The Knolls

Progress

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February 3	Finally Wendy and David, my close friends, come to the site.
February 3	Off the shore the ice buckles up and pushes over the ice in the shallows.
February 3	More ice. The temperature was about 4 degrees C. today. Is this a bishop or a rabbit?  The ice was thrown up in a variety of shapes and sizes. What do you think?
February 11	The electrical panel is powered. See below. The electrical contractor is MURCAM.
February 11	Finally the line is pulled from the pole to the house. The duct filled with water and had to be thawed to let the cable to be pulled through for about 200 feet underground.
February 11	The line is pulled from the pole to the metre  base.
February 11	Hydro One controls the installation of the metre. It has taken a long time to get to this point. I started talking to them in July. Jim Manion managed to get the project through the bureaucracy, stage by stage.
February 11	The design has a major central east-west axis with windows at either end. This is looking west from the bedroom.
February 11	The design has a major axis along the interior of the front facade. This is looking from the bedroom.
February 11	Roughing in the plumbing requires a close attention to the specifications of the parts.
February 11	A slight mismeasurement by Fallarc on the plans and this is the adjustment to correct it. The plumber is working on the rough in for the kitchen sink and dishwasher.
February 11	The fireplace on the west wall is turning into a feature.
February 17	The water in the Gap between Amherst Island and the eastern end of Prince Edward County opened up today, and remained open for a few days before the plunging night temperatures closed it up again. The ice must be very thin out there.
February 18	Looking west from the bedroom entrance along the east-west axis reveals the ductwork for the heat recovery and ventilation unit. The ductwork will be enclosed in the dropped ceiling along the corridor and in the kitchen. The previous week saw the plumbers and the electricians roughing in there part of the project in anticipation of drywalling.
February 18	Looking east toward the bedroom entrance with the HRV ducting in place.
February 18	Contemporary consciousness of energy conservation has changed the attention to details like these. No heat is going to be lost through leakage at the seams!
February 18	The vapour barrier has been installed throughout, and the strapping for the "boarding"  (A.K.A "drywalling") of the walls is in the process of being put in place. The gable is complete, showing the care taken to seal off the electrical boxes for the track lighting . When this stage is complete and the Electrical Safety Authority has made its inspection of the electrical rough-in, then the insulation can be put in place, at which point it will be possible to heat the space while the rest of the work is taken to completion.
February 18	The shower valve and associated plumbing for the second bathroom. The combination of copper and plastic piping is the norm now.
February 21	Finally the plywood barrier is replaced with the entrance door. In addition it is possible to see the flashing installed over all the windows on the north side, the conventional front, but our "back" ... the water side is always the front!
February 24	A great step forward. With the ceiling insulation in it will be possible to heat the space with temporary heaters until the radiant floor is operational. The insulation closed the interior off from all outside noise, and the acoustics improved dramatically ( all the workers on the site must have a radio on to contemporary music). Today the fireplace installers were on site, but the camera battery gave out so they will have to be included in the next batch of images. The supplier is Renewable Energy of Plum Hollow in Kingston.
February 24	The insulation is "green", recycled cellulose. And with all the wires makes a good photograph (needs better composition, though!).
March 24	The "boarding" has finally started. The last month was consumed with getting all the behind the walls things completed -- sound system, alarm system, and just generally getting all the details of cabinetry and other finishes decided. The drywall folks were late in starting, being in high demand.
March 24	The "board" is large dimension, 54 inches by 12 feet. It covers a lot, but it is heavy to move around. The west end of the living room is looking good. One never knows until this stage is reached.
March 24	The gable from the interior fulfills the function of a "chimney" to vent any excess heat in the summer and draw cool air in from the cool side of the house, either the north or the east. Passive solar requires the occupant to "run" the house to keep it comfortable without using a lot of expensive air conditioning.
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