March 4 Update. Plumbing, Stairs, Cold Weather.

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.



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.

Heck with it.

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.

Me, mud, work and weather.

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.

Happy New Year, Anniversary and Birthday.

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.

Brutal Mother Nature Test

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.

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.