A wet weekend, more deliveries and Week #10 of Reno

Saturday morning, Kristi called to let me know she had a quiet on-call shift on Friday so was able to sleep overnight. I was out the door at 10 am heading to Nanaimo. There is a craft fair there this weekend we both wanted to attend and it's great she could go with me. Jason decided to tag along. He unfortunately broke his right arm last week, falling on the ice while curling. Ouch!!! He will be out of commission for most things probably until Christmas, especially since he is right-handed.

We wandered around the Beban Park Craft Fair and bought a bunch of Christmas presents. I even won a small gift from the door prize draw. I better buy a lotto ticket because I never usually win anything. lol

After shopping we went for lunch at a small cafe/diner called Kelly's Kitchen to fuel up to face the masses for a Costco shop.

Kristi and Jason

Everyone knows Costco is a zoo on Saturday afternoon, but we were able to get one of the last parking spaces. I only had a small list of purchases, but this is Kristi's only "Saturday" until probably Christmas.  She is not booked today, so both her and Jason were busy picking out Christmas presents for coworkers etc. By the time we got to the check-out the lineups had reduced somewhat, so we were able to get through in about 10 minutes. I dropped them off at their house at 3:30 pm and then headed back to Lake Cowichan. It rained all day at the lake whereas in Nanaimo it quit by noon and the roads were all dry until the turn-off onto Highway 18.  It became quite stormy again later in the evening with some wind. Fortunately, our carpenter secured the deflection plate for the gas fireplace on Friday so it did not sound like thunder and scare the dog again.

Sunday morning. The rain event is over, the clouds are parting and the sun is peeking up over the hills. A lovely start. With the time change last night, both Ray and I were up at 5 am which was 6 am yesterday. lol

Raining over in Youbou

The lake rose again with all the rain and it's amazing to see the difference day to day. They have completely opened the lock and dropped the weir for the winter so the water can free-flow out of the lake into the river. So whether flooding occurs or not is completely up to Mother Nature. I think it would only ever be a problem if it non-stopped rained for two weeks.

November 4th water level (I went out later this afternoon and the water is now above that bottom rock where the log is resting up against.)

November 2nd water level

At noon my kitchen cabinet order came. Another 2 pallets crammed into the garage. lol So surprised to get a delivery on a Sunday. I am still waiting for the bathroom vanity for downstairs to arrive on Tuesday and the microwave/vent hood to arrive on November 15th. Most of the fixtures should be on site now to finish the basement after the gyproc goes up. We are actually planning to put up waterproof wallboard for the first 4 feet up the wall and then continue with regular gyproc. This will give us a bit of breathing room if the basement should flood. We are also acid washing the concrete floor, so other than throwing down some area rugs there will not be any flooring to worry about.

Although the afternoon is a little cloudy, we decided to get outside for a couple of hours with Freya and have a campfire. Nice to blow the cobwebs out of our heads.

We never get tired of this view. A great end to the weekend.

Monday morning was a little foggy but by 9am the sun broke out. Today it seemed not much was accomplished. Lots of little things done but everything still in somewhat a mess.

Jim, the cabinet guy, worked on the dining room hutch. So much fitting around the beams so he did a bunch but it does not really show it yet. More guys coming tomorrow as all the door fronts are now "cured" and will be installed on the vanities, hall built in etc. Matrix Marble came today to measure for the ensuite countertop. Probably not done for 2 to 3 weeks. :(

Downstairs, the electricians kept working on pulling wire and took out the old sub panel down there and now we have the new 100 amp service in the basement. See our new temporary lighting!

These lights will stay this way until the T-bar ceiling goes in and then all the new pot lights will be installed. They are currently wired but they won't put in the actual lights until the ceiling tiles are in so they can be centered.

The carpenters finished attaching all of the perimeter drains with the eves so it is all tidy on both sides of the house. The window from the workshop was taken out and put in the new kitchen and the new window bought for the kitchen that is "different" from the rest was installed in the workshop. The stair treads from the deck received their second coat of paint so they are ready for installation.

New kitchen window.

Workshop window.

The hot tub did not come .... and now will arrive on Thursday we are told. Coast Spas in Langley were supposed to already have shipped it to their Nanaimo location over a week ago but did not, it is still sitting in Langley. Ray contacted the manager and now they are bringing it themselves to our house on Thursday and returning back to the mainland ... this will probably be a $1000 hit they could have avoided if they were organized!

We were quite surprised that it sprinkled and actually rained on and off all afternoon ... the forecast called for sun all day.

Today, Tuesday, I woke up at 4:19 am and tried to fall back asleep, which did not happen ... definitely have not adjusted to the time change. Fortunately being retired it does not matter really when I get up or when I go to bed. lol Checked the lake level this morning and it is about an inch higher than yesterday.

Chris arrived at 7:30 am and started a little bit more framing around the sewer pump closet until Roger came with material to start the upstair closets. More sawing and nailing sounds downstairs. Roger, our site supervisor, arrived at 8:30 and started building the back stairs. Looks awesome.

The electrician also put in the sockets on the fascia for the lights.

The cabinet employees (3) were here installing the door fronts today on all the pieces while Jim finishes the tricky part of the dining room built-in. The paint had finally cured. We have 2 bathroom vanities for the guest suites, the master ensuite built-in, the front hall built-in and the dining room built-in, so lots of door fronts. :) The sawing and nailing began at 8:30 am on the main floor in the house.

One of the upstair bathroom vanities. Getting there. (see the gap between the doors, they were removed and remade)

Master ensuite cabinets are coming along.

Ensuite double vanity

Linen cupboard

Hall built-in. More to be done including crown moulding and feature wall.

Starting to come together ... Jim is an artist, every piece of cheaper material is carefully measured upteen times and the template transferred over to cut the maple plywood for installation. 

The electricians arrived at 9am and should finish up today with the last few wiring projects, the three deck lights on the fascia, the plug for the dock, the plugs in the garage, putting in the shop and storage room LED lighting and tidying up downstairs. They need to take out all of their stuff in preparation for the eco spray tomorrow. So Nick the apprentice got busy drilling and making noise in the basement so the whole house is vibrating. Ray and I left for lunch at the pub for an hour of quiet. lol

Adam installing the plug for the dock for Ray's battery charger for his pontoon boat.

Shop LED lights, check.

Storage room LED lights, check.

New plug in garage for Ray's (not.... Deb's) wine fridge, check.

We also had a plug in the master bedroom the cabinet guy tried to use and would not work. Adam fixed that too. Something about a broken tab????

Chris started on the closets today after demolishing the gyproc.  I'd emptied out all the hanging clothes yesterday in preparation. The demolition was the only thing done though as there were wires in the way that Adam will have to move.

Here's what the closets look like currently, a big long tube. Very hard to reach the last rung of clothes.

Garrett's closet will be accessed from the bathroom.

Kristi's closet will be accessed by the bedroom, all these plugs will need to be removed.

The closets will end up looking slightly different in the end.

With all these wires, Adam is coming back tomorrow for an hour to move them.

Today the roofers should be here to finish the sundeck, I hope, as four of our posts for the gazebo are not yet sealed and the rain is leaking down through the new deck to the patio below. Needless to say Ray and I are a bit upset over this lack of oversight. Roger received a call at 10 ... they are not coming until tomorrow. :( AHHHHRRRRGGGG!

The downstairs bathroom vanity arrived today, and other than the hood/fan, all of the fixtures/appliances are here. We are now all set to finish downstairs once the insulation, boarding of the walls and T-bar ceiling is done not to mention polishing the concrete floors.

Yeah, after 2 months (TWO MONTHS) we finally have stairs from the deck to the back yard. Freya is ever so grateful.

It was another campfire afternoon just to get out of the house and noise for Freya and me. Ray hid out in our bedroom for a couple of hours with his back very sore and then came outside for a bit. We have lots of construction wood scraps to burn which makes having a fire very easy.

Now for Wednesday...

The day started out cold and clear until the fog rolled in. By 8:30 it had burned off and it was a beautiful sunny day with hardly a cloud in the sky. Gorgeous.

The Slegg Lumber Truck arrived at 7:15 am with our porcelain deck tiles (but without the hardware required to install it) and Chris arrived in time at 7:30 to direct where they should go. Boy are they heavy suckers. We are hoping the roofers to come today and then Chris can just carry the tiles straight out onto the sundeck instead of lifting them twice to put them into the garage for safe keeping. PS so much for that idea as it turns out.

Four pallets of ceramic tile from Italy with a wood grain finish.  

It's going to look fabulous.

The Eco-Spray dude arrived at 8:15 and started spraying the basement a lovely shade of blue/green. this will prevent mould if the basement should get wet. He certainly made a mess ... green splotches everywhere and we mean everywhere. The guys smaller nozzle is broken so he used the heavy duty one... booo.  Fortunately it's water based, so can be wiped off the things he oversprayed.

Jim arrived at 8 am back working on the tricky dining room built-in. I teased him yesterday that he would wake up a 3 am and have figured out what he is going to do with the top portion as both sides are not equal. He told me this morning I was wrong, he woke up at 4 am and had it figured out. lol It seems to take forever for completion with all the precise measuring around the beams that are incorporated with the design. The inner panels were measured carefully yesterday and in for painting so they look the same as the outside of the cabinet. More painted doors and hardware for the built-ins were delivered as well as the crown moulding for the ensuite vanity and hall built-in.

Adam from Kurtis Electric and Nick arrived shortly after 9am and moved the wiring in the closet upstairs. They left about 11:00 am and will be back tomorrow to hook up the patio heaters that arrived this morning and the hot tub.

Adam showing Nick what to do.

Nice and tidy.

The roofers finally arrived at 11:30 am. They plan to finish all the torch-on today to make it completely watertight, especially around the 4 posts that were not done last time they were here. Apparently they will measure and order up the metal flashing today and install it maybe tomorrow or Friday. Also our snow guards are ordered up and will go on when they come back. I am betting Friday. (It's now Saturday and no sign of them and no idea when they're coming back.

Bad reflection from patio door. 

Chris spent the morning organizing the Eco-Spray guy and then moved upstairs to demolish Garrett's closet and start the re-framing for the new doors.

Thursday ... Hot Tub Day!!!!

Woke up at 5:30 am to clear skies. Jim said he should be finished up today and it will sure be nice not to have a mess everywhere I look. lol As the day worn on it was clear that Jim wouldn't finish today.

Well, at least the hall cabinet is finished. Other than 4 black coat hooks in the middle section, it is done.

The bathroom vanity is done other than the door hardware, proper lights, mirrors and quartz countertop which will be installed in two to three weeks. Then the plumber can hook up the two sinks.

Temporary countertop

It was decided that the crown for the dining room built-in needed another day to cure so will be finished tomorrow. Also the upstairs vanity doors still need to be installed.

Hot tub came from Langley today and arrived around 1:30.  Adam and Nick, the electricians were here to hook it up.

Is it going to fit around the corner ?????

Wooh little doggie!

Look at all those jets. Ray should be blown out of the tub!

Bernie, from our construction crew helping place the hot tub.

Adam's apprentice Nick hooking up the wires.

I won't be filling the hot tub until next week so it will be four weeks since the pad was poured and the cement would have cured enough. Unfortunately the 2 piece lid will not work with the lift system as the ceiling height is too low so we will have to exchange the 2-piece lid for a 3-piece lid and have it installed at a later date.  Very low head height to get in.  We laughingly discussed putting in a slide door or fire pole for access from the deck!

The roofers did not come back to finish the flashing and snow guards for the metal roof today so hopefully they show up early next week.

Freya has her annual vet exam and shots from our new vet in Duncan. She was not too happy.

The electricians also hooked up the patio heaters and put in the lights for my new ensuite bathroom. Also as mentioned earlier they hooked up the hot tub and installed the breaker in the panel. This will be all the work they can do until the ceiling and walls go in downstairs so they can finish.

We will be nice and warm sitting out here on sunny days even though it is cool outside.

Bernie came today to move all of the porcelain tiles from the driveway into the garage. Roger the site supervisor, brought supplies and had Bernie paint up a bunch of hardiplank to fix all the holes in the house from the new deck and plumbing. He also insulated pipes in the garages in preparation for spray foam on Tuesday. Ray and I will spend the night at Kristi's as you cannot be here for 8 hours after the foam is sprayed.

Chris spent the day framing out the closet in one of the upstairs guest rooms and then started on the other guest bedroom. The first bedroom was really tricky with angles as we also included a small ironing board closet. Great job Chris! He will be starting on the master bedroom closet next week and transom window. Ray and I will be relegated to the upstairs bedroom for a week or more I think, while this is done.

Double closet Garrett's room

Closet Kristi's room

As a thank you to the trades today, I made a batch of chili so everyone was able to have a bowl before leaving for the day.

Brandon, from South Island Fireplace was supposed to come this afternoon to fix the big fireplace in the living room but the parts did not come in so he won't be here until next Thursday.

Friday morning I woke up before Ray at 5am, listening to the sound of the rain pouring on our metal roof. Today hopefully the cabinets are completely finished so I can get my house back together, at least the main floor, this weekend. lol I will have to move our clothes out of our master into the new hall closet, I think until the new closet is done and transom window is in.

I spent the morning doing dishes from the chili dishes and making a batch of Monkey Bread ... everyone really enjoyed it, especially Ray. I's a fast way to make cinnamon buns.  Ray's really happy with all the baking he usually doesn't get.

Monkey Bread

Chris and Bernie started working downstairs moving all of the stuff out of the way for the spray foam on Tuesday. They are spraying into the voids in the ceiling along the perimeter walls where the floor joists rest on the concrete walls. I don't know where they are going to put everything as everywhere else in the house is taken apart or already has stuff. The car garage is full with appliances, cabinets etc. Chris continued to work upstairs on the last closet and Bernie moved into the garages to put plastic over everything that cannot get spray foamed. A much bigger job than anticipated. Even all the windows downstairs and garage had to be covered.

The car garage.

Under our sundeck

Basement workshop

Jim arrived bright and early to finish the built-ins. The glass doors went in after putting in the painted custom cut backs for the cupboards. Next up was the wine racks on both sides of the buffet. Finally the drawer fronts went on and then hardware. The shelves are still coming and one knob was missing so he took it from the hall closet temporarily.  A miscount I think. The buffet makes the kitchen look huge. What a stunning piece.

Finishing touches.

Ta Da!

The bathroom vanities upstairs had their doors put back on, but Jim was missing some of the hardware here so it will be installed next Wednesday. A long day for him, he did not leave until 5:30 pm. A very long day for all of us. Thankfully it is a three day weekend.

Cabinet doors re-installed ... beautiful

Cindy, our gardener arrived to pick up the last of the leaves and give our "small" lawn a final mow for the season. She also wrapped our maple tree and one of the other trees on the beach with chicken wire to protect them from the beavers that are eating everyones trees near the beach. Our neighbour lost a beautiful maple beside our hedge last winter. She also applied a coat of lime, as with our northern expose the moss Ray destroyed during the summer is already reappearing.

Cindy wrapping the maple tree with wire cage to protect it from the beavers.

Lawn mowed and limed, so put to bed for the winter.

Ray had to go into Duncan to pick up our boat as the warranty work has been done on the hydraulic lift for the motor. It will have to sit in our driveway until after Tuesday's spray foam though.

And that ends week #10 of renovations.

Completed so far:

1. Concrete work done for sidewalks, patio under sundeck and driveway
2. Rough-in plumbing for basement 
3. Rough-in electrical for basement 
4. Electrical for deck including infrared heaters and dock box 
5. Hot tub hook up is done and hot tub is here ready to be filled with water
6. LED lighting for the garage, storage room and workshop 
7. Torch-on deck is done other than flashing on the curbs and railings
8. Stairs on deck installed and painted
9. Built-in cabinetry is done other than countertop and sinks in master ensuite
10. Eco-spray for basement
11. New window downstairs installed
12. Upstairs closets framed
13. New dock installed and finished with ladders etc.

Hopefully we will have everything done by Dec 15th. Ray tried to get the contractor to throw more people at this job to get done earlier, but Dave had one carpenter quit, another one's father passed away and he is off work for two weeks, and the flu bug is hitting the other carpenters.  Although they are trying to hire more qualified workers, it is difficult at the moment as there is so much work out there and a shortage of skilled workers. The David Coulson Group also is running 8 to 10 other projects at the same time.

Fortunately, the bigger building projects at our house are done and only a little bit more framing is needed (our master closet and transom window) which will be done next week. They can get the drywallers in and painters and we can gain some progress.

After the spray foam insulation, the concrete floor downstairs needs to be ground for the acid wash, TBA on that. Once all that is done, the drywall can go up everywhere and then the fixtures can be installed. We will finally be able to see the finish line.