20x30 in Cape Breton

Sassy · July 01, 2012, 07:18:46 PM

Good to hear from you & congratulations on the new addition - beautiful daughter! Nice outside additions as well! Keep us posted on your progress

glenn kangiser · July 01, 2012, 11:39:18 PM

Thanks for the update, Al. Cool additions... and the instant daughter... one minute I look and she's not there.. next posting... there she is.

Cool trick.

July 02, 2012, 01:54:26 PM

I cannot believe I have missed this thread ... very awesome in quite a few different ways.

Its really cool that 4' knee wall design you went with the upper floor. You even put a door with the great placement of those dormers,! The Post is beam stuff is also really great. I thought I also saw the floor finished in one of those pics? Damn..its looks like outerspace on the floor.. so cool..

Great build so far... It will be fun watching it evolve..

Alasdair · July 02, 2012, 04:17:28 PM

Glenn and Sassy - we found the instant daughter under a gooseberry bush. We figure the stork must have dropped her. She is kind of cute and doesn't eat much so we decided to keep her.

Speedfunk - the spacefloor idea came from C.White's thread:

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2991.0

Concrete dye with epoxy finish - we were pretty pleased with the results.

UK4X4 · July 02, 2012, 06:27:06 PM

looking good, but you've really been slacking on the updates !

July 04, 2012, 11:32:52 PM

Gooseberry bush. .....I should have known. My dad said they found me under a cow flop but he was probably just wanting to make me feel bad... at least you got a cute little daughter.

redbird · July 09, 2012, 02:08:59 PM

I think this is a brilliant idea! Would you mind sharing your floorplan for both floors? I can't wait to see the pictures of the inside. Wow! We've really been struggling with just the right design for a house and also price and I think this is so cute. I love that it looks like a cottage too.

Thanks for sharing this.

mtman · July 12, 2012, 11:10:28 AM

Wow Al, when you guys do additions, you really go all out

She is beautiful !!! Congrats!

Alasdair · July 14, 2012, 05:38:39 PM

Thanks Mtnman,

Redbird,
Sorry we don't really have any floorplans to post. There are plans of course but our current plan is so different to the one we started with it is unrecognisable! The build is evolving! Here is our recent progress...

Starting to get some metal on the roof.

It was so hot doing the roof I moved inside for a while - Stairs...

Children...

The battery we use for the electric fence was getting it's two weekly top up... Here was my breakfast call to say it was time to reconnect it again!

August 05, 2012, 02:39:02 PM

Some progress pics.

The roof

I still have to get the south side on but I am going to wait until it cools down a bit!

Interior walls

Just started the siding today - I got the A team in to help me...

Good job the Health and safety inspector was not here to check out our scafolding!

Caught this little tree creeper flying round the house - I was able to pick him up right off one of the studs - I guess he thought he was pretty well camoflaged.

drainl · August 05, 2012, 08:34:49 PM

Great progress! I like seeing others living on the work sites - especially with little kiddos. It can be challenging! We often have a 1/2 naked boy running around too.

Alasdair · August 10, 2012, 06:29:53 PM

Just finished the siding on the West wall and hung the chimberly. Need to get some more boards for the other 3 sides!
Off to help a neighbour with his barn the next couple of days - I aim to finish the roof the start of next week.

Drainl - It sure can be challenging with little ones around. They are so keen to help but you can't really get on with anything when they do! The whole building site is a playground as far as our little feller is concerned. You can't take your eyes off him for a second - he is convinced all the tools are Papa's toys! I am just thankful I have a great wife who takes on practically all the child rearing responsiblities at the minute which allows me to get on with building.

Alasdair · August 16, 2012, 03:10:11 PM

The roof is on.

mountainlady1956 · August 16, 2012, 09:21:58 PM

That is one good looking roof

September 16, 2012, 05:16:19 AM

Finally have the boards on the outside. Just some window trim and battens left.

Sassy · September 16, 2012, 11:11:11 AM

Wow, you guys have done a fantastic job!

glenn kangiser · September 16, 2012, 11:16:39 AM

Wow... really looking great, Al and crew.

Just out of curiousity, Al... what do you consider a hot day there?........

mountainlady1956 · September 16, 2012, 04:07:05 PM

That siding looks so georgous! Contrasts so nicely with the roof.

Alasdair · September 18, 2012, 08:35:17 PM

We have heat...

Glenn - I consider it warm when I can be outside in short sleeves. We usually get a few weeks in July that are unpleasantly hot and humid - high 20's to 30's centigrade (we are metric!) this year it was all July and August! But temperature is all relative

I knew I was turning native a couple of winters ago when I went outside after a particularly cold snap and thought it felt warm at -5C!

Redoverfarm · September 18, 2012, 09:45:15 PM

/ Might find you a old piece of tin to temporarily put against the wall for now.

September 19, 2012, 05:50:50 PM

John,
I will, for sure, make a little surround with slate or something similar, but you can rest assured for now that all the spaces around the stove exceed by several inches the minimum distance to combustibles required by the CSA even if it doesn't look like it in the photos! The stove also features it's own heat shields - We have too much time and money invested to see it all go up in smoke!
Al

rodneyhalifax · October 05, 2012, 06:16:28 PM

Hey where are you in Cape Breton? I am from Margaree, where we have 50 acres, but I live in the Toronto area and am thinking of building a small cabin up near Muskoka - though ultimately I will move home and retire in Margaree once my parents have moved on.

Rodney MacDonald
Whitby

Alasdair · July 31, 2013, 07:30:02 PM

Hello all - we are still plodding along with our build although I have not been posting pictures. (Life was just a bit too busy the last while.)
We are now half way through our summer "holiday" and are ready for drywall!

Progress pics -

Cheers,

Al

pakolea · August 01, 2013, 12:16:28 PM

I love it! Fantastic job.
What was the siding you used? I missed that part.. Looks great.

speedfunk · August 05, 2013, 08:13:39 AM

This is kind of an after the fact type post BUT when we built our firstday we ran the purlins horizontally like you did (which I understand b/c of final siding you had to run it that way). We found that mice seemed to like running along the purlins/stickers . this issue was compounded by the fact we had foam insulation on the outside of walls which you DO NOT. So much less chance of damage...just thought it was something I would share. The place looks great...I really like how you used the berm to create two "first floors" ..very cool!!!