OFF GRID One Whole Year

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.


Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

North and South Soffits.

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.


Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

Mid October Ramblings.

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

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.

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

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.

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.