Building On Soft Soil

Based on the stats of the searches and viewing of the blog, there seems to be interest in research on peat  and bog in the Vancouver area. Thought I provide a follow on post on the subject.

If you look up on my earlier post, a picture of a site directly across from Douglas Park was posted. Here's some follow on pictures now that work has finally resumed in May. That's quite the delay.

There are many many anchors drilled into the ground all around the perimeter and wall placements of the foundation to support the future basement.

Here's a foundation system article that describes how these support systems work. In comparison, we got off easy as we were only required to take away 3 feet of soft soil, back fill with more solid material and pour higher grade of waterproofing cement. Yes, it was more expensive than a friend building on clay over at the next neighbourhood... but probably minor compared to this particular system! PHEW!

About A House... Being There

We are there pretty much every day! Before we moved from ex-house, going to the site was the first thing we do after coffee since it was 5 min away! Now that we live further, we can't get there until after lunch. For us, participating is a vital part of the process and helps us savour the experience!

Wilma's designs are so detailed that most elements were already specified in the drawings. However, you can only experience the real deal when it comes to life and can actually compare what was intended to what's here now.  We walk through everyday critiquing the space, challenging our eyes to look for improvements.

There were a small number of changes to the design that will make a big difference to the house.

We opened up a small half wall on the staircase to the attic. It's just about 3 steps, but visually it'll appear much more open.

The more significant change is in our attic bedroom, we opted for the vaulted ceiling with the exposed crossed beam rather than having a flat ceiling. My closet opening got pushed back towards the slanted area to give the bed more space.

Countless minor changes and decisions come to light when we're there! It's like they're waiting for us to be discovered.

To experience it fully, we now know more about construction material, building process and the engineering and technology behind this house than we thought we would.  It's all consuming and absorbs us completely, but we have discovered over the years how much we love it! To enjoy the moment is what it's about as once it's finished.... it's gone, unless we do it again?!? Now that'd be CRAZY!

About A House - The Garage

Space is a premium on a standard lot when building new. There just isn't room to maneuver equipments or store large size stuff! Our garage couldn't be started until the SIP roof was completed as the yard was needed to store its large jigsaw pieces.

Once the SIP was done, the garage got started in a hurry in mid April.  Although it wasn't as complex as the foundation for the main house, the ground prep still required taking out the soft soil and backfilled with more stable material before foundation work.

The concrete was poured at the end of Apr...

The framing was prefab and came up quickly, by early May...

The roof was started in mid May. 

Since it's a garage, it isn't SIP and has no insulation... just plywood and then the blue paper. Our wallet is so thankful!

The metal roof installer came and did both the main house and garage at the same time. So it was all done by end of May/start of June.

Here is the roof in its full glory!

About A House - Metal Roof

It's been a month since the last post. There's been lots happening but not much of it is picture worthy.  The most dramatic looking change is the roof being finished!

After the SIP roof was installed, there was another layer of framing to the shape of the roof

and to house MORE insulation...

& then it's closed off with plywood that the metal roof will sit on.

But before the metal goes on, there is yet another layer of blue barrier

But that wasn't good enough for the city inspector, we needed to add another temperature condensation barrier to protect against temperature change between the inside and outside differential! There certainly will not be money escaping through heat lost in the future in our house since we've already spent it all now!! LOL!

Onto the metal roof...

We hem and haw over the colour of the roof. It's very unconventional to pick such a light colour as other houses with metal roof are usually charcoal grey. Our initial reaction was we preferred the charcoal grey as well. On consultation with Wilma & Dan (Arthur's go to guy!) we decided on this stone grey because it is better for heat reflection and reduces "city warming" effects. Here's an article on the advantage of lighter colour roof. Although one can argue that it isn't as significant in our cooler climate, we're still an urban centre so it should help.

Now that it's up, it's really grown on us. The whole package deal is all going to reveal itself in a few weeks when the Ceraclad goes up!

Timeline of roof completion:

Start of framing after SIP roof: mid Apr
Framing ready for insulation: beginning of May
Completion of insulation and plywood: mid May
Completion of roof: end of May/beginning of June