I know that things have been moving along the entire project but it is much more visible now and it really feels like there is momentum. The changes are visible and i really understand how they move us all forward. Maybe that is my wishful thinking because we now have to be in by April 1st. Every day counts.
Monday we passed our plumbing inspection. We had the wrong backflow valve for Vancouver so we had to swap that out. Frustrating that all the municipalities can’t work together and have something like the GVRD for building codes to make it easier on the trades. I find it amazing that the code for a backflow prevention valve 15 blocks away is different than the one here. It is also frustrating that the plumbers didn’t get it right the first time. It didn’t delay us though as they got it done and the inspector came back and signed off.
Speaking of signs, the no parking sign went up out front on Tuesday and things got rolling for the sewer hookup. Wednesday they marked everything out and cut the asphalt which was a bit underwhelming but Thursday they got going for real and dug a huge trench. Apparently they had a few delays as they ran into some substantial rocks on their way down. The hole is about 9 feet deep and goes clear across the road. The good news is that our sewer slope and alignment is bang on. Dean was a little worried about this and i saw a glimmer of it last week. There is a risk that the surveys and plans for the city might not be totally accurate since they are close to 100 years old. If we were a little too low that could have been a big problem.
The team finished up the posts out front and Dean worked out a solution to have them tapered to a platform that will then drop straight to the footings which don’t exist yet. They look great!
The slab prep has started and again, i am surprised by the amount of work. It starts with levelling the gravel which is then topped with vapour barrier that is seam taped and caulked to the foundation on the sides. This stops water and radon from coming into the basement. On top of that we have insulation. We went with thicker, less dense insulation (same R value) because it is cheaper than more 3/4 crush and denser, thinner foam. On top of this goes the concrete wire. Along the walls is more insulation (the thin dense stuff) which creates a thermal break for the slab and the walls. I found this surprising as every house i have lived in has the foundation walls attached to the slab. Apparently in Burnaby, the insulation goes on the bottom, then the vapour barrier and concrete wire. The builders really have to be on their toes!
The shortlist samples of Marmoleum arrived from Forbo as well. They are slightly larger than the bits on the cards and we can see what they look like side by side in normal household light. The photos are quite different than how they look to the eye. I am pretty impressed with Forbo as the samples were free and arrived by fedex in a few days. Awesome service.
We also got the quote from the first flooring people have decided to shop around. We used the Forbo site to find local dealers instead of just googling and found a shop in North Vancouver that carries it. We also found one place listed on Commercial Drive too, only 1 block from Sarah’s work. The second quote we got was just for supplies and they referred us to an installer. The supplies alone were $550 cheaper than the first estimate (about 15%) so we are hopeful that the install will also be a bit more affordable. We do not have prices from the guy on Commercial Drive yet either. It isn’t outrageously expensive but there were a few things in the first quote that made us raise our eyebrows such as a $600 delivery charge. We haven’t clarified if the second quote includes delivery but we will sort that out when we hear from the installer.
At the house i started to do some more work on demolishing the stairs to upstairs. Dean worked out that we will not have enough head clearance between the new stairs to the basement and our existing stairs to upstairs. This is a blow as we really wanted to keep them and the architect had indicated that we could. I sort of assumed that if they were in the plans, that he had worked that all out. Turns out i was wrong. This change opens a whole can of worms that we have been hoping would stay sealed. We lose the back bedroom closet as the stairs will now run into the dining area through where the closet is now. For years the stairs have been an informal seating area for visitors while we cooked and i will be sad to lose that. We can’t have the turn in the stairs because the new code doesn’t allow that in the space we have. We will lose the door at the bottom of the stairs too which we had counted on for noise separation. I suppose we could frame in a door but the space is tight. Maybe we will leave the wall partially open. We also will lose floor space upstairs to get the head clearance. We are already tight at the north end of the library upstairs and it is not clear right now how much we will lose. We will also lose space on the west side of the stairs as the opening must be 36″ wide. This will make the narrow gap between the closet and the railing even narrower. Oh! And the railings are not to code either so those will have to be redone. All in all, the scope just got massively creeped. I went through all of the stages of grief about this and took it out by salvaging trim and then demoing the closet and the inside of the stair wall. Nothing much i can do about it and what the heck, it will make hauling stuff upstairs much easier.
My vote’s for the light green 🙂
Rob, all that prep under the slab is astonishing. A combination of thermal and water protection. Huge extra expense in time and materials. I hope you get the planned benefits.