Global Scale Modeller

Recording the destruction and rebuild of our house and most importantly my hobby space

House as it was July 2015


House knocked down in 2 hrs October 22 2015


Old foundation


gotta go to work,more in a bit

Bit extreme, some thinners on a cotton wool bud would have got that paint off you know. Very realistic dio though.

Hole digging and clearing land a bit, this is late October


Dog chasing one kid out of hole


My son in hole


Coco in the hole

Moving on, this is first week of November...footings started, site fence is up


pump's hose draining the swimming pool of rainwater...two weekends of torrential rain, of course

Went through the same process a couple of years ago when we built our house. Fasenating stuff, as well as stressful.
Here's to a hitch free build Scott!!

Exactly two weeks after house taken down, new footing are poured and curing Nov 5th


This is my 12x16 hobby space in the foreground..the rest is house or something. My daughter in the blue jacket front side of house


As of Nov 9th, the workers have "damproofed" the external walls with black mastic stuff that stinks, then they water proof and start drain tile.
The framer will start soon and have it closed and sealed in 4 weeks. He has been awesome getting moving on this as it has taken forever to get started

Coen wrote:Went through the same process a couple of years ago when we built our house. Fasenating stuff, as well as stressful.
Here's to a hitch free build Scott!!

I don't think hitch free is possible...from the city bureaucracy to a lazy slow designer to unreliable trades, I know more trouble is in the future.
I have an awesome wife who is a great organizer and friends of the family who have contacts with the main trades.
It is a real headache though and I am just trying to keep working and sane out of the daily catastrophes that occur.It is a lot of work acting as your own general contractor

Thanks for looking. I am happy to share if folks are interested

Avgas wrote:Bit extreme, some thinners on a cotton wool bud would have got that paint off you know. Very realistic dio though.

Had a good chuckle at that

We had a lot of people say "you are knocking THIS down??!!"
I showed the newer side of the house where I did prime and paint and keep it in good shape. The older side had an inch of heavy lead based paint on it that peeled and flaked off when you look at it. I stripped the cedar siding on two walls 10 boards high and primed and repainted..tough work. Then I looked at the two stories above me still to do and said *&%$ this.
Our insurance would no longer cover fire due to knob and tube wiring and there were carpenter ants everywhere and critters under the stairs. A reno estimate was as much as a new build so....here we are

So going from a craftsman bungalow style to something quite different.
The style is called Westcoast contemporary and we are adding contemporary craftsman style to the design...ie a bit more modern and slopey rooflines, but still lots of natural wood, stone and colours.
Unfortunately city won't allow the angled garage as it is a foot over height. I wanted a lift in the garage on the RHS, so am a bit miffed at that modification. I want to make it low maintenance, so metal roof, aluminum siding that looks like cedar and good drainage

This is what the designer came up with. Hobby space is back corner near garage...so I can use both!


Very choked we can't do this garage, might push the city a bit for a variance as we have some time before they start the garage
I can just see a stackable car lift on the RHS...empty mind you 'cause I will be paying off the darn house forever!

WOW what a build and I thought my dioramas were big. Something i have always wanted to do but never the money. Goner be a beauty thou.

Novorus wrote:WOW what a build and I thought my dioramas were big. Something i have always wanted to do but never the money. Goner be a beauty thou.

Thanks
I don't like to think about the money end..I am on the work till you die schedule now

Little screen shot of the Hobby Space plan


Nothing is detailed to my spec internally yet, designer has no idea what I have in mind. I will have space built, insulated, plywood walls and then I will take over with the finishing
Thinking of some shelving units like these...but not the metal backsplash

Those are very high end cabinet$, would go for a less pricey version like these from home supply store

I have a blue Craftsman tool cabinet and blue flammables cabinet, hence the colour selection.

Really interested in this, to see another country construction methods, we wouldn't of shuttered the walls and concreted, we would of used blocks.....seems a lot quicker though, can't wait to see the progress over the coming months, looks like its going to be an awesome house.

That will certainly be a beautiful house. Good luck with the rest of the construction.

And please keep pics coming. Very interesting stuff.

gazmat wrote:Really interested in this, to see another country construction methods, we wouldn't of shuttered the walls and concreted, we would of used blocks.....seems a lot quicker though, can't wait to see the progress over the coming months, looks like its going to be an awesome house.

Hey thanks man,
I was doing some reading on foundation sealing the other day and saw block builds and wondered what the difference was.
I think with our groundwater conditions this is a more stable and less leaky way to go. As the saying goes,many ways to skin a cat
The framer was pissed as the engineer made them add more rebar cross pieces, so the footings are probably well over engineered- I like that as we are staying here for a long time
Been checking out the many builds around the neighbourhood, all look similar. They spray a 'bitumen material' to seal the concrete. It smells like creosote that they used in railway ties...and I bet really environmentally sound. Then a plastic drip membrane to let the water move down, gravel for the drain tile and backfill
It is interesting to watch, I know nothing about building, but am trying to educate myself as we go

galileo1 wrote:That will certainly be a beautiful house. Good luck with the rest of the construction.

And please keep pics coming. Very interesting stuff.

Thanks
I was hoping it would be interesting to someone
Wanted to kind of record the steps for a little history of it all...easy to get lost in the stress as it is all consuming of time, money and sanity

Here we go Gazmat,
Today's work is the waterproofing layer going overtop the sprayed black damp-proofing sealer. The plastic mat lets the water percolate down and into the gravel of the drain tile so no water hits the cement foundation

The mat stops there as the rest is deck footing, not house foundation.
Drain tile installation is the next step I believe....we are in for rain unfortunatley

Yes, quite different to our normal techniques...foundations, then brick, but it looks like some sort of soak-away, which we have in some buildings over here....I guess its the same principle, water ends up in the ground, and goes to the water table, ....the metal straps are for?, fitting a sole plate (timber) to perhaps?....thanks for sharing though.

That is pretty cool Scott. What type of square footage are you going to have versus your old house (which didn't look that small)?

gazmat wrote:Yes, quite different to our normal techniques...foundations, then brick, but it looks like some sort of soak-away, which we have in some buildings over here....I guess its the same principle, water ends up in the ground, and goes to the water table, ....the metal straps are for?, fitting a sole plate (timber) to perhaps?....thanks for sharing though.

Yes, metal straps for treated lumber attatchment....I will get you some framing pics when it starts, hopefully Friday

Tacoman2000 wrote:That is pretty cool Scott. What type of square footage are you going to have versus your old house (which didn't look that small)?

Hey man, good to hear from you
New house with two car garage tops in at about 4700 sqft close to the max % zoned for the area
Exact same number of bedrooms 5 as we had, just more space in each with larger living room, my little shop and big kitchen
Old house was 2700 sqft

i like your style, flatted it and start again! sometimes thats the best option in every sense. Im an architectural technician in Scotland, roughly translated..the architect scribbles a design then we get it to work on paper then get it to work as built, jk, nice to see a different way of doing stuff.. never any sub floor levels/basement over here. Really like seeing these things progress.

Dont stress it though, lifes too short, there is always a solution to every problem, Good luck to you and your family in the new place.

Jase

Skullfish wrote:i like your style, flatted it and start again! sometimes thats the best option in every sense. Im an architectural technician in Scotland, roughly translated..the architect scribbles a design then we get it to work on paper then get it to work as built, jk, nice to see a different way of doing stuff.. never any sub floor levels/basement over here. Really like seeing these things progress.

Dont stress it though, lifes too short, there is always a solution to every problem, Good luck to you and your family in the new place.

Jase

Thanks Jase
We loved our old house and it's charm, but the cost of renovating it was approaching a new build. It made sense to teardown and build.
We are building for us, not for quick resale.
I describe building a house like walking to the edge of precipice, looking over into the abyss and willingly stepping off
It is all good though, thanks for the wise words

What a monumental footprint!! In the UK that land would be a development of 6 houses!

Scalemodelmedic wrote:What a monumental footprint!! In the UK that land would be a development of 6 houses!

This is a mid size build here...there are 6-8 thousand sq ft monsters in some regions
I think 4700 is more than enough to keep clean and look after for our needs
I read a report that said our land values are still relatively inexpensive to Asia and Europeans, so lots of investment building happening...esp high end $

Apparently they are doing the drain tile gravel work around the house this afternoon. We had huge rain storms this week with over 100mm of rain overnight and heavy winds. I don't sleep well as I keep listening to the rain and know it is filling up the pit of my house and soaking the lumber stacks.
Hopefully the framing starts next week and we get a roof up by month's end..that is the goal

My 12 yr old daughter sitting in my shop.....she found it hilarious that she was the first of us in there

They did some drain tile work Friday and Saturday putting large diameter PVC pipe around the circumference of the house and having the downspout locations off the roof elbowed into place. You can see the white piping on the right in the pit.

We did some garbage collection, water pumping drainage and fooling around on Sunday 14th

Very impressive and interesting

looking forward to the roof placement.

See ya

Goose

You and me both Goose
Framing and walls would be nice...seems the push to get her closed up by the end of November is slowing

Great to see how others build their houses, I just wish we had the room for something that big
Keep it coming

Steve

This looks like model-making 1:1 scale!
(I think you got the concrete the wrong colour by the way)
Here in Blighty, your new place would look really cool - especially up our street!

Thanks Gaz
From the smell of what they sprayed on the concrete, I am happy to stick to airbrushing models....that stuff was nasty

Drain tile is done and waiting inspection before they backfill
Hydro seems to have cut the power to the site, thank you very much.
Talk about bureaucratic BS, that company has stuffing up royally down to a fine art!

Our power company is no better here bud.
Same expletive, different place.
It took about eight months to knock together our house, and that was through an east coast winter. They even started around the same time of year as you did.
It will be interesting to see how long they take on your side of the great white north.

Coen wrote:Our power company is no better here bud.
Same expletive, different place.
It took about eight months to knock together our house, and that was through an east coast winter. They even started around the same time of year as you did.
It will be interesting to see how long they take on your side of the great white north.

AKA The Wild Wet West
Eight months is the estimate for this one....we shall see, things slowed down quite a bit over the last week
There must be eight knock down/rebuilds at the frame stage in a five block radius of us right now and two new houses finishing off at the other end of my street...don't know if that is just b/c you notice them more when you are doing it or what.

Once you buy a yugo, everyone drives a yugo!

Here we are third week of November finished and where is this at??
The drainage around the house is complete and gravelled in. They have done new water, sewer and storm lines to the street and connected it all. The backfill has been done to about 80% with some more soil to come in and the driveway side yet to do.

This is the front landing and stairs...quite wide. Workshop is in the back right corner by the woodpile


My son in the back stair well..it is a good ten feet down into that! Gravel has been added in


My son and his buddies hanging out in his room


And most importantly, my workshop space and view to the yard


So tomorrow, Monday the 23rd of November, the framing is supposed to start and take four weeks...hmmmph
We are three weeks later than I want to be as was supposed to be framed and closed up by end of November.
Lucky to get closed and windows in by end of December, and with holiday season and such I predict third week of January before closed up

And on it goes

hang on.

it already looks impressive. looking forward to the next steps

See ya

Goose

Hang on is all I can do for now, thanks Bruno

Lookin good, hope your contractor can get it buttoned up for the end of december, dont want the frame getting too wet with the winter weather. Fastest way to build a house is timber frame, blink and it'll be up in a week no probs then its just wind and water proofing. Those founds are something else, most we do is lay a slab and slap a frame on top.

Edge your contractor to get a move on by betting him a bottle of you favourite tipple/drink and/or a case of beer for the boys that hell never get it wind and water tight by christmas. A wee bit of fun gets things lubricated.

anyway, keep plugging along, big things about to happen and fast.
Jase

Skullfish wrote:Lookin good, hope your contractor can get it buttoned up for the end of december, dont want the frame getting too wet with the winter weather. Fastest way to build a house is timber frame, blink and it'll be up in a week no probs then its just wind and water proofing. Those founds are something else, most we do is lay a slab and slap a frame on top.

Edge your contractor to get a move on by betting him a bottle of you favourite tipple/drink and/or a case of beer for the boys that hell never get it wind and water tight by christmas. A wee bit of fun gets things lubricated.

anyway, keep plugging along, big things about to happen and fast.
Jase

Thanks Jase
The framer is really a gung-ho get it done kind of guy. He has been pushing the drain and backfill guys.
Stupid snags with the city and engineers have slowed him down
I am thinking he will get cooking along now that the foundation walls are filled and ground put back, the timbers will be flying!
There are so many builds on the go and just starting in the area, it is amazing. Weather isn't stopping anyone from building year round in this milder climate than most of Canada
Cheers bud

Interior foundation pic from the weekend. He has the basement pretty much framed now, just too dark at 5pm to take a good pic of it and not safe to jump around in the dark in there

Oh man - any idea what you're getting yourself into here? I've done this build once. Always some unexpected stuff, but I loved it when it was done. My problem is six months ago someone offered me so much money I had to take it. So I'll start this project over again when the market crashes (hopefully soon). Until then I'm in an apartment- kind of like a dorm - just not as fun.

So where are you, wife, and kids hanging out till finished? Don't, pray God, say your in-laws.

The new pad looks fantastic.

TheTroyster wrote:Oh man - any idea what you're getting yourself into here? I've done this build once. Always some unexpected stuff, but I loved it when it was done. My problem is six months ago someone offered me so much money I had to take it. So I'll start this project over again when the market crashes (hopefully soon). Until then I'm in an apartment- kind of like a dorm - just not as fun.

So where are you, wife, and kids hanging out till finished? Don't, pray God, say your in-laws.

The new pad looks fantastic.

Wish it was in laws so could save some money, but both our parents are gone.
Renting an old house about 5 min away from this. Have heard a story about someone building and then getting an offer they couldn't refuse...no way in hell will I go through this again; that offer would have to be stupid $
We are full on into things and have the Italian contractors doing the building
It has been fairly stressful with almost daily obstacles to deal with, but it is coming along and we are all doing ok

So I missed pictures of yesterday's basement framing as it was dark at 4pm and pitch black after 5 when I went to take a look but here is Tuesday afternoon....they have floor joists down

Head supervisor of construction and chocolate eating


Some more floor joist work

I see TJI Joists, Parallam and Timberstrand!! That's a blast from the past for me. I used to work for Weyerhaeuser's UK division back in the early 2000's designing with these products.

Scalemodelmedic wrote:I see TJI Joists, Parallam and Timberstrand!! That's a blast from the past for me. I used to work for Weyerhaeuser's UK division back in the early 2000's designing with these products.

And you know a heck of a lot more about it all than I do.
My dad worked most his life for a Weyerhaeuser pulp mill and I did summer job stints in University.....good $, tough job

Had a small hole in my day this morning, so went for a visit.
I won't do that again
Was peppered with questions about window door size, location and alignment. Good the framer is on this as clearly the designer was not. I don't have all the answers and seems stuff we discussed was not changed on the plans, so dude is frustrated. Letting the wife deal with it from now on. Felt absolutely stupid and pretty pissed at everyone...they all fool around for weeks and nothing happens then all of a sudden CATASTROPHE

Hubbub of activity there today. Wood delivery


Half a dozen guys banging away at stuff. Main floor sub flooring is down, too many bodies busy for me to be in the way taking pictures


I got the heck out of the way

Some spy photos just in
My workshop has front and back walls and somebody's azz in the door


Wall for kitchen on the right and dining area to left


If this pace keeps up, we might have at least the plywood sheathing on the roof by month's end or early December

That stays impressive even if after a quick look back on the plans, i don't see it the same way as on the plans, but I'm sure the architect and engineers are there to be sure everything is on the right way.

If everything is build up with roof for end of the month or beginning december you'll probably get what we call a "closed big-work" which means all windows and external doors put on (litteral translation sorry not sure if that's correct) for mid december.

Hope everything will be fine

Goose

Thanks Bruno, that is what I am hoping for in early December
The plans I posted are probably second draft, been a few slight mods since.
My shop door moved to the hallway. I highlighted a vent space on one wall so I can have a paint booth vented outside easily...and probably a dust collector.

Daughter and I climbed through basement window openings last night and walked the basement and main. Now everything looks big, but I can make sense of it. Pretty cool, I especially like the deck space, that will be sweet!
I scrounged the garbage pile and recycled some plywood and cut offs of the Parallam beams...those are cool and i have to make something of them
Cheers all