What? We're still insulating?

Can you believe it? Today, I was insulating. We discovered that the basement suite wasn't as soundproof as we'd like and especially over / near the stair wells. When I started poking around for the cause [this was quite a while ago now], it turns out that the stair landings that separate our space from the basement suite were not insulated at all.  So, luckily we have somewhat removable carbonized wood floor boards to remove and I stuffed the cavities with insulation. Hopefully, that helps it a bit more. Otherwise, I'm sure to hear it from the boss.

Colour testing continues!

I am stunned and worried about our ridiculous weather.  I have not had to do any colour testing of the carbonized wood in any snow or cold conditions, as I feared last fall. December, January, February and now March have been at worst, sweater weather. With no snow on the deck. I am wondering if the seasons actually shifted by 3 months...

Anyhow, today I did all the colour measurements solo, hauling the monster desktop tower PC with keyboard and colour analyzer. Wish I had an old laptop that runs Windows 98 and has a serial port!

The wood used as roof decking is already fading into brown-grey...  The soffit isn't fading nearly as fast.

Finishes from left to right: opaque red exterior paint, Behr stain, natural, polyurethane, varathane.

Some noticeable lifting strands of wood. 

Privacy finally! All our blinds are installed.

With the help of my Dad, we finally have all the window blinds installed.  It only tool seven months! We are using the "cellular" type that creates a little pocket of air in all the blind "slats." But as seen by the thermal camera, lots of cold comes in around the window frames...

Tiling complete on 2nd Floor!

Hats off to Greg Basaraba who finished our 2nd floor shower! It has a nice dark brown, wavy accent tile that we thought mimics the trees outside the skinny window. So, now I have to finish installing all the bathroom accessories and build a carbonized wood bench!

Love the "tree" shower curtain!

Interesting vehicles visit our 'hood.

Interesting vehicles visit our neighbourhood! This was quite the vehicle that parked outside- apparently to scope out something in or near the river. What would one call this thing?

We're on the Suzuki Diaries on CBC!

We're all excited around here that the Nature of Things/ Suzuki Diaries is airing this week on CBC!  We're pretty pumped and somewhat anxious to see what they edited in and out!  You can catch a trailer clip here: http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episode/suzuki-diaries-future-city.html !

So, it seems like yesterday Dr. Suzuki and Sarika were here, touring the house. I'm glad we now have railings installed- andso  much more progress!

InfraRed Camera Reveals ALL!

I had an opportunity to borrow a FLIR E50Bx infrared camera from work. So, guess what I did? Nerdy me went around the house looking for where there are "hotspots" and areas of interest in our house.  I looked from both outside and inside.  I didn't pressurize the house, like they did during the blower door test, but nonetheless, there was still interesting things to point out.

If you can help it, don't build anything with a corner or windows. Or doors for that matter.  ; )

We still have some weak areas at the exterior wall/ceiling
intersection and corners. This is the top of our stairwell.

Weakness around the windows. And corner, again.
This picture is with the blinds drawn down.

Thermal mass works! This is the morning

after we had a fire going. Notice the brick is still

relatively warm behind the fireplace!

But unfortunately, the stove pipe top is really cold.

Mystery: why is one stair tread edge relatively warm?
It is not getting direct sunlight. Any ideas?

Found a window with a bad seal. Need to have this looked at.

Exterior shot. West elevation. Chimney at top, right.

Composite shot: back of house.
Notice the HRV intake and exhaust vents glowing
brightly. Sigh.