Eric managed to frame the bathroom walls, closet walls and hallway walls right up until the nail gun bounced and sent one flying through his finger, out the other side and into the next finger. In true Eric fashion he bandaged it up so it wouldn’t bleed everywhere and got back to work.

The trouble with 3″ spikes going through your finger when it’s coming out of a pressurized nail gun is that it has a tendancy to crush bone. The nails are also coated in a glue that heats up as it passes through the gun for better adhesion. Hot glue and adhesion in 2×6 framing is good – hot glue and adhesion inside of flesh is not.

Later in the evening Eric went into Emergency and in the morning went back for X-Rays. Sure enough – splintered the bone. One splint and a tetanus shot later he was back in Boulter building stairs.

Sunday it was far too windy to be balancing on a 40′ ladder with large sheets of Tyvek in your arms and a splinted, broken finger – so Eric built stairs from the main floor to the top floor and laid out the front hall’s closet.

It always amazes me what he can get done in a day.

While he worked upstairs I cleaned out the basement (we have to move into it in a few weeks) and sanded down an old cast iron tub Veronica and I had picked up dirt cheap at the ReStore. The ReStore is a product of Habitat for Humanity. They sell everything of possible value to the public at super discount prices – new and old.

Some friends of mine had been down the week before and purchased a massive galley kitchen, brand new, with those lovely turny cupboards (can’t think of a better word right now) for under $1,000. It was an overstock or floor model kitchen that a company couldn’t sell (or didn’t have room for anymore).

Veronica and I found piles of stuff there – doors, countertops, ceramic tiles, lighting fixtures, submersion pumps, toilets – the list doesn’t end. Not all of it was worthy of floor space, some items were well beyond repair and others were of too small a quantity to do anything with. Imagine a Salvation Army or Goodwill for builders and you might be able to picture it.

As for that old tub – it is truly an antique but it has been well taken care of. I bleached it out, sanded off the rim, touched up the paint and it looks like new. I just need to give the outside and the claw feet a paint and we’re good to go.

We’ll keep it in the basement bathroom for now. The heated floor will help keep the cast iron warm so not too much heat will be lost to the tub while we fill it up.

No doubt Eric would have preferred I helped him outdoors – even just to hold the 40′ ladder or pass TyVek up to him through some secondary hole – but the black flies were so thick I’d just run screaming into the house, basement, truck (whichever was closest) after 3 minutes outdoors.

I did manage to get my snapdragons planted though. After all, this girl knows her priorities!

Speaking of priorities…back to the kitchen layout. This has been something that has eaten away at me since the very first discussions on layout and design of the house. Cathedral ceilings (so beautiful) do not deserve to be chopped off by the eye by a leveled-top bunch of upper cabinets that have no personality. They are there only for function (bah! who cares about function!) and only because that’s what everyone else has!

I tire of that lack of creativity. There is actually a long list of alternatives to upper cupboards, that will meet your needs and look hot to boot. Mostly, they won’t make your log home kitchen look like every other picture in a magazine or neighbor down the road for miles to come.

Back on track – you can tell it is getting late at night, the end of a long weekend, I can’t hold a thought…

With off-cut chunks of sheeting and chipboard and plywood today I laid out my kitchen. This little rectangle is the fridge, this triangle the stove (it will be angled in the corner), and these five pieces stacked haphazardly will be the island…

I then paced back and forth between the three. The island will hold the sink and will also provide a visual stop from the living room. Pretending to cook a meal I walked to the fridge, washed my vegetables in the sink, returned to the stove to cook them, decided that was a pain so designed a counter area between fridge and stove…well you get the drift. Once I had all the pieces and place and cooked and entertained 10 people (in my mind remember) I started taking measurements and layout out the plan on paper.

Then I got hungry…

I’ve decided to start playing house for real with just an island. Later (after we get some other orders of business out of the way), I’ll build my cupboards.

The center area of the island will have a concrete counter top with a sink built in (also concrete). These are awesome, if you don’t believe me I’ll show you the book and the magazines that are coming out with these rugged, innovative and personalized counter tops. Veronica and I are going to embed LED lights in them so they twinkle throughout the depth of the counter top, day or night.

On a higher tier, of wood (perhaps butcherblock, but that’s Eric idea – personally I think it’s too much work for so much normal) there were be a lunch counter on the dining room and on the living room side. Two people on either side if we so choose.

And yes, I did ‘pretend-sit’ in every ’spot’ imagining what the scenery would be from each vantage point as well as whether or not I could see the TV from here.

(Priorities right?)

Now don’t get me wrong, I love camping and I don’t mind roughing it (some) but I don’t like living in a home, while working on building that home, and not having running water for more than a day’s time.

This discomfort escalates when you consider it is black fly season here. The minute they bite, your skin starts to crawl and you just feel dirty. Of course they’re biting inside as well as out…we still have holes where windows are supposed to be!

Here’s the skinny on Hydro One, Ontario…what a fiasco!

Two weeks ago the Hydro guy came out. A sweet and charming fellow who said all the right things to make a girl think getting hooked up wouldn’t be a problem. Bah! Nothing but false promises and downright shenanigans.

1.) He said, “Everything looks good here. Just get ESA (Electrical Safety Authority) approval on the buried wire and panel and we’ll be back to hook you up with a new transformer.”

A call to ESA netted a $500 charge for three necessary inspections. (1) Pre hookup. (2) Wiring (3) I forget already.

When ESA did come out, we were told that (a) our pole was too short and (b) our pole was too old.

Now I’m wondering why the hell didn’t the cute and charming Hydro One guy know that?

Poles can’t be more than 10 years old for new transformers. Our pole definitely was stamped 1984. Hmmm, 2009-1984, not hard for me to do the math, is it for you?

In the end this wasted the ESA guy’s time (our shanty isn’t exactly on the beaten path) and got us all off on the wrong foot. Fortunately our ESA guy is an old timer who knows the ropes and Hydro shenanigans and takes it all in stride.

2.) Hydro One said: “Within 4-5 days you’ll receive a package in the mail stating what you need to do and what we’ll be doing.” Ten days later, we had to go into the Hydro office, find someone friendly (a chore in itself) and get them to tell us what was required. One week later (now 2 1/2 weeks late, the package has still not arrived in the mail).

Phone calls and messages and waiting on the daily mail. Eventually having to spend close to $2,000 to get a new freakin’ pole in (thankfully we have good techs nearby who understand our plight and had the pole up in a few days time)…

Now here’s the joy with the new pole…it’s installed, in, ready for hookup…ESA just has to come and look at and approve it.

Except ESA needs to see a permit in the system for a pole before they’ll come look.

Did you know you have to have a permit to put in a freakin pole on your property?

Our permit had been submitted by fax but then it sat on some government-unionized worker’s desk day-after-day while we waited for it to be entered into the system.

All the while our deadline grows nearer – and my fear of bugs and no baths is growing…

When Suzie Secretary finally got to it, our ESA inspector came right out and approved us for hook up. I’m starting to like this Ed Goulet guy.

What is it they say about building a house? It takes $50,000 more than budget and every step takes twice as long to complete.

Tomorrow I’ll let you know how my conversation with Hydro One goes – they’ll probably tell me that the approval from ESA hasn’t been entered in their system yet! Geesh.

On a personal note, the more I work through this crap, the more I think about creating an Ontario Advocacy for People Who Have Lived Through A House Fire.

Honestly, it would be nice if someone stepped up here – it has been a year of exhaustion and red tape in one form or another. Maybe someday I could help someone else with their government and insurance beauracracy and hoops.

People seem to think that we are loaded because “it’s an insurance job”, they also seem to think that I don’t work because I’m available to take calls during the day. That’s simply not the case for everyone and certainly not the case for us. We were seriously under-insured which is why we have to build our own home, on our own sweaty backs. As for my work, take a look at some of the posts here…quite often they are written at 4:00 am – the end of my work day that often starts at 9 a.m.

If it wasn’t for companies like Freymond Lumber, Eager Beaver Excavation, Kawartha Credit Union (Bancroft Branch), ICF Solutions, Lynval Construction – personally Dave and Lucille Burke, Wayne and Rhonda and Brittany Minnie and many, many others in the community, we’d be homeless for a long time yet. Big hugs and thanks to all these people and companies – I’ll be paying it forward, some day, some way.

Yesterday brought me back to those days and nights on the streets of Toronto as I worked away quietly in the log home we’re building.

As I was a downtown girl back then, not only did I watch the massive shopping mall being built, I also worked in one of the first restaurants (still there today I might add) that opened there for quite a few years – Mr. Greenjeans. The Eaton Center was my home back then. I did all my shopping, earning, eating and socializing under that glass ceiling for 5 years or more.

Having traded it all in 15 years ago for greener pastures the ceiling above me now is bare rafters, but the animals within are similar. See what I mean?

A pair of early nesting barn swallows are desparately trying to start a family in our roof rafters.

A couple of barn swallows have decided to take up residence in our house. I find this terribly amusing, but neither Eric nor Veronica do! Eric can be fussy and Veronica is not a lover a birds – and yes I do know that this isn’t healthy (shells and droppings and the like).

The Eaton Center also had birds in their rafters. Flying about from tree to tree on the top floor so most people don’t notice them until something catches their attention in the corner of their eye.

——————————————————

We are taking this humanely as possible. Eric is working on deconstructing the nest as well as closing off any open windows and loft patio doors. We have caught them at this early enough that they still have plenty of time to find a new home to roost in.

Although the house still doesn’t look like much in the photo, we have come a long way very quickly this week.

The windows are in on the main floor, front and back doors have been installed, and most of the white wash staining has been completed.

This is actually a stain called Pickled White. Two coats plus one coat of satin sealant. The stain has UV protection added in to prevent discoloration from the sun's rays over the years.

I actually just finished off staining the master bedroom and bath and gave it one quick coat of sealant to boot. Those rooms are being decorated in ‘old log cabin style’. A dark stain applied with some fake white chinking to come will make us feel like we’re sleeping in a cabin in the woods at the end of our busy days. Building your own place you can really see what your home loans, if you have any, are paying for. And you can appreciate the choices you’ve made once you’ve settled in.

Here’s a quick shot of the main floor, from the front entranceway and the whitewash log walls (above). Note the large gap at the top of every window installation – that is to prevent the windows from cracking as the logs settle over the next few years.

Notice how fresh the whitewash makes the logs look as well as the large space left above each window.

A safe haven where you can lock your things or your self in. A retreat away from the world behind closed doors – literally.

Here’s a shot of the doors now on the front of the house. They truly are not much to look at and the staining is still not finished on the front of the house, but the doors are fully functioning double doors that I will one day paint. One day.

Finally a set of doors...

We picked these doors up from Dan’s Discount Windows and Doors in Kitchener. They had them in stock at a super price – I’m pretty sure we paid less than $500 for the complete unit. The doors pictured above are also the first thing we loaded off the horse trailer when we made it back with the windows and doors – and the item that slashed through my foot, causing 4 stitches.

If you are new here: We had a house fire, were under-insured, decided to build our own home on a strict budget. We opted for log and 10 days after the logs arrived my husband (Eric Kleinoder) and I, (Laura Childs) had 95% of the logs in place, by our own hands.

We thought we’d have the house closed in by winter, but the snow hit and we were no where near done. The second floor and roof line slowed us down considerably and more, personal, tragedies hit our small family.

When you are a family hit by the loss of a house fire, you become more vulnerable than you can imagine. The first hit was believing that one person (a 19 year old man) had pure intention of helping us with the build and managed to pull the wool over our eyes for quite some time. We allowed him to stay in our home, paid him for his time working on the house and treated him like a son (Brandon Schmid).

In the end Brandon caused major disruption to our family as he preyed on the mind and body of our 14 year old daughter all the while sneakily undermining the family dynamic. I will not go into details here, but it took everything we had to un-brainwash his twisted view of life and get our daughter back. My advice to anyone in a situation after a house fire is to stay close to the people you know and don’t let any snakes into your home until you have healed from the tragedy.

Oddly enough, shortly after we got rid of this unstable male, our truck was keyed! I hear now that he’s onto another 14 year old. Just a sad little messed up drifter of a man-boy who will never amount to a damn thing.

It wasn’t long after we got this scoundrel out of our lives that my dear old Great Dane passed away. I took this personally and beared full guilt and shame for not trying harder to protect her and restore her health. This caused a month long depression where I could do little but function in a haze, my heart not in the game of life whatsoever. It was a short book (The Shack), a short reprieve (to Toronto) and a wedding (Ron Reise and Krista Kirtain) that eventually pulled me out of my funk and back on track with my work, my family, and back to building this house.

As of today, the roof is on (just siding to go on the gable ends and dormers) five windows are in, and interior staining is about 30% finished.

For many months now I have not liked this house – the work, the strain on all of us, the aching muscles and need for extra chiropractic visits and massages. We’ve had very little time for ‘play’ within our family and are constantly being asked by friends and family “Why haven’t you stopped in to visit lately?”

“Hmmm, seems we’re a little busy lately…”

However, this weekend, as the remaining bundles of shingles were removed from the roof top, as windows went in and the interior stain applied, the house became a labor of love again and we are all rejeuvenated.

Here is a quick snap of the interior walls with a coat of stain.

If you read earlier, the logs were packed with creosote soaked stickers (allowing space to cure and dry, but transfering their black marks deep into the logs in the process). To remove the marks and other marks when the roof hasn’t been closed in for months, a serious clean up is required. I opted for bleach but puritans would suggest other methods as bleach is hard on any organic surface. (See the marked logs and before and after bleach photos here.)

With hours/days of scrubbing, bleaching and rinsing and eventually finishing up with a light stain, I find the result inspiring and beautiful. As a result the house is starting to feel as if it was all worth it, once again.

Here’s another photo of logs, before and after bleach and staining…

Next, I’ll post some shots of the window installation and explain the steps involved as installing windows in log walls is a lot different than in a framed or brick construction.

And here is a video of the staining and layout just a few days later…(now showing on YouTube!)

We really hoped to accomplish both these items in one day – paying to bring in the heavy equipment only once instead of twice. This could potentially save us thousands of dollars, but the man in charge is not working in our favor.

Our Building Inspector for the region only works one day a week, so much of our planning and organization for the build is based on his availability to sign off at various stages.

On October 20 Eric visited the township office with the completed Septic Permit, a blank cheque and a site plan. I wasn’t there so I’m telling you this second hand but Eric was told what he had was inadequate, supposedly shown a sample of what was required, and sent away without a permit.

As it turns out (we discovered two days later), the current Building Inspector isn’t licensed to approve, nor deny, septic permits. This work is still in the hands of Dolly Clayton – a woman who had been our buiding inspector for years in the area but recently retired. Dolly, for the record, is fabulous.

At any rate without a septic permit there was little sense in having the excavation and septic installation team coming in, but a few hours later – not knowning how it had gone for Eric – I arrived looking for an inspection and sign off on the 6″ of clean gravel at our footings that is part of the building code (6″ covering a minimum 3″ O-pipe).

Three sides of our house required this gravel application, the remaining side already has an approved, buried, 6 foot frost wall (also with gravel around the base of the footings).

Neither our word nor past dedication to our building site was good enough however. I was told that when the stones were fully completed, he would return, and would perhaps sign off on them at that time.

Steve did however say that what we had done to date was acceptable so we should just continue on in that manner. (You know really, I have issue with this. We are building a home we plan to live in. We are not cutting corners just to make a quick sale of this log home or pull a fast one on the Carlow/Mayo township. We are not about to gyp ourselves out of correct and ‘to code’ installation. This just reeks of a power trip – but I didn’t say so.)

No sign off on the gravel means no backfilling, but our septic installers are keen on getting the septic job done without waiting another week on the whims of a building inspector that isn’t even in charge of septic installations for our region…

I believe it was the next day, Tuesday, when Daryl Levoy (septic specialist in Bancroft, Ontario) decided to get to the bottom of this screw-up. It was his discovery – not ours – that found Dolly was the only licensed inspector. Odd how we hadn’t been told this as the stalling continued in the basement of the township office. Perhaps stranger was how the site plan was approved within 20 minutes with Dolly (no week to week hold up), as nothing else was required than what had been previously submitted.

Daryl Levoy, sick of the run-around, had gone straight to Dolly’s house for the answers that we should have had days earlier, and the job moved forward. Dolly is fantastic at communication and one of the most informed, knowledgeable, and helpful individuals I’ve crossed paths with during this process. Note to myself – call Dolly more often when processes ’stall’ and answers are required.

October 22

Since we were approved for septic installation, Daryl Levoy, Richard Koster and Jamie Koster (Excavation Experts) arrived on the log home site on Wednesday. Dolly Clayton wasn’t far behind ensuring that installation was to plan and to code, and she approved it all on the spot. The job is done – one more project off our building list – great thanks to everyone involved on Wednesday!

October 27

Today Veronica and I stopped into Carlow/Mayo township office again to request a Building Inspector visit and sign off on gravel at the footings. Even though the excavation equipment has come and gone, we still need excavation work on site – but not without the Building Inspector’s pre-approval.

Since backfilling couldn’t be done on the same day the excavation equipment was already present (due to lack of approval on October 20) this has the potential to cost us a lot more money. Township officials don’t care about the little people’s money apparently.

In fact I was told once already (on another issue) that “…this is what happens when you buy expensive logs for a home…” Apparently I am perceived to be a woman with too much money – hence the attitude that I can afford to waste it on two heavy equipment floats.

Whatever.

Our building inspector said he’d visit and investigate. If all was well he’d sign the building permit (pointing to the septic permit in my hands) and also agreed to call and leave a message at our house. I reminded him that I needed approval on my building permit, not my septic permit, and said it was on-site.

We really need this approval before we can move forward with anything else right now. One day’s work with a bulldozer will backfill around the house’s original excavation, fill in the 400 foot long trench that goes to the existing on-site well, smooth the surrounding grounds, and fully cover the new septic tank installation.

However, we can’t get a bulldozer in to backfill until we have his approval.

And, of course, I have no signature, no phone call, nothing. So now we wait another week. Held up further, yet again.

Guess I’d better call the excavation team and cancel. Again.

Many of them have numbers on the end (originally stating the length of each log).

And they are all at least 10 feet from ground level.

Even though I have grown less frightened of heights during this build, the thought of standing on a ladder or scaffolding with a power tool sends me into spasms.

Thankfully a young and less fearful friend was on hand this week and effortlessly climbed up and down the ladder with the belt sander making each log end smooth as the sides.

I had secretly resigned myself to accepting the dirty, magic marker look on each end – since I knew the job of cleaning up the logs was left to me – but I appreciate them much more now that they can be stained the same color as the rest of the logs.

It’s important to remember too, when considering building a log home – that the ends should all be sealed. Log ends act just like a straw and draw huge amounts of moisture into each log. Unwelcome moisture that may cause your logs to rot over the years. So sand them, seal them, stain them and your home will last much longer and look much nicer than if you hadn’t.

It was a beautiful moment when I arrived on site on Wednesday morning and discovered two great friends, George Tenthory and Scott Kyle, working away on our roof. We had no idea they were coming and they worked hard and steady nearly finishing the entire side – both sheeting and shingling.

I don’t know what we ever did to deserve such wonderful people as friends.

I can only imagine the first night that we’ll sleep in our log home – whenever that may be – knowing that loving hands sheeted and shingled the roof we lay under, protecting us from the elements.

It’s a perpetual hug.

The gift of time, given in love.

I feel so blessed knowing that everyone who has shown up on our log home building expedition has been there with love in their hearts (“…or at least the best intentions…” I say, remembering Hawk).

I pray each person will in turn be blessed further than I could ever repay them. I hope God is watching…

The gang at Rona delivered our shingles bright and early Saturday morning. This event was not without it’s own complications – just like the rest of the home building – as we had a phone miscommunication and time mixup.

Rona’s boom truck operator was on-site and ready to unload by 8:00 am. We were just leaving home at that time, 40 minutes away. We thought for certain that he would eventually tire of waiting on us, drop the shingles on the ground and leave. We rushed anyway.

As luck would have it, Bancroft’s finest (the local OPP) were sitting on the highway running speed traps and we were caught flying along the highway as we sped into the log home building site. Thankfully we had a kind police officer who fined us less than we deserved with only a little whining and crying on our part.

Arriving nearly an hour late we discovered that Rona’s driver had indeed waited for us, with a smile, and made friends with the dogs we keep on the property. He had no issues with us being so late and after I’d apologized four times he quite pleasantly said “Be happy!”

With skill and grace he unloaded 90 bundles of architectural shingles onto the shed dormer side of our roof, ice and water shield and ridge vents.

I had videotaped this but somehow lost the footage off my digital camera so you’ll have to take my word for it – the man was a sweetheart that is very skilled at what he does for a living.

I’ve chosen a pickled white, or white wash look for the interior look of our home. As a family we chose a stain called Sandalwood for the exterior.

Both are light stains, but the Sandalwood is a warmer hue that brings out the veins of color in the wood while overall giving the exterior walls a warm and gentle tone.

As you may have read in an earlier post of mine, the logs are stained by the floor joists above them and/or the decking screws, as well as our hands and boots while we worked on building the home.

So I’ve been bleaching them to bring them back to their original beauty.

Some are as bad as the photos I shot for you today – below.

One pass over the logs with 1/3 bleach solution (no scrubbing yet) brings the logs back this much (below). The top log hasn’t been touched by bleach yet. Another scrub and perhaps a sand is required to bring them back fully to their original beauty.