Triangular Windows!

 The steel roof was completed beautifully, with each 
piece needing to be painstakingly measured and cut 
individually (Thank you Darcy and Dave at Focus 
Roofing!), and so we were finally ready to install 

all the windows and doors:

  

Kevin and Stephanie installing our triangular 

windows on the dome surface using a pallet 

on tractor forks to reach.

 

We worked with local window manufacturers Desmond 
Industries to come up with a triangular window/skylight 
design we all felt would work. 

Since the windows are on a steep slope, we designed 
windows that would be flashed on 2 sides, and have an 
overhanging glass edge on the low side to shed snow, 
ice and water, an oldschool skylight technique.


The Siding!

 

 

Here you can see the dome from the South with all 

the windows and the sliding glass door to the patio 

nicely installed!

At the same time, we started installing the reverse 

board and batten fir siding, which you can see Paul 

here working on in the 38 degree heat.

 First, we ripped all the 6" boards down into 4" and 2" 

widths to create the profile we desired, and stacked 

them so that the air could cure them before installing. 

Then, with the help of family and friends (Thank 

you Jen Weih, Marianne Bos and Joan Schmidt!), 

we stained front and back and all sides of each 

board...which only took about two weeks!

 

 

Ladder love...

 

 The rough-hewn, black stained fir will also be applied in wider, 

horizontal strips to cover the facia, above.

 

View from the North looking South down the Valley. 

Note the 2 skylights we installed in the addition: 

one in the kitchen, the other in the bath.  

Thanks for those, Ross!

 The siding crew enjoying a cold one (or three) at the end of a 

very hot day of installing black siding in the sun. 

Thanks Paul, Hank, Stephanie and Keith!

 The dome nearing the final stages of completing the exterior....

just a bit more siding to go!

Thanks to friends and family who made the trip up this year to pitch in and help: Ron and Joan Schmidt, Jen Weih, Kahn Lee, Marianne Bos, Suzanne Ward, and Brendan Tang, we could not have done this without your help!!

And of course a million thanks to Jane Irwin and Ross Hill, 

project patrons and amazing friends.

  

 New Update:

The Roof!

After much deliberation, we chose 4 triangles on the dome surface to be our windows.

Then, Darcy at Focus Roofing got busy adding the ice and water shield layer to waterproof the dome.

 We decided to go with a flat-stock, 26 gauge steel cladding using a combination of folded and standing seams.

Here is a detail of how the roof sections meet, and we think it looks great! It's like stealth-bomber steel origami, and Focus s doing a terrific, if painstaking job.

More updates soon as we complete the dome roof, install the windows and finish the siding on the addition areas.

Wish us luck!

Back to the Domework 2014!
 
Kevin and I are back to the Domework after an exciting year and a half in Berlin.

We started the whole endeavor with getting a kitten, and doing a smudge on the old Farmhouse, where we will stay until the Dome is ready...

Meet Laser Beam, a lean, mean mousing machine!

This is the year to get the building envelope complete, meaning the roof, windows and doors, so that the structure will be safe from the elements.

First, we needed to construct the South-facing awning, so that the roof can shed over this area, which also meant we had to lay the joists for the deck, a 22' hexagon with a view over the beautiful valley:

Next we got to work digging a deep trench for the water to the dome:

 

Next steps: getting triangular windows into the dome exterior, siding on the additions, and steel cladding on the dome itself.

We are super happy about how this is all shaping up, and so grateful to everyone who is working hard to make this happen. 

In particular: Jane Irwin and Ross Hill, and Christian Kliegel, who is lending his architectural expertise to the project.

More to come soon!

Wrapping it up for this Season

After months of hard work, we got the kitchen/bathroom and 

foyer additions framed and sheeted.

This is how it looks from the south, with the 

kitchen/bathroom windows oriented to look down 

the valley over the hay fields. 

You can see the concrete footings in front, ready for the 

22' hexagonal deck to be placed on top. 

We replaced the 5 triangles and 3 rectangular pieces, 

closing in the space that will one day be a sliding 

door and windows.

This is a view from the other side of the dome, 

which shows the small entryway.

 

Here is Paul placing the large, heavy-duty tarp gifted to us 

from Barnaby Killam of Red Flag design over the dome 

to keep it relatively dry until we can come back and roof it.

  

We can't wait to get back to it and see this building with a

 roof, windows and doors, the awning over the deck, the 

deck itself, not to mention the septic system, electrical, 

insulation, interior, and the mezzanine.... 

Wait for it!

Thanks again to all the suport from Ross Hill and Jane Irwin 

in helping this project come to life. 

Also many thanks to all the friends, family and neighbors 

who pitched in this year.

Finishing the Concrete and Framing the Walls

 

We had lots more work to do getting ready for the final concrete 

pour. Here you can see our neighbor Hank helping us mark the deck 

footing so we could place the sono-tube in the right spot. 

He is marking on the concrete with a soapstone pencil. 

 I love this exercise in practical abstraction!

 Here's Kevin tamping down the soil with 'the wacker' inside

  the foundation, around the plumbing pipes. 

Lots of sweat equity went into this task.

The final load of concrete came.   

Sorry no pictures of this, as it was impossible to take photos 

and 'screed' or smooth the concrete at the same time. 

But here is a nice picture of a ladder resting firmly on the solid concrete floor. 

Next step was to frame the addition walls. 

We realized we needed help, and hired local carpenter Jeremy 

Hanrahan to make sure we got it done right. He did an excellent 

job with the unconventional joinery between the vertical walls 

and the faceted dome surface.

 Lucky us, we had the excavator on hand to help us raise the walls. 

What fun!

 Next step was to place the rafters for the roof.

Finally, the kitchen/ bathroom addition is built! 

More pictures to come of the entryway addition and the roof lines, 

hopefully with cladding in preparation for the winter...

This pretty much describes my 'feelings' at this stage....

Creating the Footings

After much planning and preparation, we finally poured the footings for the dome additions and deck. 

 

Here you can see the super-cool surveying tool used to plot how deep to dig the hole for the concrete forms, loaned to us by local builder Paul Roberts.

 Our neighbor Hank arrives with the excavator and the skills to dig a near-perfect depth for the forms to sit in.

 

Kevin and I built the plywood forms to hold the concrete. Here you can see the forms for the deck footings, placed in their locations with the help of a floating twine grid. 

Very Land-Art, NE Thing Co., right?

The concrete truck arrived, and we filled the forms with cement with the assistance of Paul and another neighbor, Harry. We were just short of enough concrete to entirely fill the forms, so will have another session this week.

Domestead 2012!

 

Work has begun again on The Pavilion, which is currently being re-envisioned as a self-contained living machine on a rural property in the Heffley Creek area of BC.

As such, it is being re-designed to survive all seasons of weather, and include a kitchen/bathroom area, with running water and electricity.

Here are some drawings of the new design, created in collaboration with artist Kevin Schmidt (drawings by Schmidt).

This summer, Schmidt and myself, along with help from friends, volunteers, and project sponsors Jane Irwin and Ross Hill, will create the addition areas and the building envelope.

Check in regularly to see the work in progress!