Niklas Industries

Before we can backfill around the foundation there are quite a few things you need to do to keep the basement nice and dry.
The first thing we do is coat the concrete foundation with a dampproofing compound. It is a thick bituminous paste which comes in buckets and gets brushed on with big pasting brushes. We applied two layers, making sure to get a thick coating.
Over this we applied “Delta-Drain” membrane. The membrane is a plastic sheet covered in dimples and clad in a thick filter fabric. The membrane gets installed with the fabric facing the dirt. After the excavation has been backfilled the membrane will act to break the hydrostatic pressure in the ground. The fabric will allow water to seep through, hit the air space behind and safely drain down to the perimeter drains.
Perimeter drains run along the foundation footings and keep the watertable low around the foundation. The drain pipes themselves are perforated to let water in to be led away from the building. These pipes need to be protected from silting and clogging. This is done by embedding the pipes in gravel and wrapping the pipes and gravel in filter fabric. The gravel is standard 3/4″ round drain rock from the nearest gravel pit and the fabric is standard landscaping fabric. The fabric is crucial as it keeps the gravel from filling with fine silt and reducing its capacity to drain water.
The pipes also need cleanouts, which will give us access to inspect and clean the drains in the future should the need arise.
The three lines of defense, dampproofing compound, dimple membrane and perimeter drains all act together to give us a dry and comfortable basement (hopefully).

Perimeter drain junction

The building inspector came out and approved the work we had done and then we could start filling in the excavation.
For this purpose we rented a small Bobcat-like loader. As usual whenever there is equipment being operated around the lot I had Dustin around to drive it. The process went very quickly and our piles of backfill material were shrinking fast.
The West side went very quickly, it was a simple matter of grabbing a bucket full of dirt, and dumping it in the excavation.

Backfilling with "Bobcat"

Shrinking fill-piles

We had brought a plate compactor with the intention of compacting the dirt as we were filling it in, but unfortunately the dirt was just a bit too wet and it only sank into the ground rather than riding on top and compacting down.
As time goes the dirt will settle and we will have to top it off as needed.

On the North side, where our excavation was at its narrowest, we just managed to squeeze the loader in between the house and the trees. We laid some plywood down to protect the tree and we managed to leave in unscathed.

Rear backfilled

Side backfilled

The South side was partially backfilled and then we ran our two sewer and septic field lines.
Some time in the future we might want to put a garden suite in, and for that purpose we have buried an extra sewer line. Next to this we ran a 2″ PVC pipe which will connect to our septic pump tank and out to the field in the backyard. On this side we also have our large washroom window. This will eventually sit in a window well and we left plenty of room open to build it in the summer time.

South-west corner

We used the excavator to move the logs from the cut down Maple tree. We loaded them into our pickups and moved to the mill for future usage.

Unloading logs, like a boss

We have planned from the start to incorporate some kind of garden suite or carriage house in the future. This required us to have a properly sized septic system.
In BC septic systems are regulated by the local health authorities. A few years ago a law was passes which removed the ability of home owners to work on their own septic systems and placed it in the hands of “authorized persons”.
Fortunately for us the law was recently changed in the sense that an “authorized person” still needs to inspect and oversee the system but the home owner can perform the work and source the parts.
We had the machine we rented from JK Industrial around still, so we used it to dig a large, deep hole in the front of the house. This spot was the only place we could place the tanks and have the lower washroom feed into it via gravity. It will require a more powerful pump to move the waste to the field, but we make the indoor plumbing a lot simpler.

No more than a few inches down did we start digging in the shale again. Even with worn teeth the machine had little trouble getting into it.  The only problem was squaring off the corners. For this purpose we rented a 30lb jackhammer from the local tool rental place. It was my first time using a jackhammer and my arms ached for a good while.
As we were nearing our required depth, water started seeping in, indicating how low the water table is on our property. Over 7 feet below the basement floor.
At the bottom we spread some gravel to level it out and provide an even base.

Excavation for septic tanks

The tanks arrived on Mar 2nd and were placed in the holes relatively painlessly.  The large holding tank sat dead level but the pump chamber had a slight lean to it, after some hacking with a pickaxe at the bottom of the hole we minimized it and placed it as close to the holding tank as possible.
The next steps will be to connect the 4″ sewer line coming from the house to the holding tank, and the 2″ line to the pump chamber.

Septic tanks being lowered

Holding tank and pump chamber

With all the rain coming down we ran the risk of the hole filling with water and the tanks floating. To mitigate this we bought a cheap water pump at the local Canadian Tire and partially filled the tanks with the accumulating rain water. Now we don’t have to worry about rain displacing the tanks.

Pumping water into septic tanks

Pacific Building Systems provided the engineering and structural materials for our deck. 3 and 4 ply 2X10 beams and 2X12 joists will make for a very sturdy deck.
The contractor we have been hiring to perform any work we need did a terrific job on the deck.
The deck is attached to a ledger securely bolted to the foundation and is supported on sturdy concrete posts on large footings far below frost depth. It will be sturdy.

Rear deck structure

Our brother/in-law Dustin will be providing us with the cedar boards from the deck. The plan is to use 8″ wide boards and groove them to accept hidden fasteners.

While all this was happening Chris from Apex Plumbing started on our rough plumbing. Our main concerns have been the length of the waste drain from the top floor washroom to the rear of the house to connect to the lower drains. No problems and Chris has been doing a great job.
Our second concern was regarding vent stacks poking through the roof. Because we are going with an expensive metal roof we were hoping to keep any penetrations to a minimum. The local authorities were at first saying that yes, we need to vent through the roof, not through a wall. But apparently on the local ski-resort they are allowed to vent through walls, most likely because of snow cover. So with that precedent the plumber convinced the building authorities to let us poke through the wall, leaving our roof completely free of penetrations.

Earlier we had put in an order for Cedar timbers. Being a family connection we got the pick of the best pieces for a super price. The nature of sourcing old-growth Cedar made the process take slightly longer than usual, but upon seeing the cut beams and posts I knew it was worth the wait.

Cedar timbers

A hurdle we need to clear was to get the wood planed. We were lucky to find that Island Timber Framing offers planing of wood on their 12″X24″ planer, at a reasonable cost too.

Our windows are from Starline Windows. They recently introduced a line of windows they call “Rainshield”. Being specifically designed to be paired with “rainscreen” exterior cladding it was an easy choice.

Rainshield windows

With my connection to Jenesys they also came in at the cheapest price compared to everyone else who provided quotes.
We made the choice to go with mostly awning windows. The main reason is tightness when closed. Awning windows seal up very tight when closed in a way that sliding windows can not hope to approach. However we chose sliding windows in the home office, due to the size, and the lower bedroom also needed a slider as it is an egress window and escaping through an awning window, while technically allowed would be very difficult.
The high window in the living room was also a crank-open awning windows. This window will become motorized and controlled by a switch on the wall
They arrived about two weeks after putting in the order and were mostly installed on the same say as they got delivered.
The scaffolding I borrowed from my boss Carsten at Jenesys has come in very handy.

Installing the high windows

Window detail

All windows and patio doors installed

Our doors arrived! After going back and forth with different suppliers and options he were able to make a decision on the doors. For all three exterior doors we chose textured fiberglass with fir jambs. The front door is a double door with pinreed glass in it and the rear doors is a double and single door, both with full lites. The textured fiberglass can be stained to match the rest of the wood around the house and we chose to pay the extra for the fir jambs as they will be cased in wood on the interior.

Front door

Rear doors

The door hardware has been ordered. We decided to go with the “Stockholm” line from Taymor. We like the look and the price is very good. On the front door it will be paired with a keyless deadbolt.

Lever choice

We had our watermain provided for us as well. Ships Point has a communal water system, providing piped well water to the area. Unfortunately the watermain ran across the road from us, so to get us connected it necessitated drilling under the road.
The “utility trench” we dug is shared between the perimeter and rainleader drain, a 3″ conduit for electrical service, two 2″ orange conduits for telephone and cable-TV respectively and a 1″ water supply pipe.
I handed the task of finishing it to Dustin as I have been swamped with work and unable to get out as much as I want. He quickly finished off the conduits and called the “slinger” truck to get it covered in bedding sand. Again the slinger truck saved a ton of manual labour placing the material. The cost of the truck dwarfs the material cost, but it is worth it and it only took a single truck load. The slinger is accurate, but not perfect.

Covered utility trench

Next steps we take will be to have the carpenter put the timbers up and schedule the roofer. The framed house has been without a roof for longer than we wanted.

We have given our landlords notice that we are moving out during April. We plan on moving a camping trailer out to the lot and live there until we are finished.

The very next day the crew had finished with the wall panels we received our roof trusses.|
Again, the truck arrived early in the morning and the construction crew shortly after. Everyone got to work right away.

Living/dining room trusses

Unlike the SIPs panels the trusses could be loaded in order on the truck, starting with the long parallel chord trusses spanning the living- and dining room.

Roof sheathing being lifted into place

Next we lifted up the bundle of 5/8″ roof sheathing to keep it easily accessible.

More roof trusses being lifted up

The oddly shaped trusses span the areas where the two roof forms intersect. In this area we also have an interface between panel- and framed roof. It will be a good test of the prefabbing to see how everything fits together in that point.

Trusses being lifted off delivery truck

Last of the trusses being lifted into place

After all the roof trusses were delivered we hoped that the delivery guys would be gracious enough to help us get the roof SIP panels up. Luckily for us it was no problem, and it saved me from having to get another crane truck out for that job.

Roof panels lifted into place

At this time the surveyors from Sims Associates came out to measure our building for a location certificate. Every building that gets erected needs to have a location certificate made, it tells the authorities exactly how your house is sited on your property and is a necessity to get complete approval from the local building department.
They were originally scheduled for two weeks out, but came out the very next day after I made the call, which was a very nice surprise.

Surveyors doing their job

With all the trusses in their rough places they could be fastened to their permanent positions.

Putting everything together

The panels stop where the top chord of the trusses begin, and the leaves alot of space between the trusses to be filled in. Insulspan provided some pieces meant to be cut to size and slotted in between the trusses. Worked very nicely.

Panel fill pieces

One of the big tests of the prefabrication process is a tricky intersection where the two planes of the roof intersect as well as transition between panelized roof and traditional framed roof. Apart from some slight shaving of the panel edge, everything came together impressively well.

Roofline intersection

With the roof going in quickly you can get a sense of the rooms on the main floor.

Vaulted ceiling space

The rest of the roof was going on very quickly. Also at this time we had the first layer of dampproofing compound applied to the foundation. I had planned on performing this step myself, but I had office-work to do and the weather was perfect.

In the next post I will detail the process of (hopefully) keeping water out of your nice finished basement.

Day 1

I had been concerned about the offloading of the panels for some time, trying to think of the best way to handle it.
Insulspan recommends a forklift with 8′ fork extensions. Having that you can easily lift of the bundles, but no one around here offers that so we needed to think of an alternative solution. I had three options in my mind: offload by hand, use a truck with smaller forks and slide the panels off one by one into it or bring in another truck with a crane on it.

After discussing it with the contractor we decided it would be best to bring in another truck. This way we could lift the bundles off the delivery truck and place them straight on the floor deck.
We called a local concrete form supplier who also rents out his truck and crane and scheduled him to arrive at the same time as the delivery truck.

The panels arrived early in the morning at 8 o’clock. The panels came shipped on a flatbed truck and trailer from Delta, outside Vancouver on the mainland. Our offloading crane arrived shortly after and we could get started.

Delivery truck arriving

We backed in the crane truck first and backed up the delivery truck next to it. Offloading the panels this way was a breeze and little less than two hours later both trucks were gone and the panels were sitting in the house ready for breakdown and assembly.

Unloading the SIPs using a second truck, with a crane

The process started by identifying a corner to start with and which panels goes where. The bundles come from the factory in a random order, so it takes a bit of organizing and sorting before you can really get started.

The assembly process itself starts with confirmation of the foundations square- and plumb-ness. Matt Meier, our concrete contractor did a fantastic job on the concrete and everything fit perfectly.

There are various ways you can connect the foundation, floor system and panels together. We chose to hang the joists off the foundation walls, extend the floor sheathing over the mudsills and then build the panels on top of the sheathing.

You start by laying out your bottom plates. These get set back from the outer face of the wall by about 1/2″. The SIPs panels have the foam recessed at the bottom and “slip on” top of the bottom plate before getting nailed in.

Every wood-to-wood connection gets a continuous bead of polyurethane glue. This is a crucial step as it acts both as a glue and sealant. The glue WILL get all over you.

At this time you also need to check the wood splines between the panels to make sure the wire-chases have been drilled. In our case all the chases were properly drilled in the splines. The only drilling we needed to do was in the corners to enable pulling of wires.

With the bottom plate installed and the connections glued the panel can get put in place. It is as simple as slotting the panel in, making sure it is plumb and square before you nail it in.
We lightly tacked the panels in at the start and not until we had a full wall did we fully nail the panels according to the prescribed nailing pattern.

The final step is to screw in large, specially made SIP screws. These are 10″ long case-hardened screws with a 800-lbs pullout resistance. Screwing these in at 12″ intervals almost nothing can rip the walls apart. Trying to screw them in with a cordless impact-driver can be a losing battle as it powered out all the 18V ones we had available. It is best to use a powerful corded drill to screw them in.

Repeat with the next panel. Glue, place, check, nail.

Around windows and doors the panels are split into top and bottom pieces. In some places these pieces can get very heavy, such as the piece above our double doors in the living room. It took some planning, and a ton of effort of 4 people to get the piece up and nailed in. We contemplated getting the crane out again for this piece but the contractor managed to get it in using various braces and lots of muscle.
There were two pieces like this, and they were the most challenging pieces to place in the whole house.

End of first day

Day 2

The next day called for rain and there was lots of it. One thing that Insulspan could not stress enough was “Don’t let the panels get wet”. We tried our best to keep the panels covered as we worked but inevitably some of them did get wet. If the edges of the panels get wet, the OSB skins can swell up and the tight manufacturing tolerances can make the process of slotting the pieces together a lot more challenging.

When we got to a part that had problems slipping together easily they shaved of a tiny slice of the wood splines and lightly chamfered the corners.
After those steps the panels went together much easier. In some cases we used ratchet straps and a sledgehammer to fit everything together.

On this day we also put in the prefabricated stairs. The only challenging part was lowering the stair landing from up top. To do this we used the lifting plates that Insulspan had provided. Screwed them on to the landing and the four people dropped the landing down from up top using ropes. It was a tight fit, but just right.

Assembling prefabricated stairs

Day 3

On the third day the crew continued placing panel after panel, moving moving very quickly. Before putting the last wall panel in place we moved the rest of the prefabricated walls inside.

Caulking all the joints

Last panel being placed

The contractor we chose had never worked with SIPs panels previously but seemed quite interested in learning. Having built R-2000 houses previously he also understood what we were trying to accomplish with our choice of prefabrication and superinsulation.

So that wraps up the assembly of the walls. The next post will involve the roof trusses and roof panels.

So quite a bit has happened since the last update. I will make an attempt to go through everything that has happened.

As soon as the concrete contractor was done we moved in to start preparing for the concrete floor. This would involve installing interior perimeter drains, conduits for electrical service as well as telephone and cable TV. With this installed we would place some gravel and then top it off with a finer material to provide a smooth surface. On top of this goes a vapour barrier and finally insulation.

Conduits to run cables under the floor slab

We started in the morning with a big pile of white 4″ perforated PVC pipe. This was laid down along the interior of the concrete footings. The purpose of these pipes are to collect any water that might come inside and below the house. For this purpose they have holes along the bottom through which the water might enter. It is not strictly necessary to run perimeter drains on the inside of your foundation. However we made this choice because the ground we sit on it solid and water does not drain through it at all. This way if water does get below the house it will have a way to drain out.

Because we are going with an underground electrical service we need a way to get the main power cable into the house. This can be done either by burying an armoured cable, or providing conduits to pull cables through.
We were very careful in the placement of this conduit as it was supposed to come up right the middle of a wall.
The grey conduit in the picture is for the electrical cable. It is an extra thick type of PVC pipe. Quite expensive and so are the fittings.

Similar requirements exist for the telephone and cable company. In our case we have provided separate conduits for the cable and telephone service. They are the smaller orange pipes.

Unfortunately the contractor placed the sleeves in the concrete in the reverse order, so we had to “snake” the grey and orange pipes around each other rather.
For a quick laugh about the sleeves. I neglected to put couplings on the ends of my conduit sleeves. So when the concrete forms came off everything was flush with the wall as expected only there was no way to slip the couplings over the pipes.
This oversight would require me to chisel out the concrete an inch deep around the three sleeves. After doing about a third of it by hand for an hour I rented a hammerdrill the next day and had it done in 20 minutes.

Willy from Apex Plumbing installing water supply lines

At the same time our plumber came out and started his underslab rough-ins. We put in two waterlines. One that we will use and a spare in case something happens to the first one. They also installed all the sewer lines that will run beneath the floor.

Slinger truck shooting drain rock

With the pipes and conduits in place we called for a truckload of gravel. We used a so-called “slinger truck” which is a truck with a conveyor belt on the rear. Using this conveyor belt the operator can shoot gravel up to 30 feet with high precision. This takes away alot of manual work to get the gravel where it needs to.

Placing gravel wherever needed

We added a minimum of 12″ of gravel throughout the foundation. The gravel serves as a permeable layer that water can flow through, to the drain pipes. It also provides a capillary break, preventing water from wicking up through it as might happen with other, more sandy materials.

Slinging more material in

On top of the gravel we placed a layer of filter fabric. This is to keep the top layer, which will contain a mixture of fine grain particles and gravel from mixing with the gravel, keeping it clean and free draining.
With the fabric laid down we called for the slinger truck again, this time with a load of screened pit run. This is a mixture of gravel and sand with no rocks larger than 2″. When we compact it with a plate compactor it forms a very hard and smooth base for the next stage.

Protected from the rain and ready for insulation

We knew that there was rain in the forecast and we need to keep going to finish the foundation. Because we were about to lay down plastic vapour barrier and insulation it would keep any rainfall from draining out. It would get trapped between the layers and we neede to keep any water out of it.
To this purpose we purchased the largest tarp they had at the store. Trying to wrap exposed concrete walls, with sharp corners, stepped edges and exposed anchor bolts turned out to be a challenge.
With some leftover lumber we screwed together a sort of space frame to hold up the tarp while we worked on the inside. Something that we learned along the way was, if you think you have the tarpe tied down enough, you don’t. If the supports seem sturdy enough, they probably aren’t.
While we were waiting for better weather the tarp came down twice. The day we were hoping to have our floor slab poured we had to spend a whole day tearing up the insulation in sections and vacuuming out standing water trapped on top of the vapour barrier.

The day after that we could finally, after many delays have our floor slab poured. The weather was nice and the truck arrived at 9 o’clock sharp.

Concrete truck getting ready

There was a crew of five. Two guys going back and forth with wheelbarrows moving concrete from the truck to wherever it needed to be while the three others were raking, screeding and checking levels.

Getting there

Crew working hard

Control joint

Getting the concrete in took about 3 hours. Then half of the crew left and the two remainding members used machines to finish the floor. I did not get any pictures of them as I had left at this point.

Concrete truck leaving

That will be the last we see of the concrete truck until it is time to build the carport.

With the concrete setting I was ready to inform the people I have hired for the assembly work that they could get started.
I was very careful in picking who we used for this part and we ended up with someone who has done quite a bit of work out on Ship’s Point.

The floor slab was poured on Tuesday Jan 31st and they started the very next day.

Framing the prefab interior walls

By the time I arrived at around lunchtime, they had removed the rickety tarp supports and were moving the lower floor wall panels in place.

Framing the prefab interior walls

The North side with the bedroom window opening at the stepped concrete wall.

The angled piece is the wall in the stairwell.

Bedroom window

The bedroom window is an example of what might happen if, during the review process of the prefab drawings, you mistake your wording.
During the design you need to check all the drawings against each other to make sure that everything lines up properly. In this case it involves the architectural drawings that the dimension of the foundation derive from. On top of that I need to reconcile them with drawings from Insulspan as well as Pacific Building Systems. In this case I noted that the “bottom of sill” of the wall panel framing the window be at 4’9-1/2″ to concide with a concrete wall of 4′-8″ with a 1 1/2″ sill plate sitting on it. But I said “bottom of sill”, when it should have said “TOP of sill”. This means the wall panel window starts 1 1/2″ higher than the wall. It is no big deal to add some extra wood afterwards to bring everything in line, but it is added work and materials that should not have been there and it highlights the importance of drawing review and terminology.

Preparing the prefabbed wall panels

The wall panels come complete with pressure treated sill plates. The guys added extra sill gasket to the bottom of the walls. Not strictly necessary, but good for the longevity and a nice touch.

The front wall will be made from SIPs panels that tie into the floor system. The easiest way to deal with his is to temporarily brace the framing until the SIPs get installed.

Floor sheathing going in

At the end of Friday they had installed all the lower floor walls, the floor joists and started on the sheathing.

Pink floor joists and LVL boards

The joists are pink because they are painted with a coating that is mold and fire resistant.

Framing details

As the walls start going up we can start getting a sense of the rooms.

View from bedroom

Temporary supports

This is where we are sitting now. On Monday they will work as far as they can go before things need to start to tie in with the SIPs panels, which are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday.