Well, it's been well over three months since our last update. Life is busy in Sointula but we're loving being here. The house is coming along. Here are a few shots taken since we broke ground in April. We will be doing a separate posting showing our floor plans so you can get a feel for our new home. A separate posting featuring scenic shots and nature shots will follow.
The first shot is from August 1, 2017 when we purchased the overgrown property with a 30 year old substandard foundation, which we removed. Then a couple of progress shots. The rest are from this spring and summer. Weather has been excellent for working. It's often foggy in the morning during the summer months but the afternoon usually clears up. Temperatures are much more moderate at the north end of Vancouver Island too. The heat wave further south and in the interior didn't get up here. Our top temp so far has been abut 26C! Love it!
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| August 2017 - checking out the land we just purchased and wondering what it'll look like with a house on it. |
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August 2018! You can see the two separate floors from this angle.
The vault on the main floor is 12' high, hence the second set of windows you see at the top of the view side.
The top of the sides have not been cut to shape in this photo. Looks a little like steps here. |
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Roof line is done! This is just before the cement is due to be poured for the main floor.
We'll be getting the roof on in September then we continue to work towards lock up. |
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One of our building inspectors. He's pretty tame and he sleeps in the shade
of our house on the hot afternoons. |
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| Pouring the first floor of concrete. We didn't think we would have much yard at the end of the day...but we do! |
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Our house is made of ICF (insulated concrete form) blocks.They're 8' long x 18" wide and light to carry.
Special corner blocks connect to straight forms to create the house footprint. It took about 3 hours to unload the truck. |
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This is cut showing the inside of an ICF block expanded to size.
The total thickness is almost 12" so we'll be well insulated! |
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| The lower level's taking shape. Campbell, shown here, has worked with Chris for years. They're a well oiled machine! |
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Each ICF fits snuggly into the next one.
Rebar is added along with reinforcing clips and straightening ladders. The styrofoam provides
R 22 insulation and ribs every 8" for screwing into. The whole system is slick!!!! |
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Jim doing some drilling at our RV. The awning is up permanently, which provides a cool place on warm days
and a dry place on wet days. Notice the wood pile and sailing dinghy. We are acquiring stuff! |
kkk
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| Big Day! Pumper truck is here for lower floor. |
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| Jim shovelling gravel onto one of our many perforated drain pipe areas. |
Never a dull moment. From digging in the dirt to pick up garbage and everything in-between!
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| Stairs taking shape. |
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| Finished! This made getting between floors way easier than using a ladder! Thanks, Jim!!!! |
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| View from thew water side. |
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Check out the views from our main floor windows!
Jim's moving the ICF (Insulated Concrete Form). They're very light to carry and compact for trucking to a building site. |
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| Our own cherries right outside the window! |
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| View from our french doors looking southwest. |
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| Breakfast nook views (the metal, green and yellow pieces are supports used til the cement is poured in this level). |
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| This window overlooks the other cherry tree and will open to provide a cross draft. |
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| Building inspectors arrive at all hours! |
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| Some are more interested in the machinery than our house! |
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| We have a lot of yard! This is all the dirt which we dug out to make room for our house. |
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We're installing a deer fence around the house so we can have a veggie garden, flowers and an
assortment of berries including salal, thimble, huckleberry, cascade and more! Next year... |
So....that's what we've been up to since April!
Please check out our "HOUSE DESIGN" blog posting so you can see what Jim's designed.
AND...photos and short stories of Sointula blog postings too.
Until next time...
Jim and Tricia Bowen
tandjbowen13@gmail.com
