So a few updates on life in the house-maelstrom:
1) Cedar Siding: After mulling over whether to remove, strip the paint, refinish and stain the existing siding, I'm thinking I'm instead going to source out some recycled cedar siding instead. It should save me a considerable amount of time and effort. However, I'm still not sure on how much effort will be required even with recycled siding. It will certainly have more of a "weathered" patina and look unless we re-work it. It's all just a question of time and money...
2) Submission to City: We're pretty much set to go with all of our drawings at this point. We have a meeting with the architects tomorrow and so hopefully should finalize when we will submit to the City. Fingers crossed!
3) Windows: I'm still mulling over the pros and cons of vinyl vs. fiberglass. Seems like the former is cheaper with pretty comparable thermal performance. The big downsides of vinyl are that it's nastier to manufacture (worse for the environment - though improvements have been made in recent years), and that it undergoes more thermal contraction/expansion than fiberglass (which probably isn't as big an issue in Vancouver). Fiberglass can also be painted (whereas vinyl can't). The difference is about 25% more for the fiberglass (arguably there are some other aspects to the windows like locking points, warranties, etc.) , so I'm not sure I'll be able to justify it in the end. Also, for some mysterious reason, paint appears to cost a lot (25% upcharge!). Crazy.
4) Non-CFC/HCFC Styrofoam. Apparently there are a bunch of non-ozone depleting foam options now available. Seems like Dow and Dupont do hear environmentalists after all! Good news for the sub-slab insulation.
5) Kitchen planning: With my parents about to come out, we're in kitchen planning mode. Big decisions include: (A) whether to do just lower cabinets or do upper and lower cabinets, and (B) whether to buy some of our appliances from Ikea or not (there's a good incentive to do so). I'm still mulling over going to an induction range (~$1000), along with a gas oven. The induction system has a lot of pros to it (more energy efficient, safer, faster, etc.)...but would probably require an upgrade to a 200amp service (which will add another $2-$3K to the budget). However, I might be forced into the latter anyhow, which would make it a moot point. Decisions, decisions...
6) Sketchup: Been mucking around with Sketchup a bunch lately to try to model our house (our architects aren't doing a 3D model for us because we've apparently used up too much of their time). It's actually pretty easy to use, but does have a few weird interface issues and I'm struggling to make a few things work. I kind of wish it had a few more manoeuvring/navigating buttons because I find the ones they have a bit limiting. However, at least I now have a pretty good sense of what it will look like in 3D.
Lastly, another milestone - liquidated one of our kayaks today (the green Nimbus Telkwa Sport). One down, one to go. But at least we've got another chunk of $ in our pockets.
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