Posts Filed Under Construction

Aug 09

Summer Update

I think it’s fairly obvious by now that updating this blog has become a little more difficult. In between balancing work, family and of course the home construction I’ve found little time to update it. Sincere apologies to those who come back looking for updates often. I took some photos over the past few days and thought I’d quickly post them to Flickr so you can see for yourself some of the progress we’ve been making.

We’re pretty much in the finishing stages now; painting, cabinetry, lighting and plumbing installation are the bulk of what’s required for the interior. The exterior still requires cladding and landscaping. Currently, the guys are hard at work to create a retaining wall and ramp system at the back of the house.

You can check out some photos here.

Posted By: melissa in: Construction
2 Comments
Jun 05

A spring update

It’s been months since the last update. We’ve found it tough to find time to keep the blog up while juggling everything else. Hopefully we can do a better job as we get closer to the finish.

Plenty has gone on since the winter. The roof is complete, some exterior cladding and all the doors are now in place. The floors have been poured, in addition to all the electrical, mechanical and plumbing. The elevator has been installed and apparently works great, though I’ve yet to see it in action.

Currently we’re working on drywall, which will wrap up next week. From there we move on to floor finishing, cabinetry and tile. I uploaded a new flickr gallery and posted a video walk-through so you can get a sense of some of the rooms. You’ll be able to see how the elevator meets with the stairs, some of the wider doors and hallways.

It’s been just over a year that we started battling our previous councillor (yes, that feels good to say). It’s incredible how the time has flown by. We were hoping to get in the house for June or July but it’s likely going to be August at this point. We don’t mind – it’ll be well worth the wait.

Photo Gallery on Flickr

A quick (and rough) video walkthrough of the progress to date

204 Beech: June 2011 from Geoff Teehan on Vimeo.

Posted By: melissa in: Construction
2 Comments
Jan 16

Winter, windows and more work-to-date

It’s been a long time since the last update and there has been a good deal of work that’s been completed. Windows were installed while we were away on holiday, though we’re still waiting on a couple of large lift-and-slides doors in addition to our front door. We’re really pleased with how the place is starting to look. The windows really give shape to the structure.

The dining area and the glass walls look fantastic. We were going to opt for curtain walls for that area but budget restrained us to large simple glass panels. We’re really happy with them and we desperately needed to say no to something when it came to budget. Our default answer has been “Yes.” a good deal of the time.

The windows were installed just before the snow started to fly, which is good since we wanted the place to be fully enclosed before mother nature took over. Being fully enclosed also meant we could start running all the duct work, water lines, drainage pipes, data and electrical wiring. It’s great to see so much progress but the heat is on for us to start looking at finishings. Hopefully the next post won’t take us so long. Happy new year everyone.

(The staircase in the photos is just temporary)
More pics here.

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Posted By: melissa in: Construction
14 Comments
Nov 13

Giving the Family a grand tour

I made a quick stop at the house this weekend the see the fruits of last week’s labour. The framing is now 95% complete with only a few more details on the second floor to finish. Walking through the skeleton of the house is an amazing thing. Last weekend I brought Melissa and the kids over for our first interior walk-around together as a family. Melissa and I made our way upstairs to the catwalk and looked down to the kitchen and dining area with a clear picture in our heads of what the final product will look like. The boys came up after giving the first floor a thorough inspection – They were ecstatic to see their rooms. We moved to the master bedroom to get a feel for the space it provided. The master was the one room we felt a little unsure about because of the space we lost to achieve the double-hieght ceiling over the kitchen and dining room. To compensate for that, the second floor has been cantilevered on three sides. We’re really happy with the way the master has turned out – the extra width makes it perfect for our needs.

Things will likely seem to slow down a bit now as we move into plumbing and electrical. I’ll still make my morning visits and will try to post a little more consistently.

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Posted By: Geoff Teehan in: Construction, Framing
6 Comments
Oct 21

Second Floor Framing

I popped by the house quickly yesterday to check out the progress. It’s at the point where we can walk on the second floor. For the first time we can see what the views will be like, how big the bedrooms are and we start to get a glimpse at what the final exterior shape will be. Exciting times.

One feature we can start to see take shape is the catwalk that over looks the kitchen and dining room – I love how inclusive the open layout has turned out to be, even from the second floor. We lost some space upstairs to accomplish it but we gained a bit of it back by cantilevering out three sides of the upper floor. Upper walls come next.

A few more pics here.

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Posted By: Geoff Teehan in: Construction, Framing
11 Comments
Oct 11

First Floor Framing

With the bulk of the foundation work complete the crew is beginning to move to framing. We all went out to the site this weekend to check it out. The boys are pretty excited for the basement. My father and I will be doing the finishing work there and we have a couple of surprises planned for the them. I’ll go into those details much later since we likely won’t be tackling that until next fall or winter.

The first floor is looking spectacular. We’ve only made a few changes along the way. We switched out one deep wood beam at the front for a shallow steel beam – so that we can have shallow joists under the ensuite shower. Essentially so that the shower floor is depressed and we don’t have a curb, making it much easier for Mel to transfer into the shower.

The other beam is over the large sliding door at the rear of the house so that we don’t cut into the 8 foot height of the door.

More photos here

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Posted By: Geoff Teehan in: Construction, Framing
8 Comments
Oct 04

The final footprint

Early this morning the crew finished putting down the floorboards on the main floor. Walls come next. We’re really excited to see them go up. As good as the 3D models are nothing really gives you a sense of the space until you’re standing in it. When I first stood in the basement I felt the house was going to be really crammed. Then, when I stood on the floor at actual grade level, it felt proper. When I explained this to the architect he laughed and said EVERYBODY goes through the same thing. He went on to say “At some points it will feel small, others large but that in the end, it’ll feel just right.”

As good as the 3D models are nothing really gives you a sense of the space until you’re standing in it.

I also met with Motion Specialities, they’re the guys responsible for the elevator. We’re not in a huge hurry for this since they like to do the install post drywall but we still had to make some decisions around materials. I’m super stoked about the model we got. It looks far more commercial than the other retirement home style ones we thought we’d be going with. As for material choices, they’re pretty much endless. We’ll likely go with less costly finishes and may just end up getting it unfinished so we can match the finishings with the rest of the house (so long as the cost is less).

Few more pics here

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Posted By: Geoff Teehan in: Construction
5 Comments
Sep 20

Construction begins

ICF Foundation

It’s been a couple of months since the dust has settled at 204 Beech Ave. Thanks to the help of many we’re now officially under construction. Two weeks ago they finished excavating the property, last week the footings were put in place and this week they’re working on the foundation walls. We opted to go with insulated concrete forms (ICF) for the foundation. I’ll save the keystrokes and point to the wikipedia page since it does a good job of explaining the pros and cons of an ICF foundation.

Melissa and I visited the site yesterday. In the past it wasn’t possible to access the house, even from the rear lane, because of a few sudden increases in elevation. Since then, given the property a gentle grade making it wonderfully easy for her to access from our rear lane. We were both pretty excited about the visit, even though we were really just looking at the outline of what will be our basement. Still, it was a gratifying experience to see actual progress – something we’ve been short on this summer. Colour photos here.

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Posted By: Geoff Teehan in: Construction, Foundation
13 Comments