Electricity connected

Yesterday they connected the electricity and the bricklayers started working. Today they also turned on the water to test the plumbing for any leaks.

Electrical, plumbing and HVAC complete

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since the last post about the house.

As you can see, we now have a proper roof, doors and windows. Actually, the doors and windows came at the end of November and the roofing started at that time too. But then we were hit with a huge freezing rain storm and the roofers were unable to finish the job for a week or so until the ice melted. Then, it rained cats and dogs, and water poured into the house through the unfinished parts of the roof. Fortunately, it does not appear that there was much pooling of water on the floors because the OSB floors do not appear to have swelled anywhere, which they can do when water is left standing on them.

During this period I did a lot of research on OSB, and it turns out that the OSB they use in Canada for construction is coated with a wax or resin to make it water resistant for just such unfortunate events as a week of rain. The real danger point is where the OSB has been cut with a saw. The resin in the OSB can easily absorb water along the cut edges of the boards because at these points the water resistant coating has been cut away.

We did an inspection of the house last Friday and I did not notice any swollen parts of the floor, which is great. If if had swelled, the builder would have sanded it down to keep the floor level for the floor installation.

Once the week of bad weather passed, the builder was back on the job finishing the roof and installing the plumbing, electrical and HVAC as well as pouring the concrete floor in the basement and the garage. The furnace has been installed, along with the humidifier, and soon the Heat Recovery Ventilation Unit and tankless hot water heater will be installed. By next week they hope to have the house fully insulated and connected to the electricity grid so that they can start heating the house. Right now, they are heating the basement with propane heaters.

The concrete has also been poured for the front porch and the brick has arrived for the exterior cladding. Likely the bricklayers will be on site next week.

So, all in all things are moving along very quickly. I expect they should start drywalling in the new year.