Our Country Cottage A Narrative

In this episode I will get you more up to date with the goings on at OCC and there are changes at the web site. On with the OCC update. When last we talked I had basically shut OCC down by draining the water, putting RV antifreeze in sink and tub traps. The toilets were drained of water but then filled with RV antifreeze and then flushed. This ensured no water was left in the mechanism and the bowel had only antifreeze in it. The toilet shut offs were the only taps I closed. If I left them open the antifreeze in the tank would siphon out. Any liquids that might freeze if the generator failed were collected and removed. I was running an experiment leaving the boiler on and only having the thermostats for the two bathrooms operating. My first day trip of the year had me almost going off the driveway, gad. I noticed when I entered OCC I could smell a sickly sweet, maybe, odour. It was the RV antifreeze in the toilet bowels that would evaporate over time and require adding some more to keep the trap

In this episode I will get you more up to date with the goings on at OCC and an OCC Year In Review, remembering some of what happened last year. So on with Episode 28 OCC update. As usual I left the last episode with some unanswered questions. Once again our trusty generator was not so trusty, refusing to start. Three days before my next visit we had a major snow dump in the city. I think I shoveled the walk 3 maybe 4 times that day. It just kept coming. The next day, taking my life into my own hands, and on summer tires, I ventured out onto snow clogged streets in an attempt to get a new battery for the generator. Two positive things were in play, 1- the generator supplier had just got a new shipment of batteries and 2- they had moved closer to where I lived in the city. Even though they were closer it was a sketchy trip but a new battery was acquired. My main country vehicle was now in the shop, undergoing major surgery for the foreseeable future, so I was going to use our other vehicle which wa

In this episode I will bring you up to date with the goings on at OCC and, as promised, the ITB wrap up. Finally I can close the book on ITB, In The Beginning. No more confusion with episode numbers and ITB progress month numbers. Hey, it was getting confusing for me. *******On With In The Beginning Wrap Up****** It was at the end of month 27, (no, lets not go there again) two years and three months, that there was a logical point to finish with contractors, etc. and take sole claim of Our Country Cottage. Not everything was finished but enough was enough and we decided to cut the cord. As reported last episode, keys were returned and good byes said. Now the only thing left was to pay the final bill, but how much would that be? Changes had been made, there was that bill that was only partially paid by the first site supervisor, incorrect items delivered costing more to install and on and on. I don’t mind telling you I lost a lot of sleep trying to figure all this stuff out. I had kept notes, records and rece

In this episode I will get you caught up to date with the goings on at OCC and ITB, In The Beginning, well, this might be the last one. Lets start with probably the most action packed ITB yet. ***In The Beginning, Month 27, October *** ITB is the part the podcast where I use pics, my log book, texts and emails along with any other mind jogs I can find to give you the most accurate recollection of the creation of OCC. I even referred to an old check book record this time. Looks like we had five, three day trips, to Our Country Cottage this month. In the last ITB I had noticed a boom loader, or Zoom Boom had been parked by OCC ready to go. The first day of the month did not disappoint. The crew arrived early and went to work moving all the construction extras to a predetermined area near the Quonset, away from OCC. This included leftover bricks from the masonry heater, lots of dimensional lumber, siding, trim, metal roofing and about 50 lengths of powder coated rebar that for some reason was grossly miscalcul

In this episode Our Country Cottage finally breaks free of winters grip, entering the summer months while In The Beginning, ITB, reveals some progress. ***In The Beginning, Month 26, September.*** ITB is the section of the podcast where I do my best to remember, through pictures, my log book, texts and invoices, well basically anything I can get my hands on.During this period of little getting done, it seems I also did little with my log book. That is to say sketchy notes. The second month of year three of the creation of Our Country Cottage started with our contractor calling to say he won’t be back for another two weeks. If you remember, the previous month we didn’t see him at all. So you could say, things are looking up. It appears that the month was broken into three, and a bit, trips. The first trip was generally rainy and cold. I tried out the in floor heating for the first time but didn’t keep it on for long as there was hardly any sun. A fire was built to take the edge off. There was a trip to a nea

In this episode Our Country Cottage has not finished sending me power failure alerts and In The Beginning, ITB, covers the first month of year three of construction. In The Beginning, month 25, August. This is the part of the episode where I go through pix, emails, logs etc to give you the best recollection of the construction of Our Country Cottage. I had three visits to OCC this month. Each was three days long. The first visit, I had a load of those flat pack boxes from that store, known for its assemble yourself furniture. My collection promised that they would turn into two closet organizers for the master bedroom closet. The instructions had a picture of two characters putting them together. Seeing that I was by myself, I took it as a handy suggestion and proceeded to do it with the, unwritten, one character option. More challenging, but more rewarding and much less debate as to what goes where etc. I found a picture with them assembled and in place. Proof positive that just cause it ain’t written in th

This episodes OCC update will get into why power was lost on the last day of last year and what has been going on with me and my relationship with Our Country Cottage. In The Beginning, ITB month 24, will close out the second year of OCC construction. I am beginning to think that doing ITB is not helping my attitude towards OCC. I don’t know if it is cathartic, with a positive effect, as I thought it would be or it’s just dredging up all those memories and reopening the wounds, so to speak. For now we’ll go with the first one,  Sooo In The Beginning, month 24, July. This is the part of the podcast where I try to figure out what went on during the construction of OCC by going through pix, texts, emails and the log book I kept. It appears the log book was the first to be neglected when things weren’t going well. Unfortunately, that is the exact time when notes should be taken to help in the future. Human nature I guess, well at least mine. Case in point, I have sketchy follow up notes to an ant invasion I wen

In this episode Our Country Cottage reaches out to say it has lost power, the solar control unit stops logging and snow. In The Beginning, ITB, Month 23, June, standing water and a walk through inspection. In The Beginning, month 23. ITB is the part of the podcast where I collect all my emails, texts, logs, notes, pix etc to try to give the best recollection of the early days of OCC, Our Country Cottage. It seems to be getting harder and harder to figure out as the changes are getting smaller and smaller and sometimes none at all. I have vivid memories of arriving at the site and finding nothing had been done. Finding no one there was now getting common place but there was always hope that you just happened to miss them and stuff was getting done anyways. The next few months seemed to be the worst. Shure I had spent my first nights there but always in the back of my mind I had to be ready just in case someone showed up to do work. At this point OCC really didn’t feel like ours, yet. If you recall I ended la

  In this episode I will tell you about getting to a project that was some five years past due and In The Beginning, Month 22, almost 2 years in, and still going at it. And an OCC update, well, brings you up to date. ITB, month 22, May. In The Beginning, is the part of the podcast where I recount the birthing pains of Our Country Cottage. Pictures, emails, texts and my log book have given me a memory refresh to present the most accurate information of the time. 22 months in and the big things are pretty well done and now we get down to the details. One important detail that happened this month was that we got Our Country Cottage’s “Occupancy Approval” certificate. Basically a piece of paper that lets us legally occupy Our Country Cottage. Any who, on with the ITB blow by blow. When I left Our Country Cottage last month ITB 21, the weather was warming up and most of the snow had gone. Remember, I got my boot stuck in the mud. My first trip of month 22 found the snow was back. I even had to plow the drive. Th

This episode,  An OCC update, I will cover the first extended stay of the season, almost back to normal, and ITB carries on with month 21 of construction. Not much happened while the power was down, in some areas. In The Beginning, ITB, Month 21, April This is the part of the episode where I sift through emails, text messages and pictures collected during that month, to give you the most accurate accounting of Our Country Cottages beginning stages. The beginning of month #21 still had OCC without power backup working. The generator was fixed but something in the solar control system, the system that ties everything together, still was not happy and we were still a couple of days from having the solar crew come for a visit to try to figure it out. That leaves me making daily trips, to build fires in order to keep the temperature up in the cottage. I had also found a better firewood supply option to those “winter special” traditional firewood green net bag bundles. There was a company offering clean firewood,

This episode I will tell you about my recent encounters with Our Country Cottage and as promised In The Beginning, month 20 I will tell you about one of the more trying months of the build. I found out that the month wasn’t all bad though, it just seemed like it. Also, I will talk a bit about back up generators, in particular, ours. On with ITB, In The Beginning, month 20, March. This is where I try to figure out what happened using the pictures, emails, texts and invoices I kept from that month. To give you an idea I received 47 emails and sent 35, just in that one month and just relative to OCC. I also paid 12 visits to OCC including every day from the 25th and a couple of days into the next month. If you remember, from ITB month 19, we have just managed to get water into Our Country Cottage. I had left the utility room in a mess, just dumping the hose and whatever down the hatch and leaving. So the next day, and 1st of the month, I went back to clean up. Upon entering I found the control panel with sever

This episode In The Beginning ,ITB, month 19 reveals progress in some areas and failures in others. An Our Country Cottage update has me staying over a couple of nights at our country cottage for the first time in over six months. And now on with ITB, In The Beginning, month 19, February. More pictures, texts and emails sifted through to give the best recollection of how Our Country Cottage came to be. This month was cold and snowy (February, go figure) with lots of challenges. There were seven trips made to Our Country Cottage, this month, some in weather I would have normally stayed home in, even in the city. There were reasons I had to make the trip whether I wanted to or not, mainly when power fails. One such trip I made was shortly after a major snow storm. Keep in mind that roads are plowed in order of importance. The main highways will always be the first followed by the secondary ones etc. Well, Our Country Cottage access road is about third and fourth down the list. And the kilometre of drive is a

In this episode I will tell you about getting water, including toilets up and running, after the freeze up, at Our Country Cottage.  Also, In The Beginning, ITB, looks at month 18, the beginning of a new year with new and improved problems. But first a correction. Last episode ITB month 17 I reported that the solar collectors were installed on the Cottage roof under adverse conditions. Well it wasn’t the solar collectors that were being installed it was the brackets and frame work that was being assembled on the roof in the snow and wind. While reviewing the pix for this episode of ITB I found clear shots of the solar collectors being mounted on the brackets in month 18 not 17. Now on with Episode #17 It has been about six months since Our Country Cottage had to be closed down due to power failure and cold temperatures, resulting in broken toilets and frozen taps etc. My partner and I have just treated ourselves to a vacation overseas. Before we left I let our plumber know that I would be looking to get the

In this episode I go into details about one of the more trying months of construction and the Our Country Cottage update lets you in on the two trips I took there this week. ITB, In The Beginning, Month 17, December Another attempt at remembering what we had to go through to get Our Country Cottage. As I mentioned last time it seems to be getting easier. Well, this month was a ruff one. This month started off as the last month finished, with cold temperatures and snow, lots of snow. So much snow that, just plowing the drive was starting to reveal the short comings of just using a blade. As you plow the drive banks form on the side. You can only push the snow back so far. As you continue these banks get bigger and the drive gets narrower and narrower. It got to the point that I could see larger vehicles, like the propane truck, would start to have problems having less and less room to negotiate. Our contractor had his own skid steer and I asked him to move the banks back for me. He and his assistant had muc

In this episode I will cover some of the unique doors and divider applications used in Our Country Cottage and In The Beginning, ITB month 16 sees power, paint, panels and plowing. The spec for the Our Country Cottage package called for interior doors to be your standard hollow core doors. My partner, and I must agree, wanted a more rustic solid wood door with a bit of character and cottagey feeling. And so it was. Knotty alder doors are in most of the openings, and, with black hardware, give us the look we were going for. On to the not so common ones. The master bedroom is upstairs with a clear view to the south, if you don’t block it off. The stairs run, against the wall up to a landing big enough for a double door. I originally had envisioned a large barn door type of thing that would roll aside to open up the view. That idea didn’t work when I realized, because of the roof design, it had no place to roll. Plan 2. Two sets of double doors with glass, top to bottom, French doors that is. The first set wa

In this episode I will cover a couple of issues we had with the floor in the garage loft and the ceiling in the utility room. ITB, In The Beginning, will take a look at month 15 of construction, which is starting to get close to seeing snow again, and I will also have an update to the goings on at Our Country Cottage. The floor in the garage loft was to be low cost. No stamped cement with in floor radiant heating pipes here. In fact I didn’t want any fluids at all in the loft or garage. No plumbing to worry about. I saw the loft being the first place to be shut down to conserve energy in the winter. Sure I have had visions of a small pot belly stove in the corner somewhere, someday. During a visit to the floor/carpet/tile place I selected an inexpensive laminate that would do the job. These types of floors are very durable, being able to take a lot of punishment. Just the thing for a man cave, kinda place, with the odd table tennis match and work out area, not to mention various construction projects, yet t

Our Country Cottage started life as Our Package Deal. We were like babes in the woods, having never built a house from scratch before. I found it quite amusing that, while we were in discussions with the kit home supplier, appliances popped into the conversation. Yup, we were having a hard time trying to figure out where to put the walls and they were talking fridges and stoves. What was happening was, we were slipping into the “package deal”, something we hadn’t even considered. We were still in the big picture stage, while the details were slowly creeping in. Now, this is not a bad thing, but it was a hard thing not to break the transmission while swapping gears so fast. We went from, I think the cottage would look great over there to, what do you want the color of the door handles to be. In all fairness it wasn’t dumped on us all at once. There was a somewhat gradual release of decisions to be made. I think they had done this before. It was explained to us that there was an allowance, or target price, fo

  A masonry heater is quite different from your standard fireplace or wood burning stove. A Fireplace or wood burning stove has a fire box with the chimney directly above it. The heat generated by the burning wood heats the immediate area around it and the smoke and some heat go up the chimney. In free standing, air tight and semi air tight, wood burning stoves, there are controls to regulate the amount of air entering the device and thus the intensity of the fire. This is done to prevent overheating and to prolong the burn. These types of wood burners do not retain much heat, so if wood is not burning there is no heat. Who wants to get up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire. Unfortunately, slowing the burn lowers the temperature of the burning wood resulting in more pollution and residue. I know this for a fact because our contractor built a fire in our masonry heater once and closed the fresh air intake to the point where he was used to running other fireplaces he had used. The same day he report

Water Water Everywhere describes what can happen if the natural flow of water is not taken into account during the design stage and ITB, In The Beginning, carries on to the end of the first year of construction. In previous episodes I have mentioned how we controlled outside water and how we improved the original water control design, or lack there of. It started one day during the early construction stages. We had driven up to our country cottage to see the progress. Things had been moving along at a good clip for a while. In fact it was less than a week since our last visit, but something was different. First we noticed that no one was there, then we noticed a large pool of water in front of the garage. The forms for the garage floor were still in place, as the cement for the floor had been poured a couple of weeks earlier. They were almost submerged.   There was a two foot wide sink hole across the drive where the water pipe and cables had been trenched and filled in a while ago. The supports for a fifth

Back Up Generators, Why am I giving up on this one so fast, and In the Beginning (ITB), looks at the first days of construction. So generators are much like cars. Well at least the engine part is. You can get a high end jobbie that will cost a fortune or a low end unit that costs a lot less. I went for a low end unit under the self misguided assumption that I would hardly need to run it. At the time I selected the model, I seem to remember several people advising me to step up a bit but I had convinced myself and also convinced my supplier that I was looking at the whole cottage project as a experiment and well, OK, Our Country Cottage was turning out to be way more expensive than originally thought. This is one area that would not be too hard to upgrade later. Not like the windows or the insulation etc. The generator is not even in the cottage. It is across the drive on a cement pad so replacement wouldn’t even require going inside. Not even getting a muddy boot print on the floor. In the price range I was