#TheGreyHouseBuild Progress Update
It feels like we've been planning our home for quite a while now. Building it ourselves meant that Brent, his dad and I have had our own parts in a lot of the planning and organizing. Brent's dad, Ron is the general on the job, therefore he's been such a blessing in all of this. When it comes to meeting the trades and going over our plans with a building perspective (something neither Brent nor I have any idea about) and scheduling the trades, Ron's there to ask all the right questions and to equipped the trades with the answers Brent and I do not know. He's also the guy on the job site, giving a helping hand and making sure everything is running smoothly and cleaning up at the end of the day. Without him, we couldn't do this!
The house building progress...
We had a huge pile of logs on our lot because we were basically the dumping grounds for our neighbours who were clearing forest debris (majority of our neighbours are building into conservation land). Once everything was cleared off of our lot, it was time to break ground!
June 4th, building permit approved and driveway roughed in.
June 6th excavation begins (Breaking ground!!)
June 7th, house footings poured.
June 13th, concrete walls poured. (+ how cute are our little helpers!?)
June 15th, tar concrete walls + backfill foundation.
More neighbourhood progress...
The Mennonite church which is the first building to go up in our phase. (This is the view from our driveway and the street.)
July 7th, install in-floor heating in the basement with Tri-Mech.
Back in the spring, Brent and I met with a local family owned and operated business, Tri-Mech, which are a leading provider of Geothermal Heating and Cooling, Boilers and Radiant Floor Heating, Sheet Metal, Forced Air Heating and Cooling, Plumbing, and Pressure Cleaning Systems. We instantly felt comfortable working with Tri-Mech because not only do they use great products, they also provided us with information regarding the correct comfort system for our home. This is ideally why we decided to add radiant heating throughout the floor of our basement. Living in South Western Ontario, we all know how cold a Canadian Winter can be. We wanted to be really comfortable in the basement on those cold winter days when the buses are cancelled and we've got nothing better to do than have a lazy movie day. Basements are often the hardest part of your house to heat and forced air can be hard to push down because we all know the old saying "hot air rises". By adding in-floor heating to our basement it will gently warm the surfaces of objects in the room as well as the air itself- this will help provide maximum comfort as well as energy efficiency!
The Amvic Insulated Panel for Radiant Heating (the silver coated styrofoam) has been specifically designed to provide the most cost-effective installation and performance characteristics for Hydronic Radiant floor heating systems. The oversized, four-sided tongue and grove interlock system makes for quick, easy and secure installation (we can approve as we had it installed within a morning!). It is also designed to save time and labor cost with the installation and perform more energy efficiently once installed- how awesome is that?!
(Pictured above is Matt, part of the Tri-Mech team, who helped us install the Radiant Heating System - thanks Matt!)
The panel nubs form a “mushroom” shape to lock the PEX piping by REHAU firmly in place. The PEX piping is easily inserted into the panel simply by walking on the tube. Once inserted the pipe will be properly positioned and seated into the panel. The innovative patented panel design ensures that the tube will be completely encased in concrete and not pushed to the bottom of the panel. This will allow for the proper heat distribution of the radiant tubing and more efficient energy transfer.
REHAU’s radiant heating systems work by circulating warm water through a network of pipes placed in the floor. Heat is gently radiated from the panel, warming the surfaces, objects and air in the room to create a comfortable environment. Their systems are compatible with hardwood, carpet, vinyl, ceramic, tile and natural stone floor coverings. But for now, our basement plans to be the "concrete playground" for our kids. Despite having to pump heat throughout the main levels of our home, we are looking forward to using just the in-floor heating to heat up the basement and turning it into a comfortable space for the boys to play during the colder months!
July 17th, basement concrete poured.
The boys standing in our basement for the first time. Look at those cheesy smiles :D!!
We have come quite a ways and the whole building a house isn't just talk anymore. We've already experienced a lot of ups and downs, I have had my own stressful moments wondering if this is all worth it- without a doubt it will be. It's been a busy chapter for us, one I sometimes feel guilty towards because so much of our time has been spent working on the house. Soon enough this little chapter will be over and we will have our time to give back.The boys keep asking Brent and I when we will be moving in, if they had it their way, we'd be camping outside our new house until it was livable, haha- they are just SO excited to live out here and I don't blame them one bit :).Thanks to all the trades who have gotten our house this far, we appreciate all of your hard work and it doesn't go unnoticed!As for other updates, we've begun framing the main level, but I will wait and share that in another post ;). We have also been busy finalizing our cabinetry designs for our kitchen, bathrooms, laundry/mudroom, master closet, and etc. with Woodland Horizon, which is so EXCITING, therefore I will not be able to change my mind for the 100th time *phew. But I cannot wait to share the visions we have for those spaces with you. In the mean time you will just have to keep checking in :)Thanks for following our journey,Kass