super siding

Quick update.

As the weather gets colder, more layers are going on to the house. Though it's not quite closed up for the winter, I think these pictures give a pretty good idea of what it will look like.

I've had so much help so far and feel so lucky to have such great people around me.

Almost time to call it quits for this year, but still some more outside stuff to do before it snows.

Maintaining Minimal

New 8' wide, 7' high window.

Here are a few more pictures and a quick update on house progress.

Front window view.

As I'm working at camp now, I haven't had a lot of time to be doing the work on the house myself. Luckily, I found an awesome contractor who is also working on my neighbours' house. I'd love to be doing it all myself, but the reality is he can do what would take me a week in a day.

The most recent work has been taking off all the siding on the front part of the house and re-studding the house. The studs were at random distances from each other, usually around every 3 feet instead of every 16 inches. While this was being fixed, we also reframed some windows (very exciting).

Unfortunately while doing this work it came to our attention just how bad the foundation is. Looks like it won't last a lifetime (surprise, surprise). For now, we'll keep insulating (grant money), redo the roof with tin (can be reused) and eventually this fall have a closed in living space.

Sliding glass door opening.

Even though it may not turn in to a permanent dream home this year, I still love the house and get more and more excited every time I go up there!

House update

It's been a while.

demolition looking at the south wall.

I'm now back from an amazing year of tree planting and have jumped right in to the reno process (with some time off for weddings and family/friend visits in between). So far we've managed to demolish the inside walls that are coming down to give us a better view of what the open concept will look like. In doing this the design has changed so that in the end I'll end up with a two bedroom house with a loft and cathedral ceilings. If all goes as planned.

The structure looks like it's in better shape than most anticipated. As we stripped off the layers of panelling we discovered that old raw wood was used as walls on the initial house (built in 1954). We also discovered that these walls were indeed holding the studs together and therefore were holding up the house. As those beautiful boards have to stay I've decided they'll be an awesome look for the walls and they'll be a focal point of the house. It mean insulating from the outside, but most of the outside has to come off anyways.

demolition of bathroom (new kitchen), notice the raw wood on the left.

I started pulling some of the chipboard off of the outside of the house. I started at the giant hole in the wall and found this less than gorgeous fake brick tar paper. It's coming off, but for now it makes the house look a little less ghetto.

I've had an amazing team so far to help in the deconstruction process. Ben, Gene, my mom and cousins Charlotte and Alicia have been an incredible help thus far. Feel free to come out too and help!

ghetto chipboard house.

home sweet home.

nice brick house.

House Heat

After a bit of chaos surrounding getting the wood stove from kijiji (my new favourite pass time) I am now the proud owner of a used Regency wood stove. I'm hoping this will be my primary source of heat when I'm eventually living in this house of mine.

Heat Source! Plus a kettle! And it all fit in the Jeep!

I also found a lot of insulation on Kijiji along with doors and a million other things, but realized I shouldn't get that far ahead of myself. 

I've also been working on getting a well put in. Who knew you had to get a septic report that requires a soil test by a technologist in order to put a well in. I do now. Looks like the well will have to go in to the list of August projects along with roof, fixing hole in the wall, insulating, etc.

For now, it's time to go tree planting again to pay for it all. Look for updates in August and make room in your schedules to see it first hand!

Maybe a window?

Needs a touch of work.

Happy H20 Heating

Though there isn't a lot that I can do at the house right now, I can google.
The compost water heater is something that I really hope I can attempt this year. It may be the neatest idea I've come across EVER!

Here's a video of how it works.

I'm so excited! Could it be possible that I will have hot water from wood chips? Maybe even be able to do some sub floor heating and heat my house with it? Maybe make the pile the floor of a greenhouse and heat the greenhouse and my water with compost? The options sound endless and I'm so stoked to try this.

Real time house update:
The house is now empty of the stuff being stored in it by the previous owner. The hope in the next few weeks is to get the energy audit done (fingers crossed for grant money), take down some of the inside walls down to the studs (Ben and I started this only to find more wood panelling underneath the wood panelling), check the place out with a contractor and get some estimates, take the kitchen cupboards out and potentially try to take the tiles up so we're at the wood floor.

So much to do, but most of it will have to wait until August. Let me know if you have any more super sweet ideas and when you're free to come help!

the "new" homestead

The view of my house from across the road. (Don't mind the dates on the pictures, they're more recent than 2005)

That's right it's home owning time!  Which means the blog will now be used for home renovating ideas. My hope is to make the house as sustainable (or green if you will) as possible. I've been doing some research in to cheap and sustainable options and have found some pretty amazing ideas. Some of my favourites this far include a compost hot water heater and pallet crafting.

Currently the house is in rough shape, but with a little bit of work it will be amazing! I have an acre and a half bordered by my maple syrups friends' new farm's land. We are all very excited about the possibilities for this land. There is also a garage that has seen better days, that I have big plans for in the future.

I look forward to sharing the renovation plans with all of you and welcome any ideas (and labour) you may want to contribute.

Coming in the side door to the kitchen.

From kitchen door to front door... will hopefully be all open soon.

Front door in to 'for now' living room.

The barn... needs work.

Food for Thought

I'm so lucky to have such a great group of people to support me in my adventures. Now that I'm back in Canada, my adventures may slow down, but I thought I'd try to keep the blog going.

I wanted to share with you a story about a friend (soon to be neighbour) of mine.

A few weeks ago, as she was passing a drug store, she saw a sales clerk throwing away a cart full of bagged milk. She stopped to ask if it had gone bad and was told that the expiry date was the following day so it had to be thrown out. Instead of walking away from this situation, this friend asked the sales guy to load the milk in to her car. She then brought it to the Mission, a homeless shelter, where they did not have the funds to buy even powdered milk, let alone real milk. The Mission was very appreciative and the drug store didn't know the difference. As this friend delved deeper in to the situation of waste from this particular drug store she did not get the results she'd hoped for. The manager suggested he would be locking his dumpsters from now on, instead of providing it to the needy, due to a bad experience he'd had. At this my determined friend went home and called the head office to find out about the store policy. She had researched other groups and found out through Second Harvest in Toronto that stores are protected from being liable when donating food in good faith. So why is it that we still have food being thrown out when people rely so heavily on food banks? How can we be so quick to throw out food, before it's even expired, when other people are hungry? Imagine if every store donated their near expiration food to organizations that could use it quickly?

When she shared this story with me, I was inspired. She's still working on the situation and should be receiving a copy of their store policy soon. She saw something wrong and took a few minutes of her time to make an important contribution to other people's well being.

Sometimes we recognize helping people as charity work done in other countries. Sometimes we justify our inaction to our location or time constraints. What we have to remember, as part of the global community, is that the actions and decisions we take in our own local communities are just as influential as any work being done overseas. We all have the power to make change, it's just a matter of standing up for what is fair.