Winter??

I'm baaaaack... and a little late with this post.

Well after 2 1/2 weeks in Halifax (16 of those days working straight through) I finally made it home, the project is wrapped and I hope I won't have to go back. Friday night I flew in and Sat morning, (something like 12 hrs later) I had a hammer in hand. The warm room has a ceiling now (thanks in no small part again to my father-in-law for soldiering on in my absence) and is ready to insulate and have the door installed. None to soon, because 8" of snow fell just before I got back and it was -15C when I arrived!

Thanks to another work bee (and some slightly warmer weather) on Sunday, we managed to put almost all walls up on the ground floor and about half on the road side of the loft, stopping only because we ran out of wood and daylight. Now I guess walls are a bit of a misnomer. One of the advantages of the pole frame (and post and beam as well) technique, is that you have lots of options for filling in between the posts, since they provide all the structural support. As such, we got creative and put the siding up first, before the studs, which means the building is all but closed in. OK, I know that sounds weird, but when I get around to taking and posting some pictures I hope it will make sense. Now, I'm not going to make any predictions on when, so I'm hoping for a miracle (yes, I'm at that point now) that I can finish closing things in this weekend. I guess it will depend on how much help I can muster.

Oh, and if anyone asks... I'm bagged.

Different walls for different halls.



Now it looks like a barn!

all it needs is a door(s), and some more siding, and windows and stalls, etc...etc... etc...sigh...

Up up and away...

Well, all good things must come to an end. After 5 weeks (less than 4 working on the barn due to weather) I left to go back to work (Halifax again!) I keep saying this is the last trip, and I think it finally is. So I wrap this up for a week or two while I finish out here. Good time for reflection and physical rest! I leave you with this (recycled) parting shot... my last pictures are on the camera at home.

Today was one of those days...

that I spent futzing around with a bunch of small things trying to attain something larger (that and I had some horse social issues to deal with). Running short of cement yesterday put a huge dent in time today (and the days are getting really short now). Even though I only had to mix and pour 2 bags, by the time I got the tractor setup, water hauled, mix, pour and float the floor, I was only left with enough time to frame 2 more walls for the warm room. Of course I spent a bunch of time figuring, planning and measuring out the rest of the walls and such, but those 3 hours spent mixing cement would have seen the room completely framed.

Cementing the deal.

Ok, I take it back... getting the cement truck in is just as hard as mixing it yourself, if not worse, or at least it it uses muscles I haven't used since the start of this project!

Anyway, after getting a price quote (gasp!) I decided only to pour part of the floor this year (cement is more expensive now because of the additives for cold weather). Basically the warm room and where the stalls are. Besides, the 8 cubic meters I did get (full truck!) near killed me.

Above is a picture of the warm room floor just before the pour. I hummed and hawed over what to do in here for a heat source (still on the fence), and decided in the end to insulate the slab and install the Ipex pipe anyway. I may not use it (I hope I do because dollar for dollar, this was the single most expensive square footage in the whole barn!) but once the cement is poured what's there is there and you can't put it in after so I went for it. Unfortunately none of the options for cementing a slab are very environmentally friendly, but I tried to at least pick Canadian made materials (cuts down on transportation fuel) and products that save more energy than it takes to produce them.

On the top of the floor (what will be under the slab, so I guess it's the bottom then... well anyway) is a thermal foil bubble sheet and the perimeter of the slab has 1 1/2 inches of EPS foam to act as a thermal break, with the gaps or cracks filled with expanding spray foam. Concrete is a huge heatsink and without the thermal break, all the heat would just bleed out. The Ipex plumbing gets zip-tied to the reinforcement wire I laid down, which in this case actually serves to hold the pipe down suspended in the slab more than it does to strengthen it.

Form up on me.


Plastic sheeting goes down before the cement is poured otherwise you have to spray water on it for hours until it cures, because the ground sucks the water out. It also helps moisture from
coming back up from the ground later after the cement cures.

Another big honkin' truck... at least it was dry this time.

Grey Gold!

After all that work we came up 1/2 a meter short of cement... in the warm roof no less! That means I'll have to break out the cement mixer tomorrow...sigh

Under the weather...!

It's offical, there's a roof over my head! My in-law's decided to drop in today and we gave at'r and got the final side complete! Feels good to be able to get out of the rain! Now there are still plenty of details to work out (understatement!), but the big chunk is done. If I can get the warm room done in the next 2 days and the floor poured, I'll be a very happy camper.

Every (hurricane) cloud has a silver lining...

Well maybe not, but because of hurricane Noel, my trip to Halifax has been delayed a day or two. On top of that I got a visit from a friend and colleague Jon today and we got the steel installed on the left side of the roof! This is a huge thing, because now I can frame and insulate the warm room (where the water will be) before I go (hopefully). I should also be able to get the cement floor poured (ok, I'm breaking down and having a truck brought in, it's actually about the same cost as mixing it myself and far less back breaking let me tell ya!) before I go (and before the cement plant closes for the season!).

Progress.

Kinda looks like a barn now.

Half...

One whole (looong...) day and only half a roof...

Sigh... Not there yet.

Ok, time to pay credit where credit is due.

Roofing is not something one should do alone, if merely for safety reasons. Installing steel roofing (especially on this scale) is damn near impossible by yourself. For the top section, I enlisted the help of my wife's brother-in-law's Melvin and Pat, and as usual, my father-in-law was in attendance as well. Unfortunately Pat could only stay until 2pm, but Melvin hung in until dark. Let me tell you, this guy is part squirrel! He walks around on a roof like it was the ground! Needless to say, if it wasn't for him, I doubt we would have got the top done (which, I forgot to mention, included installing a large part of the 1" straping across the trusses, since I couldn't get it done before they showed up. Hopefully he'll come back to finish installing the ridge cap (still working on my slight fear of heights).