And This Is What We Should Have Done In The First Place!!

I wince at the cost of labour when it comes to tiling, but man oh man our guy knows his stuff. As you know, the jacuzzi originally had a painted pine tongue and groove as the surround, we never liked it and resisted but caved........ so maybe the malfunction of the tub was for the greater good, because the tile "entombment" looks awesome! It still needs grout (and I am still on the fence about that damn tile colour we chose) but it made the world of difference!

Before

After

EceEnergy Audit - Part Deux

Today we completed the second stage of the Energy Audit offered by the federal and provincial governments. The process itself isn't as riveting as I had expected, I was under the assumption that this "fan" you hear about would suck all of the dust and pet hair out of my house and collect in a nice tidy ball on this contraption....... no such luck, you barely hear or feel it.

The initial audit rated the original house at a 68% on the EnerGuide scale provided by Natural Resources Canada, that is based on how much air can by pulled through your house. When Chris was present for the first audit, the fan moved quite quickly, this time - not so much, however until the magic numbers are punched into the sophisticated computer software, we will not know our exact Energuide rating and how the renovations we have performed have improved that number.

So, we have submitted our figures and now we wait and see how much we will ultimately qualify for in rebates, as our auditor put it "Now all you have to do is take the cheque to the bank".

The Cost of Renovating

When we initially took on this project, we had options - we could have torn down the original structure and built new, but any quotes we received for building new, started at $200/sq ft and that was only base finishes........ laminate floors and counter top, standard tubs and shower inserts etc. etc...... not what we wanted and certainly not the budget we were thinking of. So after seeking the opinion of a home inspector and contractor, we decided to salvage the original structure to be able to concentrate our hard earned dollars on the finishes that we wanted. However, when you are taking on such an endeavour the costs are not purely tiles, windows and paint. There is the cost of drafting/engineering any structure changes or additions, permits, equipment rentals etc etc etc. So, as a point of interest we will share the true cost of this project. Happy reading!

Home Inspection $378.00
Energy Audits $500.00
Hydro One Upgrade $960.75
Blueprints $441.00
Appliances $5151.92
Home Depot $3441.41 Lights, knobs, bathroom vanity, faucets, kitchen sink etc
Home Hardware $8986.70 Kitchencraft Cabinets (Maple in Espresso/anti slam)
Home Hardware $4226.20 Silestone Countertop (Quartz in Ivory Coast)
Home Hardware $1179.73 Water Softener & Misc
Rona $980.33 Toilets, lights
Dufferin Flooring $3774.93 Tile
Ikea $1614.30 Bathroom vanity, medicine cabinet, furniture
Canadian Tire $134.00 Sump Pump
Centre Grey HH $41485.20 Materials For Build
Fleshcon $1045.25 New Foundation Concrete
Stephens Rental $840.00 Waste Bin
Shouldice Block $966.69 Blocks for New Foundation
GW Masonry $1426.00 Mason work in showers and stone fireplace.
Brampton Hardwood $3529.72 Hardwood Flooring
B&R Stoveshoppe $3628.01 Propane Fireplace
Andex Steel $2536.88 Steel for Roof
Northern Heating $10620.41 Furnace, Air Exchanger, Duct work and installation
Harrison Interiors $9667.35 Spray Foam Insulation
Eagles Painting $6720.00 Interior priming and painting
D.V. Electric $9920.40 Complete wiring/switch & outlet covers/pot lights
M.T. Ceramic $3914.66 Installation of ceramic tile
Paul's Carpetry $4080.91 Carpet installation upstairs
Fines HH $745.67 Deck Piers
Barry Vaine Wood $5741.25 Maple Stairs and railing
Kinsmen Eavestrough $835.80 Seamless Eavestrough
Orangeville Glass $2599.00 Shower glass
Russell Drywall $4678.00 Labour to install & treat drywall
Mulligan Builders $71880.00 Labour
Mulligan Builders $18686.00 Management Fee

Grand Total of $237,316.47

Yup, ouch.

We are about $25,000 over budget - sort of - as we didn't have to do certain things in the original quote (ie:septic) and added some projects (ie: spray foam), so really we didn't come out too badly.

As for deadline, the start date was July 6 with an estimated completion of September. They came "most days" other than the entire month of September and we spent our first night at the house on November 23, the contractors were not done until December 16 and still not everything is completely done as of this moment, though our builder is done his part. We still have the backsplash tile in the kitchen, the jacuzzi tub tiling and, of course, the all important outdoor space which will include 3 sides of deck and pergola as well as other landscaping. So, although done is not done, it is done enough to be enjoying it......and that we are!

Preparing For The Final Payment!

The last basement window went in today, so that means that our builder is pretty much done and is working on preparing our "final" bill to receive payment. We have a few things we hope to get done as an aside from work our builder is/was doing, such as a backsplash in the kitchen, re-tiling the tub upstairs and of course in the spring/summer a deck, a rock garden, a vegetable garden, interior barn configurations for small animals etc. etc. etc., all in good time!

So, in the next week or two, we are considering sharing some of the numbers of this big amazing renovation, we realize real figures are usually not spoken about, but it is something we are always interested in and it shows the reality of home improvements and the costs involved.

And A Seized Defrost Motor.......

Well for starters, the tub is repaired and works well. Bonus. However, and yes there is a however, upon closer inspection since the enclosure had to be removed, we have noticed that the tub has been improperly braced.

In order to support the load of the large tub full of water including a person (or two), it should sit inside a "cradle", unfortunately our tub only has supports in the front and butts against the wall. This has nothing to do with the pump failure, this just adds insult to injury and needs to be pulled out and re-done.

As for our air exchange system, it seemed to be running constantly and we noticed condensation in the basement around the units ducts and even frozen areas within them. Not good. So, a repair man came out today and it seems that the defrost motor is seized, so the part is ordered. He also noticed that the seal was improper between the two ducts and will replace that as well.

The laundry room is done now, we just need to put the light fixture back up and put the outlet covers on, otherwise it is re-drywalled, re-painted and re-ready for laundry doing.....oh wait, you would need an operational dryer for that....... that's right folks our brand new gas dryer has gone on the fritz, some error F70 code that the internet comes up with as a computer/control communication error, the repair person can not come out until Dec 30.

It could be worse, I am not complaining, just sharing. :)

Eaves Trough Is On.

The eaves trough was finally installed this week, and it looks pretty nice. It is a seamless product and rather than the standard tin, they used steel because of the steel roof choice. We buried "big O" to drain into the field to the south of us and the eaves drains directly into that, so we hope that there will not be a huge amount of drainage mess in the spring.

The laundry room has its last coat of mud and should be ready for paint on Saturday, hopefully next week we can get the final coats on in the upstairs hall as well. The shower glass for the upstairs bathroom should be finished this week as well.

And The Mess Rolls On.

Well, we are pretty much moved in, and by pretty much I mean the only things that is preventing us from being totally settled is this laundry room/jacuzzi re-work. The tub is now officially fixed (and tested) and we had to rip the pine off for the repair to be done properly so we have decided to tile around the jacuzzi and build in a "secret" access panel, will look much nicer. The drywall board is up in the laundry room and the drywaller should be out today or Monday to do the first coat of mud, not looking forward to this mess and therefore I am holding out on the main Christmas decorating (the tree). The shower glass is due tomorrow and for that we are very excited, as we are enjoying our shower very much but will appreciate the added warmth the glass will add to the enclosure. The back of the house (main entry) is almost complete and the eaves trough should be here Monday as well - next week is shaping up to be a busy one!

We have managed to find a home for "most" of our furniture, though going from 3000 sq ft (Chatsworth) to 1500 sq ft, poses some space issues for bulky items........ Ikea has been wonderful! We are still making some configuration changes as we go, but for the most part things are relatively organized, it has been a lot of fun after waiting so long.