Warming up in the basement

Catherine taking a break to warm up.  It got to -18C on December 12, which was a long day finishing the vapor barrier and then sweeping the snow out of the main floor.   Next year we will smile about this as we watch the snow swirl around from inside the house with a nice cup of tea (or glog...).

Snow everywhere

Looking good from here on the outside too.   We have found that without the soffit installed in the gables and gable ends that we are getting snow blowing into the main floor on the inside ......so Don is going to do that as soon as he can.

Finally the north and south sides are shingled!

Early December sees the shingling done on the north and south sides including gables.  All that is left is the west and east side porch roof shingling, which we are leaving until spring because we need to stage off of these two sections of roof to install the east and west gable end siding and soffit.  These two sides are fully protected with ice guard and they are good an watertight for now.

There is so much snow that you cannot actually see that the shingling is done, you will have to trust me on this.....   Note that it looks sweet now with the windows and doors in place.

Sweeping and covering the roof to finish shingling

The last of the shingling in November required beating back the snow on the roof and covering it in preparation for the next day's work.   

November 25 and it is a long cold walk to the outhouse

Winter is a little merciless this year.  Catherine gazes out the window of the trailer and thinks warm in preparation for her next visit to the outhouse.   It looks as though the snow is going to stay.   This week we see temperatures down to -12 C and that made the propane furnace in the trailer work pretty hard.  Bob kindly gets up in the night to switch propane tanks when we run out.   Not the camp shower still hanging on the post but it is frozen now!

Jim installs the door hardware

Jim has to keep moving to keep warm, it is getting pretty cold for doing fiddly work like this but it is great to get this done so that we can close the place up.

Sausage roll in place

The sausage roll is shown set into the space between the window frame and the top of the window opening.    We did the same for the door openings.   Once these are in place we Tuck taped the whole outside frame and then put a settling board in place over this to cover/trim it and seal it up.   

Bob holding a window/door sausage roll

You can see how bundled up Bob is - late November is cutting it close for getting windows and doors in for northern Ontario!  Bob is holding one of the "sausage rolls" that we made out of 6 mil plastic vapor barrier, pink fiberglass insulation and Tuck tape.  The bags are squared and loosely packed to allow for them being compressed in the opening at the top of each window and door in the log part of the house.  These "sausages" allow for insulation, vapor barrier and an air seal while the house settles.

Window and door frames next

Here is a window frame set in between the two side spline assemblies.  A space is left between the top of the squared frame and the window opening to allow for settling and vertical compression of the logs (will be 6% nominal).  A piece of roll foam is set at the bottom of the frame and toed into the slot in the wall for a water and air tight fit.

View of the windows and doors in the basement entry

At November 4 this shot shows the windows and doors in the gables and gable ends as well as in the basement entry on the west side.   Great work by Don's crew getting those in.   Also thanks to Elaine for her help in sanding down the west side of the logs and more views of Bob's staining handiwork.  From this view the many loads of fill positioned by JI Enterprises (Joseph's guys) is visible - over 500 loads of fill.   John Roy has done lots of backhoe work but he's hard to catch on camera....

South side shingling

The south side is done to bottom of the gables and the arch is shingled - thanks to Jim for setting the pattern for us.   Bob's staining work can be seen from this view, along with the door and window openings cut by Ronn the previous week.   

North side done to past the gable peak

The north side is shingled to up past the north gable and the north gable itself is shingled, including the top peak venting.  The staging and anchor lines are in place for Don's crew to to the top section.  

Jim feels better now

Little sunshine and food and Jim feels better now.

North side shingling

Jim, Danny, Jim, Dick, Don all in action - also helping were John, Bob, Todd and Catherine.   Just getting up to where we need harnesses and staging/platforms.  

Armour Guard on the roof

Angara is taking shape as a house.   The pine facia is on and staining of the logs and facia is underway.   Special kudos to Chris for doing the eve extender and high end log staining. The roof is clad with plywood and the front arch is filled in and shaped.   Armour Guard (ice guard) membrane is covering the whole roof and starter shingling was laid out by Don Chris and Jim for the brothers and friends crew to work on November 1 and 2.   Don, Chris and Jim were incredibly generous with their help and guidance for the set up and first "brothers and friends" day.