360 Winnett Ave

The End Is In Sight

Jeremy Bell — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:30:34 +0000

Once again, I have to apologize for my lack of updates. What’s it been… 3 months? It’s embarrassing how much time I’ve let slip by. I’ve received a number of emails inquiring if we’ve run out of money or if I’ve given up on blogging—Thankfully, I can say it’s neither. Work has [...]

All Tiled Up

Jeremy Bell — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 02:30:36 +0000

Worry not, I am still alive. Indeed, this is certainly a record for the blog… It’s been well over a month since I posted an update, and for that I must apologize. I usually spent some time on the weekend to update the site, but lately my weekends have been spent running [...]

Hardwood Floors

Jeremy Bell — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:37 +0000

I must admit, choosing the species of hardwood was actually quite difficult for us. If you haven’t had the luxury of walking into a hardwood store (or looking online for that matter), you’ll quickly discover that there are thousands of options to choose from. For us, we wanted something that was strong, aesthetically [...]

Smooth Seams and White Walls

Jeremy Bell — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:22:34 +0000

I certainly need to make a point of posting more frequently, but I’ve been somewhat busy these past few weeks. I suppose that’s a lame excuse, but I figured “my dog ate it” wouldn’t exactly fly… It didn’t take much time for the installers to mud, tape and sand all of the seams. [...]

And Then There Was Drywall

Jeremy Bell — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 05:04:52 +0000

It’s been 222 days since we began construction, and we finally have drywall. I’m actually shocked how quickly everything was installed—The insulation and vapour barrier was delivered on March 21st and subsequently installed on the 31st. Drywall was delivered on April 1st, and installation was completed this afternoon. They still have to mud, tape [...]

Strapped Out

Jeremy Bell — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:17:07 +0000

Our ICF foundation has 2 5/8” of foam on the exterior, which created a minor aesthetic challenge for us. To ensure everything was flush once we added the cladding, we needed to strap the exterior walls out to compensate. The ideal solution would have been a continuous layer of rigid foam (for [...]

Stairway To Heaven

Jeremy Bell — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:47:19 +0000

I suppose I could have come up with a slightly less cliched headline, but whatever… our stairs were installed yesterday and I’m pretty excited. We went with white oak for the treads, which will eventually be stained a dark brown (at least that’s the game plan at the moment). My wife and I had contemplated [...]

Something Blue

Jeremy Bell — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:23:45 +0000

When it comes to insulating a roof, there aren’t many options… and in the case of a flat roof, the options are even fewer. A traditionally pitched roof has a large ventilated space that sits between the insulation (typically cellulose or fiberglass) and the top of the roof. With a flat roof, there [...]

A Wire Runs Through It

Jeremy Bell — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:22:28 +0000

Most of the electrical has been run throughout the house, although we’re not quite finished yet. The city is coming this week to connect the meter, and the panel hasn’t been installed yet… but everything else is looking pretty good. While we had outlined an electrical plan very early on, you really need to walk [...]

The Cost Of Windows

Jeremy Bell — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:15:05 +0000

In what I expect will be an ongoing series of cost-related posts, today we’re going to a closer look at the windows we selected and their associated costs. We have a total of 35 windows in the house, plus one sidelight next to the front door and two french doors in the kitchen. All of [...]