Nuts and bolts

It has been almost a year since we kicked off our home-building project.  For this last blog post before we actually move in, I will focus on a few of the more technical details of our new home. 

It is a wood frame structure with poured concrete foundations. There is no garage but it has a carport and full basement with an outside access for bikes, garden equipment, etc. The basement is also where the electrical installations are centralized.  We have underfloor heating on the main floor and electric radiators everywhere else.

Before: Electrical wiring in the rough

After: Wires neatly organized in the...what do you call this thing anyway? ("Tableau" in French)

In the basement laundry room is our solar-powered water heater. We may need an engineering degree in order to figure out how it works.

The pool is still under construction, and ready to be hooked up to the filtration system in the basement:

Just last week they installed the bathroom fixtures. A glass specialist (miroitier) came and put in a made-to-measure shower door (actually cheaper than buying one ready made).

Hard to see but they are carrying the shower door to the house

 And finally, work began on the kitchen. Here it is, minus countertops, sinks and a few other finishings. 

Next time: moving in.

The home stretch

We have floors!

After a what seemed like an endless summer, the builders are finally back to work on our house. It is amazing how slowly things go at this stage. Where it took mere days to lay foundations and raise the roof, finishings like floor coverings and paint seem to take forever.

We are now just a few weeks away from our move-in date and I am trying to keep the faith. So much remains to be done that it will take a minor miracle – and I gave up religion years ago. So I am doing a lot of deep yoga breathing and practicing my new mantra, “Ho-ome”...

A step in the right direction: bleached oak to match my tan!

So let's focus on the positive. The walls are (mostly) painted and the floors almost done. Although we have gone with white paint pretty well everywhere, we broke down and decided to give the floors, wall tiles and window treatments some colour, albeit neutrals. 

The bathroom tiling is nearly complete, although we still have no fixtures other than a bathtub....

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Guest bathroom tile (shower

Downstairs will have a tiled shower stall (so far we have tiles but no shower)

Nothing but the kitchen sink (rough in)

And in the kitchen, "il n'y a plus qu'à..."









Any bets on whether we'll have running water and electricity?