Windows Installed

 I won't bother with excuses for the lack of updates but I will say that building a house can eat up time like nothing else.  The whole process has been relatively stress-free but it sure can get tiring.  Anyway,  In the name of continuity, I'm posting a bunch of photos to bring the blog up to speed. 

My last post from over two months ago showed the roof being finished; alot has happened since then.  In an effort to save money we decided to buy our windows, siding, kitchen, and interior doors in Washington State at a local buiding supplier.  When they arrived, we rented a moving truck and went down to pick them up.  We really weren't sure what to expect at Canadian Customs but made sure we had all our invoices ready.  To our suprise the customs officer gave us a receipt and told us to go straight to the cashier... They didn't even have a look in the back.  We happily (not sure that's completely accurate) paid our HST and were on our way.   We had a truck load of windows and

well over a ton of concrete fiber siding and weren't quite sure how we were going to unload it.  When we got back to the house, Dan and a couple of his helpers were there, along with the framing crew, so we started unloading the siding boards two at a time... all 480 of them.  It took about half an hour and two boxes of Tim Horton doughnuts, but we got it all stacked away for later.  The windows were next and within an hour of unloading them, Jordan and his crew had them installed. The only window not installed was a faux oval picture window for the front of the house.  It'll be installed when the siding goes on.




Framed Bases and Posts

 After the windows were installed we had to decide how we wanted to frame all the exterior support posts.  Everyone had their own ideas on this including covering them all in rock or shingles to match the siding but in the end we decided to have bases built on the lower half of some of the posts which would then be covered in shingles.  The front entry posts have bases that will be covered in a cultured stone and the posts supporting the deck will be a combination of cultured stone below the deck and shingles above the deck.





Since we have an unlimited wood supply, we decided we wanted a wood burning fireplace.  Our first thoughts had been and open masonry chimney finished with rock from the property.  Our builder told us about "Zero Clearance" fireplaces and how efficient they were at heating a house compared to a traditional fireplace so after researching them we found a cast iron, Canadian made unit called the Napoleon NZ3000 which was rated to heat a 2800 sqft. house and had good looks to boot...  The only problem was the price!  We've all heard the complaints about price gouging in Canada compared to the U.S.  and this unit was a prime example.  By ordering the insert online from a company in New York, we were able save about $1400.00 over the best local price we could find and this included delivery across the continent.  I'd prefer to buy local but I really love a deal!  We managed to time the delivery so that we could pick it up in Sumas Washington when we picked up our windows and siding.

Check Out The Weight on the Crate!

In the ensuite, we decided we wanted a freestanding tub but weren't sure a claw foot style would suit the bathroom.  After looking around on the internet we saw some pedestal tubs that appealed to us.  We have a tub manufacturer just down the road from us so we went down to check them out.  They make just about every style of tub imaginable including pedestal tubs in both acrylic and cast iron.  Our builder had warned us these tubs weren't cheap... turns out he was correct.  While we liked the cast iron version, the acrylic version had a price we could live with.  A few hours after looking at them, I was on the trusty computer looking at them online and that's when I found Vintage Tub & Bath and their unbelievable prices.  They had a cast iron pedestal tub in the size and style we liked for $600.00 less than an acrylic version being made down the road from us... and this included delivery to our front door.  Once the tub arrived, all 500lbs of it, we had to decide what to do with it until the bathroom floor was finished.  We decided to store it under the deck until we could figure which of our lucky friends would be available to help move it into the house.  A couple weeks later, a truck delivering lumber managed to move the tub onto the deck with it's crane... no we just have to get it through the doors.

Oval Window For Front of House