Category — Construction Diary

August 24 – August 28

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The past twenty weeks have been quite a journey for the 26 intrepid students who showed up one fine late spring day all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, not to mention for the two instructors who led them through this process.  Looking at the picture above, taken the first week of construction, it’s pretty amazing what we have been able to accomplish in a rather short time period.    This really hit home for most of us on Thursday when many of our suppliers, partners, family members and friends took the time to come help us celebrate the completion of the course.  There are a few odds and ends that were unable to be completed before this occasion, but for the most part we were standing around in our Sunday best both admiring and receiving praise for the finished product that will hopefully serve to inspire many young minds for years to come. 

To say that it was a mad dash to the finish would be an understatement.  There was so much to do on not just the building but the site in general to ready it for Thursday’s festivities.  Painting and trim work were huge priorities and many long hours were spent getting them right.   The painters did an amazing job getting as much covered as they did, and the trim team was diligent in bridging the gaps between the many different looks we had going on thanks to the prefab walls, site baled walls, brick wall, drywall, concrete floor, cedar ceiling  and on and on.  There were also fixtures to be installed all over the place, including the beautiful light boxes you can see in the picture above, designed and built by our lighting and fixture team.  Another huge job was finishing off the can and bottle wall, also seen above, which ended up exceeding all expectations.  It really is a work of art and those that had a hand in it should be very proud.  Below you can see the finishing touch placed on the entry shelter, a ridge cap constructed from left over cedar shingles which was even painted with a miniature replication of the sun motif that adorns the north gable of the building.  Obviously attention to detail was not sacrificed even given the time constraints we were facing.

Besides just putting the finishing touches on the building, there was an immense amount of cleaning, scraping, dusting, sorting waste and countless other thankless tasks to take care of.  Many of us put in very late hours and put other things on hold in order to get the site spic and span for our impending visitors.  In the end it was well worth it.  The reaction that the building received from the Camp, the College, and all our other invitees swelled our collective chests with pride.  The speeches were heartfelt and the congratulations overwhelming.  We have certainly come a long way from the group you see below, the picture having been taken the first week of class.  Much knowledge and experience was gained, lasting friendships were forged, and moustaches of varying success were grown. 

In closing, I would like to apologize for any omissions or errors that may have been made in this journal.  I would also like to thank everyone who took the time to visit and read about our experiences.  I hope you have enjoyed learning about the project as much as I have been honoured to try and share a glimpse of it with you.  A big thank you to all who were involved in the project from top to bottom, start to finish, and hopefully this was just step one on the road towards long and fruitful careers in this emerging field that has so much to offer, and so much of a potential impact to be delivered.

August 17 – August 21

Drawing inspiration from the success of the mosaic compass that was created by the floor team, it was decided that a similar treatment would be utilized on the bathroom walls.  Anyone with excess stress, which isn’t an uncommon occurance with time quickly slipping away, could take a little out by busting up some tiles to be used in the mosaic.  The design was first laid out using tape, then the tile pieces were placed into the adhesive one by one creating the breathtaking effect you can see above.  I have no doubt that this will be a real focal point of the completed building.  While we are on the topic of bathrooms, the composting toilets were installed which proved to be a bit of a battle due to the requirements around venting.  A lot of working around other’s completed tasks was required by Rob ‘stink pipe’ Hitchcock.  This detail will probably be overlooked by the eventual beneficiaries of the pipe, but I’m certain they wouldn’t have been too happy had it not been taken care of properly.

Painting continued at a breakneck pace in the interior of the building.  Drywall, trim and drab prefab panels were covered in warm greens and a bright white to ensure that the natural light made possible by the solar design of the building is fully optimized.  It is a bit of a challenge to work around the wet paint but to make sure that we finish as much as possible before next week many things have to be going up at the same time.

The hempcrete that was mentioned last week began to find its way around the doors and windows this week.  Mixing consistent batches on a smaller scale than we had for the wall in fill was a bit of a challenge but eventually we got it all finished.  The nature of the material allows for much creativity in design on top of the insulating function, but we decided to keep it relatively simple.  The interior sills and exterior frames will eventually be painted to achieve a nice visual contrast and quite a lot of care was taken to make sure they are nice smooth surfaces.

Hempcrete was also used in the bench that was constructed in the curved south section.  Compressed earth blocks were stacked with a clay mortar to produce the structure of the bench while hempcrete with mixed with portland cement content this time to be used as the top of the bench.  The portland was added here because there were concerns that hempcrete alone would not cure in time.  I think the small increase in embodied energy is a small price to pay for some great looking seating for our opening ceremony next week.  Below you can see the blocks that were sourced from Henry Wiersma and his amazing block compressing machine in Coburg emerging into the lovely bench seating. 

One of the few remaining major tasks was the construction and installation of the interior doors.  The two for the bathrooms were constructed from left over tongue and groove from the ceiling, and the office door was rescued from an early demise to be put back to work after some refinishing.  Using the left over wood from the ceiling was not only a way to use up waste, it also allowed Jamie to take a chance and get creative which was a huge sucess. 

We  managed to take a half day off on Wednesday this week to participate in our very own career day!  Participants of previous years courses along with a variety of other Sustainable Building related professionals were on hand to give us some helpful tips and insight into the next steps that confront us.  The possibilities are many, and daunting so it was very reassuring to have this panel to ask questions to and borrow ideas from.  Many thanks to all those who showed up to lend us their support.

August 10 – August 14

With two weeks left to go on the project, there is still a huge amount of work to do on site.  The timber frame structure of entry structure has been completed which meant it was finally time to begin covering it with the reeds that were so diligently cleaned and bundled earlier on in the course.  There was a lot of effort put into this before we could even picture the structure that they would cover so to see them find their final resting place is awesome.  The bundles are laid in courses onto the strapping that has been applied to the timber framing and then zip-tied into place.  Each tie has to be threaded through the previous courses of the thatch which was a challenge.  Long days were spent by team members separated by the reeds lovingly passing the ties back and forth but the outcome will be worth the effort.

It was also really great to see some paints beginning to appear on the interior and exterior of the building.  The milk and mineral paints will cover the prefab panels as well as the lime and earthen plasters.  That is a tall order given the area involved and the number of coats required so we will see how much will actually get covered before we leave at the end of the month but we’re certainly hoping to have some colour in time for the opening in a couple of weeks. 

The lighting team had long ago installed boxes for fixtures that were eventually to be installed but since then there has been little to discuss.  The boxes have been wired by our electrical team with some guidance and assistance from Orville and his trusty team.  Now the time has come to actually make some decisions and purchases after investigating the thousands of options available to us.  Since we will be using mostly LED bulbs, we are hoping to pick fixtures that will display highlight this technology.  We chose the stainless hanging pendant lights above for the twelve main down lights as well as the  two foyer lights.  Track lighting was purchased for the display lighting located near walls where art and other exciting features will require highlighting.  Some LED pucks were chosen to illuminate the window boxes that have yet to be designed and completed, and motion sensing LED’s will be installed around the exterior of the building to serve as a security feature. 

As mentioned in last week’s journal, the lime plastering continued this week with the exterior of the south side receiving its second and final treatment.  Because of the weather, a.k.a. the arrival of the summer finally, the entire wall needed to be kept tarped to avoid premature drying which would result in unsightly cracking.  We also kept the wall nice and moist to make sure it accepting the plaster properly and a strong bond was created.  You may also notice in the picture that the walls were left very rough and scored after the first coat to help with that bonding process.  It was a bit of a sauna under those tarps but it was nice to get a sweat going after some of the chilly weather we’ve had this summer.

Above you can see some of the progress being made on the constructed wetland that will treat grey water before it enters the septic system that was still, unfortunately, required by code.  As untreated water enters one end of the wetland it will force water to leave the other end after it has passed through the root systems and various friendly microscopic critters that will do the dirty work of treating the water.  It is terrific to have this system included in the building, especially since it will be so visible to visitors.  This technology is really beginning to gain momentum as a larger scale option for water treatment, thanks in part to the department at Fleming College that is doing a lot of research and testing on it.  They also assisted our resident new expert Jason on it’s design and installation.

This week also marked the closing in of our building envelope for the most part.  Doors and window were flying into their frames all over the place which is a huge step towards the finished product.  Once they are installed the hempcrete crew will once again get mixing in order to fill the gaps left between the top of the line, uber efficient windows and doors and the walls that house them.  It’s not really useful to worry about the insulation of the walls and doors if the gaps around them end up being massive thermal breaks.  Instead of opting for spray foam and the volatile organic compounds that come with it, the hempcrete will be used to insulate these areas.

August 3 – August 7

As the title of this post would suggest, we were busy lime plastering this week.  The putty that had been hydrating for weeks was finally put to good use on the interior south wall.  It was combined with fine sand to create the plaster which was applied over top of the hempcrete and slip straw infill’s respectively.  I’m not sure we were quite up to the speed and quality of a professional plastering crew but we got the hang of it fairly quickly with a lot of help from Jen and Chris.  In the end I think that the results were great.  I love the look of the finished product and hopefully we will be a little quicker when we move to conquer the exterior of the wall next week.

Another huge task this week was blowing the cellulose insulation in the ceiling cavity.  Because of the slope of the ceiling, we installed scrap tongue and groove pieces as you would blocking into the gaps between the trusses to prevent the loose insulation from slipping down and piling up on the ends.  We want a nice consistent thick layer to make sure that there are no thermal breaks.  This was definitely a dirty job.  Being up in the confined space with cellulose raining down upon you is not necessarily a desirable job.  This is one of those thankless tasks that will never really be seen or appreciated but is integral to the performance and efficiency of the building.

The progress on the entry shelter has been steady this week as well.  The addition of some decorative pieces to bring a little pizazz to the design tested some of the fine woodworking skills of the team.  Fortunately they were up to it and the timberframe structure looks great with that added flare. 

There were a few holes to fill in the floor since we left you last and the team tackled those this week.  The sections left void during the concrete pour in front of both north entry ways were tiled similarly to the compass in the middle of the floor.  This required some inventive design and cutting to make the square tiles fit the semi-circle openings but after that compass the seasoned vets on this team had little trouble delivering some fantastic results as you can see below.

Elsewhere on site the benches that occupy the alcoves created by the gaps in the prefab bale walls began to be installed.  With the help of an outside cabinet maker a design was created that will allow for some much needed storage as well as seating. 

A late addition to the design of the building was a solar light tube to be placed above the constructed wetland that will treat the water used for hand washing.  The concern was that the wetland is located quite a distance from the south windows so to help the magic of photosynthesis a tube was ordered and installed this week.  I think the entire class was amazed at just how much light this highly reflective tube could provide.  It is something that I think many of us will strive to incorporate into future projects.

The mad shingler Manon is also still hard at work on the exterior.  She has put in countless hours on this task and with great returns.  Much of the terrific exterior look of the building is drawn from her hard work and the contrast between the more rustic shingles and the cleaner plastered sections.  Inside a large team has been working tirelessly getting drywall up, taped, mudded and sanded.  This is tedious and repetitive but so important to the overall aesthetic.  Once that paint goes on there is really no going back so every attempt is being made to make certain that a smooth, uniform surface is achieved.  And, of course, we are using the most friendly drywall compound available to benefit the indoor air quality of the building.