7 of 9

While 7 of 9 was my favourite crew member on Star Trek, it also represents my progress to date on the ICF courses.  I have row 7 about 75% complete and then will only have two more rows of ICF to place before starting on the top curb with all of the insulation inserts to prevent thermal bridging where the foundation transitions to above grade (see S12).

The installation of the ICF has been going very well.  For one, I am able to do this all on my own which is a miracle. The Decompression treatments on my back have worked wonders.  In November, I was having to take days off at a time after really easy work and now I am lifting 60-100 lb blocks all day with minimal discomfort.

60-100 lbs you say – aren’t these blocks supposed to be just under 50 lbs?  Yup – when they are DRY!  The stock pile by the road has been covered with plastic for a couple of months at least.  They were wet when I covered them up, and there has not been much air movement or sun over the winter, but I suspect the problem is actually the plastic.  It is called Heavy Poly and is made by Duchesne (there site does not provide specs).  I suspect it is far from moisture impermeable and is actually allowing diffusion of any pooled water to flow into the block below.  The end result was that the blocks were saturated and HEAVY!  I weighed one today that had already been sitting out and draining for a day, and it was still 84 lbs. I have since removed all of the plastic which will allow air flow and solar gain.  It is supposed to be dry for the next week and by then I will have the blocks in place.

My legs have recovered from the stair workout I am now getting every day, but today I was overall just beat.  I donated blood last night and I think it took a little out of me considering the type of work I am doing right now.  The movement of the blocks from the road to the pit scaffold via the bridge and tower has been working very well but is still a LOT of work.  I am looking forward to some down time this weekend.  I am averaging 50+ ascents each and every day (ie. climbing 50 flights of stairs a day). There is 13 stairs (or a standard flight) and that is just the stairs, it does not take into account going up and down the ladder from the scaffold to the pit floor or climbing all over the scaffold all day. If someone wants a cheep exercise routine, hang out with me for an hour.  Its free but I may make you move a block or two 🙂

Blackberry has been thrilled with the sky-bridge and has spent hours at site on several days (I would hardly see her all day previous).

 

My building envelope engineer has provided his general blessing of my basement waterproofing plans.  I am just trying to finalize what membrane I want to use, Colphene 3000 (a peel and stick), or Colphene Torch’N Stick (a torch-on with a torch off top surface that would allow the adhesion of the mineral wool insulation). My preference is the Torch’N Stick as long as it adheres well to the ICF and the intermediary Flam Stick membrane sticks well to the FastFoot membrane. The torch on option would simplify the insulation installation and would also be a more durable membrane, due to reinforcement, over the Peel and Stick.  I have samples coming tomorrow including some primer to use on the 3000 sample I already have on site (the Peel and Stick without primer did not adhere well to the ICF).

I also met with Patrick Summer on Wednesday to discuss the HRV system and the ducting requirements.  Patrick will design the system and I will install it.  He will then come back and commission it.  There will be some challenges to find places to route the ducts needed in my generally 2×4 wall construction dwelling.  But our meeting was fruitful and I will create the basic plans showing the needed duct routing, as I am the most familiar with the dwelling and its framing.

The final two rows of ICF will take a substantially longer time as they involve closing off the lintels above the two basement doorways.  I believe this requires the cutting and modification of blocks, but I need to review the Durisol manual this weekend for the game plan for next week.

I have just uploaded the Feb – Roving Cam time lapse if anyone wants to catch up.

Thanks for visiting.