem very frugal to me, unless I get a real good deal on one someday.

There she is out of the box. A little more power for when I am in the house to charge a much larger battery bank than I am using now.

I also bought some other goodies at the auction. The contents of these 3 boxes is propane hose and electrical cables. A big industrial camp company was selling out the Grande Praire, and Grimshaw divisions of their company. This trailer load costed me $55.00.

Inside one the boxes is these hoses. It is alot more than I will be needing, but better to have too much than not enough, I guess. I am planning on running some hose from the 1000 gallon tank to my shack temporarily. 200 feet of 1/2 inch above ground lpg hose would have costed me over $300 to buy new in town. I feel that I have done pretty well on this purchase although, I still hav'nt run any propane line yet. It will be alot more simpler and cheaper to run propane from the big tank. When I fill the 100 pound bottles it costs me .945/ liter compared to .6878/ liter from the big tank.

Anyway, country life is treating me real well still, even though I am still living in the shack. Don't think I could ever go back to town living. I don't know how busy things are going to be in the new year, but I am sure looking forward to spring so I can get right after my little project again. I may find time before spring to get some things done, but I really can't say for sure. Surely this has got to be my last winter in this shack though. I hope. Happy New Year.

My life. November update.

2011-11-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

I appologize that I hav'nt been on here much lately. Just incase anyone is so curiously waiting for an update. There really has'nt been much to blog about lately. The summer is gone and I'm still not in the house. But hey, thats ok. With me it is anyway. Whats the panick, I'm already living the dream. I have now lived totally off grid for 2 years as of Oct 25, and I am just coming into the 3rd winter of living in the shack. I'm kinda starting to feel like Richard Proenneke. Not quite though, he did'nt have an interenet connection.

Anyway, I really did'nt get a whole lot more accomplished on the house project since my last post. I have been fairly busy at work. I have had time off, but you just don't feel very ambitious after all the work at times. I have always worked the busy times, and holiday, play or do my own thing in the slow times. Gotta grab it when it is there. I do have plans in the near future to be pretty much done with bustin my ass working my life away. I'll always do a little here and there, once in awhile probably, but I would really like to be more of an independent homesteader type guy. I have big hopes and dreams. I've practicly got it all planned out. I just hope it goes kinda like it is all planned. That's kinda weird just saying something like that, because usually my plan is to have no plan. You know, just kinda go with the flow, but I do have a plan. I am starting to get real eager to get into the house for now though.

I am trying to get at heating. The above picture is the pad I built for my 1000 gallon propane tank that should be coming tomorrow, (Nov 16 2010) The last couple times I filled my 100 pound tanks for the shack I noticed that propane is cheaper now than it has been all summer. I'm thinking I want to buy propane now, before it goes up. That being said, I wonder if it will drop more for some unknown reason. Like maybe the double dip recession that you sometimes hear about possibly happening. I suppose it could, but I think I will take a chance on it anyway. It will probably cost me somewhere in the area of $2200.oo CAD to fill the tank, but I'll know more when I see the bill I guess.

I managed to smuggle some prime firewood home one day. We had a hoe sitting out on a job that was pretty close to an old log deck that people were bucking up and taking home. I threw a few scoops on the lowboy and brought it home. I don't think they were planning on salvaging this stuff anymore. I was told to help myself, so I did.

I went auction saling and picked up a turtle tank to haul water in. I'm not hauling water yet, but when I do, this will be handy to just leave in the pickup at times. Whenever I happen to be going by the water station, I'll just bring a load home.

Then my boss had these big ones. I can't remember, but I think they are 4500 hundred liters or more. It costed me a big bottle of vodka for both of them. My plan for these is for summer storage of water for general yard use. Livestock, garden, fire fighting or whaterver. Sometimes the creek runs and sometimes it is just a trikle, but when it is running, I will fill these for dryer times and convenience. I suppose I could use one for hauling to the cistern. Two of these full would probably fill the cistern. The cistern is about 3500 gallons.

Oh ya, by the way it snowed here and it is pretty cold, I think winter has arrived. Today I finally shut off the fridge in the RV. Seems things in the fridge were freezing and things in the freezer where thawing, so I guess it is time.

I purchased a wood stove awhile back, but it had to be ordered in. It's not here yet. After I purchased it, I realized that you can't hook combustion air right to the stove from ouside. Something I kinda wanted in a woodstove, but oh well, I'll bring in some outside air another way I guess. I'm also wondering if I should have got a bit smaller one. Sometimes I get thinking the little house is a mansion. I know it will seem like one when I compare it to the shack anyway.

I will try to be on here more often. We sometimes do have a bit of a slow down this time of year, before the real winter work starts up, so I might concentrate on getting some heat in the house soon. Thanks for not deleting me from your friends list for being absent for so long. We'll talk to ya in a bit.

Santa is Missing Something.

2011-08-07T21:21:00.000-07:00

I sure don't see many of these critters in my travels usually. Actually this is the second one I've ever seen in my life. A caribou. aka: reindeer(I think). I was a fair distance away, so the pictures are'nt the greatest. I put on three pics, but it was just the one animal. Moose, elk, deer and black bear are all pretty commen to see on a weekly or daily basis, but this guy was quite a sight.

It has been very busy with working out in the bush the last two weeks. I don't even need a house as I just seem to live in a peterbilt truck most of the time. I even had to sneak into a camp and borrow the shower one night. We have a big oilfield job in the Grand Cache area and it really keeps us truckers smokin trying to get all the equipment there.

Since my last post, not a whole lot got done on the house. I did manage to get a little more drywall up though. It sure won't take long to finish hanging drywall if I ever get around to it.

Starring Contest

2011-07-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

After having supper, I got up to get something from the kitchen area of my shack, and to my surprise there was a deer standing on the top of the hill right outside the window of the shack. It kinda caught me by surprise at first. The deer was looking at me as I was very still trying to remember where the camera was. When it started eating some weeds on the hill I made my grab for the camera. We had a bit of a starring contest, but obviously, I won. I am always looking over my shoulder and checking around before going outside from the shack. That could have easily been a bear, which if it was would more than liking run away at the sound of me opening the door, but you never know.

The following pictures are in no particular order, just a bunch of random pics since my last post.

Since my last post I did find some time to build, but I did work at the pay job a fair bit too. I just had a pretty good splurt of work and today was the first day back building for awhile.

I finally got the loft all insulated and the vapour barrier up. I also managed to get a little more drywalling done. Still a bit more drywall hanging to do yet though, but it is getting narrowed down. So far I have purchased 66 panels of drywall. I did'nt think a small house like this one would take that much. I might even have to get a little more yet, but I'm not real sure yet.

All the heavy rainfall that we have been getting has sure been taking it's toll on the creek banks. I've owend this property for probably over ten years and have never seen anything like this. Build a house overlooking the creek and guess what happens. lol. I'm not real concerned at the time, but I do have plans of doing some kind of erosion control for future flooding. If it were to rain like this for a few years straight, I would probably start to worry a bit if I did'nt do something. The water level is'nt overly high in this photo, this is just some of the aftermath.

I have been doing a fair bit of trucking lately. When I snapped this photo, I was kinda stranded out in the middle of no where for a bit. There is four belts on this truck, and for some reason they all blew off. I suspect one broke and caused all the rest to derail. I managed to salvage one belt for each set of pulleys to finish hauling what I had to haul and then get home. Alot of squealing was going on when the fan kicked in. So I managed to finish the day with half the belts anyway.

The insulation in the loft ceiling is R40 value. I thought would take a shot of the space above the insulation which will be the ventilation space. You want to have some ventilation above your insulation. On my house the air flows up through the soffits under the roof over hang and goes out through the vented ridge cap. That's what it is supposed to do anyway.

Just a shot of some of the wetness we've had around here lately.

Before I did my drywall surrounding the tub, I wanted to test it for leaks. My first test actually failed. What a mess downstairs. So I redone the drain and overflow installation, and this time it was good. But, as I was pumping the water out of the tub, I accidentaly bumped the drain plug with my pump, and I made another mess down stairs. I don't have the tub completely connected in the basement yet.

Drywall, Heater, Solar Equipment, Bathtub.

2011-07-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

I seen the dog in the corner of my eye and something just did'nt seem right. I guess she wanted to have a birds eye view while searching for mice. That seems to keep her occupied while I'm busy doing my thing.

For a while there we had some pretty good rainfall happening. The creek was alot higher and wilder than I've ever seen it before for a few days there. A long with the rain came a fair bit of time off from the pay job, and I did manage to accomplish a few things on the house.

I got my loft door framed in, then I insulated it, and will vapour barrier over the whole the thing for now. I think it will be alot easier to install the door once the the deck is built up there, and who knows when that will be. It could be this summer, but it could also be not this summer. The other gable end is insulated with vapour barrier installed. I still have to insulate the ceiling.

The basement outer perimeter is drywalled and most of the main floor perimeter is also. I just have the bathroom to do on the main floor perimeter. I have one 15000 btu propane heater hanging on the wall down stairs so far, but it is not all plumbed in yet. There will be another one of these just like this one on the adjacent wall, but both will be on the same end of the house. Anything vulnerable from freezing up is in the same area as these heaters, and the bathroom and kitchen is directly above. These heaters don't require power to operate, but I have equipped them with the optional fan so I do have the option. I expect to be able to walk away from my place in the winter for days, and have nothing freezing up with just these two heaters running. Unless, of course if it gets so cold that the propane freezes off. -42 propane quits moving, and it is quite possible to reach those temps here, usually if it is that cold, I think I'll just try and be here. I realize that heaters should be mounted lower to the floor, but these are direct vent heaters and the exhaust goes out at least a foot above grade. Larger direct vent heaters would'nt pass the location/distance codes, unless they were mounted on the floor and had a B type vent system. The b vent system gets it's combustion air from inside the house, and I did'nt want that. The b vent system also requires a chimney to be run all the way to the top of the house. Did'nt want that either. I don't expect my two heaters to keep the house at a comfortable temp, but you never know, they might. Yet to come is a wood stove for the basement, and possibly a smaller forced air furnace more for use in the spring, summer and fall. I'm pretty sure that I could also use the forced air furnace in the night as the fire burns down in the winter, but I sure would not expect it to run constantly for days on solar power alone in the winter. I'll be doing alot of experimenting in the near future.

I purchased some more goodies online. All the stuff on the second plywood backing board. Plus a new inverter that is not installed yet. Shown is an Outback 60 MPPT charge controller, solar panel combiner box, and an ac/dc disconnect box. This is the main power in connections all in one convenient place. The Magnum 24 volt to 120/240 volt inverter mounts right on the face of that disconnect box. This system is going to be pretty high tech for me. So far the power that I have in the house is still coming from my shack through an extension cord. But it's all solar.

The plan is to have my batteries right in the basement so far, but that could change also. I could possibly have 24 6 volt batteries, depending on the the size I choose to buy. It could be less but larger batteries, I'll have to do some pricing out when the time comes. It would be nice to have the batteries in a box outside, but then it just seems like more headache to try and keep the batteries warm. In the last two winters that I have lived off grid, I have started the generator alot of times just to warm the batteries up. They lose capacity the colder they get, and if they were at room temperature, I probably could have gotten away with not starting the generator on alot of the winter days or nights.

I don't feel real frugal lately. I do shop around and get the best deal I can find, but I did spend more on some things than I have planned on. It's not like throwing the money away though. I'm sure it will increase the value of the house. When you go shopping for things like bathtubs where I'm from, there sure does'nt seem to be much of a selection. I guess I probably could have ordered something. I'm actually quite happy with my new tub though so far. I thought it was going to be quite the chore to get it from the trailer into the house, but it actually went pretty good.

I laid it on its side to get it in the main door, then had to skid it through the kitchen and into the living room, where the vaulted ceiling is, to stand it up. Then back through the kitchen and into the bathroom. I had to do some debuilding to get it to go through the bathroom door. The door header had to come out as the tub was too high.

I can't wait till I'm using this baby instead of showering in town, or the RV all the time. My bathroom is quite small, so I could'nt really get far enough away for a good picture, but it's looking pretty darned good so far. The tub seems to be a good fit.

Well it sure has been nice to find a little time to get a few things accomplished, but it has'nt rained for awhile here now, and I'm actually wondering why they hav'nt phoned me to go to work yet, but I'm glad they did'nt. Just trying to get as much done as I can before it happens.

June 9 2011 House and Work Update

2011-06-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

We have been pretty busy at work lately with a little bit of free time off and on. So I wanted rain
in hopes that we would get shut down for awhile. Well it rained, now we play around in the mud. It don't matter, the machines need to be there I guess. I unloaded the cat I was hauling and trying to get turned around, this is as far as I got. I'm stuck.

We always seem to haul something that can help with getting turned around, or up hills that you normally can't do with the truck alone. And it does happen at times. So I hooked the cat I just unloaded onto the trailer.

Then jump on the D6R Cat and simply drag the old girl around the corner.

This is how it all ened up. The jeep (small trailer between the truck and main trailer) wanted to kink towards the ditch more instead of follow along, but thats ok. We're turned around and ready to roll. I hate trucking in the mud anymore. Everything was nice and clean before this road. They call this the Teddy Lane. I think named for all the bear sightings. I have seen alot of blackbears on this road and one spring a few years ago I can remember watching a young grizzly bear rolling around on dead road killed moose right at the beginning of this road as you turn off the highway. Yip, right at the chain up area. Nice. They don't seem to drop all road kill there anymore, which is kinda nice. I have seen alot of black bears this spring so far. I think almost every day I'm out in the bush. No grizzly yet though.

I get alot of different looks from Traction at times. She's just about ready to retire from the swamping lifestyle after this day we had.

One evening while driving home from work, I noticed this old truck parked in a farmers field. I just had to turn around and snap a shot, as it brings back old memories, just like an old friend. I used to drive this truck for a previous employer. I have been into the United States one time in my life and this was the old friend that took me there. I was hauling 108 head of young bull buffalo from close to home to Gooding, Idaho. It was quite a journey. Permits, log books, heat, this old girl don't have air conditioning. The DOT shut me down in Shelby, Montana for two hours for being over houred in my log book. lol. If they only knew the whole story. By the time I arrived at my destination, I thought for sure that I would have had some dead livestock aboard, but when I opened the gate, they all ran off one right behind the other. They are a tough animal. They are quite different from cows. Cows would have trampled alot of the sleepers on a trip like that I think. I do plan on doing some more hauling across the line sometime in the future. I think it would be a great way to see the country.

One other funny thing I can remember about this truck. Most vehicles I have ever driven has a speedometer that is in both kilometers and miles. This is the only vehicle I have ever driven in my trucking career that only had it in kilometers and not miles. Just another minor obstacle while driving in a country that is in miles. I can also remember when this trucks odometer turned from 999,999 back to zero. There are actually alot of different trucks that I run across from time to time that bring back some memories, kinda like an old friend, and some maybe an old enemy.

Anyway, back to the acerage project. Once inawhile I do get a chance to start doing things on the house or the acerage before getting phoned to go to work. I managed to install a couple of deck headers on the front of the house. It's going to be a deck over a deck. In between the two ladders will be a sawed off door. I just gotta be different. I'll be taking about 1 foot off the door and will have to step over the knee wall to get out onto the deck. I like the idea myself. Awhile ago, Annie over at Edifice Rex kinda mentioned that it might not be a good idea to cut into the top plate for a door opening, and after thinking about that for awhile, I thought I would agree. So this is the solution I came up with.

I managed to get a few other odds and end done, and the house is pretty much insulated except the ceiling and just some odd pieces that would be in the way for other things. After being so busy at work for a few days at a time, I always seem to find it hard to get motivated again. I'm always thinking the phone is just going to ring anyway. It sounds like we may have another driver coming as we do have another truck now. I think I will find some extra time for building soon. I sure do hope so anyway. I hate the thought of quitting, or taking a bunch of time off, sometimes I just wish the boss would retire or something. Well, not really. I love the job, but I just find it hard to enjoy it at this time knowing that nothing's going on with the house. I don't plan on working like a dog for ever, it's just that it's easy pickings right now, and you just never know if it will come to a sudden halt again soon or not.

Another thing that kinda slowed down the building process was that when I did have time off work, I used about three days in total to cleanup the bush areas a bit, with some help from mom one day. After the forest fires in Slave Lake, Alberta, that destroyed a good sized chunck of the town of 7000 people, it made me a little paranoid. So I thought that I would prune the spruce and pine trees in the bush that come close to the house and garage. Well I don't know if pruning is the right word for it, as I just delimbed with a chainsaw. Probably not the correct way to go about it, but I had alot of trees to do. It is alot safer now, I think. If those trees ever did start on fire, I imagine it could take the house with it pretty easy. The way it was, the limbs so close to the ground and all that dead quack grass under the trees, a little harmless grass fire would have almost garanteed a major disaster. As it is now, it could still be bad, but there is a pretty good chance that a grass fire might not automatically ignite the trees so easily.

I raked all of tree broughs out of the bush and piled it all into one big pile in the middle of my land. It was a few loads for the old backhoe. I'll probably burn it in the winter. There is alot of extra things a mans gotta do when country living. One chore that I have, that really dos'nt make any sense what so ever, is mowing. Is'nt that what cows are for? I just don't have time to get rigged up for everything just yet. Eventually though, I would like to find two calves in the spring and let them graze the acerage all summer and sell them in the fall. That way they can keep the grass down in the hard to mow areas also. I need fence and the time to build it etc. I guess I could tether them or use solar electric fence, but I just don't have time for things like this right now. For now I'll just mow it. Just another thought, I could put a couple horses there instead, but then they will be burning hay all winter. I guess time will tell.

Insulating

2011-05-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

I had my rough electrical inspection on May 13, and all is good. Except I forgot to wire in the smoke detecters, as I just kinda thought I would be using battery operated ones instead, being off grid and all. But I guess they need to be wired in anyway. I need one on each floor and they all need to be wired together so that if one goes off, they all go off. No problem. I started doing some insulating right after the inspection. I did have a little in basement from before. The basement is pretty much done except for all the smaller pieces that go in the floor joists on top of the basement wall. Most of the main floor is done except for one end wall, as I need to have axcess to it for install the deck headers. The Knee walls in the loft are done except that same end wall for the same purpose. The electrical inspector is also the building inspector, and I mentioned to him about my idea of having a sawed off door to enter the deck off the loft bedroom. It is all a go, he kinda liked my idea, although if I were a contractor building this house for someone else it would have been a different story. Monday will probably be a bit of waste as I am going to go to town for some more supplies.

I finally went and picked up a load of water from town the other evening. Before I unhooked the trailer I thought I would fill up the RV, as I was in major need of a shower after insulating all day, and I sure have no intentions to go all the way to Grande Prairie for just a shower. This way I can just gravity feed the water into the RV instead of hooking up a pump and doing it.

The shower in the RV is pretty tiny, but it works. It was busy day.

Things are sure starting to get dry around here lately, which is kinda hard to believe after seeing all that snow we had this winter. It's pretty smoky around here all day. There are some fires burning in the Whitecourt and/or Slave Lake areas.

More wiring and other things.

2011-05-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well it's that time of the year again, where I need to start using some store bought energy to keep the growlies cold. The propane fridge in my RV. I think I finally decided what I will use for refridgeration in the near future. DC powered fridge and freezer combination which I think I will use all summer and then in the winter I will utilize the natural refridgeration as I have done for the last two winters now. But it may come later as I can still use the RV fridge for a year or two. Whats the panick. I believe that I will have power to burn in the summer time, but the winters will be kinda tough. I really see no sense in using energy to heat a home then put a box in there that burns energy to make things cold when it is -30 to -40 celcius outside. Gotta make some use out of that cold weather.

I hav'nt been very busy working at work, but it is that time of the year for work related courses and meetings etc. Then when I thought I got all that out of the way, my old GMC decided to quit on me on my way into town. I caught a ride with a good samaritin who gave me ride to my place so I could get my Dodge and trailer to load the GMC onto. I got it home and trying to figure out what was wrong with it the next day while it was still loaded on the trailer, I managed to rip the door handle off the truck. I wasn'nt having a real good day. I kinda boiled the truck issues down to the fuel pump, but I was'nt positive about it, and I ended up taking it in to town for repair. I just did'nt feel like spending time on it when I have so much building going on. It was the fuel pump and charged me $800.00. I bought a door handle for real close to 100.00. I sure don't feel real frugal lately. lol. I know I could have changed that fuel pump myself and I would have if had nothing better to do. It is inside the fuel tank, and the tank was pretty close full. I would have been a day just trying to find some place to put all that gas.

One evening after supper I decided to install a tv antenna on the shack. I've had one kicking around here and always wanted to get it up. Now I have two whole channels that are alot less fuzzy than the two I had before. You sure don't see many of these around anymore. I wonder if you can even buy a new one of these. I got pissed off at the satelite tv company finally. I don't really feel off grid with it anyway. Internet is enough. Ever since I moved out here, I put my satellite tv on suspension to avoid paying the disconnect fee and the reconnect fee and all the other stupid fees. It was supposed to be $10 a month while on suspension, but they seem to know how still squeeze more larger fees periodically, so bye bye satellite tv people. I don't need ya. Maybe someday, but I'm good for a long time for now.

The creek is running pretty good for the last couple of weeks.

There's the house from down at the creek.

My breaker panel is made for both shore power and generator power as an emergency backup source. Every house should have one of these. It makes it real easy to hook a generator up to the house in case of power failure on the grid or whatever. Normally my off grid power will have the generator hooked into the inverter, but my way of thinking is that if the inverter should blow up on me, there could be a time where I might have to bypass the inverter all together temporarily.

The branch circuits before.

The branch circuits after.

A closeup view of the breaker box. My neutral to ground connection will take place in a different box between the inverter and this breaker panel. I will be adding some more circuits to this panel. About 5 more that I can think of right now. Septic pump, septic alarm, garage, HRV, furnace, but I'm just not ready yet. NOTE, I am not a professional electrician, so if you copy my wiring and your house burns down, or you get injured or worse, please don't blame me. Get the info from the real pros please. Although, I do think things will be ok, ya just never know.

Wiring Mostly.

2011-04-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty busy building on the house lately and all kinds of other stuff. Lately I have been trying hard to get my wiring to the rough in inspection stage. That is where all the inside wiring is pretty close to being done. It is the inspection that needs to be done before the insulation goes in and hides it all. I am just about done with the main branch circuits in the basement, living room, kitchen, loft. What I have left is some other misc circuits such as the washing machine, some outdoor plugs, wiring to the septic tank, my ground rods, etc. It does take some time. The wiring had me thinking for awhile there when I first started, but it is pretty simple once I get on to it. Maybe it's all gonna be right. I imagine I will be awhile yet though before I can start insulating, and covering the wall. The above photo is the smaller loft that I finally finished framing and blocking and permanently installing the subfloor.

The photo below is the top veiw. I'm not real sure what I'm going to do with this thing yet. I might build a walk way from the main loft and just use it as a little extra storage space or something. It sure is handy having it there for building and reaching the upper parts as I go. It is pretty close to 5 feet wide.

Here is a picture of the main loft from the small loft.

This is very first sheet of drywall that got installed in the house. Just needed a place for the breaker panel. I sure can't wait until I start slapping these things on, it will really start to change the looks of things when I do.

The breaker panel. The wiring of all the brach circuits are really starting to pile up.

Don't ask why I would put this picture in. I guess you could say this was pretty close though. That is my kitchen sink pail in my shack. I thought I should take a quick check to see how full it was getting to be. It's a good thing I did. I have never had it this full before, but I did one time dump a bunch of water in the sink when I forgot to put the pail under it after dumping it. That was kinda messy.

Anyway, I hav'nt been on much lately, I guess it might have something to do with the longer days and working on the house more lately. It dos'nt seem to get dark until about 8 or 9 probably. I don't even know for sure.

The weather here has been pretty nice snow melting weather, and the creek just started running pretty good a couple of days ago. Real spring weather has been kinda slow coming this year.

Some misc. pictures and stuff.

2011-03-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

It's a dogs life. Sometimes I wish I could trade shoes with the dog.

I could really process some firewood with this baby. Feller bunchers are not the nicest things to haul, but I guess it pays the bills to be hauling something.

I don't ever have to worry about falling off the road this winter. Guess I should put some new glass in the old pickup sometime. And maybe even clean some of the junk off the dash. But then I would never find anything.

The stairs are pretty much stationary now.

The framed walls at the stairs are not permanent yet. I think I will leave it that way for a bit, until I get some drywall on the inside, just incase things are too tight. I am definatley not a pro at alot of this stuff, and I am not sure exactly the best way to do walls at the stairs, but I'm just kinda planning as I go. Modifications are a great possiblily.

I've been trying to get all the framing done, so that I have some place to run wires and switches and all that. My buddy, the plumbing inspecter came out yesterday and signed all my plumbing off. Which means it's all good. It's not completely all done, but it's all good. They seem to be interested mainly in the drains and there vent lines. Anything that could cause a health risk I guess. There is plumbing, that is just not feasible to do until other things are done first. This inspector is also the wood stove guy, and the gas inspector. He has been quite helpful to me so far.

The weather here is still pretty cool for this time of the year. But I just know that things should start to warm up and start to melt soon. Lots of snow also means possibly a longer spring break. By the end of March usually work comes to a pretty good slow down as alot of the roads come off of winter weights and are banned from truck traffic. Practically all the bush will be impassible until late spring/summer. Good deal. I've got this major itch to get some building done. Tomorrow I'm heading into town for some more building supplies, unless work phones me that is.

March 4 Update. Plumbing, Stairs, Cold Weather.

2011-03-04T21:29:00.000-08:00

Thought I better put a little something on for a change. At work we hav'nt been real over busy, but a little bit here and there. Ever since they rebuilt the engine in the the truck, I have been pretty busy taking it back to them quite often to get things fixed. They have been unfriendly, kinda like it's all our fault or something. One mechanic has been anyway, but the boss kinda rectified that one day. lol. It is really unbelieveable the attitude some people have after you spend in the area of $50,000.00. (Tranny and engine). They just seem to try and pretend that nothing is wrong with things. One would really think that at $137.50/ hour shop rate, that they would have some kind of idea what they're doing. But oh well.
We have had some pretty darn cold weather lately, and alot of snow. I am quite determined that I will not spend another winter in this little shack. I could do it, I just don't want to. When the the temps drop below minus 30C the heater no longer keeps up. It runs constantly, and the floor is very cold. lol. I think I will really appreciate a nice hot crackling fire in the wood stove next winter. We have been getting alot of snow and wind with those cold temperatures. I have noticed that I am getting some snow coming in the new house through the ridge cap on the roof. I guess this spring or summer I will maybe change the whole ridge cap with one a little bigger and also purchase the snow filters that I guess I should have put in the first place. It's just a good thing that I'm not a quick builder and had it all closed in. I might not have ever known until things started to rot. I have never had this problem untill the real cold and windy stuff came.

I have found a little time for building off and on lately. I managed to get some stairs built for the loft. I am actually quite impressed as to how it all turned out so far. I still have to take the top section off and do some finishing touches. Then the fancy railings eventually. The stairs over stairs concept actually worked out pretty good. I thought I could possibly run into some clearance problems, but it's all good. I think. Just wanted to show off my simple little stairs marking tool. All it is, is a normal 2 foot sqaure with a couple of stair nuts. (Or what ever the real name is for them). You just screw one on at the right distance for your run, and the other at the distance for your rise. To figure out your rise and run, there are alot of books that can teach you all that. lol. But one thing I will say is that it is'nt nearly as complicated as some might think.

My plumbing permit is about to expire again on the 15 of March 2011. Maybe they will extend one more time for me, but I'm not sure. The plumbing could all be done very quickly, but alot of it, just dos'nt seem to make sense to be done until other things are done first. So thats what kinda slows me down. I'm trying to get it to a point where the inspector could come and have a look at it though. I have been buying things slowly. I bought that pump with the small tank quite awhile ago. That tank is 5.5 gallon. Then I bought another tank (20 gallons) that was on sale. I still want to get another tank, and it will be about 80 gallons. I'm the only one I know who has more than one pump, hope it's all ok. What I am thinking, is that I will have a switch up stairs so I can somtimes control when the pump kicks in. Pump water in the sunshine and try to have enough pressurized water for the evening for solar power consumption reasons. If I were to use just the one tank that came with the pump, that pump would be cycling on and off constantly while running water. Starting a pump is where the most power comsumption is. All those little fittings and valves and all that really add up in price after while. Anyway, just a little update on things. I do hope to be really going crazy on this thing soon.

Heating Thoughts

2011-01-30T11:50:00.000-08:00

Today, my small solar setup would run a forced air furnace easily, although my battery bank would probably not be large enough to run it for the night. Thats with the system I am running at the moment. My battery bank at the moment is 6 12 volt deep cycle/marine batteries.

My prosine inverter controller is showing that my 6 12volt batteries are at +7C for a temperature as the outside temp is -18 C according to my thermometer. I hav'nt had the battery warmers on since about 10:00 pm the previous night.

My charge controller is showing some pretty fair power coming in from the solar panels today. The sun is just starting to peak over the trees.

WARNING: The following writeup about heating may be a long drawn out boring piece of literature to some. But someone may be interested. Just wanted to think out loud for a bit. I wrote it last night, and added things here and there and even a little more today. It could be all mixed up, but what ever. Personally, I hate reading real long blogs myself, I don't like writing them much either and I sure don't expect anyone to read it, but it is there anyway.

HEATING

I have been working off and on lately. I have had a fair bit of time off awhile back, and it was in a real cold snap that we had for awhile there. I did'nt accomplish a whole lot on the house, but as usual, I have been doing ALOT of researching on various different topics pertaining to my project. One subject that has really got my mind going, is heating. As we should all know by now is that I kinda learn things as I go. I initially thought I was going to heat my basement with a propane space heater in the basement. I was even thinking about another high efficient (power vented) heater up in the living area somewhere, along with the wood stove. It would all work, but it really would'nt be very energy efficient, while I were away. I am basing this presumption on my experience with the space heater in my shack. My heat bill in the little shack is probably about twice of what it is in my mobile home that I have rented out in town. And the shack is alot smaller to heat, although it does have it's leaky areas, I guess. There other reasons against it also. What is the solution? I sometimes wonder. I have researched hydronics, which is when you circulate hot water (etc) through pipes to heat floors, or baseboard type radiators etc.) It is supposed to consume little electrical energy to run the pumps to circulate the water, but it does use power. I could use an on demand type water heater to heat the water(uses power when operating also, and I personally think alot of gas energy also, but I don't know that for sure). Or I could use a normal hot water tank(boiler). These would probably be an ok type heat system, but it just is'nt for me. In my opinion, they probably use less electrical energy while running, but probably have to run more. I am looking for a quick heat fix when I want it. When I come home on a cold winter day, I plan on lighting a fire in the wood stove. I just need something to keep the chill off while I'm away, and keep me nice and cozy at night while sleeping.
What I am seriously thinking about kinda goes against anything that I research on the internet. You don't often hear about people using forced air furnace to heat a Renewable Energy home, but I have done alot of research and figuring, and I honestly think it will end up being my solution. They work pretty good in an RV. I realize that for about 3 months in the winter, I will definately not be able to rely on incoming solar energy to power this thing, but I am seriously going to make it work somehow. It is kinda chilly in our parts off and on all year long, but in the summer, we probably get alot more sunlight than most of our southern neighbors. A little further north is known as the land of the midnight sun, after all. I find with my small system I have in my shack right now, that I tend to waste alot of the available sunlight I do have. For most of the year, my batteries are full by noon and the charging system shuts down as the ole sun just keeps on shining.

Sure, everyone thinks I'm nuts. Anyone out there think I'm nuts? lol. The way I have it all figured out is that, if my furnace ran, 1/2 of the time(12 hours per day), and with no incoming charge going to the battery bank, I would bring my battery bank down to about 35% depth of discharge. Which means my batteries would still be at 65% state of charge. This figure based on 24 Trojan T-105 6 volt batteries. Not saying this is what will be used, but this is what the calculation is based upon. They are 225 amp/hr batteries @20 hour rate. I also don't ever expect the furnace to run half the time. It could I guess on the coldest of cold days, but I really don't think so. In my calculation, I allowed for 80% efficency for the batteries, then I also allowed for another 80% efficiency after that, just for the heck of it, for inverter efficiency loss etc. I also added some watt/hrs (150) onto the furnace for a total of 600 watts, just incase I missed something there. The furnace is 66,000 btu 93% efficeincy rate(the one I have my eye on). Somehow I have figured that a Honda eu6500 generator should bring the batteries right back up in about an hour of charging for each day, but that is only if there is no other incoming charge, and in the real cold weather. I think that the furnace would run less than 1/3 the time (8 hours per 24 hour period) if it were -25C/-6F. We get alot of days that are alot warmer than this in the winter, but then we do get some that are alot colder also.
When it was -17 one day awhile ago, I experimented with my 24 foot holiday trailer. I turned the furnace on, and timed things as they happend. I brought it to a pretty nice temp in a relatively short period of time. That trailer is not very well insulated and has alot of single pane windows and thin walls. But it really did'nt seem to take long for that small 12 volt forced air furnace to warm it up nicely in there.

I also experimented at work one day. We recently set up an office shack outside the shop at work for the safety hand, and my foreman. An area of it also became our coffee room, which is pretty handy for me to perform some experiments. It's furnace is about the same btu rating as the one I have my eye on, although I don't know the fan cfm. It was -25C one day when I got in from trucking. I sat in there invading some goodies in the fridge and hot chocolate etc, and I timed the furnace run time and off time. The furnace in there ran pretty close to 1/3 the time on that cold day. I did open the entrance door 2 or 3 times in this period also. This building is roughly 14 feet wide, by 60 feet long (I paced it off). It is on skids, so the floor would cool off quicker that way also. A rough calculation of walls and roof are as follows. Experimental shack :3160 square feet. My House 2928 sqaure feet. My basement walls are 8 inch lumber and the upper parts are 6 inch, which is the same as the experimental shack. Four feet of the total wall area of my house is below grade which should really help. If a 600 watt furnace ran at 1/3 time all winter, it would'nt hurt my feelings, but it won't, I just know it. While I'm there, I will be burning wood. When I am gone, the furnace gets turned right down, as it should'nt take long to bring the temp back up again when I get home. A forced air furnace will be really nice at night while sleeping etc.

The plan at this time is to utilize an automatic starting generator, which is subject to automatically start up when the battery bank voltage gets down to a certain voltage setting. If for some reason the generator fails to start (which is quite a possibility), the inverter would eventually shut down at a preset battery voltage also, so as not to over discharge the batteries. I would think the furnace should run for at least two days before the inverter shutting down though. Then there is going to be a direct vent propane heater that should eventually kick in at an above freezing temp in the basement. All the plumbing and things in danger of freezing in my house are in 1/3 area all in one end of the house. I'm pretty sure it would'nt take much of a heater to keep things from freezing right up. Example:They built an entrance way on the shack at work that goes from the shop to the shack. I walked from the shop to the shack the other night for the first time in this insulated porch, and could'nt believe just how warm it was in there, with just the heat from the shack and shop warming it through the closed doors, and I guess the heat that enters from opening the doors periodically to enter the buildings. The outside temperature was quite bitter, about -20C with a wind. I might even eventually put in some kind of a hydronic system for when I do leave for a week or so maybe, even if it is just a real small system for experimental purposes. The possibilities are endless. All my furnace calculations were assuming cold temps and no other means of incoming charge. When ever the sun shines, that will be a big bonus, when I am at home, wood is burnt, and I also plan on eventually bringing in some wind power. If I ever decide, at some time in my life, to go away for a long time in the winter, such as the Canada goose does, I think I would simply winterize things just like I do my RV, and let it freeze up. Why not? Seems to me alot better than running a furnace for a month in the winter when you're not there anyway.

A little while ago, I was actually having second thoughts about even staying off the grid. I was doing some real serious calculations to see if it were even going to be worth it, as there is power pretty close by that I could always hook into. It would cost anywhere from $8500 to $12,000 or more to hook into the grid, then the monthly bills that follow for ever. But holy cow, how convenient would that be? lol. I could keep my solar setup under that price, but with a furnace it is probably going to end up being more, but then alot of the equipment is resaleable. Generators don't run for free though, and they tend to wear out with use. Sometimes I still do wonder if it will all be worth it, but then I come back to my senses. I know it will benefit me a little financially over time, as long as I can get a few years out of my batteries. But most importantly, is that I plan to live off grid mostly because of my love of learning new things, and I have a real interest in alternative energy. Just coming up with the ultimate solution and proving all the naysayers wrong makes it all worth the while right there. It is my entertainment. If things don't work out with it, or I get tired of the extra maintenance and everything that goes with it, then I can always, in the future hook right into that pole that goes through my yard. But I am going to put up a heck of a fight to avoid it for now. P.S. I know the generator thing sounds kinda harsh, but with or without a forced air furnace, the generator will need to be utilized at times in the winter in these parts. By mid February the sun starts getting higher and higher actually quite rapidly as the days go by, and there is still alot of winter like weather at these times. This is where I really think the forced air furnace will shine and also in the fall. I am still in the process of educating myself though and I am looking a little deeper into hydronic heating before actually making a decision. If I did both, I guess I can’t really go wrong.

I have been trying to stay away from using a B-type vent/chimney system, which was going to be part of the initial plan. A boiler would probably require this type of vent. There are high efficient boilers, but I believe they are pretty expensive and they require electrical energy to run also. High efficient appliances use pvc pipe going out the side of the house as their exhaust and incoming combustion air source. The initial plan was as follows, but it just seems to me, that what could end up being a problem is the permitting process. I seem to always forget that you can’t just do what you think is right. I know I could design a good working system, even if I do have to make some modifications as I go in order to perfect it. My plan was to have about a 50000 btu B vent type propane space heater at one end of the house in the basement. It would be in the end with all the plumbing. Above the heater would be a duct hole leading into the bathroom, and one into the kitchen up above. There could also be a couple in the living area, just so basement heat can rise through them. There could have even been a thermostatically controlled fan to force some heat into those areas when I am home. I could have even plumbed one up to the loft through a bathroom closet for night time comfort. The space heater can come complete with an optional fan mounted right on it. Come home flick a switch up stairs to turn on the fan and whole basement circulates heat which in turn should send some upwards. But then with return air, and heat recovery system issues etc. (I would have to bring in outside air for combustion air) I guess if I go this way, I might as well just do the furnace and be done with it. I was planning on forcing hot air from high above down to the basement while the wood stove was running, so this would help heat the basement with wood heat while I were there, in order to save on heating fuel. When I write or talk about it, I know it probably sounds stupid, but I think I was on to something. If it were not a code approved home, I would get a lot of things done a lot quicker, and I would just do what I want and no one would even know until it was all up and running, and working well. It seems to me though, when I think about, this system would more or less end being an oversized amateur built inefficient furnace, that ended up costing a lot more and taking up a lot more space and burns a lot more propane. So I am really thinking a smaller high efficient furnace, with auto gen start, and back up direct vent space heater as a last resort incase things decide not to run when I am away for 3 days or so. Still thinking though.

Ultimately, my plan was to have absolutely no electrical power usage going on while I were away, but I also would like to keep energy efficiency in mind. With a forced air furnace, I realize there are going to be a lot of days where a generator will have to run for an hour per day or more, but there are also going to be a lot of days where it won’t also. I really believe it would pay off on the yearly average. One other little thing that I keep in mind is that, I am guessing, but I’ll bet on a -30C day, I could walk away from the house when it was warmed up, and if there were no heat source at all while I were away, I don’t think anything in the house would start to freeze up for probably a couple days anyway. I am basing this on my experience with batteries that I keep in the deep freeze outside to power my shack at the moment. I did’nt take note of my battery temperature last night when I went to bed, but it was -30C overnight and my batteries at this moment are at +7C at this moment 12:30 pm the next day. It is -18 outside right now. I have noticed that my batteries have always taken at least two days before dropping below freezing. If that thin deepfreeze is going to hold heat that long, I think my house should hold some heat for awhile also with no one there to open and close doors all day. Any thoughts?

Snow and Plumbing.

2011-01-29T22:43:00.000-08:00

That is my dodge pickup. It's a good thing she's a 1 ton with duals, because she is packing quite a jag.

The house did'nt fall down. Believe it or not, the solar panel side is pretty clean.

I finally got the main stack out the roof. Most of the drainage plumbing is done. There is just a little more where the fixtures connect to it all. It's 4" abs pipe where it goes through the roof and it is 4" abs where it goes under the basement floor and out to the septic tank, but it is 3" in between. Permit guy wanted 4" going out the roof for frost build up purposes. There is a fair bit of 3 " from the basement to the roof. It does'nt just go staight up. It winds around the tub on the main floor. All the drains and vents connect into the 3" somewhere on it's way up.

We had a few pretty mild days before it all got cold again. It was just enough to clean off the roof, and it took an extra couple of days for the ladder to self clean, then I got up there and flanged up my main stack where it comes out the roof. The next day it started to dump a bunch of snow again. Even the garage roof finally dumped a day or 2 after the house. You would'nt want to be standing under either one when it all takes place. I had to use the backhoe to open up a trail to get into the garage man door.

Anyway. I wrote a rather large thing in my word pad on my thoughts and changes of the heating system, then thought I would simply copy and paste it into this blog. As usual, I learn the hard way that maybe it is'nt quite that simple huh. I wonder, why not? Maybe there is a way, but I'll probably spend the night trying to figure it all out, so maybe I'll put it in later. Maybe it was meant to be. lol. Does anyone know if there is some simple thing I can do, I would really hate it if I have to print it out and retype it.

Not much got accomplished since the last post. I have been picking away a little at a time. I bought my electrical permit a little while ago. Sounds like fun to get started on all that. Usually there is 2 months or so in the spring where we are pretty slow at work. If I have to spend another winter in my little shack, no...... surely that won't happen. Anyone wanna place some bets?

Thinking and Plumbing etc.

2010-12-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

I've put on a few random photos of things going on, and they are in no special order. We have a fair bit of snow, and it has been pretty chilly. I have seen alot colder, but it has been hanging in the area of about -20 to -27 Celcius/ roughly about -6 to -16 on the Farenheit scale. I even had to finally fire up the old John Deere and do some serious snow plowing as the pickup was starting to push snow in places. The snow is still hanging on the north side of the house, but it did let go on the sunny side. (no pic.)

As usual, I did'nt physically accomplish as much as I would have liked to, but I did get the loft floor all glued and nailed down with some ring shank nails.

I have been spending alot of time with plumbing. There's the heater, burning 20 lbs of propane in about 6 hours time. Costly, but I do like to take the chill off.

This is just a glance from the loft looking down to the living room.

From the basement looking up.

There is the main plumbing stack. First I had to frame in a wall against the stairs or it would have been hard to do later. Yes, the main stack is crooked, and it's probably going to stay that way, I hope that does'nt matter. The cement used to glue this stuff together sets real quick, and when I was putting that one elbow on the top of the stack, I could'nt seem to find my mark until it was to late. It was'nt off by much, but enough to show a bit of a lean from this angle anyway. The three inch line running coming from the toilet will flex up enough to have the right flow angle. I think. lol. Most of the plumbing is done, but there are a few little touch ups, such as some of the lines that come off the main stack and goes to the sinks etc. I have to shoot the stack out the roof yet, but I think I will wait until that snow comes off first. It would need to be a bit warmer of a day anyway.

Before I got real serious about this plumbing, I had the permit guy come out and get me set straight on a few things so that I would get it done right the first time. I THINK I have it right. Anyway, he is the same guy that does the heating inspections. I kinda threw my idea at him about what I wanted to do about a heat system, but I'm not real sure if my plans are going to be totally acceptable. He has mentioned things like HRV (heat recovery ventilators), which I think I am slowly learning that is mandatory in a new house. Also, energy efficient heating source, such as a furnace. I was'nt really prepared to get any answers on things at the time. When I first started to study these things, it made me laugh a bit. How can something that uses so much electical power be classed as energy efficient? They're easy on the gas, but the solar system might take a bit of beating. I have been doing alot of research on this stuff, and also research on wiring lately. I am going to get an electrical permit soon, but I just don't want to sound like too much of a dummy about things when I do go there. I am now wondering if my inverter and all that is going to be up to code on all this stuff. Might have to bite the bullet and get me a more modern system, but I'm not real sure at this time.

A forced air furnace could actually be a good thing in my little house. I really don't think the fan should have to run all that much to keep up to things. It would be a nice touch for the summer when you need a little heat in the evenings and cooler days. I still don't think the genny would have to be used all that much. But in the winter, it is going to mean a larger battery bank, and possibly even an automatic starting generator system, which would be quite do-able, I guess. I'm thinking just a small 3000 watt honda or something should handle it all maybe, and should beable to be set up for autostart with the right inverter. But I better not get too far ahead of myself here just yet. I guess I'll get prepared for a little chat with my friend the inspector guy. Who, by the way has been very helpful to me so far. Boy, if Tony(Did It My Way) were still with us, I could just hear him right about now. lol. He never was very fond of the permitting process. And if I lived somewhere, where it did'nt matter, I would'nt be either. (Future plans possibly).

Anyway. Seasons greetings to all. Hope you all have a real good one.

Snowy Solar Panels---Dec Update

2010-12-10T22:03:00.000-08:00

This is truly one of the downfalls of solar power in the winter. When the panels get covered like that, they don't charge very much. But then even if I were to clean them off, the sun is'nt shining all that well. I do alot of thinking about how I am going to clean them off when they are way up there on my house. I'm thinking some kind of vibrator system, or maybe compressed air, or maybe just let the sun melt it off. This really is'nt an issue for me right now though. This time of year the generator is usually utilized off and on even when the sun is shining. I use it to warm the batteries up in the old deep freeze. I got the shack all skirted in again for another long and cold winter. When I get more snow I will keep banking it up around the shack for added insulation.

The dirty old Peterbilt truck dash tells alot of info. the far left gauge is a thermometer that is reading -28 Celcius outside. Thanks to the Peterbilt getting tired and having some engine work and transmission issues rectified, I am on about a 2 week break from work to try and get some things done on the house. The old Peterbilt has less than 600,000 kms on it, but that is quite alot for a bush truck, where I have been driving it anyway. If it were mostly on the highway, it would probably have well over a million kms before all this stuff takes place. It's about 17,000 hours on the engine. It's got alot of hard mile on it. It can't seem to be helped with some of the places we go and the weight we haul. The boss offered me a brand new tri-drive, but I turned it down and let the other driver have it. I've had my taste of that, and don't really like it that much for what we do. They are really awkward to get around and also, it will be expected to be busier. I don't want to be real busy at work anymore. Not for awhile anyway.

All the windows and doors are in. I had that done for awhile now, except for the ones way up there.

Recently I have been working on the main loft floor. I always had some plywood up there to walk on, but nothing was cut to fit or secured. I now have it all sized, but still have to glue and nail it all down. I am going to concentrate on getting all my indoor plumbing done soon, as my permit, that I already had to get extended once, expires mid March. It'll be nice to get that out of the way, then get the electrical all out of the way so I can insulate and actually hold some heat in when I am burning propane. I can aim the heater at myself where I am working, and it does help alot, but I sure am going through the propane. It's been in the area of -20c/-8 ish F lately. I'm not going to let the cold slow me down much though, however, the lack of knowledge probably will. I spent most of today (Friday) just planning and measuring. I never was completely sure how I wanted to arrange my bathroom, but I do have a pretty good idea now. I think I'll get the plumbing permit guy to come out next week if he can, cause I have a big list of dumb questions for him. Drains, vents, even chimneys for propane appliances and woodstoves. I think he's into all that too. But now that I know what I am doing, it would be really neat to find out just how to do it. lol. Code, code, code. Anyway, just a little bit of an update for now.

Cistern Lid, More Windows, and the Main Door.

2010-11-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

Things have slowed up a bit at work. We're still getting called once in awhile, but it is'nt quite as crazy as it was, however I am going in, in the morning to service the truck. It is getting a little over due. I found a little time for building, but it is kinda tough to get right back into the swing of things. I thought I should slap a lid together for my water cistern. I still did'nt pour concrete in the bottom of the cistern yet. I personally think it is good to let things soak up and settle and all that. I probably will get it in the summer. There is water in it right now from rain and seepage. There has been since the spring. This lid will be a good experiment to see if water freezes down there. I know it surely does without the lid for sure. The lid is 8' x 8' and framed with 2 x 4's on 2 foot centers.

A little insulation.

Then I sheeted the other side. There is a 2' x 2' hatch which I framed in, insulated, and cut out later. I feel alot better now, just knowing that someone might not fall into the cistern now.

Today I installed the main door. It went alot better than I thought it would. That one swings outward. That is the kitchen you're looking at.

The main door from the outside. As you can see, I also have a bathroom window in. The other basement window is installed now also, but I forgot to take a picture that day. I am not going to worry about the the upper loft window/doors for awhile yet. There are other more important things to worry about. I will probably frame it, what ever it will be, and then insulate it, but I probably won't install anything up there until next spring or summer,- but, who knows.

OFF GRID One Whole Year

2010-10-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

I officially moved out here and became an off gridder on Oct 25 2009. I'm still living in the 192 square foot shack, and still loving it. I have yet to have a moment where I even came close to having any regrets. I am writing this post on Oct 23, but probably won't put it on until the 25th. It is pretty yucky outside, so just thought it would be a good time to build a new post.

As you might have noticed in the above picture, is the honda generator. I pulled it out yesterday, to power my shack for the first time since mid February. Earlier on this summer there were a couple times that I was tempted to use it because of bad weather, but I never did have to. I chose to conserve energy instead. I used it again today. The last few days have been pretty gloomy looking out there. The sun hardly pokes through the overcast and snowy sky. I always knew there would be days like this, and it dos'nt bother me a bit. Last winter I burned approximately $80.00 worth of gas using the generator. Life is good. Off gridding is good too, I can't see myself switching over again anytime soon.

A little tour of the shack? Ok. That blue jug is my water system. I have four of those that I try to keep filled. They actually last quite a long time usually.

The big blue container. Yip, you guessed it, it's my bath tub. It dos'nt get used very often, because I usually shower at the truck fuel supply places in Grande Prairie when I go to town for work or whatever. Quite a few times this summer I have also used the shower in my RV, but it is now winterized for the winter. So the old blue tub usually rests, but it is good to know it is there when it is needed. I have used it, and I usually use about 1/2 of one those blue jugs of water when I do, and when I am done, I always feel just as clean and new as if just came out of the shower. But in all honesty, I am really looking forward to having my first shower in the new cabin sometime soon. Hopefully.

I'm good at some things, but obviously house keeping is'nt one of them.

The furnace. This is quite a simple device and it dos'nt require a fan to operate. That is one thing that caught my eye when I bought this shack. Most of the furnaces in these shacks now days require power to operate. Kinda like the furnace in my RV. I will have a heater like this in the basement of my house, but it will be larger and newer. It will be equipped with a fan, but it won't need to be on to operate. That will be my heat source when I am not home. Hopefully it all works out ok. I'll use the wood stove when I am there.

The dog bed, which is just a blanket on the floor. At times, in the colder weather she sleeps on the top bunk with me, at the foot of the bed. She usually gets up there herself. I have an end table on top of a coffee table that she use like stairs so she can go up and down as she pleases.

All summer I used the fridge in the RV. It worked real well for me.

It has a seperate freezer and fridge compartments, just like a normal fridge, only on a smaller scale. I ran the fridge on propane. It is just about time to start using the natural fridge again though. Soon I will be able to freeze anything outside in the shed and the floor under one of the beds will be plenty cool enough to keep most foods cold. I can't really justify burning propane all winter to keep things cold. I'll leave it going for a little while yet. I am still trying to decide on what I am going to do for a fridge in the cabin. DC or propane. No hurry on that one anyway, as I always have the RV or natural resources.

Self explanatory. Sure can't wait till the cabin is done. lol.

One of the many benefits of living out of town. Well acutally the people in the city seem to get alot of this at times too. lol. I snapped this picture this morning(Oct 23) from the window in my shack.

North and South Soffits.

2010-10-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I managed to get the soffits on the North and South sides of the house and we fianlly got it all wrapped also. Mom was out here giving me a hand with things, she was a big help and it was reassuring to have someone around while climbing the ladder and working under the overhang. Somebody did'nt leave the ground very level for a ladder to sit on properly. That upper part is now all closed in, and just in time too.

I just did'nt want to be climbing around on the ladder in the snow and mud. The old cabin is kinda camoflauged now. I guess it is just about that time of the year again. The soffits on the East and West gable ends and the siding are going to wait until next summer. I jOust wanted the house to be sealed for now. I have a couple windows and doors to go in, and then I will concentrate on some wiring and plumbing I guess. That is, when the job allows for it.

Mid October Ramblings.

2010-10-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Heading to work one morning. I just had to snap a shot of the sky.

Big Blue. I bought this truck a few years ago at an auction in Edmonton. I got it home to find it was getting antifreeze in the engine oil. Turned out it was the O rings around the piston liners were rotten. I educated myself and rebuilt this 425 cat engine. I have over $10,000.00 worth of engine parts in there. Some of the parts include a new head, liners, pistons, rods, bottom end bearings, injectors, oil pump, starter and more. At first I had intentions of changing just what was absoulutely neccesary, but once I had it all opened, and realized just how much work it was, I thought I may as well do it, and get it done. I had intentions of using this truck to haul my backhoe and maybe haul some dirt and gravel, or what ever. I got a good education about how much it costs to licence and keep this baby in service, and I decided that a one ton dually would be more feasible for me at this time. Some day the old Volvo might just come in handy though. If I can get my money out of it, I may sell it, but otherwise, I might put it to work someday. I like the old mechanical (no computer) 425 cat engines. If something does go wrong, I can usually have some kind of idea what the cause would be. Anyway, I had this truck sitting at my brothers place for quite awhile now, and my sister in law has been kinda reminding to get it the heck off their place for a long, long time now. So finally I brought er home. lol. She runs like a charm.

I had a bit of a work place mishap a little while ago. I was preparing to take the radiator out of the truck I drive at work. I was in the process of removing one of the big long springs that holds the hood of the truck from dropping and hitting the end of the stop cables. After removing the snap lock(or whatever it is called), I merely touched that spring when it let go and the hook pierced my hand. I had to hold the spring with one hand and slide my brand new bad hand off the spring. It was quite a site. lol. The spring entered my hand kinda at the back between the index finger and thumb.

And it came out here on the palm way down below the middle finger. I lost a little time this day, going to hospital and all, but I charged for the whole day. lol. The next days to follow was regular business as usual. It's pretty good now, although I am still wearing a couple bandades when I'm working and building.

I decided that I needed to take some time off from work and get the top part of my house closed off before all the yucky weather starts. So I took Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. I might even go for Monday too. We have still been very busy lately. I sure hav'nt been getting alot done on the house, but oh well. The shack is warm, and thats the main thing I guess. All I'm really concerned about is the North and South soffits for now, just so that I can eventually insulate sometime this winter and not worry about birds and critters nesting somewhere up there. Friday was mostly picking up supplies and doing some business in town. I got the South side soffits done today. The completed picture was pretty dark so I threw this unfinished pic on instead.

Alot of the time, if the yucky weather hits in the fall, things may slow down at work until freeze up. Just a little wishful thinking. I did'nt think I would ever be looking for shitty weather, but I guess I was wrong.

Color Test

2010-09-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

I did'nt get much done on the shack in the last couple days (as usuall). Had other important things going on. Thinking, permit people, more researching, getting ready to do my taxes from 2009 (oops), picking up supplies etc. I've got all kinds of things going on in my mind like "heating" and all kinds of other things. I have alway had a general idea as to what I am going to do for a heating system, but the time is getting real near to purchasing and installing something, so of course I have been doing some major research on this subject lately. My plan, which could easily get changed, is to have a propane space heater in the basement (about 30,000-50,000 btu). This will keep things thawed in the basement and should keep the chill off up stairs while I am away. Then I am also planning on a woodstove up on the main floor. I know, mabe it should be in the basement, but then maybe not. I do plan on taking hot air off the peak of the ceiling and shooting it down to the basement while I am at home running the wood stove. Soon, I hope I will come up with the actual plan. There could possibly be some hydronic type heating in the future, but I will start with something like this for now and experiment as I go.
It is minus 4 Celcius here at 12:46 am. Kinda feels like winter sneaking up on me all ready. Some surrounding areas that are not too far away have had some snow already. I'm not sure how much, but it is there I heard. It's pretty dry here so far.
I did manage to get a couple more windows in on the south side of the house. I have a lot of trouble sometimes trying to make decisions, such as what color to make the trim, facia, and soffits on my house. I purchased a piece of facia and slid it up there on the edge of the overhang. I know this is kinda different, but then it would'nt be normal for me not to be different. If ya know what I mean. The color of that length of facia is called tile red and it matches up pretty close to the color of my corners and window trims etc, which are labeled as rustic red. The color of the siding itself is sand. Does anyone out there object to these colors? I am definately not a color specialist. I like to be different, as long as my house dos'nt end up looking totally stupid. I think it'll look alright though. I hope.

North Side Windows Installed.

2010-09-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

I have still been pretty busy at work off and on, but I did manage to get little bit done on the house. Two windows are in permanently. The main floor window looks alot smaller than I thought it would, but it will definately do the job. Usually when I see a house, the basement windows are usually smaller than the main windows. lol. Nope, not on my house. Simple man with a different plan.

Started to Wrap the House

2010-09-02T20:26:00.000-07:00

I finally had a full day off from work, where it was'nt raining out. I hav'nt done very much on the house since my last post, a little here and there, but not much. Maybe I wont be in it before winter. lol. It was a pretty good run at work for awhile there and I did enjoy doing it, but I am truly getting the urge to do some serious building again.
Today I finally cut the main door out to it's correct size. It probably makes the house look smaller. A 36" left outswing door will go in that spot. I did a bunch of other smaller things to get ready for some wrap. Sealed all the gaps between the basement top plate and the main floor system. Had to do some adjustments on the door rough opening size and finish sheathing the strip around the house where the main floor is. One last look at this side of the house before the housewrap goes on. This is the north side, and there is one basement window and one main floor window in the living area at the foot of the stairs that go up to the loft. I did'nt want a whole bunch of larger sized windows. When I am not at home, I am going to rely on a propane space heater in the basement to heat the whole house. This is the plan for now anyway. Our winters are sometimes pretty cold and long, and too many windows could result in more heat loss than I really want. There are more and one that is a bit larger on the south side.

I just started experimenting with the housewrap. I need to cut out another door and some windows, then I can finish wrapping it up. I really hope they can live without me at work tomorrow.

I am still trying to decide exactly what to do up here in the loft. Window or door. I know I probably have the technology to frame a door in there, but it's not quite that simple. That gable wall is a part of my manufactored trusses, and for me to just start wacking a hole in there for a door could cause some grief for me with with the permit guys. I may have to draw my plans up and get someone who is qualified to ok it for me. I guess that would be an engineer or maybe the truss manufactorer. I just hope it is not a complicated drawn out and expensive ordeal. It would be nice to have a door going out to the balcony though. This end of the house probably wont get completely wrapped right away. I am going to try and draw up a door framing plan soon. Any suggestions? The top part studs are at 2 foot on center and the bottom part is at 16".

Anyway, thats it for now. I will try and post a little bit more often, as I THINK things may be slowing down a tad at work. Hopefully.

Finally Backfilled.

2010-07-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

That little white thing with all those wheels is what I have been up to mostly lately. We started a new road job awhile ago and it is about 150 kms away, so that kinda keeps me truckin. The moneys good, but the poor old house has been at a bit of standstill. I have been parking the truck at my place alot lately, which is pretty handy at times.

I did manage to put the second 3 foot manhole ext on my septic tank and cover it in.

I also found a little time to get started on my foundation backfilling. I phoned the permit people for an inspection on my foundation so that I can backfill it, and I ended up also passing the framing inpection while he was here. lol.

Anyway, I lined the outside of the foundation walls with filter cloth.

Then I did half the backfill height with tile rock. Alot of people usually put in just enough tile rock to just cover their weeping tile, but I put in alot of rock, just to be different, if nothing else.

Once the rock was in, I covered it all with more filter cloth to keep the dirt and rock seperated before finishing it all up with dirt.

And there is the finished product. This picture was taken tonight at 11 pm (Sunday night). I had the gravel in a few days ago then got called to go to work, so it sat for a few days like that. Then we got rained out at work, so I did'nt hesitate to get going on this again, even though things were a bit wet here also. After slippin and sliding around for awhile in the hot sun with the backhoe, things started to dry up and I eventually got it done. I would like to see a good rain storm now, just to see where all the water is going to go or sit. I have a pretty good slope all the way around the house, but it will be interesting to see how much water comes into the sump now.

I have a pretty good feeling that I am going to be kinda busy at work for awhile yet. So I probably won't be getting a whole lot accomplished on the house right away. I don't mind though, if we're busy, we're busy, might as well take advantage of that while it is there I guess. I'm just real happy that this baby in finally backfilled. I have my windows, but I did'nt even order my doors yet. I know, I know ???????????????????????????. Still deciding. lol. I purchased my siding, but need to order the corners and trims etc, as they will be in a different color that needs to be ordered. I have been there a couple times with intentions of ordering this stuff, and for some reason or other, I got diverted. Ordering some goodies is my next mission in life, other than working.

Busy Days Lately

2010-06-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

I have been a pretty busy man lately with the the shack building and at work. I did manage to get somethings accomplished on the house project. My sewage system passed the inspection with flying colors and I backfilled it all in, except for my last man hole ext on the septic tank. I'm just letting things brew in my head for a bit before I cover that totally in, as once it is, it would be pretty hard to get inside that thing and get back out again. It is ready to go, but you just never know, I might decide to make a slight change on things in there yet.

We started to get the blueskin on. "We" meaning mom and I. I'm getting to be quite a mommas boy lately. lol. This stuff does go alot better with an extra set of hands around. Sometimes we get under each others skin a bit also, but I guess thats just the way it goes sometimes. lol
First we put on some primer.

Then the blueskin. 3 sides are blueskinned. The front needs to be closed in yet and done.

Shortly after my last post, I woke up one morning and my computer did not want to work correctly. I could no longer get on line, and there are a bunch of other things not working right. I suspect that it is all them automatic windows vista updates that always go on. I could'nt even go back to a different restore point. Nor could I get online to try and diagnose the problem. So I squeezed in enough time to go and buy a new computer. I was a couple days after that before I even found time to take that out of the box. I'm running windows 7 now. Man I hate getting things all set up again. And this keyboard is just a little different, like the enter key and the shift keys for some reason I am always missing. They are just a bit smaller or something.

I got called to go to work at about supper time last night and did'nt get done until about 5 this morning. The days are sure long right about now. It was still partially daylight at close to midnight, and at about 4:30 am it was starting to get light again. I seen alot of wildlife last night and there was hardly any truck traffic out in the bushes except for me and the odd guy. I've seen moose, elk and deer. I did'nt see any bears last night, which kinda surprises me. I guess it could be a bit early for them to be out full force yet, I don't know. There are alot of bears around here and where I usually do alot of my trucking. Both black bears and grizzlies. I heard on the news recently that there are only about 700 grizzly bears in Alberta, not counting all the ones in the national parks, but I disagree with their calculations, because I have seen so many of them myself over the years in just the areas that I travel. There has just got to be more than that. Well there you have it, all my thoughts for the day.

The Septic Tank is in the Ground.

2010-06-10T22:58:00.001-07:00

I had to work yesterday, but today (Thursday) I finally had for me. I finally got my septic tank delivered. The tank was $1600, trucking was $450, and another $480 for the two manhole extensions and two tar strips to keep the ground water out. $2530 plus some taxes for all. Ouch.

It is a 750 gallon septic tank, which is no longer allowed around here anymore. The minimum size is 1000 now. I bought my sewage permit before the change, so I was allowed to use the 750. Others have to have some other kind of different system that I heard costs around $30,000.00. I'm not sure why I did'nt need that. (Maybe I do, I don't know). lol.

The sewage permit guy is probably going to come out tomorrow (actually today, I guess, as it is after midnight). I want to get him to look at things so I can get it all covered.

Raw sewage in.

Effluent out to the sewage treatment mound.

Well it's nice to finally have this thing in the ground.

Working on the Sewage System

2010-06-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

This snow happend to us on the May long weekend two years in a row now. Our long weekend in Canada happend on the 22, 23, and 24 of May. Victoria Day was one week ahead of the United States Memorial Day. It rained and snowed for the whole weekend and then some. It actually came at a real good time though as I just got my roof on, and it was real dry with alot of different forest fires in the region. It sure did make a mess of things though.

I got some stairs started in the basement, then got distracted with other things, like work. I have been kinda busy at work lately, which is good in away. I've been spending alot of money lately. I hate seeing the old bank account go in reverse to hard. lol.

I decided that it is time to get the sewer system all installed and out of the way, whenever I find the time. I worked on it all day today. Just a little bit of fine tuning and then I will be ready to get my septic tank delivered out. I could have hauled it myself, but I don't think the old John Deere would be able to lift it anyway. So when I get things ready, they will bring it out and set it right in the hole for me. I need to get this all out of the way before I can back fill the basement.

It gets kinda interesting when it comes time to join the trench. I was operating pretty gently in hopes that the trench would'nt cave in on me while I was straddling the it with the backhoe.

This is the main raw sewage line that will dump into the septic tank. It is 4 inch ABS pipe. At first, my plan was to have the septic tank right close to the house, but I changed my mind. It is now going to be about 30 feet away. The new location will make it alot easier for my backfilling and landscaping. It just made more sense.

Well it has been awhile since my last post, and I hav'nt had much extra time for leaving commments to all my favorite blogger friends lately. It takes a guy like me too much time to come up anything half intelligent to say sometimes, but I have been checking some blogs out occasionally. We have daylight here until about 11 pm and I have been utilizing that quite abit it lately.

Quick Update.

2010-05-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

We got the roof on. I finished putting on the the final piece of tin Tuesday May 11, then at about noon that day I went to work at the pay job and I have been doing that since. Looks like I got the roof on just in time. Now I don't really care what happens work wise. If it's busy I'll work, but if it's slow I will build. It usually comes and goes in little splurts, but you just don't know from one year to the next, or even one day to the next what to expect.

I do still have some minor touching up on the tin before I can say it is totally complete, but what a relief it is to have a roof on. It took mom and I alot longer to get this tin on than I expected, but thats ok. I hav'nt been on here checking out any of my favorite blogs for a few days, but I do hope to get all caught up soon. Bye for now.

Half the roof is done.

2010-05-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

I went to town this morning, because I discovered that I had the wrong ventilation devices for my ridge. I was hoping to get the right ones so I could get the ridge cap all completed as I go with the other side of the roof. They did'nt have any in stock, so I guess I'll either do something else or order them on monday and insall the ridge cap after the whole thing is roofed, which I don't really like the thought of much. I really hate going to town. I can't wait until I am all done building and in relax mode. I'm going to see just how much I can avoid town.

I finally got the south side of the roof done today. Mom was out giving me a hand again today. It took me awhile and a bit of experimenting to finally figure out how I was going to do the ends. Still kinda afraid of heights over here on my end. lol.

I am hoping to have most of the north side done by the end of tomorrow, but I will make no promises.

Metal Roofing Started.

2010-05-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

A veiw from above.

Pulling the metal up to the roof. One of the grooves on the sheet metal fits over a ladder rail and she stays right on track until I get it onto the roof. I have a vise grip clamped on the sheet that I tied the small rope to. This is working pretty good so far. I would definately not want anyone under that sheet while it is coming up though.

Pulling the tin up (from my veiw). Must not have had anything better to do than to play around with a camera at this point in time.

Placing the sheet. The ends are going to be alot of fun, I'm thinkin.

About 40 percent done the roof metal. A late start yesterday, and a late start again today. I always seem to find other things that need done before I start my roofing for the day. And this stuff does seem to take awhile to put on, the way we're doing it.

My helpers for today. Traction and my mom. Mom has been out quite abit lately while I'm playing around on the roof. She is a big help around here too. I sure notice a difference when she is'nt out here.

Darned Snow.

2010-05-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

I would have just loved to be slapping the metal roofing on there today. I have enough trouble getting around when things are dry though, let alone freshly snowed on. I finally have it ready for the metal. An old buddy of mine was out helping me with things yesterday. I was sawing and he was nailing it all on. Everything went pretty good. It still took a good part of the day though. I did'nt think that strapping this roof would have taken so long to do. I've come to the conlusion, that I am just a bit of coward when it comes to heights, because everyone else seems to get around pretty good up there. I am getting more used to it all the time though.

Had Some Help Today.

2010-05-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I am getting closer and closer to having a roof on the house all the time. I know, I thought it should have been on by now myself. We did get some rainy days since we got the trusses up. I have been plugging away when I can by myself trying to get the roof strapped and ready for the metal roofing. I have the roofing finally, but also need a good part of another day before I am ready to put it on. I also want to wait till Monday before it goes up anyway, as I have some questions for my permit guy.
Today I had me a helper. My 14 or 15?year old nephew Rylon. A bunch of people came out my way today to set out on a quadding trip and they left Rylon with me. And my mom. Mom was tying 2x4's to the rope, and Ry and I were pulling them up and nailing them on. I gave Rylon a bit of warning before we got started that it is pretty high up there and if he don't feel comfortable with it, don't be afraid to say so and all that. I do feel pretty stupid about it though. He climbs around up there like some kind of a squirrel. Really, I think the real squirrel was sitting back and taking lessons. I have never really worked with Ry much before and I am really quite impressed with how much of a help he was today. I just gotta pay the guy, and I think he's going to come out and give me a hand tomorrow again (Sunday) hopefully.
Rylon used to be pretty active in the rodeo scene. He won second at the Calgary stampede in the boys steer riding either last year or the year before that, I can't remember for sure, and he has picked up quite bit of cash from a bunch of other pro rodeos along the way. He's kinda getting out of rodeo scene and getting onto other things instead. The following Youtube video is of Rylon at play. And I thought he might be afraid of heights. lol.

The Other Overhang.

2010-04-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I got the other overhang ladder framed in today. My tin roofing material that I ordered was'nt in yet, so I never did go to town today. I still have a bit of prep work to do before the tin anyway. Probably more than I even think. I was kinda hoping to have the tin on before we get any rain, but it sure looks like I could get some rain tonight. I know we could really use it here, but it would be nice if would hold off for a couple more days or three. lol. The wind is kinda testing things also. Sure hope she all holds together.

East Overhang Ladder

2010-04-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a total waste. I spent the whole day trying to figure out how I was going to build my roof overhangs without hanging way over the edge to do it. I am not really all that fond of high heights. I actually built one of my ladder overhangs on the ground yesterday with a plan of hoisting it up and somehow putting it in place. Well I tried it, but when I got one end up to reaching distance, I started wondering what I was going to do with it now. It ended up being alot bigger and more awkward than it looked on the ground. By the end of the day yesterday, I had thoughts of hiring someone to put the rest of the roof on for me, but I kinda thought that, that would be like giving up. So I decided there must be a way to do this. This morning, after a little thought I decided to try something different. I connected the two outside pieces to the 90 degree angle they should be at and braced it with a 16 foot 2x4. Then I pulled it up to where I could get at it all. Then I nailed all my 4 foot ladder pieces in then slid the whole thing out to its 2 foot overhang and nailed all the other ends to the first rafter. Everything just seemed to fall into place. I did have a couple of 2x4 temporary runners for the whole thing to sit on as I slid it out. It was alot of playing around, but I got it built eventually. The other end is going to be just a little bit more tricky, because I don't have quite as much loft area to work on.

Sometimes I wonder how I let my little old shack get so big and tall. It'll all be good once it is done though.

So there it is. Thats all I've got done in the last two days is one end overhang, and it still needs a little touching up. But I am satisfied. The day went good, it just takes awhile to do all this with a one man army. Mom came out today. It was kinda nice to have someone there just incase something went wrong. Probably going to town in the morning for the tin for the roof. It's supposed to be windy according to the forcast, so I might as well be doing the town things I guess. I'm not real sure how I plan to get around on this roof when things are all done. Rock climbing gear? lol. If I knew exactly where things are going to go, such as the chimney and drain vent etc, I would probably install it as I went. But I'm not sure, and I just want to get it covered before the major rains comes. I am planning to put solar panels up there eventually too.

Trusses are On.

2010-04-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

I had a two guys helping me with these trusses and gable ends. It was a big day and I'm sure we will all feel it in the morning. There is still quite abit of work to do before I can put the tin on the roof, and I know it won't go real fast because of the height factor. We did'nt spend a whole lot of time on precision today, I just wanted it all up there while I had help. Thanks Johnny and Guy, I owe you guys one.

Ready for Trusses

2010-04-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

It's all sheathed and ready for trusses........I think. There are some spots on the sheathing that still needs nailing. I could'nt reach. Wrong ladder power and a partial trench in my way. If it were not for that, I almost feel like putting on the house wrap before the trusses, it would be alot easier for the top part that way. But I'm not going to, I just want to try and get a roof on before some major rains come. I just might have some help coming out tomorrow to help me with those trusses. But I am not going to hold my breath, for I know that it is Saturday night, and ya never know what could happen. (Thinking back of the way I was at one time). With help or with no help, the roof has to go on there somehow. If I were to do it myself, I was thinking about utilizing the winch on my quad and a snatch block. It would be time consuming by myself, but I'm pretty sure it would be quite doable.

The trusses are going to add 10 more feet and a little to my overall height. I hope the wind don't blow my house over. lol. Actually, it usually dos'nt get all that windy in here. Usually.

More Wall Sheathing Done.

2010-04-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

I got the smaller loft in sort of. I know that there will have to be some modifications to it later for the wood stove chimney. So I left out one joist in the middle area. On this loft the joist spacing is 1 foot on center with 2x10 lumber. I don't have a wood stove yet, and am not real sure where the chimney will run exactly, so I did'nt mount everything to stay for ever. I could have totally left it out until the roof was on, but I am thinking that it will help with putting the roof on.
I was in the process of measuring my top plate for the truss spacing when I decided that maybe now would be a good time to finish sheathing the walls. (I know that I am a little backwards at times). It is a lot easier when I can do it from the inside. If I did this again, the walls would be completely sheathed before I stand them up, but I did'nt because I wanted to tie the split sections together with sheathing. It was quite a battle I had with some of this so far today, and I could'nt imagine doing it from the outside on a ladder.
My natural fridge is slowly disappearing. Today was the warmest we had this spring so far. I'm not sure what the temperature got to, but I'm sure it was well over 20 celcius. I had to go and put on a long sleave shirt eventually, because I thought I was going to scorch myself.

Anyway, somehow I seemed to short change myself on wall sheathing, and I am going to make a quick trip into town for some of that and a shower, in the morning. Once I'm done with the sheathing, it is time to start with the roofing. I'm sure the roofing will have me doing a little thinking for a bit to get things started. I'm kinda scratching my head thinking up ways of getting my gable ends way up there.

Interior Walls and Loft Framed.

2010-04-14T22:42:00.000-07:00

The loft floor over the bathroom and kitchen. This is one of the advantages of a smaller house. Just one room to frame in. The bathroom. I still have work to do on the loft floor(blocking, fire block, attach the sub floor, etc.), but it can all wait until the roof is on for now.

Got the trusses home and a bit more lumber.

This is a view from where the loft window will be.

I have a bit more prep work before I put the trusses up. A smaller loft on the other side of the house.
Things have been drying up alot quicker around here than they usually do in the spring. I'm getting a little worried that soon work might get busy. Usually we're shut down for a couple months in the spring, but this could be one of those real short spring breaks. Possibly anyway. All I really care about is getting a roof on before some major weather.

I had a mouse in my shack for the last couple of days. When I first discovered this, I was on the phone when the dog was obviously after something. Then the mouse came out and started coming at me, I thought anyway. I let out a quick beller and jumped up on the chair. lol. It was a little imbarrassing, as I was on the phone. The following two mornings I watched the little guy touring around the shack at the other end from my bunk and I could hear him stirring around just as I was trying to go to sleep at night. As I was writing this blog I heard the mouse trap snap. Hopefully, that was the only mouse I had in here.

More Walls Going Up

2010-04-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

Just one more small section to go in on the other side of the house, and all the outside walls are up. That section is all framed except for the window.

The living room.

Walls Going Up

2010-04-06T19:14:00.000-07:00

I woke up early this morning and started putting walls up. It works alot better on the morning frost for getting around with the backhoe.

I got three wall sections up and the forth one is ready for action in the morning. I still have to build two more smaller wall sections and put up after that forth one is up.

This is the south view from my living room. I was up on the ladder. It's going to get interesting when the rafters start going up, it is a long way up.

Today was a pretty long day. Lots of phyiscal work and up and down and all around. I can see that if there were a crew of a few people, something like this could have been done in a couple hours, but it took me pretty much the whole day and I was going pretty steady. I should sleep like a baby tonight.

Some Walls.

2010-04-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

The above picture is the larger section of the north facing wall. That will be the only window on the the north side.

This one is the larger section of the south facing wall. That window will be the largest in the house. There will be another smaller window on the south wall.

This is the west facing wall (back end wall). There will be a small window and a 32 inch door which I did'nt quite get done framing yet. Looking at the position of the window in these walls, it may look like the window is low, but they are all 76" to the top of the window. I don't know if that is a real common height or not, but it looked good to me. The walls are 10 feet tall.

Starting to Frame the Main Walls.

2010-04-01T21:15:00.001-07:00

It started out to be one of those days right from the start this morning. I started out bright and early in the morning really eager to get to town and get some supplies quickly and head for home to build. I never even got out of the yard and the battery light on the old GMC comes on and the charge gauge is reading lower than normal. So get out the meter and test the alternator itself. Sure enough, it's had. So that was'nt a major deal though. Nothing that a little over 300 bucks could'nt cure and a bit of my time to change. Good thing the old Dodge was rested up and eager to go for a cruise. Then stopped at my favorite bulk fuel place for my monthly shower. lol. April fools. It must be at least once every two weeks. April fools again, I am actually a clean kind of a cat.

So I went over to my favorite lumber suppliers old yard to check out my trusses that I had them build for me last fall, thinking that I did'nt want to be waiting on them. lol. I sure hope they are not to badly warped out of shape. They actually looked pretty good concidering they sat out in this yard all winter. I need to have a look at them so I can plan my weekend framing expedition a little bit, as I hav'nt got a clue. I was planning on building my own rafter system, until I found out that it is a no no with the permit people. They have to be manufactured, or stamped by a professional engineer if I remember correctly. My rafters are the only item left in this yard, as they moved shop. I had to sneak in under the gate. Their new shop is'nt real far away, so I guess they should be able to load me up without a problem when the time comes.

I had a bunch of other running around to do in town. I even went for a drive around a couple of new parts of Grande Prairie looking at partially built houses as I drove by. Just to kinda see how different things look at different stages. I bought 25 sheets of OSB for my walls, some groceries and I should be all set for the Easter long weekend. I came home and put that new alternator in the GMC. It was a little over $300 and it has a lifetime warranty. Whatever that means. I think my reciept will probably wear out or get lost before that time comes.

I did manage to get a little bit of building done. It's not much, but it is a good feeling to get started on this up above the basement building. I should be able to get a good start in the morning.

Heck with it.

2010-03-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

Heck with work, (for now, I'll go there on the rainy days). Heck with the mud. And heck with using the ladder too. I got me a house to build.

I finally found a use for all that 2x10 lumber that I used for my concrete footing forms. I use them for sidewalks and I also built my ramp up to the main floor out of them. A few years ago, my neighbor from in town and I built a new fence. My neighbor thought I was nuts when I wanted to keep the rotten old fence instead of throwing it in the dump. I'm sure glad I kept it.

In the morning, all this mud should be real nice to walk and drive on, unless it decides not to freeze over night. It is like dry dirt when it is all frozen. Tomorrow morning I'll have to forward some of my lumber over to the house on the frost, then go to town for some more lumber and supplies in town to keep me busy over the long weekend. I am finally getting into the swing of things again. Today I put in a long one, and my poor old knee is feeling it. It stays light pretty late here now. It is after 8 pm before I lose my daylight. I shut it down just before 8. Today I glued and screwed the last sheet of plywood down on my basement floor, and finished caulking it all. I had to leave that one open for awhile so the inspector could have a peek at things. He did pay me a vistit about a week ago or so. He made me add one more ply to my main beam down there, so now I have four 2x10 wide. I still have to phone them for an inspection again before I backfill the basement, but I'm not going to backfill until things dry up around here. But I can build up top while I wait for that to happen, so thats what I'm going to do. I kinda mentioned to them at work that I want no interruptions for about 2 weeks. We'll see how that goes. We are kinda at the end of the winter work season and things really slow down or stop for awhile. I kinda feel like I should be there and working on my truck and all, but, if I don't get a roof on my house soon it just might rot away eventually. It is my top priority right now. Heck with work.

Health Care

2010-03-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not really into politics all that much. I mean, I do listen in a bit on some of the crucial stuff I guess, but I don't have much to do with it. The government generally does what they want and if it affects me, I just somehow try to work my way around it somehow. But one thing that really gets me wondering is this new "health care thing" going on in the USA. I did'nt really research it or anything, so I don't know exactly what it is all about. Maybe it IS a nightmare, but if it is anything like what we have here in Canada (and I don't even know much about that one), I kinda thought that everyone in the States would be happy about it. I THINK that what we have here in Canada is a good thing anyway. I don't pay anything, but yet, when I need to go to the hospital, it costs me nothing. Well, maybe some medication, or crutches, etc. We used to pay, but as of Dec 31 2008, they no longer wanted our money. Well, I can imagine they are getting it from us somehow though. When I was paying, it costed me $132.00 every 3 months when it all came to an end. I kinda wished they were still charging us, because now that they don't, it makes me wonder if I should be buying some insurance or not, but as far as I know we are still covered.
I can remember when I was 16 or 18 when I recieved my first Alberta Health Care bill in the mail. I can't remember how old I was, but I think 18. It was probably my first bill for anything, as I was still living with the folks at that time. If I remember right, that bill was for $86.00 every 3 months and they gradually went up to $132.00. and now 0. That is about a 27 year span. I have broken my right leg twice (each time was about 5 days in the hospital or more) and have had alot of other minor injuries along the way(rodeo and other foolish things). The physio thereapy the second time I broke my leg(knee) was all paid for(until they kicked me out for missing 2 appointements without notice, dumb kid I was). I also periodically go in for a checkup. It has never costed me anything other than some minor little expenses. MY biggest fear, is if they were to someday come along and take that all away, and put us on the same boat that the Americans just came off of. I am really curious to see how things are going to work out with this thing down there. I can see where American people might get a little excited, because it is a real big change, but from way up here and not being affected by this, it looks to me like your government is really trying to help. But then, like I say, I don't really know much about it (the cost, coverage, details, etc), that's just what it looks like to me at this point. Just thought I would throw in my 2 cents. Healthcare is'nt necessarily a bad thing all the time.
I can remember getting pretty excited about it when I got that first bill in the mail. "Who the hell do they think they are, blah, blah, blah". My dad was on their side as he was trying to explain some sense into me. Up here in Canada, for me it was the cheapest and best insurance I ever bought, even if it was forced upon me, and I hope they start charging us a little bit again, as I do feel it is hard to demand good service if you're not paying something for it. But I'll take the free also. So thats how it is in Alberta as far as I know anyway, not sure about the rest of the country.
Does this sound accurate to the rest of Canada? (like alot of Canadians visit this site). lol. Some do, I know.
I hope it all works out real well for everyone down there, and I THINK it will, but I don't know that for sure. It'll take a bit of getting used to probably, but I'll bet in 5 years from now, alot of you will be thinking alot differently about the whole situation. This is just my opinion. But lets check back here in 5 years, shall we.

Me, mud, work and weather.

2010-03-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

A self inflicted picture of myself. I'm not sure how to pose for a picture, especially when I'm the one snapping the shot. The squirrel in the tree and my dog was wondering what's goin on. Now everyone else is probably thinkin the same.

It snows, then warms up, then snows, then warms up, then........It's quite a mess around here at times lately.

Inside of the water cistern. 8 foot diameter and about 11.5 feet long. 3500 gallons of water storage. Well it will be a little less once the concrete is poured in the bottom. There is a little water seeping in as things melt around here. I'm sure that will stop eventually in time once everything is saturated and settled. I won't be pouring concrete in here untill a little later in the summer to give things a chance to thaw and settle.

The cistern has been backfilled for awhile now, I just did'tn get around to posting pics until now.

I decided to go with the blueskin water proofing membrane around my basement. I put on a piece of it one day just to get a feel of it. I'm waiting for a nice day to get it all done. I have just about had enough slopping around in the mud trying to get things done on this thing. I'm seriously thinking about just concentrating on the pay job for a bit and let things dry up a bit around here. The peterbilt is due for an inspection at the end of April and if I don't work on that now, I will find myself doing it later on when the weather is nice for building. Also one of the trailers that I am pulling is in real need of some TLC. So, I might as well get all caught up with that stuff working in a shop and getting paid for it, rather than slopping around in the mud. March has been kinda busy for me at work. It is usually our busiest month of the year. All the oil companies are in a big panick to get some last minute things done before spring break. Pretty soon, alot of the bush roads will be closed to heavy traffic. As it is now, we can only go on them at night, when the temperatures are cooler and the mud is frozen. This time of year, I find it really hard to work on my own project even if I am not working all the time. Go out one night and it kinda screws your whole schedule up for a day or two.

Just when I thought things might be starting to dry up we get some more snow to melt. This one was taken this morning. Today I am being a bit of a house plant(shack plant I guess). Sometimes I enjoy doing nothing but hanging out in the old shack and playing around on the computer, like today. The dog likes it too, but the squirrel misses us. Although it is snowing and clouded over, when I check out the power generating situation, I find that I am bringing in a little more power than what I am using right now. Somewhere around Feb 14 2010 is the last time I have used my generator to run my shack. Most of my power used to run power tools etc has also come from my solar setup, but I have used the generator a few times for misc things such as plugging the backhoe in on a cold morning and running power tools at times, on a cloudy day etc. Life is pretty darned good. I'm thinking about doing a little house cleaning today possibly. lol. We'll see.

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I almost forgot to mention that I updated my blogger profile a few days ago. It used to say what I wanted to be doing and how I wanted to be living, but I guess I am now doing all that.

The Corrugated Water Cistern

2010-02-28T20:06:00.000-08:00

There's the cistern, standing still open all winter so far. I meant to have it all hooked up and backfilled a long time ago. Last fall when I was busy at work the weather was nice, and about the time I got all done with work the rain came. So I did'nt get around to this task. There is not much space between the trench and the basement trench. I have drove through with the backhoe, but it just fits and it is pretty risky of sliding into the basement and crashing my dreams. lol. So it is time to get this thing backfilled. I took the picture from the main floor of the house. Gives you a bit of an idea how high it is.

The water line here is buried over to the house. I always had it in my mind that I was going to drill a hole in the side of the cistern and hook the water line in via a pitless adapter of some sort. I assumed that one should just drive to town and find the right pitless adapter for a corrugated pipe like this one. I was wrong, it has not been invented yet. So I got phoning around and one guy I talked to who does these things, clued me on how to do this. Just dig the line in underneath the culvert cistern, then pour my concrete around the pipe on the inside. Sounded pretty simple, but man did I ever work myself doing this. That dirt is pretty well frozen. I was a good part of the day yesterday doing this (Feb 27). I was soaked by the time I got it all done. I wanted to dig a little deeper under the cistern wall than I did, but it was just to tough of going. I did bend the lip of the culvert up where the hose goes under, just incase things settle and want to crush or cut the hose. It should be good I think.

I had to cut the line and send it through from the inside of the cistern, otherwise I would have kinked it in alot of different places trying to run it through. I don't really like to have a splice in there, but, what can you do?

I hand shoveled some nice lump free dirt over the hose connection, and packed it a bit. Then I layed a bunch of orange tape over it. If I ever do have to dig that splice up again, I should be able to find it without ripping the whole line out accidentally.

I was in the process of backfilling the cistern, breaking up big chunks of frozen dirt. It was time consuming. Eventually I blew a hydraulic hose on the backhoe. I'll have to get a new hose built in the morning. I did a little more work on the basement for the rest of the day. This backfilling needs to take place in the morning because it has been getting pretty messy out later in the day, but it usually freezes overnight. It is kinda like spring here, and has been like that for quite awhile now. Now with that being said, I can probably expect some -40 stuff soon. lol. I sure hope not. Last year we had alot of that in March if I remember correctly.

Busy February at Work.

2010-02-27T21:45:00.000-08:00

I hav'nt found much time for working on the cabin this month. It's hard to believe that the month of February is already done. The weather has been pretty nice for here, and I have been
spending it out in the bush playing in the mud alot of the time hauling equipment. It's almost like we're in the middle of an oil boom or something. The other driver was getting tired and needed some time off, and things did pick up for awhile there. I THINK that things are slowed down again. I hope. I would like to get my basement done and backfilled soon, before things really turn warm and sloppy. Today I just kinda got started working on the house again. Well, actually on my water storage cistern. I need to get it out of the way before I can backfill my basement. I have just a little bit left to do before I can get inspected. This is something that I hoped to have done by the beginning of this month, but I guess I am a tiny bit behind. lol. Below are a few pictures from work. It was actually a nice break for awhile there, but I'm ready to build now.

I had to unload this D9 cat 3 times within 46 kilometers. The ole Peterbilt just would'nt haul it up some of the hills in there. Just too much weight and stupidly steep hills.

Just a bit of an update. I hope to have something to blog about real soon. I plan on finally backfilling my water cistern tomorrow if things go as planned.

Plumbing Boo Boo

2010-01-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

I know that I sometimes do things kinda backwards. When things were at this point in the game(above photo) I should have had a plumbing permit and I should have called Mr Permit man for a plumbing inspection. Then he would have told me that I need a vent line on my 2" line (smaller far left line) in between the trap and where it connect to the 3" line. Or that I should have left the trap off the 2" completely. It could have been put on above the floor. But instead of getting the inspection, I was eager to get things done and never really thought about it until the foundation was poured and I had the plumbing all covered with gravel. Then I went in, bought a permit, and told them I was ready for an inspection. He inspected it, but could'nt really tell what was going on with things. So I just kept on building, which was'nt the correct way to go about things, but I was'nt real concerned because it was a plumber who drew a picture for me to follow. He probably did'nt draw a trap on that 2 inch though.

Once I got to this point, (above photo) I start thinking that I would like to be certain that things are going to be good, before I completely close things up. I guess I could still change things if I absolutely had to, although it would be a major pain in the ass. Anyway, so I phoned my permit guy and started asking a bunch of questions. I thought that maybe I should just send him some pictures of the in ground plumbing, I should have done that earlier. So I did. So the 2 inch line that was meant for my laundry drain is'nt going to work for me, but it is not a major thing. I can tie in a new laundry line above ground and hook into the 4 inch main stack. Everything else is good I guess. The morel of the story is: always get things inspected when you are supposed to. lol. It could have been something that needed to be dug up and changed, but thankfully it was'nt. Well I can sleep again anyway. Floor drain construction (above).

The floor drain. All these little things in the floor do take some time. A concrete floor would have been alot quicker to do, but thats ok. I have nothing but time, sometimes.

This last week was actually pretty busy at work. I did'nt have to work today, but it was a pretty lazy day. That seems to happen to me after going to work, it takes awhile to get back into things. Today was spent paying bills and getting caught up on all kinds of paper work trying to keep track of my house building expenses and all.

Snowflakes

2010-01-24T19:14:00.000-08:00

Snow is nothing new for me. For 45 years I have been crawling, walking, falling down, or driving in snow, but I have never had a real close look at it before. Well, maybe a long time ago, but I kinda forgot what a snowflake looks like. They all look different, but they all have six usually symmetrical sides. Thats a big word for me, but thats what the encyclopedia told me today. It was snowing this morning and I brought my ice scraper out from the garage. I guess being black like it is, any new snowflakes really stood out and caught my attention. I just had to go get the camera. Little things that amuse little minds. lol.

Playing with the Basement Floor Again

2010-01-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

The main floor is all on, glued and nailed. At first I started nailing it with ordinary 2.5 inch nails, but then got clued in to use ring shank nails or screws. Live and learn. Three walls are all sheeted and nailed, the fourth wall is going to remain open for a little bit longer for access.

Well I can kinda see the end in sight, of the foundation construction anyway. I still have a bunch of smaller little things to take care of before the inspection. I don't even want to say how long, because I am always wrong on that one anyway.

It is kinda neat to be at a stage where I can turn on some heat and be out of the snow and stuff while building. Just about half of the basement floor is insulated and ready to be permanantly screwed down. But I do have some little things to work around and seal off where the plumbing comes through, and the floor drain and at the sump. I guess I might have to build some stairs pretty quick once the floor is all done also. And then there are other little items that need done. It seems those little things takes up a fair bit of my time. To much thinking I guess.

There are bunch of other things I'm wondering about also. I guess I'll just get mr permit man out here, and he can tell me what else needs to be done I guess. So far the permit people I have been dealing with have been quite helpful and good to get along with.

It is quite unbelieveable to me that January is almost over. Wow how time has been flying. Life is really good out here. I could'nt even imagine living in town again. The solar energy situation is treating me pretty well, although I do fire the generator up occasionally, but I try to keep it to a minimum. It has been snowy and clouded over the last couple of days, so there will always be times where the panels ar'nt going to deliver fully. I am still so far from being tired of living in this little shack, that I am starting to wonder about myself, myself. I love it. I worked on the pay job for 4 short days all this month so far. It's nice to get a few days in of work ever month. So far between the rent income and a little bit of work, I have been living and building off of that income alone. I do expect that soon I will have to start dipping into the savings account a little bit. I can kinda predict some larger expenses coming my way soon. lol. Fridge, stove, tub, heating, water heating and on and on. Now I am depressed, but I will try to get over it soon. I don't have to finish the floors and stuff, but if I don't do it know, it will probably never get done.

I sure hav'nt been very active on the old computer lately again, I do jump on sometimes in the evenings and quickly glance at alot of my favorite blogs and stuff, but I have been spending most of my time in the evenings reading and educating myself on building issues. I have alot to learn as I plan on doing all my own plumbing, electrical, and whatever else. I get researching things and before I even know it, it is midnight and time some sleep.

Sheathing the Main Floor

2010-01-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning thinking that I should be able to have that whole main floor sheathed easily. But I was wrong. I ran out of glue, better known as lumber lock. Only a couple sheets left to go too. So I proceeded to do a bunch of a nailing, as I was just tacking down the edges as I was going.

I always meant to get a good shot of the main floor framing, but I always seemed to get real involved with things and forget until it was too dark. I moved a few sheets around just so I could get a picture of the stairwell framing. The rest of it is pretty basic. I am going to sheet right over the stairwell opening and leave it closed up for awhile, while I do things down below, in hopes of keeping the snow and rain out. I will cut it out when the time is right.
I gotta go to town later in the day tomorrow, so there is no point in going in the morning to get glue. I guess tomorrow will be more a day of non-thinking nailing. Give my poor old brain a bit of a rest. I'll finish gluing the floor on Saturday if weather and work allow for it. I have a few more things to do to the basement, then soon it will be time for my foundation inspection (hopefully this month sometime). I don't think there will be any new walls going up until that inspection is done.

Happy New Year, Anniversary and Birthday.

2010-01-04T20:52:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year. Ya, I know it's late. I hope everyone had a good one, over the holidays. I also had an anniversary. Dec 28 2009, marked 5 years of no alcohol use for me. I pat myself on the back. I used to really like to drink, (usually rum and diet coke). then I quit, and turned into a hermit. lol. I also quit smoking, but I did'nt quit living. Alot of people who know me might look at me like I quit living, but right now I am living more than I have ever lived in my life. Just building on the cabin, living off the grid, and living in a small shack in arctic type weather. This is something I have dreamed for as long as I can remember. When I made the plunge at the end of October, there were times when I thought that by this time, I could possibly be regretting the move I have made. But there are absolutely no regrets on my end. I could'nt possibly turn back now. It just keeps getting better and easier all the time.
January 1 was also my dogs birthday. She is now 9. She has'nt been helping me much lately, usually she's just bundled up in the shack most of the day. I guess she is the smart one of the bunch. I have been building a few hours a day usually. However sometimes it's pretty cold in the morning and I usually do some planning and thinking then. I figure that -20C is cold enough to build in. If it is colder than that, I usually do other things such as planning my stairs or getting supplies in town. I hav'nt spent much time on the computer lately. There are times where I have gone a few days and not even turned it on, I just don't seem to have much time for that lately.

The shack is coming along slowly. It takes me a long time to get things done. Alot of the time I spend just researching stupid little things. Code, code, code. Right now my stairs down to the basement and up to the loft have got alot of smoke rolling out my ears. If I had my own way, it would just be a couple of ladders, done deal. If I ever do this again, I would maybe get someone to build me some blueprints. I guess those things can be pretty handy at times. lol. But I will get more satisfaction knowing that I designed and planned everything myself in the end. I think. There's the basement so far.

A look from the inside. I'm going to need a good set of binoculars to see from one end to the other.

It was'nt all that long ago I used the old dodge and brought a new load of lumber home, and it is already covered in snow again. Seems we get alot of that around here lately, but it dos'nt even bother me anymore. Bring it on, let it snow, see if I care.

Lovin the Country Life.

2009-12-21T21:44:00.000-08:00

So far so good with the shack and everything. We've survived some pretty wicked weather up here. It kinda sounds like everyone everywhere is having a little of that off and on. Lots of snow in alot of the south too I hear. What a weird year for weather again. Personally I like it when it stays a little bit cold, just so things are'nt melting and making a big mess then freezing again. If it stay below freezing the snow wipes or sweeps off things pretty easy, but lately I'm finding alot of boards need a good ice scraping in order to build with it. That sucks.

I lost a few days when it was severe cold out, then when the weather warmed up a bit, just as I thought, they needed me at work, so that took another 3 days of my building time, but I guess I'm that much wealthier also so it just does'nt really matter. Today is the shortest day of the year and everyday is going to get a little longer from here till the shack is built. (Hopefully). So that is something to really look forward too. Especially when you're running solar energy. The solar thing is going good, but because of the extreme cold temperatures, I do find myself running the generator a little more than I would like to. More to keep the batteries at a warmer temp than anything. This is a minor little problem that will be rectified in the new cabin when it is done. As far as I know, I can have the batteries in the basement if things are all done right. This would solve alot of problems, but if for some reason I can't put them down there, then there are still other ways.

Well I have four walls up finally. When I look at this basement, it is going to be a pretty tall house for the size of it. It might even look kinda funny, but I don't care. I will enjoy the veiw. The walls that are going up next are a little more than 10 feet tall, then the trusses with a 1 to 1 slope(I guess that's what it is called). These basement walls are 8 feet tall.

I am really enjoying the building process lately, even though we have been getting alot of snow off and on, and the weather has been windy and chilly, but warm enough to build in anyway. I probably wont get much accomplished on the cabin tomorrow, besides getting some building supplies and a tiny little bit of Christmas shopping and other supplies etc.

Brutal Mother Nature Test

2009-12-12T17:49:00.000-08:00

Me and my little shack are really being put to the test now. I did'nt do much building today. I'm pretty sure that if I tried to drive a nail in a board, it would have just split the board. Lumber even sounds different in weather like this. Right at this moment my thermometer is reading about -39C/about -38F. Thankfully there is not much of a wind. My propane is still flowing, but I have done a few little precautions in case. Propane quits vapourizing at -44C, I have read. Our local forcast for tonight is calling for lows of -43C. I dunno, thats a little close for comfort. Out here, hopefully it gets no colder than it is, but it also could get colder than the local forcast. I have seen alot of this -40 stuff over the years, but not since I moved out here in the shack. I can actually remember one day, quite a few years ago where it was in the -50 area, but that dos'nt happen very often. All I know is that the floor in this old shack is cold enough to freeze an egg on.

Today I bought a couple of 72 inch battery warmers for inside the deep freeze to keep my batteries warm when ever the generator is running. Right now they are at +4C, which is not bad concidering what the temperature is outside. When the power is taken away, it takes quite awhile for the batteries to get to the outside temperature. I'm guessing that if I shut it down right now, the batteries would be about -15 to -20c by morning, maybe even warmer than that. I used to just use a 100 watt light bulb for this same purpose, but it was pretty slow warming it up a few degrees, but it did work. I'm actually quite impressed with the battery warmer blankets. However, in my new cabin I will have it somehow, so I don't even have t0 worry about things like this. This is actually quite a good experience to live in this shack for a winter before the house is built, just so I can iron all these little issues out and kinda plan things in. This is all kinda new to me also. I have done alot of research on things, but nothing beats hands on experience to really get to know how things actually happen.

I also put a 250 watt heat lamp in under the propane tanks which are covered with a tarp. I don't have that plugged in at the moment, because I want to see if this propane is going to keep running on it's own or not. I really need to know, because if I were working, I would'nt be around here to keep a generator running and all that. The generator is running now, but I wonder if it will start in the morning if I shut it down. I really should invest in another generator for backup. I'm also thinking that I should have bought another one of those battery warmers to wrap around the propane bottle. I think that could pretty good maybe, and might even be a little bit safer. I think, anyway.

I did do a little work with my pay job, but I also managed to get a little more building done. It must be like watching paint dry, for anyone who reads this blog. lol. Trust me, by this time next winter, I will be sitting in front of a warm crackling fire inside my new cabin type house, and I won't even care if it is -50c outside. I hope. lol.

Well it is actually starting to look something. I don't know how much is going to get done in the next few days. I guess it is supposed to be pretty nippy until about Wednesday, but I might get a little done in the sunshine, we'll see what happens. I am pretty eager to get going on this thing.
Just thought I would put in a little bit of an update, it is my own little way of keeping track of my progress.

Good Weather Test, Building Again.

2009-12-06T18:58:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to -28C/-19F. You would never know it was that cold outside until you look at the thermometer, the shack was cozy enough for a king and his dog. I'm not totally laughing yet though, there is much colder yet to come sometime soon. There was a bit of a draft coming from what I call my fridge under the bed, so I hung a blanket and closed the fridge off. The fridge is now a freezer in this weather. I have a thermometer under there and the last time I looked it read -2C/about 30F. My cold water bottle dos'nt need to be outside for awhile. I had to take my potatoes, oranges and onions out of there for obvious reasons. I can sure notice a difference in the shack with that all closed off. The shack is skirted. Nothing professional, just full size sheets of OSB leaning up around the shack with a tarp in front covering the propane bottles. I'm kinda hoping that will be enough to keep the propane flowing when the temps get down to
-40C/F area. They might get some of the shacks heat hopefully.

I was building pretty much all day. I needed the old backhoe, but she did'nt want to run without a little coaxing. I had to plug it in for a bit and charge the batteries. I hate starting it in that kind of weather, but it was either go now or wait a few days by the sounds of the forcast. It is this kind of weather that I would just love to be feeding a nice warm fire in my new cabin. When I first started this whole project, I kinda thought that I would have been living in my new house by now, maybe next winter. It was cold, but it was a nice day for building, the sun was shining and there was no wind or snow.

The top picture, one long side wall and one end wall framed. I have an idea, but I'm still wondering how many windows and exactly what size and where they will go. Hopefully I'll have it all figured out for tomorrow morning.
There's the floor, (picture taken on a previous date), still not nailed and insulated. I'm going to wait until I have it a little more closed in and out of the weather to do the finishing touches on the floor.

I finally got done with all the safety courses for work(I think). It's nice to get those out of the way. So far they have not called me for work this month. Good. It sounds like I should be slow until the new year. There's always a possiblilty they could be wrong, but I sure do hope not.

Well there's an update, I'm just loving the country life even if it is a wee bit chilly out. They are talking about some more snow soon. I sure hope they're wrong, yesterday I spent quite a bit of the day plowing a big dump of snow that we just had and I have it all cleaned up nicely. Well I don't know who I'm supposed to talk to about that, but if you happen to be reading this blog, no more snow please.

Living Without a Fridge-Life is Good

2009-11-26T17:21:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a month since I moved out to my little shack. So far everything has been going great. We had snow and some cooler weather. The coldest night was about -17C or 0 Farenheit so far, but it has been hanging more in about the 0 to -10 celcius range mostly. That is nice. One of the things that I was kinda concerned about when I first started living out here was living without the fridge. So far, my life has'nt really changed much in that sense. Those two green boxes are my fridge. They seem to stay at about 10 C or 50 Farenheit sitting there on the floor under that bunk. I know a fridge is usually alot colder than that, but this is really working good for what I keep there. I leave a 2 liter pop bottle outside on the step that is usually about half full of water, that I can grab from inside the shack. When I mix some orange juice or powder milk(which I am pretty used to now, Yummy), it is nice and cold. If it happens to be frozen, I just add some water to it, and it is ice cold. The red cooler out in the shed is my deep freeze that I keep stocked with a few days worth of different meats. If I have some left over chile or something that I want to freeze, I just set it on top of the cooler over night, then put it inside in the morning, that way it dos'nt disturbe any of the other already frozen goodies inside. I have plastic bottles filled with water(ice) inside, so if the temperatures rise above freezing for a few days, things seem to keep frozen for quite awhile. There are some advantages to living in northern Alberta I guess. When I get into my new house, I do plan on having some kind of refridgerator, I just hav'nt quite decided yet if it will be on propane or 12 volt DC power. I am kinda leaning toward 12 volt though, I can always help it out in the winter with home grown outside ice. I have been kinda busy at work a little bit off and on this month. Although I hav'nt been there for a few days now. A couple days ago I got ambitious again and cleaned a bunch of snow out of the basement area again. The last time I did this I no sooner got it all cleaned up and ready for action then work phoned and I went to work for a few days, and by the time I got done the darned thing was full of fresh snow again. I hope that don't happen this time. So far so good, but I do have some courses pertaining to work that I have to attend all weekend long.
I finally worked on the floor some more. A wood basement floor seems to take a long time to build. If I poured a concrete one, my whole basement might have been built by now, but maybe not. I blame work. lol. I lost alot of good building weather while I was hauling the bales, and it seemed that once the bales were hauled it started to rain and never did quit. I knew that was going to happen, but I gotta make a living too I guess.

The sub floor is'nt permanantly nailed down yet, I still need to be able to get in there for awhile yet.

Just a bit of an update on things. Life is good, and the little old shack is still cozy. I hav'nt started beating my head against the walls yet, so thats gotta be a good thing. The days are getting shorter and I have been running the generator for about an hour in the evening, just to make sure the batteries don't run down too low. I probably don't need to, but it is good to keep them full. Never know what the temperature will be in the morning and weak batteries are more apt to freezing. If I did'nt have a generator, I could survive easily with the solar panels alone, if I were to conserve energy a little, but I have been a bit of an energy pig lately. My inverter charger is equipped with a battery temperature sensor and the solar charge controller is not yet, but one is in the mail. That will help out quite alot, I suspect. The solar panels do usually have my batteries charged right up at the end of the day, but the inverter seems to just dump a little extra voltage at it, because of the temperature correction.

Anyway, this is the life, and I'm lovin it. Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. Canada's was in October. Catch ya later.

Solar Power, Country Life and Work

2009-11-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

I got brave and posted a couple pictures of my messy living quarters. I have been so busy at work this last week and kinda got behind in the cleaning department. It happens to me like that all the time. But it is quite liveable, I think anyway. I know there are people out there that could'nt even imagine living like this, but I am pretty flexible. So far, things are going great. I still love my country way of life, even though I hav'nt spent a whole lot of time here lately. Last month when worked asked me what my plans where, I was pretty busy moving and all that, so I told them that I would really like to have no work until November. Well I guess they must have thought that what I meant was I wanted to be full bore in November, because that sure seems to be what happend so far. Ever since November 2 I have worked stupid hours. Get up early one morning to go to work, then work about an 8 hour shift, shut down for 8 hours then go back to work at about 10 at night and work all night. I've played around in the mud way out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night. Had bad directions and ended up going a kilometer down a road that dead ended with no turn around with a 330 cat hoe on. Then just as I start to back out of there for a km a wild snow storm has to hit. Well I'm not whinning, it's just one example of what goes on in my world at times. I sure do wish they would see just what a guy does for them. I don't even really care if am even working or not really. But then when the week is over and the hours are all added up, including the overtime and all, then I'm kinda glad it all happend, but at the time, I'm sure that all the wolves and other wildlife out in the wilderness probably learned some fancy new words. I was'nt a very happy camper at times, being tired and all.

I got all my solar panels up before work called. I am glad for that. At night I run one or two lights through the inverter, my laptop, and whatever needs to be charged (cell phone, drill, camera, etc), I occasionally use the microwave to heat up some food or water and I use a toaster in the morning. So far I have not run my battery bank down to any less than 70%. Roughly about 12.4 volts. I usually don't even get it down that low. I have had an evening where I was on the computer for a few hours and still had 70% battery left. I have not had to start my generator this month yet. Every night that I came home, my batteries were completely charged except for one night. That day it rained practically all day and my batteries still did charge some, but not fully. I still had enough power for the night without the generator. My six panels so far are a bit of overkill for my power demands, although I do see some days in the future where the generator will probably need to be utilized.

I have been around town alot lately with work, so a shower was always available at the truck stops. As an experiment one night I had a sponge bath in the shack, just to see how well that works. I was actually impressed. I would much rather take a shower at a truck stop, but if I don't happen to be near one, then to get cleaned up in my little shack is totally do-able, which is really nice to know.

Sometimes the temperatures fluctuate inside the shack. The floor is a bit cooler and the top bunk is alot hotter. I like the top bunk, but I need to rig up a fan with some kind of reverse thermostat that will kick the fan in at a certain hottness to circulate some of that heat around. I just hav'nt had the time for things like that yet.

This is my basement at the moment. All these pictures were taken this morning. Now if I new, that I had a few days without work bugging me, I would maybe take a chance and try to get some basement walls up and a main floor. I would really like to have the basement built and backfilled before the major cold hits. Keeping in mind that I did'nt skirt the shack in yet and I hav'nt really checked into the weather forcast yet either. If I start cleaning this basement up so I can start to build, I would hope that rain and snow would stay away for a few days(weeks). It seems like a big chore to get things started and then have to cover them all up again at the end of the day.

I just checked out the solar charging system. As I sit here and use the computer, my batteries are showing 13.3 volts. When I got the computer they were at 12.5 volts. It all makes me want to waste some power somewhere. I guess I should have more batteries for days like these.
Usually when I use my laptop, it is using about 29 watts. Right now, and the sun is still kinda hidden behind tree tops and light cloud etc, my charge controller is showing 185 watts. At that rate 185 divide by 29 =6.38, that means that one hour of charging at 185 watts should give me 6.38 hours of computer use. One of my lights run about 13 watts and the light it emitts is equivilant to a 60 watt light bulb. I have plenty light. I have four 80 watt panels and two 75 watt panel. If things were right on, my panels should be capable of bringing in 470 watts, although I hav'nt seen that yet. Since writting this part I posted two new pics of the brains of the system(the top two photos). The sun is still far from its peak performance as it is still rising and not yet in the south.

Sorry about having to let you all witness my mess inside the shack. I kinda wanted to have it all nice a clean before posting the pics but maybe next time. It'll be like the before and after. I realize I have been a little sloppy on leaving comments on other blogs too. I have glanced at quite a few of my regular bloggers, but just did'tn have the time or energy to spend a whole lot of time on it. This morning I am more relaxing than doing things outside so far.

Things are going really well here at the shack. There are some days when I wonder why I am living like this right now, but when I think of the new income(rent income) and the lack of bills going out, it is like they are actually paying me to live like this. Thats what I like. Time will show the difference. My little house that I am in the process of building, is going to feel like a mansion when I finally get into it compared to the shack.

Snow, Batteries, and Solar Panels.

2009-10-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

This is the veiw from my door. (Front porch???) I don't know, sometimes I think maybe this is the spot where I should have built my house. To late for that now though.

The building spot is actually straight ahead and between the black trailer and the garage. It will do.
The battery bank. I know, the wiring is a mess, the cables are all different sizes and it is just plain messy. But it works. lol.

Today I was putting some solar panels on the shack. I did'nt get them all up there yet. For a change it did'nt snow all day long and it was pretty warm, but I did have to shovel the roof off this morning so I could do my thing up there. Alot of the snow that used to be up in the trees melted or fell off. Actually today I could hear all kinds of crashing sounds around me with clumps of snow falling from trees and sliding off the garage roof etc. I hope my frozen meat stays that way.

P.S. Still lovin it.

Life is way different now.

2009-10-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

I'm just sitting here in my cozy little shack. All 192 square feet of it. And I am loving every minute of it so far. This is where I live, there's no turning back now. Today I just bought 6 new 12 volt deep cycle batteries for the power system. That will be much better than the two smaller ones I was using from the RV. If I want to nuke a cup of coffee with the microwave or make toast with the electric toaster, I just do it. No need to start the gen set right away. I don't have any solar panels up yet, but they would'nt have done much good the last couple of days anyway, with all the snow and cloudy weather. It snowed a bunch yesterday and today here. The snow has alot of disadvantages, but it also has some advantages. Since fall came and the leaves blew off the trees, I sorta lost some of my privacy. But with the new snow, I am totally secluded again, just the way I like it. The snow is making a bit of a mess around my house construction that I want to get moving on again soon. I hate to even uncover anything and start. This whole month was off and on wet and muddy and snowy, so if I were not in the process of moving out, I don't think I would have got much building done anyway. I can't even remember where I left off, but I am sure that it will come back to me soon. I also have a real strong feeling that work is going to phone me right at the beginning of November. I'm pretty sure that I am getting due for all our safety courses (first aid, h2s, whimis, and all that stuff). I am really not looking forward to all that. Who knows, maybe they don't want me there anymore (yaaaahhhh). lol.
I just tried downloading a picture again, and it just dos'nt seem to want to work for me. I even edited the photo first and brought it down to size. I don't know what's going on. My new internet service seems to run not to badly other than that. I'll get it all figured out eventually I hope. I love this lifestyle that I am living right now, even though I find myself really keeping an eye on things like propane, water, power and internet usage. Everything is more work. I now have to wash my dishes by hand, fire up the generator periodically and whatever else.
I can see by using the computer and monitoring my inverter display, that my new batteries are going to make life a whole lot simpler for me. Anyway, thats all for now.

Lots of snow.

2009-10-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

Well I am all settled out at the acerage. I do have a mobile high speed internet connection, but I can't seem to upload a photo to my post yet. Maybe the pictures are to large, I don't know. I have been doing a few preparations for winter. Today I put on a propane switch over valve so that the propane will empty a tank and automatically switch over to the full one. My propane system is one concern that I do have with the oncoming winter. We do get some pretty frosty weather here sometimes. It is not real uncommon for the temperatures to drop as low as 40 celcius/ 40 Farenhiet or colder. At temperatures like that propane can quit flowing. I am trying to come up with a simple solution to try and avoid things like that before the time comes. Alot of times all that is needed is a 100 watt light bulb under the covered tank. If I happen to be here then I guess that could be arranged, but if were gone for a couple days, which could happen easily, then I don't know. I'll have to figure something out.
The shack is great. So far it has been keeping me toasty warm at temperatures about 0 celcius/ 30 Farenheit and about 3 to 4 inches of snow. Tonight is supposed to drop to about -9 C/15F. That will be a little bit of a test. It should be good though. This is just a bit of an update, I will get some pictures up soon.

Empty House (Mobile Home)

2009-10-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

I don't have the time for a real post at the moment. I have been living out at the acerage the last couple of days and came into town for a final cleaning on my town property, where I still have an internet connection. The place is pretty empty. So far things are going good at my new arrangement. I will post again soon.

The Process of Moving

2009-10-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

I went and picked up a shed that I had stored at one of my brother's place. I used to keep my quad and a garden tractor in it, and my brother would store his garden tractor in it for the winter also. But I went out and scooped it up. I had it parked out in front of my place in town for a week while I was slowly putting alot of my stuff into it. Then I hauled it out to the acerage, tied the skids to a tree and drove away. There she sits, still loaded. Done deal.

I got the mound plumbing all glued up and covered. Hopefully it is all done right.

I put more gravel over the pipes, then a layer of landscaping cloth, then about 3/4 of a big round bale of wheat straw. Over the straw, I put all the dirt from the top layer of my basement diggings. Then I covered it all with some nice topsoil that I hauled in from the new Ritchie Bros Auction site awhile back. I need to touch it up a bit with the quad and a drag of some sort, just to smoothen it all up a bit, then seed it to grass and watch it grow (next summer).

Traction (the dog) is putting it all to the test. Mom was out giving me a hand with this project too, she was a big help doing some raking on the gravel layer, and picking roots out of the first layer of dirt, and of course lunch and other small jobs. I can't even take all the credit anymore. I think I am starting to rely on the help, (maybe not a good thing), but it does get things done alot quicker. Thanks Mom. (I feel like such a slave driver sometimes).

Today was kind of wasted day running around town looking for something, but I don't even know what. Tomorrow I am planning on taking some more goodies out there, and getting started with setting up my tempory home out at the acerage. I hope to have it situated and with some kind of a power source tomorrow. Reality of moving is kinda sinking in lately. I have to admit that I am a little stressed out lately with all that is going on. But on the other hand, I can hardly wait to get out there and get living a totally different way of life. It's going to be interesting.

It's a Sofa's Life.

2009-10-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

And then we'll give that worn out old couch a little taste of some snow.

Wasted Trip

2009-10-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

But not a wasted day. It was a really nice morning, warm and calm, but that changed in a hurry.
By the time we got half way out to the acerage it was raining pretty good. I did'nt waste much time out there. I unloaded the few things that I hauled out and headed it right back to town to get something accomplished right there at home where I came from in the first place.

Mom and I proceeded to boxing things up and cleaning out lots of useless garbage. I really need to learn to let go of junk. I have old bills from the year 1834. Well not actually, but it is probably safe to say that I would have, if I were alive back then. I said goodbye to alot of stuff today, including my old couch. It is out on the deck getting a good taste of the rain we are getting. I brought the matching love seat out of storage to put in its place for now. This is the kind of work that mom really shines at, cleaning and packing. She loves it I think, (crazy women). I, on the other hand, was'nt really enjoying it all that much. lol. We did get alot done though, but there is still alot to do yet. I really can't wait until this part is over.
Every day I have been eating some of my tomatoes. I don't think I have had a completely ripe one yet though. I just can't wait that long. At first I kinda thought that all the tomatoes would ripen together. But I have been keeping up to them so far. It is like a contest to see who will win, the tomatoes or me. So far I am in the lead. All I know is that they are very tastey. It is simply amazing how these things come to be. I'm still scratching my head on this one. Amazing.

The Sewage Treatment Mound

2009-10-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

This basement floor picture was taken on Oct 1, I do have a little more done to it than the picture shows, but I hav'nt touched it since the 1st. We have had quite alot of rain lately so I have been doing other things instead. I am really eager to start getting some walls framed up, but I know that there are more important things that need to be done also.

I finally got that door on the shed that I built this summer. I could be needing that sooner than I think. I have also been trying to clean up at my in town place and trying to have it ready for the renter at the end of this month. When I head out to the acerage, I usually have some kind of load on my pickup also, gradually getting thing moved out there.

Another project that I have been focused on is this sewage treatment mound. I would really like to have it out of the way before snow flies. This is what I was working on today mostly and will probably be working on tomorrow also. Hopefully it will be completed after tomorrow. I would like to move my tempory shack into this area somewhere and get it all set up to live in, but I can't really do that until I am done with the mound. I have to pick up some pipe fittings in town in the morning and get all this stuff glued together, then some more gravel over the pipes, before I proceed with the straw and all the other goodies. But first I think I might haul a load of garbage to the dump and load up the old Dodge with some more stuff for the acerage.

I sure hope they don't phone me to go to work this month. I would really hate to turn down the work after all they did for me, with using the truck and all. After October I don't really care, but for now, I just have so much that needs to get done. Forgot to mention that on Saturday I hauled three loads of gravel out there. It was kind of a muddy situation, and I had to spend an hour or so washing things up when I was done, but atleast I got that done. I should'nt have to haul anymore product for awhile now. I hope. I also stole (purchased) a round bale of wheat straw from the boss for my mound. So the rain did'tn really slow me down too much, but there was a lazy day in there somewhere I can remember.

A Bit of Everything Today

2009-09-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

Mom and I went out to the acerage this morning with intentions of building on the basement floor some more. But once we were out there, something made me think that I should work on the sewage treatment mound first. It just seemed like something that should get done soon, before a bunch of snow dumps or something. So we flattened out the rest of the expensive sand in to a 400 square foot area. 10 x 40 feet. Then spread a layer of tile rock on top of that. The next step will be to istall two rows of perforated pipe down the length of the mound and connect it all to the pump out hose that can be seen in the picture. Then more gravel over that, some straw, fill, and topsoil. And don't forget the grass seed that gets sprinkled on top of that. I could'nt remember just how much gravel needs to be on the mound, so we were kinda guessing today. It should be close, but I may need to add a little more yet. I feel it was a pretty productive day and I am really glad that I got this portion of the mound done. Now I have room to haul some more gravel in, if the time is right.

We covered the mound with a tarp in case it snows and to keep all the leaves off etc.

Then we proceeded to do some more building on the basement floor. We're still beefing it up a bit. I am in the process of installing blocking between the joists. Before heading home for the day, we decided to winterize the RV. I just know that one of these nights it is going to drop well below freezing. It was dark and lightly snowing when we headed for town.

The month of October is going to be pretty interesting. I'm sure it is going to fly by even quicker than all the rest this summer. I will be moving out of my home in town by the end of October. One month. It is going to be pretty interesting. The place I live in needs a bit of TLC before the renter moves in. Just a few little things, but I need to be packed up and out. All the while trying to get as much done out at the acerage also, so that I can actually survive out there in my 8 x 24 shack on wheels. lol.. I am so mixed up at the moment, I'm not real sure what to do first. lol. I can't really see me moving into the new house by that time, so I guess I should maybe concentrate on getting the shack setup first, then it just dos'nt matter. I kinda wish it was about the 1st of June today. I would also like to have the main floor on and the basement backfilled before alot snow and cold hits. It's going to be interesting.

Basement Floor Framing

2009-09-28T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not real sure where the time went today. I was going like crazy all day and before I knew it, it was getting close to dark. From yesterdays picture to this, it really dos'nt look like much got done. But I feel that quite alot got accomplished today. Mom was out today giving me a hand, it helped out alot. We got it all squared up and into the final position, before nailing every joist to every 2x4 sleeper under the plastic. That kinda joins things to the footings. Even if I find that it is unsquare or something, it is not going to get rectified now. I still need to beef this baby up a bit, as this floor is going to hold the walls from squeezing inward when I back fill the basement. Just an update.

Tomatoe Crop and the Floor Construction

2009-09-27T20:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday was kind of a write off although I did manage to bring in all my tomatoes for fear of frost, and it did freeze that night(next morning). That is my whole gardening experience for the summer. lol. Next summer I will expand a bit. I did go out to the acerage on Saturday, but the sky was'nt looking all that promising. I did'nt even want to pull the tarps off my project for fear of rain. And it did rain, and blow, and it was colder than heck. I thought this would be a good time to test my new to me bunk house. I wanted to know if I would even try to live in there for awhile this fall/winter. I lit the furnace, grabbed my newspaper and a cold near beer, and relaxed. It took a little while for the furnace to warm the shack up, but once it was warm, she was cozy. I even peeled off my coat had a power snooze on one of the bunks, even though there was'nt even a mattress. The little shack is pretty plain, but I kinda like it. I'm getting to be pretty sure that it is going to become my new home as of November 1, while I build on my cabin. I don't think my house will be quite ready to move into by then, and I think that my house in town is going to be rented out. I don't know for sure, but I think so. I have a funny feeling that I'm going to be a true blue homesteader in no time. I'll have to figure out a way to warm up the seat in the outhouse. lol.

There's all my bigger tomatoes............... Now what?

And all my little cherry tomatoes.

This is what I was doing on Friday, until the rain came and shut me down.

This is what happend today. There are alot of things that need to be done to this floor yet. But at least there is some nailing happening. Thats what I like to see. I have to go into town and get some supplies in the morning. I changed my mind on the floor from 24 inch centers to 16 in centers, so I will need a few more 2x6's and I'll need to get some different insulation to fit between the joists.

Cistern and some Building Supplies.

2009-09-24T22:17:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was going to be a productive day in the building departement. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. I went and picked up my culvert for water storage, then I went over to the lumber yard and bought my lumber. Then as I was waiting for my load, the phone rang, and I just knew that I should have dropped it on the ground and stomped on it, but instead, like a moron, I answered it. There went my day of building as I had to go to work, and there is no way that they could have possibly lived without me. lol.
I was able to get an earlier start this morning, but I did have to go and put a deposit on my trusses that I ordered. The day was windy. I had 5 packs of insulation all bundled into one and was laying loose inside the culvert. When I started down the hiway, I seen the wind pick up the bundle and haul it away. It hit the hiway and did a few bounces and rolls, and to my amazement, it all hung together in the bundle. I had visions of yellow insulation blowing all over a farmers field and the hiway, but I got lucky I guess. I can't even believe the wind picked that up. It is insulation, but it is pretty heavy the way it packed tightly like that. I had to go and get it out of the ditch, and it was hard work getting it back on. This time I tied it all down.

I did'nt get around to working with the wood at all. It was pretty windy and I just felt more like getting that cistern out of the way today. I had to finish digging the hole and drop it in there. That took the rest of the day.

I am hearing some nasty rumors about some snow supposed to be coming on about Tuesday. Not really looking forward to that.

Almost Ready for Wood

2009-09-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

This is where I am at with my project. I hav'nt done much since this, because of just a touch of bad weather(not major bad), an auction sale set me back about a day, and my pay job also set me back a bit. Today I was getting a bunch of quotes on lumber and other goodies, then I picked up my new shack and hauled it out there. I did a bit of digging for my water storage, but did'nt quite get it done when darkness came. In the morning I should be picking up a culvert cistern and some lumber and hopefully getting a good start on the basement.

This is how all the piping is connected to the sump. If ever you are building your own home, this is NOT a real common way of doing things.

Some of my green tomatoes at home in town. I am trying to leave them on the plants as long as possible, but I also am prepared to bring them in soon as old jack frost should be sneakin around the corner sometime soon. This is my first time growing tomatoes and there are some pretty good sized ones hiding in there somewhere.

I went auction saleing, and look what I found. It is quite possible that I will be giving my town home up to a renter on Nov 1. It's not written in stone, but if it does happen, I am now prepared. It is not even close to being fully loaded, but it does have a propane heater and stove, along with some other goodies. My RV is not really designed for the winter conditions, but this thing will get me by for awhile. I will be roughin it though. It does have a kitchen sink, but no running water. Even if I don't rent my place out in town until the spring, this will be handy to have as a place to relax and warm up etc. while building.

The last few days I hav'nt been around very much. I stayed out at the acerage for a couple nights, then I went to the auction sale, then to work on my pay job. Tonight, I am going to sleep in my own bed for a change. I did have a glance at a few blogs, but I did'nt seem to have much time for commenting to many.

Larger Sump required.

2009-09-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

I kinda thougt that digging my sump earlier was easier than it should have been. I did a little research this morning, and I found that maybe the sump liner I was going to put in my sump, was not quite big enough. There is the old one and the new one I bought just today sitting side by side. My digging was far from over.

I did finally get it dug in there. I sure have been getting alot of exercise lately. I guess it is probably good for me that way.

Outside of the footings before the grout. This is'nt the worst of it, but it gives a bit of an idea.

This is some of the new cement grout I put in along the outside of the footings in an attempt to keep water from sitting right next to the footings. I have just a little more to do right in the very front. I honestly think that this was well worth the time.

And in other news, today I thought I had lost a friend for ever. Traction went missing in action. Traction, my dog, is almost 9 years old. She has started acting kinda weird awhile back when ever she hears gun fire, or at least I have noticed recently. Even when it is along ways away. It is almost as if she had been shot at before. Anyway, today the neighbor across the creek started doing some major target blasting. I can remember looking at traction, a quick glance when it first started and I reasured her that it is alright. But I was deeply involved with my cementing and went on with the task at hand. A while later I noticed Traction was no where to found. That is really odd of her not to come when I whistle. After a couple hours passed, I really started to think I was never going to see her again. Well I decided I was going to sleep there for the night, incase she did show up. I was sitting there, kinda accepting the fact that she is gone for ever. I decided to step outside my trailer with a flashlight, I did'nt whistle or call or anything, I was just standing there in the dark, and in the distance I heard the jingle of all her tags on the collar. Thought I was hearing things for bit, but then I heard it again, and it was getting closer and closer, I just knew it was her. I never really realized how much I could miss a stupid dog. I was kinda preparing myself for a few days of major sadness. She was missing for 4 hours or more all together. I wonder if there is a way of getting a dog to accept gun fire. I guess I learned to pay a little more attention to her next time this goes on. I sure do hope she gets used to it eventually.

Foundation Pipes

2009-09-16T22:40:00.001-07:00

September 16

With a wood basement, the permit people clearly state "no weeping tile". So instead, I am going with this system. I did'nt need the pipes connected on the inside. I could have just left them to drain on the ground inside the footings in a bed of clean gravel, under the floor. I don't want any moisture under there if I can help it though. If I could have gone with normal weeping tile, the whole job would have been alot quicker. There would have been no cutting 2 inch pipe, no drilling 2 1/2 inch holes in the footing forms, no connecting all these pipes together. This does take alot more time, but that is the price to pay when one is frugal. (All this pipe was'nt exactly cheap either). lol. I'm estimating about $250 CAD for all the pipe and fittings for the foundation drainage. But once it is done, it is done. I am hoping that this whole system is just a backup and will never actually see water.

September 17

I got all the pipes around the inside perimeter attached. I just need to attach the four sides to the sump pit. Today was'nt real productive, not in the building department anyway. I had a bunch of other things that needed done first. My eye glasses needed repair, my washing machine blew up on me. (I had to replace a couple of belts, nothing too serious). A bunch more running around town for supplies and idea's.

I am getting pretty close to deciding on the water storage device that I will go with. I'm pretty sure it will be an 8 foot diameter corragated culvert type cistern. It will be a little more work to install, but it is less money for more gallons. I can also haul and handle it myself. I'm pretty sure my 410 backhoe would have a little trouble throwing a 1500 gallon concrete cistern into the ground. But this baby I think I can move somehow. They tell me that 1 meter of this pipe will hold about 1000 gallons of water. It costs about $475/meter. I'm thinking about getting 3 or 3.5 meters(about 11.5 feet) which would be roughly $1662.00. But I will have to spend a little more on some concrete for the botton of the cistern also. A 1500 gallon concrete cistern would be about $3600.00. Plus I would need the manhole extensions for extra money, and they would have to deliver and put it in the ground for me for even more extra money. I also looked into fiberglass and plastic ones. They are pricey also and kinda touchy installing it sounds like.
My sewage septic tank is probably going to be a concrete 750 gallon unit. About $1750.00 plus manhole extensions, pump, delivery and whatever else.

Anyway, for now, I am still working on my sump pit. I would like to get my cistern in soon, so that I can backfill the trench and get on with other things. I don't want to sound real picky here, but I am planning on doing a little bit of cementing along the outside of my footings, to get a bit of a slope away from the footings and also to fill in the low spots right along the footings, where water would love to accumulate. I honestly don't think many other builders would worry about something like this, maybe they would, I don't know, but I am going to experiment with it. It really should'nt take too much time (lol), but it will make me feel alot better about the whole foundation situation. Then it should be onto some wood going down.

Battle with a rock.

2009-09-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

It dos'nt really look like alot got accomplished today, but I was pretty busy doing alot of the little things in the basement that need done before a floor can go down. Landscaping the inside of the footing to make way for the drainage pipes. And just cleaning up the ends of some of the pipes going through the footings, and bunch of other micellaneous things. Then I started to dig my sump and found a rock. It seemed to just keep getting bigger and bigger the more I dug. Finally, I had enough and thought that I should try to out smart the rock.

I snuck up on it, and when it was'nt looking, I made my grab. I always knew I was going to win this battle.

There's my sump. I'm not exactly sure how it is all going to go together yet. lol. I do know, that I am going to connect pipe to all the pipes coming through the footing. One pipe will come from each side and drain into the sump, if need be. I am really hoping that water won't even get that far though.

I have heard people say alot about wood basements, and basements in general. They leak, they smell musty, they heave and crack. I'm going to prove them all wrong. SOME basements leak and smell musty and heave, NOT ALL. Hopefully mine is an exception to the rule. I am going to do what I can to keep it dry.

Tomorrow I gotta get a bunch of plastic pipe to finish up with the drainage system inside the footings. Then it will be onto building the floor soon. I am still thinking about what kind of cistern to get. Just going to let it brew for awhile. I phoned around a bit this morning to find out prices and stuff.

Water Line Trench and Misc.

2009-09-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

The first thing this morning was alot of running around town for some supplies and checking out a cistern to get an idea about digging and price. Ouch. I will find a good deal somewhere, sometime. I still don't know if I will go with concrete, plastic, fiberglass, or galvanized culvert type. They all have there pros and cons.
Once I got out to the shack site, I cleaned and sloped the outside perimeter of my footings. I went all around the footings. Two wheel barrows of dirt fill the hoe bucket. I dumped about 3 buckets. I want to get the water to stay away from my footings and drain to daylight, via a trench I am going to dig soon. I hauled two wheel barrows of concrete spillage down to the creek. I have a bad spot down there that likes to wash away.

I then pushed a steel pipe on an angle from inside the footing to the outside. This is how I made the hole to install my waterline conduit. I was'nt real sure how it was going to work out, but it all worked excellent, just like it was meant to be. It was a good push, and then it was a really hard pull trying to get it back out, but it did finally come out. After doing that a couple times my 1 1/2 inch conduit slid right in. I'm not sure, but I don't think this is how it is normally done.

Trenching the water line to the cistern location. There's the plastic conduit, the 1 inch water line will slide through that. It was starting to get dark by the time I shut it down. Did'nt get home till about 10. I worked up a pretty good sweat the first part of the day, then I needed a break by jumping on the hoe and doing some digging. Seems like a good way to split up the day.

Footings Fit for a Dog

2009-09-13T20:09:00.001-07:00

Well, they hold the dog up, so they should hold a house I guess.

A bit of spillage that I wheeled out of there.

Just another basement picture. The forms are all gone. Seems like a waste, buying and installing all that 2x10 lumber just to rip it all off again. But I guess that is just a part of the battle.

Poured Footings

2009-09-12T20:20:00.001-07:00

Just a bit of a start on the mound to see how it is going to work out.

I guess we'll put the propane tank on here.

The freshly poured footings.

Yesterday was a real big day for me, just to get everything ready for todays concrete pour. Actually, I have been working on these footing forms for quite some time. All that work, and for about a half an hour pour, if that. It all took a bit longer than that though, as I did have some extra concrete and we had to figure out some way to put it to good use. I know I should have been a little more prepared for this, but I simply ran out of daylight last night. I was even going pretty good this morning before the concrete man showed up, just doing some finishing touches. One thing I am positively NOT very good at, is estimating how long certain jobs will take to complete.

I was planning on getting some pictures of the pouring process, but once we got going, I simply did'nt have time to even think about things like that. I had a hard time keeping up sometimes. The pour went way better than expected, I had visions of a wheel barrow going back and forth quite a few times, but as it turned out, I did'nt even have to use it. Even the center telepost footings were reached by the cement truck, just barely. Another benefit of building a tiny mansion.

After the cement man and myself finished pouring the footings, my help arrived. lol. He did get there in time to help with the propane tank base that we poured with some left over product.

Not very much got accomplished after the cement truck left. We did a little measuring and inspecting. I had a bit of a headache, and it was a nice day to relax for bit. After my help left, I had a bit of a snooze, and then did a little landscaping at the sewage mound, for a change. It was nice to get out of the basement for a while. There are some more things I need to do in the basement before the wood starts to fly.

There are actually alot of different things that could happen before the wood flies. Septic tank, cistern, trenching etc. It almost looks like I could use 2 or 3 of me. But really, time dos'nt matter to me on this project anymore. I am enjoying it as I go along. The footings are poured and it is time for a new phase of the project, I am kinda excited. lol.

Pouring Concrete on Saturday Hopefully.

2009-09-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

Getting the pipes all together.

It's a dirty job, but someones got to do it.

The Peterbilt looks pretty small from up here.

Rain, rain, rain. But today was nice and the near future kinda looks good, I hope. September is zipping right along. I can remember the 1st and the 2nd, but what happened to the 3rd-8th. Yesterday I hauled 4 loads of topsoil from the new future Ritchie Bros Auctions site just East of Grande Prairie. I should have enough topsoil for my mound, landscaping, and maybe a little left over just for planting trees and a garden sometime. I am still going to have to haul another load of tile rock, and mabye some gravel soon. All this hauling would normally be pretty costly, but I am hoping to get a good deal. lol. I do expect to pay for my fuel and maybe a little for rent. I'm not real sure what the boss has up his sleave. I used his truck for hauling the topsoil, sand, gravel and tile rock, and his hoe for loading the topsoil. I don't know why, but I threw in a video of me loading some topsoil. I held the camera between my knees. Just thought it would be interesting to see a hoe in action from the seat. lol. From all the dust flying around, one would think that things were pretty dry here, but that is definately not the case.

I was wanting to line up a cement truck for Friday, but could'nt get one until Saturday, which is good, because , as it turned out, I am not ready yet. When I look at what needs to be done, I think it should take a couple hours, but then it usually ends up taking the whole day and then some. Today my plan was to have my plumbing in the ground and under the footing. That plan backfired when I accidentally glued a chunk of 4" a little off kilter. I knew how I wanted it, but it just did'nt end up there, and I tried to change it real quickly, but it was too late. That 4" pipe is a little akward to work with. Anyway, I need to pick up some new fittings and redo some of it. So the pipefitting came to an end for today. I started to clean out my forms. The off and on rain I had lately kinda softend up the ground that my little house will sit. I thought I should scrape the top layer of dirt off, so that the ground could still be called undisturbed soil. Maybe I am being too picky? I don't think so. I know alot of people whos house shifts alot. Walls cracking, sewer pipes underneath getting damaged and causing all kinds of problems and basement floor heaving, etc. I just want to do what I can to try and avoid all this. If I can start with a good dry and solid foundation and try to keep it that way, I just may have one of the most well built houses(shack) in Canada. lol.

Hopefully the weather works with me for a while. I'm getting tired of looking at that empty hole in the ground. I really need to start working on a different phase. Maybe I can spend a couple months building the basement floor. lol.

The video seems to be taking a million years to upload, I don't know whats going on. Maybe I will try again tomorrow or something. For now, I'll throw in some pictures.

Footing Forms

2009-09-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

I finally got done hauling the last load of bales (for now) on Thursday. I hauled well over 800 hunderd bales lately, from various different places, and a bunch of heavy equipment in between, and just as I expected, the weather turned kinda ugly ever since. I sorta knew that might happen. lol. It has been real cloudy and alot of rain off and on lately. I have been doing what I can in between rain storms. Sunday it rained practically all day off and on, it was going to be a day of hauling some topsoil, but I ended up relaxing and going to some friends for dinner instead. A rest was well needed and deserved. I notice tonight it is pretty windy and alot of leaves are starting to fall off the trees. My plan is to have a cement truck come out sometime this week and pour my footings, providing the weather cooperates. I am kinda spooked to even get them lined up to come out with this unpredictable weather. I do have just a little bit more prep work to do before I am ready. The forms are built and leveled. I have my drainage pipes running through the footings, and most my rebar is in. I just have to glue and install my under floor plumbing, and finish the rebar, and a few little touch ups here and there, then I am ready. Seems like I have been working on these footings for ever. Those drain pipes that are running through the footings are not a real common method of foundation drainage, but it is a way of the wood basement. I can leave them as they are, to drain under the floor to the sump with a granular drainage layer of tile rock. Or I can connect the pipes to the sump with more pipe inside the footings, which I am planning on doing. In a normal basement, one would have weeping tile (perforated pipe) running around the outside perimeter of the basement footings, and then piped to a sump in the basement floor. There are other methods, but this is the way I chose to do it.
I sure do hope that the snow holds off for awhile. I am quite sure that I will be doing some of this in the snow eventually, but the longer it waits the better. Tonight feels like anything could blow in. For now the plan is to be out of my house in town for November 1. That is when my potential renter could take possesion. But, she does tell me that it is flexible, depending whether or not I am ready. Im ready. lol. I'm sure that once the footings are poured, things will start to happen. I just want my basement to be done and backfilled sometime soon, then I really don't care about the rest. My mother has been out there giving me a bit of a hand at times lately. She's a good hand, and most of time she brings out some pretty good lunches.
Alot of people still think I am nuts, and are suggesting that I should build a bigger house. LOL. I'm thinking maybe smaller if anything.

Minor setback in the hay hauling.

2009-08-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

I was off to a pretty good start this morning, until I was unloading my first load. I broke the the grapple. I weld some of my own stuff, but I am not about to tackle something like this. Thats what real welders are for. I kinda thought it would be a quick fix, but the welder man said about 2 to 3 hours. Well I aint gonna wait around, I wonder what else we have in the yard. The bobcat is gone somewhere. There are 3 track hoes to choose from.

I chose the 270 John Deere. I've never used a track hoe to handle bales with before. I should have had this puppy over on the acerage when the basement digging was going on. Something like this probably would have dug it in couple hours, and probably would have done a nicer job. But I get alot more satisfaction out of using my own resources as much as possible.

It actually worked pretty good to get them off with, but they still need to be stacked when I find the time. Or maybe the boss will do it for me.

I got all my bales moved off this field. And now I'm on a bit of a move to the next field for tomorrow, which is quite a long way from here. My new field will be about a 3 hour round trip or maybe a little bit more. They have a little over 200 hay bales for me and probably another 600 green feed bales once they get it all done. I can usually haul 34 bales in a load, unless they are rediculously big, in which case I would haul 30. It looks like I'm going to be a busy boy for a bit.

Just Truckin

2009-08-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

This is about where I am with the basement when I got diverted in a different direction. The pipes ar'nt glued together yet, and I took them out for now and stored them away as I am not sure when I am going to get on it again. Hopefully in about a week from now.

I did manage to get my paws on a truck and gravel trailer and hauled some product out to the acerage.

A load of tile rock. This will get me going with my sewage mound and also with my basement. I may need some more later. About $20.00/yard. I can haul about 25 tonne legally(roughly 20 yards). Should be hauling more, but the truck is pretty heavy to start with, as it is a winch truck. Not really the norm for gravel hauling.

This is a load of clean concrete sand. I did haul a load of cheaper sand (free), but then I got a little paranoid that it could cause me some grief in the future, so I went on the hunt for some good clean sand. $25.00/ tonne. Hopefully I don't need anymore of that. Normally sand is at about$8-$10.00/yard that I have seen, but it all looks pretty dirty. There is a sample just beside this new sand on the left where the pipe is coming out of the ground for comparison. When I put water with it, it turned pretty mushy. Or silty. I can use the old sand for burying pipes, I guess, if nothing else. I think it would also work ok as a filler around the mound maybe.

I did quite a bit of my driveway with some finer rock. The price was right so I thought I would give it a shot.

And now, this is my life story for the next few days. Hauling bales. Hopefully the weather stays good so I can just get it all done. I am really eager to get after my own project before the weather turns it into a swimming pool instead of a basement. I guess somebody should tell me to fix that burnt out high beam headlight, before the DOT does.
Just thought I should put in a bit of an update.

Tiny Little Bit More Accomplished

2009-08-14T21:35:00.001-07:00

The foreman is checking all operations.

This morning when I woke up, I thought I had the world by the tail. It was early, I was going to get a good start on things, but I had one little underground plumbing thing on my mind. I decided to phone a plumbing installer and ask a simple question, just to confirm things, before I started digging little trenches all over my basement floor. In talking with the plumber, all of a sudden things started to get a little more complicated. I ask a lot of different people alot of different things as I go, and it seems I get a different answer from everyone. The plumber knows the codes. I missed something at the library yesterday. (It's pretty hard to make sense out of some of that, if you don't have clue to begin with). I arranged for a meeting with the plumber. He was talking about Monday, but I insisted on today. lol. I just wanted him to draw me a quick picture, because everything he was telling me, was pretty different from what I had planned. I am glad that I decided to phone him. The trouble was that I had to wait until 1:15 pm to see him, but it was well worth the wait. Then after the meeting, I was busy running around picking up the new plumbing supplies and tools etc. I wasted no time, but I sure don't know where the time goes. It never goes by that fast on the paying job.

I threw in a couple more pictures of the old hole in the ground. To anyone looking, it is probably just a boring dirt hole in the ground, but I am pretty proud of my new basement. So far the hoe is still going strong, although one hydraulic cylinder is leaking pretty good. I'll have to see about warranty, as I just spent over $400 on it within a month. I sure do get tired of taking things like that off to take back to the fixers though.

Well anyway, I do feel like I accomplished alot today even if it does'nt look like much got done. I would by far rather waste a whole day than to get something done, then have to redo it anyway. Sounds like the bale hauling expedition might get started on Monday. I'll work some long days trying to get that all done. Might as well grab some overtime while it is there I guess.

A Little Further Ahead

2009-08-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

I did'nt accomplish quite as much as I wanted to today. I was trying to educate myself on a couple things via the internet first thing this morning. I ended up going to the local library and reading up on some plumbing codes, then picking up some supplies in town. I did'nt get out to the jobsite till about 2:00 pm. Serviced up the hoe and did a few other things around there that needed to be done, then I tied into that basement again. I am still doing some finishing touches to get it perfected. I am just about done, but it was starting to get dark on me, so I shut it down a little after 10:00 pm. It is unbelieveable how long the touching up stuff takes. I guess when you think about, I moved the dirt quite aways from the basement also. I ran out of space with my first dirt pile and the second one is a bit of a jog.
I kinda thought I would have been hauling hay by now, but I guess one of the loader tractors is tied up on a road job pulling packers, so I have to wait for that. Hopefully it is working till 2010. It sure must be slow in the oil patch though, I hav'nt had to haul any equipment for a long time. I probably should'nt have said that though. lol.
This morning I woke up really early and could'nt go back to sleep, as I had my house on my mind. I got to thinking about how high it is going to be compared to how short and narrow it is. It could look kinda funny when it is all said and done, but my main concern was with the actual construction process and the height combination. I got to thinking that maybe I did'nt dig deep enough. Then I get to thinking how long it would take to skim another foot off and refinish it. Hell with it, I'll get over my fear of heights I guess. I kinda designed it to be tall for solar panel purposes anyway. I am surrounded by trees, and in the winter I could get some shading at different times of the day. I think the panels will have a pretty clear veiw of the sun though. I will have to top some of my trees right in front of the house. I do hope the location is right, because it aint gonna get changed now. lol.
Well I should'nt have to piss the day away in town tomorrow, I have some supplies, a little knowledge and a plan. For now anyway.

Basement is just about done.

2009-08-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

See, there I went and did again, I underestimated how long a basement would take to dig. I even went to town this morning and bought some lumber to build some concrete forms for my footings. The plan was to have those in by this evening. lol. It is time consuming digging even a small basement with a 410 backhoe. I was just working the poor old backhoe to death. The basement is actually dug, but I do have a little bit of touch up work to do on it. I'm thinking maybe a couple of hours. But I guess I should'nt even say.

Still Diggin.

2009-08-11T22:17:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the day(about 1:00 pm once I got started), I kinda thought I would have been done with my basement digging tonight, but I am not. It is time consuming stuff, especially for an ammeteur. Alot of my digging today was kinda learning, but I think I have it all down now. The thing that seems to take all the time is getting off and on the backhoe all the time to check my depth. I don't want to go too deep and have to fill things in, it's just not suppose to happen that way.

I welded that plate onto my bucket teeth for cleaning up and for precision, and it works great. It took a little time to get used to it, but I can see now, that there is no way it could have been done properly without that. I can't believe that it is still on there with my welding. I know it aint pretty, but it's working for now. I have been kinda gentle on it. I should have the basement dug tomorrow easy, if they don't need some bales hauled at work. I know that is getting real near and I can't wait till it is all done. I did kinda send in a bit of hint that I would rather not be the bale hauler this year if at all possible, but we'll see what happens with that. lol. I gotta do what I gotta do, to keep them all happy at work.

I forgot to take my camera today, but I did get a couple shots with the phone cam. They are real low quality photos, but they are photos. One is the chunk of grader blade on the bucket, and the other one is the finished depth of the basement at the highest corner. That depth is about 5.5 feet. In that basement picture is a water line level that I built. I don't have any fancy laser transits and all that fancy stuff, but a water line level should keep me pretty close to the same level through out the basement dig. I hope. It is a tricky process for a beginner.

Basement Stuff Happening

2009-08-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

I did'nt do anything yesterday. Well actually I did. I was thinking. lol. My life story, but the thinking part is done for now. I got a bit a of late start today as it was raining pretty good when I woke up this morning (monday morning) . Things were sticky out there at first this afternoon, but it did'nt take long and I was back in action. I got alot of the basement dug, but it is quite time consuming and I imagine it is going to get even more time consuming as I get close to grade. This basement is probably the most precise thing I have ever had to do with my backhoe. The footings are supposed to sit on undisturbed soil, and if I go too deep, it will add up on the cost of concrete rather quickly. I guess. Most real good basement diggers usually get it all to within 1/4 of an inch. lol. If I get it to within 1/4 of a foot, I will be laughing. I think I am going to have to weld a plate along the teeth of my digging bucket to try and be like those pros and get a smoother finish. Well anyway, the main thing is, I'm digging. I am really enjoying it also, doing my own project, I can do it all at my own pace and not worry about some jack ass telling me what to do all the time.

Doing Some Digging

2009-08-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

This is my garden out at the acerage. I know, I should have kept it a secret. lol. It's not too bad though, concidering that alot of time when I was too busy to go out there and look after things, they had to live without water at times. It's all a good experiment for me.

I don't know whats going on, but I can't seem to move pictures where I want them or anything else. It's been so long, I guess I forgot how. lol. The above picture, the old John Deere is gaurding the trench.

I wanted to put in the one end of my sewer pump out so I could haul some sand and dump it right where it will go if I find a good day to haul some product sometime. It will be awhile before I can finish trenching this in. Once the basement is done I guess.

This trench is 8 feet deep so things wont freeze in the winter.

I removed most of the top soil from where the basement will go, I might have to touch it up a bit yet before I can dig the basement. The far corner will be about six feet deep and this nearest corner will be about 4 feet deep when it is all done. It is a 2 foot difference in elevation from those two corners, and the footing has to be 4 feet below grade for frost purposes, so I guess this is what I gotta do.

There was alot of rooty topsoil that came out of there.

So there you have it, just a bit of an update. I am still totally not real sure what kind of a basement I am building, but I have been doing alot of research on the PWF(permanent wood foundation), and concrete. PWF would be a lot less expensive, and more could be done by myself, but I need a stupid engineer who can design that for me, so I am told, and I can't seem to find that guy. I have had thoughts of just building the damd thing, but then I do have that worry that it could all be for nothing. As for the concrete, I have been checking out the ICF system. (Insulated Concrete Form). To my surprise that insulated form will be just about the price of the concrete, and concrete costs alot. I guess I own a propery where I am supposed to throw my money in the air. So maybe thats what I'll have to do. Is everyone ready to catch? I always had a dream of living a more primitive life than this, but it just seems impossible to make that happen unless I am further from civilization. I have decided to just get things going and see what I can get done before the snow flies. I have been busy at work previously, but I hav'nt been there for a week or so now. I do know that there should be some hay for me to haul in the near future, but other than that, I think I might be free to get some building done. Knock on wood.(Knocking on my head).