House Planning

We want to build a full time home at Twin Ponds. There's so many questions surrounding the decision like: When should we build? How do we pay for it? How do we make money once we live there? Do we continue to work in the city and commute? Can we arrange to be in the city only a few days per week?

Then, of course, we have all the questions surrounding the house itself. What style? What size? Where? Should we do some of the work ourselves, and if so, what part?

Because there's no way to answer all those questions right now we're focusing on just a few. So far we've decided which builder to go with and last Monday we met with one of their project managers and architects to discuss our preferences. The next step is for them to take what we said and give us a quote to build the bare bone structure. Assuming that part is okay, their architect will take what we told her and translate it into a full plan which we can later take to the township for approval. Before she can do that though, we need to give her a topographical map of the spot we want to build.

That's a big decision.

Last weekend we put on our snow gear and headed out to explore. We took a few photos of the location that's the frontrunner right now. We want to build on the edge of a hill so we can have a walk-out basement while maximizing our distance from our western property line.

The view looking up from the bottom of the hill.

The top of the hill. Luckily it's already pretty flat.

Sanding Drywall

Sanding drywall is hard work, way harder than I expected.

Spence had to head back to the city Saturday night to make a 7 a.m. appointment the following day, so I woke up bright and early Sunday morning and got to work alone. I learned a few things:

1. A dust mask is a must.
2. Start with the ceiling because it's the hardest part and your arms will feel like jelly long before you get to it. This will make you wish you could go back in time and kick yourself in the ass for making the decision to save it for last.
3. I can't stress the importance of this last one enough: have an amazing neighbour who wanders over at just the right time and asks if you need help. Take him up on it before he finishes his sentence. Thanks again, Mark!

So yeah. It took about 5 hours, but the guest room is sanded and ready for its coat of paint. We're two days behind schedule due to some unforeseen complications, but that's okay (did you know joint compound can take days to dry when it's -20C outside?).

I don't actually have a photo from during the sanding process because I couldn't gather the strength to lift the camera, so this one I took before starting will have to do. Just picture me covered in a thick layer of fine, white mud dust.

Cozy

This is our Saturday afternoon while we wait for the mud to dry... Apparently it feels like -24C outside, but it's nice and warm in here. Have I mentioned how much I love insulation lately? Because I do. 

P.S. The latex glove on Spence's hand is acting as protection for his most recent injury. 'Nuff said. 

Community

Yesterday I met someone who's interested in natural building. He lives downtown, but as luck would have it also owns a couple acres a few blocks away from Twin Ponds. We chatted for five hours over a few pints of beer trading stories. As people came and went in the bar, most seemed to stop and give him a wave or nod.

The idea of community is something I've been thinking about a lot lately, so it was nice to expand mine a bit. I'm hoping to help him out on a few projects around his place and do some hands-on learning about cob building... Depending on how it goes maybe I can build my own cob oven next summer!

Keedo put his paw in my hand yesterday while we were watching a movie

Christmas Belt

This week I made a belt I promised almost a year ago. For whatever reason this year got away from me when it came to leathercraft. Too many other things on the go, I guess.

It's a little thinner than usual - 1 1/4" wide instead of the usual 1 1/2" - and it has a simple pattern which I think works nicely. Once I got into the project I finished it in a day and a half of intermittent work. Next time I find myself avoiding a project I need to try to remember the hardest part is getting started.

More Drywall

The end of drywalling the guest room is in sight! Last weekend we focused on putting up the last two pieces of sheetrock and mudding. We watched a how-to video Home Depot put out and let me just say that they make it look so much easier than it is. The first two pieces of tape I put up ended up having air bubbles in them so we'll need to cut those out before we can put then next layer on. Getting the mud smooth is an art form.

Luckily for us Luke dropped by on Sunday and made quick work of finishing the first layer of mud in the entire room. He said he hadn't mudded in years, but it seemed to come right back to him and is flew through all the remaining seems on the walls then the ceiling. I eventually got the hang of it too so I handled the corners. I think they turned out pretty well!

Next weekend we're hoping to finish the mudding which means we'll be able to paint, and if we manage our time very well we might even get to start laying the floor...

Benefits of December

I know the calendar says it's not winter yet, but my body says otherwise. There's something about the atmosphere once we hit December that makes me want to eat homemade bread, soups, and roasts. For all the crappy things winter brings, that sure isn't one of them.

Tonight I made my very first loaf of bred completely in the bread maker. I let it do the rising and the baking. The ingredients couldn't have taken more than five minutes to throw together and that's including the cleanup. It's cooling now so we've yet to dig in. Hope it's good!

Does anyone know when you're supposed to remove the bread from the bucket? Should you wait for it to cool first or do it immediately?

Drywalling

In our effort to have our bedrooms inhabitable by winter, we've spent the last couple weekends focused on drywalling the guest room. We had an interesting discussion with our neighbour about the history of finishing rooms. Many years ago there was a shift from plastering to drywalling. There were various advantages to drywall: plaster was prone to cracking as it dried out or as the house's foundation shifted and it took a skilled hand to apply it correctly so the wall didn't appear wavy. Initially, drywall was hung using nails, not screws like today. With unavoidable environmental shifts nails had a tendency to occasionally pop out and also didn't hold the drywall sheet as securely. Kind of interesting to see how things evolve.

By the time we left on Sunday, 95% of the guest room walls were covered in mould and water resistant drywall.

I've hung drywall before, but I've never mudded it, so I watched a video yesterday about how that's done and learned an interesting fact: drywall should be hung horizontally, not vertically like we did. Hanging it horizontally makes it more stable since it crosses more studs and also reduces the seams by 25%! Not only that, but horizontal seems are much easier to mud since you don't have to bend over. Figures we'd hang it the wrong way. Next weekend should be fun.