Sheathing and decisions on the ceiling

So the house is coming along at full speed now with considerable changes day-by-day which is exciting. Today the sheathing started to go in which begins to give a real feel to the house. However, it has raised a few questions for us: notably, it's a bit dark on the main level (no side windows), so do we cover up the exposed joists to have white ceilings (and thus more light) or do we stick with the plan? There are pros and cons to each:

Advantages of covering the joists: light penetration throughout lower level, no need to take care to repair subfloor above (can be done cheaply), can insulate and soundproof the upper/lower levels, "cleaner" look.
Disadvantages of covering the joists: some extra drywall costs, less character and visual to the house

We would still have the parallam beams left exposed and I would aim to use some of the old boards in some other parts of the house, so we'd still have a bit of that history and exposed wood element. If we were to close it in, I'd also put in a solatube to add some extra light to the space.

So, that's what I'm leaning to at this point, but we'll see what Kris says when she walks around in the space.

Other info:
- Apparently part of the cribbing has sunk a small amount which has left us with a VERY small margin for error on the framing and lift/drop...but I think we're safe.
- Having a debate about the green wall from bynaturedesign which I'd really like to have. I think I can probably manage to install the system for about $1200 all in, which is reasonable. The debate on moisture issues with green walls seems to run the gamut. I've got some sites out there saying it's a major no-no and it will lead to huge indoor air quality/mould issues, etc.  I'm debating about talking to Green Over Grey - a local company here in Vancouver that does pretty amazing green walls throughout the world - to get their thoughts on it, but am  hoping I can get some input for free. We'll see...
- The City of Vancouver is starting in our our new sewer and water line on Monday, so by mid-week we should have a new sewer system. Apparently they have to dig down some 16', which is good news for us as the lower the piping, the less pumping we need to worry about.
- Still debating about kitchen designs, but will do a separate posting on that.

Here are some shots of what the place now looks like:

View from the front of the house looking at the new sheathing on the west wall

Inside the "kitchen"

West wall of the extension. Where the wall ends is where the rooftop patio will be.

View from the street.

COV Engineering setting up for next week.

Look out, construction down below!

Foundations of life

So a short break on the blog post, while a new part of my life began this past week: fatherhood. A pretty amazing experience all in all - one of the most emotionally intensive weeks of my life in which there were tears, relief, fear, happiness, worry, helplessness, and many other things experienced in a matter of hours. But, at the end of it all, I have a new family, which is a really neat feeling. My baby boy's name's Bevyn (though all of you will likely know that on here) and while he's a little less than interactive at this point (eat, sleep, poop, pee, cuddle, repeat), there are still special moments in which you can see him taking in the world anew. The innocence is pretty amazing to witness. And now to build him a house to call home.

That's my boy!

So...this week was the starting of our walls. We have put down our sill plates with a gasket and a bead of mastic that will go down the inside of the wall to create an air barrier. The wood we are using is Canfor and should be FSC, but I have yet to get the COC # which is making me nervous. The plan right now to handle the exterior of the ICFs is to use a peel and stick membrane (to waterproof it) and then a dimple board with a cloth filter to basically create a "foundation rainscreen" that allows water to drain down to the draintile below. We'll then cover (or "parge") that dimple board in a concrete facade to protect it from damage where it is exposed above grade. Protecting the ICFs is pretty important and has been illustrated through the damage they've had already. The ICF's have taken a bit of a beating during installation as have the Fastfoots (Fastfeet?) but the workers have agreed to fix the damages (and help address the insulation/waterproofing that's been compromised).

In addition, we've sorted the new windows and dimensions so we can order the second batch of windows (thankfully) soon and hopefully they'll be set in the next 6 weeks or so. Cascadia have been fantastic thus far in providing pretty amazing customer service throughout this project. Hopefully we've sorted out some of the tricky attachments where the doors are flush with the ground (where we're trying to do a seamless indoor-outdoor look)...more complicated than you would think!

Last but not least, the rep from Prosoco came up for another visit and demonstrated two of the RGuard Products that I'm planning on using. It was pretty slick stuff and I'm keen to give it a whirl. It's going to be more expensive, but I think it will likely be one of the better investments in the house and I'll hopefully save on labour costs since I'll be doing much of it myself.

ICF foundation with sill plate in place (west wall).

R30 ICF with concrete in between (south and east walls).

Rear wall with cutout for back windows (north wall)

Parallam!

WALLS!

Brett and Mark catching up on site below the cribbing

Framing the lower level of the house

The front door (to be)

Sheathing with RGuard's various products

Second pour...comin' up!

So with the first pour sorted out, we are ready for the second pour today. Some small complications from the first pour included:

1) Fastfoot being torn in parts...this was kind of frustrating given that this is the first line of waterproofing for the footings. Brett agreed and will be using some peel and stick waterproofing to patch things. Not ideal, but the waterproofing layer is somewhat of a backup to the draintile anyhow. Overall, I'm not 100% convinced by the Fastfoot used as a separate product I don't think since you need to fire nails into it to secure it to the forming lumber. Moreover, some of the people we talked to claimed it was "damp-proofing" not "water-proofing" which seems to go against the picture painted on the website. We'll see how it plays out in time.

2) Some small damage to the ICFs as well. Nothing too major, but again, still a bit disappointed that it's happened. I suppose these are some of the small bumps in the road you just have to roll with.

3) A robin has decided to make a nest in the house. I managed to take down the half-built nest as I really don't want to have to shift a nest (it would likely be abandoned). Hopefully a home-destroying exercise has dissuaded her from our real estate, but you can't blame her excellent choice of locations! ;)

So - passed our second inspection today from what I understand (wasn't there). Inspector has requested that our structural engineer be on site for the pour to ensure the air is removed (apparently difficult to see in the ICFs), which costs a bit more, but shouldn't be too much.

Hopefully June 8th goes down as the completion of the foundation and the arrival of a new baby in my world. Would be a big day if both happen! Fingers crossed. Will post more pics later of both babies (genetic and cementitious)!

And then there were footings...

So big day today (now yesterday since I didn't post this last night), we had our first concrete pour! Exciting times (and no, I'm not being sarcastic).

The Lafarge truck outside our place

We passed both inspections (engineer & city) and so this morning, at 9:30am, the Lafarge cement truck rolled up to our place and got set to pump. We showed up just after 10am, and they were in full swing. The whole thing was fast and efficient with one person running the truck, one person running the "concrete hose" (aka. line pump), and then two others (our formers) vibrating (to remove air from the concrete) and troweling the footings level. We used 28 MPA (hardness of concrete) with 30% flyash - which is a "green" aspect to concrete (concrete's really energy-intensive to make, and fly ash is a by product from coal-fired power plants that used to go to waste...the fly ash also helps to strengthen the concrete). I opted to go for Lafarge in part because I know they've been a strong advocate on the global level for improving the carbon footprint (and other conservation issues) associated with concrete (WWF has had a partnership with them for many years now). I'm not suggesting they're perfect, but at least they're aware and trying to make a difference on a number of fronts, which is a step beyond ignoring the problem.

Fastfoot plastic sheets in place for footings

First pour!

Kristina: pregnant supervisor extraordinaire

I also opted to use Fab-Form's Fastfoot product which is basically "footing in a bag". The reasons: it results in less use of lumber, it results in less waste of concrete (attested to by the fact that we managed all of the pour in one go, despite thinking we might need some additional concrete), and it waterproofs the footings, which is a nice plus to have when you're sitting on clay at the bottom of a hill. They seemed to work really well and I'll guess I'll find out tomorrow or Monday how they look (NOTE: checked in today...looking good and hard)!

Final section of pour with Mark looking on supervising

So, we now have footings. Apparently they'll have enough strength to actually build on by tomorrow afternoon, and then cure over the course of several weeks until they reach maximum strength. On Monday, the insulated concrete forms will arrive and get set up. Hopefully that means we'll do another set of inspections on Tuesday, and the second pour on Wednesday, with backframing beginning on Thursday. At that point, the house will really start to take shape.

Footings: troweled and with rebar tied-in.

In other news:
- No baby yet
- Most of the windows are apparently ready (way ahead of schedule!) which is good...but we still need to get some other ones into production (front and rear). Hopefully we can do that soon - possibly as early as next weekend even if things go really well (though I'm not crossing my fingers on that).
- Think I've found some fir flooring that can be used to replace the damaged stuff upstairs for a few hundred dollars.
- I'm concluding that I'd like to have some storage space up in the attic and ultimately, that we'll put in an insulated shed at the rear as well.

So - wish us luck for the baby and the finishing the rest of the foundations this week!