The Week In Review

The tough part about doing this week in review is the fact that I am not there to actually see it.I am getting updates from my parents and my brother who are keeping an eye on things.

We do have all the walls up for the new part of the house and the next step will be to get the trusses put up, which should happen next week.My dad said that the master bedroom is a good size with a nice big closet so we will have a lot of room for clothing.He did mention that the new bathroom looked kind of small and he was concerned that the tub might not fit in there.I guess once I get home I will see for myself,hopefully we can get a tub in there otherwise that really screws things up.

The windows in the bedrooms on the new part are big from what I have been told,and the basement my mom said looks big now.Her and I were looking at the basement when they only had the bricks up thinking it looked pretty small,but I am told it looks bigger now.Like I said though, any space is better than what we have.

So it has been kind of a hectic week with all the visiting,and add a few concerts to the mix,it's been hard to keep the blog updated on a regular basis.Also I don't have access to any pictures, so it's just not the same describing it as it would be if you could actually see the pictures and had something to look at.When I get home I am going to have a lot of pictures to post on here to get caught up.For me it's a little disappointing being away because this was the time I wanted to be around to see all this happen.But that is just not the way it was meant to work out.

Speaking of being back,I was originally set to come home on Monday but they decided to induce my wife on Thursday which meant I needed to take another week of holidays.So next week I will be missing the action, but it is for a good reason so I am ok with that.

That's about all for now I just wanted to post a quick update to keep you up on all the action.Again I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I will post them when I get home sometime next week.

So for now you are just going to have to bare with the writen updates for now!

Into The Depths Of The Basement.......Part 1

With my insomnia kicking in full force and my laptop on, I felt like doing a post.Now bringing my laptop with me when we go to visit family out of town is not something I normally do.This time I felt the need to bring it for some reason.

So here I sit,it's 12:30am and I am just going through some of the pictures on my laptop and stumble across some pictures of the house.Now you have to understand I have 3 computers at home,I am counting my laptop in that and pictures of the house on all of them.It's not all the same house pictures mind you,for some reason I decided I needed to spread them out on all of my computers. 

Don't ask why,I don't know myself!!

To be honest I'm still not sure why I even have 3 computers?

On this computer I have found some pictures of the basement that I figured I would post.You know,since it is the wee hours of the morning and it seems like a better idea than sleeping right now.I may or may not finish this post tonight or this morning however you want to look at it,but it did originate in the early morning hours.Just remember when your reading this.

I'm talking pre-dawn hours of course.

So if there is anything wrong or doesn't make sense in this post,that's why.It has nothing to do with my lack of writing skills,just keep that in mind. 

Let's get on with the pictures shall we.....

 

Here is the view when you open our basement door.Yes these stairs are very steep and it's not the angle I am holding the camera.Believe it or not, my grandmother had her washing machine down in this basement and would have to carry laundry baskets of clothes up and down these stairs.I don't remember if she fell down the stairs or not.I do know my aunt did and ended up breaking her wrist.That also was more alcohol related,but the steepness of the stairs didn't help.

This is just a look behind the stairs, which you can see is just pretty much dirt back there. 

This view would be if you were standing at the bottom of the stairs looking into the basement.The stairs we just came down will no longer be there as they will be covered by floor.That floor is for the new entrance/hallway area.This means that there will be a new doorway put in to get into this part of the basement,which will only be used as a utility room.And storage room as well,because really there is not too much else you could use it for.

Here we are just stepping into the basement and looking to our left.You can see the garbage bags piled on top of that freezer which is about 30 years old.The freezer still works but has been unplugged for years since it is a killer on hydro.You can see the hook ups from where my grandmothers washing machine was.   

 

There is a look back at where the bottom of the stairs is and the doorway into the basement.That piece of wood you see there next to the doorway is where my grandfather had his dart board.We use to come down here and shoot darts all the time.I remember during hockey games we would come down between periods and shoot a few games before the hockey game started again.We did have a lot of good times down here!!Of course back then there was not as much junk down here as there is now.

The old beast of a furnace.This thing worked for 30 years and then decided to crap out on us this winter.We were planning on getting an new one anyway,but we were at least hoping to get one more winter out of it.But with the help of some portable heaters and a mild winter we survived.You can see just how old and rusted out this thing is.

The front/side view of the furnace.You can see just how big this furnace is and I think it is a 100,000 Btu furnace if I am not mistaken.So this thing will come out and a nice new energy efficient furnace will take its place.

One more of the furnace from the side.Since our basement is so moist we have to get new duct work throughout the house.This means that the gas guys have to crawl into the hole to replace the old duct work.Below is a picture of that hole they need to crawl into...

Even the thought of crawling into this hole freaks me out.I can't imagine the guys from the gas company who have to crawl in there being to impressed.Once all the work is done in there, my dad said he would build some kind of door to cover that up.

  

There are a just few pictures of the old basement.As you see by the title I had to turn this into a 2 part post,since I had more pictures of the basement than I thought when I first started this post.Keep in mind it was early in the morning when I originally started this.

So there you have it,IntoThe Depths Of The Basement....Part1.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

                                                                                    

The Basement Floor Is In!

I knew this week was going to be an interesting week trying to post updates while out of town.But I have vowed to do my best, so here it goes.

I talked with my dad tonight and he said that the contractor was there for the last 2 days working hard.I have been told the floor for the basement is now in and from what I am told the concrete can now be poured.When this will happen I don't know, I just hope it is soon.

The next step though, is the walls being framed and then the trusses will go on.

Yes, that would be those same trusses that were to be delivered last Friday.They, from what I have been told, still have not been delivered as of today and my dad is pretty sure that our contractor did not order them when he said he did.Just another stall tactic I guess.

So we have had 2 good days of work happen at the house which is usually followed by a few days of inactivity,but I shouldn't say anything just yet.I should at least give our contractor the benefit of the doubt for now.

With that I think you are all caught up for now.I will have some pictures to post for you when I get back home on Monday, as I have my parents on picture duty for the week.I know it will make things a lot easier to understand and it's better than trying to picture it in your mind.

That's just not as fun!!

                                                                                                                                                     

For The Record....And A Quick Wrap Up!

Well this is the 30th post of this blog and the house is defiantly not as far along as we were hoping.It has made for a lot of difficult writing trying to figure what to post on here when nothing is happening day after day.But somehow I seem to manage.Although most of the time it turns into me bitching......

And that's not why I started the blog!! 

I started it because I thought it would be fun to document and keep track of the progress that the house was going through.To me it seemed like it would be a fun thing to do and also for our family who are living out of town, they could keep track of what was going on as well.

So to the people who think I started this blog so I could slam our contractor at every chance I had,that's not why I am doing this.I think this fact needs to be pointed out.This is why I don't use his name when I am posting.The people who know us, know who the contractor is, so I just leave it at that.

I don't want people to get the wrong idea about the blog,but when things are not going along as we think they(and many others around us)should,then I just come on here and post what we are feeling.

That's it.

I don't mean it to be a bitchfest or anything like that.And I am not trying to drag someones name through the mud,again that's why I don't use his name.But people know us,they drive by the house to see how things are going,we have neighbours who see our house looking the same, day after day and nobody around  working on it.They all know who the contractor is,so he is only hurting himself by bouncing from job to job while we sit on hold.

Also now add to the fact that our neighbour was over at our place Monday giving the gears to our contractor about the way the house looks and how long it is taking.Now this guy has everyone from my dad,brother,neighbour and other contractors giving him crap for the amount of time he is taking to complete this job.

The thing that worries me, is that he is going to think we have everybody after him on his back and he could then turn around and start adding extra charges, on top of what is all ready a large amount of money that we are spending.Of course that is just my paranoia coming through.

Ok enough of that.

We did meet with our contractor on Friday and we have got the windows,siding and shingles all sorted out.He also said that he would make the front door for us wider and make that front window a little bigger to try to even things out.This would be happening instead of us getting rid of that front door and going through all of that.

Also the trusses were supposed to be delivered on Friday and they were not,so he said he was going to look into that to see what happened there.

Things are set to get rolling tomorrow and with us being out of town now awaiting the arrival of the baby,I'm going to have to get updates from my parents as to the progress(if any)this week.

I have my mom on picture duty until I get back next week, then I will be able to post some pictures of what happened this week,if anything. 

Here is hoping this week is a good one!

Part 3

No action on the construction front today,but I did expect that so no big deal.

Our contractor did however happen to pay me a visit a work tonight which was very unexpected.My wife showed up about 5 minutes after he did and for the better part of an hour(while I was supposed to be doing work) we discussed windows,siding,shingle colours and what we could possible do with that front door. If you look at the picture to the right, that door between the 2 windows,well it's not a very practical door.Once you open the door you end up right in our living room,there is no entrance or anything which doesn't really work.

So here is an inside view of that.As you can see when you come in the house you are right in our living room.There was a wall there for a room at one time right where that tote is sitting on the floor,I think that's where the wall started.This meant at one time the door did make sense,because there was kind of an entrance there.We got to thinking that maybe if we got rid of the door and put in 2 large windows that would make a little more sense.So we mentioned this to our contractor tonight,he said it was possible but that we would have to put a door somewhere else.Then we thought maybe put a door in our bedroom that would open onto a deck.He said that would work and that he had a little deck from another job he had worked on that we could use. If we did that we would only need about $150 for some more materials.The part that was going to cost, we be to put a larger window in where that small one is with the air conditioner in it.Then reason being that he would have to do work inside to open it up and support it properly.Also the expense of the larger window.About $900 we were told depending on the size.So he told us to sleep on it  and we would discuss it more on Friday.

Well we didn't sleep on it so to speak but we did talk about it after I got home from work.Our feeling was, we are over budget all ready, we don't know what kind of other surprises he will find when he takes the old siding off and it's just one more thing that we don't need at this point.If we were further along and we knew how much we had left in the budget,then it might have been possible.But right now it's a no go.

Now you are all up to date and I will post the notes from our meeting on Friday night.

If it happens.

And The Waiting Continues......Part 2

Again another frustrating day with nothing going on.My dad had a chat with our contractor tonight and he told my dad he was finishing up a job out of town so he would be at that job for one more day.He told my dad he was waiting for the trusses anyway and that he couldn't do anything until they got here.This is supposed to happen either Thursday or Friday. This guarantee's that the rest of the week is a write-off.

I really don't know why he would not have ordered the trusses early if he need them for the floor? I guess that's besides the point now.

Also we need to get together with our contractor and discuss what kind of windows to order.We are supposed to do this Friday night.My dad was talking with our contractor friend who was in the business for 40 years, he told my dad that the windows could take 6-8 weeks to come in.....YIKES! Here is the thing though,when my dad was talking to our contractor tonight he told my dad he could have the windows here in 3 weeks.

Now who do we believe? 

A. A guy who has been dragging out this job for over a month?
B. A guy who has been a friend of the family for years and was a contractor for over 40 years? 

If we believe answer B to be right,  then that puts us into the middle of September before we even have any windows here,not good. Even if our contractor can get the windows here in 3 weeks that still puts us almost at the end of August.And who is to say when the windows do get here he even puts them in right away? He might start 3 or 4 jobs during this time!Then here we will be sitting in November with no windows in the new part of the house and all kinds of snow blowing in the house.

Ok, I exaggerated a little, but I might not be that far off. 

Here we sit waiting again for things to get going.My mom did ask him how long it would take him once he had everything to get done and of course he didn't really give her an answer.

It's nice to have my parents and my brother watching out for us and we are really going to need them next week when we are not around.Also our contractor friend who has been keeping up with the situation,when he stops over to visit my parents he always checks up on what's going on.We are glad that he feels the same way we do, that the job should not be taking this long.It is nice to know that we are just not over excited or something.

Right now the situation is what it is.There is not really anything we can do but just sit and wait and hope that things get done when they can get done.

I really just don't know what else to say.

The Lumber Showed Up.......But The Workers Didn't

The picture below pretty much sums up all that went on here today.

Some lumber was dropped off.

There you have it.

I apologize for the blurriness of the picture, as it looks like it was taken while I was driving by or running by,I'm not sure why it looks like that.You get the point anyhow, blurry or not.  

That's it!!

The days events all wrapped up in less than 500 words.I know it's not exciting but it is all that I have got.

I hope tomorrow I have something a little more interesting for you all!

                    

Tar On!

So today brought some tar to the foundation.Our contractor dropped off the kid this morning, who slaved all day putting tar on the foundation and also leveling off what is soon to be a basement floor.This means the floor can be poured this week sometime.

Also the inspector was by to check things out and everything passed,so onto the next phase.All the materials for the framing will be delivered this week and also the trusses will be here Friday. 

This is my wife's last week of work, so we are heading down to her family's for the arrival of our son.I'm nervous about not being around for the week to see what is going on but, luckily my parents are right across the road to keep an eye on things.And also if any issues come up they know to tell the contractor to pick the cheapest solution to the problem and move on,hopefully there is not too many.My brother will also be around to keep our contractor in line, which is good.You can never have enough people watching out for you!

There is the foundation with that nice tar all over it.This looks like it would have been a fun job to do.At least it was not too hot outside today,I mean it was warm just not as humid as it has been.

That picture is of course the frame for the wall.It has nothing to do with the tar but I didn't get a chance yesterday to get a full picture of the frame.So I figured I would do it today.And there it is.The kid who was working here today was taking sand from that sand mountain we have, tossing it into the basement and then leveling it off.Let me tell you he was not moving that fast and he was really grunting and groaning.I had the kitchen window open a little so when I got home from work I could hear him.I also took a little peek.Let me tell you, he was not having an easy go of it.It was to the point were I felt bad and was ready to go give him a hand.But soon after I had that feeling our contractor showed up.Thank God!

I really didn't want to shovel but I'm not sure how much more I could have taken watching and listening to him struggle.It got done so that's all that matters.I'm sure he is going feel that tomorrow or even later tonight.

The week is off to a good start and I think things will pick up from here on in.Of course I shouldn't speak to soon. 

Proven Wrong.....In A Good Way

Not that most people would like to be proven wrong, but in this case for me it was nice.Our contractor did show up here on Saturday and worked for about 5 hours,which I thought would never happen.I'm just hoping this continues through next week.

What happened here yesterday was actually not what I thought was go to happen.When my wife told me that the contractor showed up,I was expecting to see some tar somewhere.That was not the case.Below is what did happen.............

 As you can see the other side of the wall has been framed and there is now a whole skeleton of wall,instead of just half. Also he put a board on top of the beam, which you can kind of see a part of .I did not get a good shot of that so you just have to picture it in your mind. 


Now I'm not to sure what the next phase is but I think the tar would be the next step.I'm not sure also if the inspector needs to look at what has been done before they can put the tar on or does the tar go on and then the inspector checks things out? I really don't know.

So hopefully next week things will progress a little better than in previous weeks.

We will see!

The Weekly Wrap Up

With this week coming to an end,even though there is still a possibility that some tarring could take place tomorrow, I'm still going to post the weekly wrap up regardless.And let's face it, we all know it's not going to happen,I hope I am proven wrong.

But the week was not a total write-off as has happened in previous weeks here.The foundation is ready to be tarred and we have part of a framed wall in the what is soon to be a basement.Gip rock and weeping tile are in and I think the building inspector is coming to check things out on Monday from what our contractor was telling me.Of course that could change. 

So with the baby arriving in 3 weeks, things here on the construction front are moving slowly.We would like to get things done by at least the first or second week of September,but that all depends on our contractor.If he keeps taking jobs along the way that won't happen.I understand it's hard to turn down the money, but he only works with two other guys so he can't very well spread his guys out at different jobs.Since there is only two of them I hope he would keep this in mind.

The way I look at it is,everyday he is not here we are upset because things here are held up and I am sure that if he has other jobs on the go(which I know he does),every time he is here they are probably pissed that he is not working there.

Don't get me wrong the guy does great work(so I have heard) but you can't keep taking on jobs while your trying to finish other jobs,people will just end up mad no matter how good your work is.And that could be bad for business.That's all I have to say on that matter.

Well like I said we could see some tarring tomorrow we might not.Everyday of this job has been like Christmas,it's always a surprise because we never know what we are going to get.Sometimes it's like getting a lump of coal,sometimes it's like getting that really cool toy.

We just never know until we wake up and open our eyes!

Ramblings,Extra Costs And The Joy Of Construction!!

I thought today since there was not going to be anything happening on the construction front I would talk a little bit about  my thoughts of this whole situation and trying to deal with it and everything else.

We knew going into this construction that it would be a true test of how calm and relaxed we could remain.My wife and I are known as people who just kind of go with the flow not really letting to much get to us.

That was then!

This is now!

As much as I  like seeing work being done here,I know for myself that it just feels like it's costing me extra money for some reason.I have no idea if my wife feels the same, but she also does not have the same paranoid, pessimistic attitude that I have.You know the attitude were everyone is out to rip you off somehow!

And you will find if your going to go through your own renovations that everyone will be out to get a piece of you,this much I have learned.From permits,to hydro disconnection fees,to a different type of home owners insurance because even though your house is already insured,you need a construction type of home insurance.That my friends has costs us $150 up front and then an extra $30 or so a month while the construction is going on.

Then of course the town will be here after all the construction is done to re-evaluate the worth of our house and then I am sure our taxes will shoot up,which we can't wait for.

But the thing of this is, it's still working out cheaper to go this route then to buy a house.

Of course I might be changing my mind by the end of all this! 

Time will tell!!

Another Full Day

Much to our surprise we did have another full day of work happen here today.Even with the heat the guys worked steady through out the day.This was nice to see.

With that being said, I was told by our contractor that he had a job to finish out of town,so this means that he won't be around for a couple of days.Having only 2 other guys on his crew,who will obviously be with him,we definitely know nothing is happening here tomorrow.

Let's get on with the pictures,

Pictured here is where the sump pump will be.I finally got inside the hole and took some pictures.I figured it was about time to get down into here and get some pictures. 

Here we have a shell of a wall.You can see part of the support beam which I am sure was not easy to get in.That beam was super heavy, but I didn't hear any swearing while I was in the house,so I guess it went ok.It's in there,that's all that matters.

We have here the support beam in full view.It looks good all freshly painted.Even though this beam put us a little more out of the budget,$2500 worth,it's going to be nice to have the space.Of course space always comes at a price. 

Here would be the gip rock and underneath the rock we have weeping tile,so I was told. I can't verify this because I have no idea what weeping tile looks like.With my lack of construction knowledge I'm just going by what I am told.

That concludes the picture portion of this post in what was a productive day around here.Not to mention that my parents came over and cleaned the yard for us which was great and now it looks better.My mom even cut the front lawn,because she knows how much I love cutting the lawn(sarcasm).

It's nice to have them close to come over and lend a hand or in this case do most of the work.I did help my dad lift a couple of heavy rocks into the back of the truck.And that was the extent of my helping. My dad said hopefully we will stop having offers to move in with people when they go by.

With that we end another day here in the construction zone.The next part of the build I am told is the tarring,which could possibly take place on Saturday,but we won't hold our breath.

                                                                                                                   

Is This It For The Week?

First off I didn't want to post this late but I was having fun trying to hook up a wireless internet connection.When I say fun of course I mean that sarcastically!

Today we had some activity going on around here,which was nice to see.The only question that remains now is,will they be back tomorrow or is this it for a few days?Those of you who have been reading the blog since I started it, know that we have not had two days of consecutive work take place around here,so we will see what tomorrow brings.If anything?

Let's take a look at some pictures and see what did go on today...

You can see the boards that have been bolted to the foundation and are getting ready to be framed upon,or something like that.No that is not toilet paper you see hanging there but some type of what looks almost like a foam that goes under the boards. 

This is another picture of the boards from a different angle.I was told that bolting these boards on to the foundation is a time consuming part of the job.And I am sure they really enjoyed working  in the blistering heat,but had everything gone as was first planned they would have been done this part a few weeks ago,when the heat wasn't as bad as it is now.But that point is irrelevant now.Moving on......

Here is a close up of one of the bolts.I don't know why I thought you needed to see that? But I did.Really hope you enjoyed that close up.

What we have here is this freshly painted support beam.This beam was painted today and was a pretty rusty colour before, but now look how nice it looks.The great thing about this beam is that it means that we won't have three posts in our basement to carry the load of the addition, which will free up space in the basement.All for the price of only $2500. You can see the nice pile of junk that has been laying there for a month now.Our house has looked like such a disaster area for a month that we keep having people offer their homes to us.They feel bad when they drive by and see the mess that they want us to move in with them. 

My parents of course being the main ones,since they live across the road and get too enjoy looking at the mess as much as we do!

With the arrival of the baby in less then one month, the yard looking like it was bombed or something,the house looking like it's about to be condemned  and to add on top of that, it's tourist season around here which is driving me nuts!Nothing against people who want to travel and stuff but it's hard to go to work and deal with people from out of the area asking 50 thousand questions,then go home to the disaster that has become our life.On top of all that worry about my wife and how the delivery is going to go since I will be here and she will be 6 hours away.

Oh ya and money!How could I forget that??

With my wife going on maternity leave, money is going to be tight......real tight!

I'm almost at my wits end and don't know if I should cry,scream or pull my hair out??

On that note I going to end this post and I hope you enjoyed the pictures and my almost mental breakdown!! 

Tomorrows another day!Hopefully better!

Blame It On The Rain!

I thought I would blame the lack of activity around here today on the rain.

It kind of makes me feel better.

Even though they could have showed up here this morning when the sun was out,worked for a little bit until the rain clouds showed up and then called it day.Instead they decided just not to show up at all.

Of course maybe our contractor has some kind of psychic ability that we don't know about and knew it was going to rain.You know there are people out there like that so don't laugh.

Either way you look at it,nobody showed up,then it rained , maybe they knew ahead of time,maybe they didn't plan on showing up regardless of the weather, I don't know.I do know nothing got done, so there is no sense placing the blame or getting upset.We just need to deal with the fact that this just puts us another day behind schedule. 

Hopefully the rain holds off tomorrow and somebody shows up here!

The Hole Remains The Same

As I guessed there was not too much going on construction wise here today.The brick layers did come back this morning and put a coat of cement on the bricks,then they left.I think they were here for an hour at the most.But I did expect that.

The next step I am told is to pour the cement for the floor which will hopefully take place next week.Monday preferably!!

Still to me and talking with my dad he feels the same, that they could have had this done weeks ago and had most of it framed in by now.Of course for that to happen our contractor would have had to focus on this job and not bounce around from job to job.

I guess we just have to roll with things how ever they go,as long as the house gets done before snowfall we should be happy!!

Now It's Starting To Look Like Something...........

The brick layers were hard at it since 7am this morning,let me tell you I would not want to do their job.Lifting and placing bricks just doesn't look like fun at all.Of course what I do is not much fun either,but that is a whole other story! Anyway on with the pictures...

This would be the wall that we have been waiting for!Looking at this now it seems like we are getting somewhere but I still don't think we will be done on time.Unless our contractor spends all his time on this job for the next few weeks  instead of bouncing around from job to job,I don't think everything will be ready for the end of August.

Here is a view from the back.You can see the space where the two windows are going to go.

I was standing on the two boards you see there and was going to go into the sort of basement and take a picture.But the boards kind of slipped and I didn't feel like falling into the hole between the bricks,so I didn't go in there.If I didn't have to go back to work I might have tried it.

That concludes another day on the construction front and I think that the cement needs a day or so to dry so I don't what else the brick layers need to do.They did leave their stuff here so I am assuming they are coming back tomorrow,but I could be wrong!

A 1954 Whiskey Bottle History Lesson!

This post has nothing to do with the home renovations we are going through right now.I guess that is not really true since the post is about a whiskey bottle my brother found while in the crawl hole running some wires through the house.

 That would be the hole my brother had to crawl into and where he found the whiskey bottle.I don't know how he did it either?     

      Here is the first picture of the whiskey bottle.It was made by the Gooderham and Worts Distillery Company,which at the time that this was made was owned by Harry C Hatch who purchased the company in 1923.In 1927 Hatch purchased the company Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd and combined the two companies to form the Hiram Walker-Gooderham and Worts Ltd.Try saying that 5 times fast!

As you can see the whiskey was made in 1954.Unfortunately there was no whiskey in the bottle if there was it would have been nicely aged.I think it is safe to say that this belonged to my grandfather and probably threw it in the hole to get rid of the evidence not wanting my grandmother to found out about his secret love for whiskey.Although to be honest I think she kind of had an idea.What other secrets does the crawl hole have?? I don't know, but I can tell you I am not crawling in there to find out!

The company Gooderham and Worts was originally founded by James Worts who came to Toronto(York at the time) in 1831 from Suffolk, England where he owned a flour mill.He built a windmill at the mouth of the Don River the next year and then was joined by his brother in law William Gooderham.Their business prospered processing grains and then shipping out then grain until Worts wife Elizabeth died during childbirth. James Worts would commit suicide two weeks later by jumping into the windmill's well and drowning.Gooderham would manage the company solo until he made Worts oldest son James Gooderham Worts co manager.With a surplus of wheat in 1837 the company got into the business of distilling and then it really prospered until of course prohibition! They did build a new distillery complex in 1859 and this building was used up until it was closed in 1990.The building still stands in what is now called the Distillery District in Toronto which is located on Trinity street.

There you go your history lesson for the day, but if you do want to read up more on Gooderham and Worts Ltd just click the link it will take you where you need to go.

Update

So I got the scoop as to why the brick layer left and didn't come back.

I was just talking with my dad and he was talking to a friend of the family who is a retired contractor and he said that it is too hot to lay bricks today.Apparently that if it is too hot out they can't lay the bricks for the foundation or the cement will dry too fast and end up cracking the foundation.Of course we don't want that, so I guess it was a good thing they decided not to do it today.This is probably why they were waiting around to see how hot it was going to be,thus deciding it was too hot(good choice) and left.

I didn't check the weather for tomorrow so we will just have to wait and see what happens with the weather.If it's not one thing it's another!

MidDay Post

I thought I would do a lunch time post since I can almost bet that nothing is going to happen the rest of today.

The day did not start out like this though,no,no there was hope in the air.There was hope of a foundation being built today when the brick layer showed up here a 7:30am.The situation was looking really good.

They(brick layer and helper) got in the hole,moved some bricks around so the had some space to work.They set up the cement mixing machine,asked me to turn on the water and.................

That was it!!!!

They stood around after that waiting for who knows what?? They decided to leave around 8:40am and  I have not seen them since.

I thought maybe they might be back later this morning only because a truck from Cambrian Metal showed up about 10 minutes after they left.

I figured ahhh......that's what they were waiting for.

It wasn't!

All he was doing was dropping off a support beam for the addition.Fat chance of them using that anytime soon!!Our contractor did show up to help the driver unload the beam and then he also took off and I haven't seen him again either.Probably went to work on his other job.

This concludes yet another frustrating day on the home construction front.Unless they come back this afternoon, which I seriously doubt,today to me looks like another write off.

I look outside and find it hard to believe that this whole construction started almost a month ago.To me it looks like it started last week.We have baby coming in 5 weeks and I need to get the inside of the house done before my wife returns with our two sons near the end of August.I really just do not see this happening.I would hate to have them come back to a mess with the inside of the house not ready, but it looks like this may be the case.

The floors need to be done in all the bedrooms,bathrooms and the kitchen.The inside needs to be painted.New drywall needs to be put in the existing living room.The doors need to be changed on the existing bedrooms and bathroom.Not to mention all the little things that I can't think of right now.All this needs to be done and ready for the end of August.So with these guys only spending about 2 days a week here there is absolutely no way this is getting done when we need it to get done. 

My only hope right now is that maybe they can somehow prove me wrong!

Bricks Almost In Their Final Resting Place!

The bricks have made it from the driveway to the hole and are now ready to be turned into a foundation.Even in the 36 degree heat the workers tossed the bricks in the hole and then piled them all nice for the brick layer, so he can come in a just place the bricks where they need to go.Also the fact they probably don't want to piss of the brick layer as I said before he is known to have a temper.

Let's look at the bricks all nicely piled................

Looking at them in the hole it doesn't look like a lot.When they were taking up the whole driveway there looked like a lot more.Also 3 bricks were smashed in the making of this pile which is unfortunate.I was told that the foundation should be done by the end of the day tomorrow,but I won't hold my breath. 





With the weather calling for much of the same hot,humid conditions for tomorrow it should be a really nice hot day for the guys working.Of course that is provided they even show up.We will see!

DriveWay Still Full Of Bricks!

You might have guessed from the title of the post that the bricks are still in the driveway,which should not surprise me at this point the way things go around here.We have a few days with some activity and then it is usually followed up by 2 or 3 days of non activity.

Of course, in all fairness the humidity was REALLY bad today and I know if it was me I would prefer not to be outside laying bricks on a day like this.But that's just me and I could hazard guess that is how are brick guy felt as well because he wasn't here! I just assumed and from now on will not assume anymore, that because the bricks were dropped off Friday that something was going to happen today.Also throw in the fact that my parents said the brick layer showed up yesterday to take a look at things,of course we were not home at the time so we couldn't ask him when he intended to lay the bricks.

My parents also said he was a bigger guy and I heard from my brother who worked with the guy a few times that he does have a bit of a temper.Maybe it was best not to put this guy to work in the extreme heat.All I could think about was this guy in that hole and maybe a few bricks decide not to co-operate with him,then add the humidity on top of that and I had visions of a few bricks laying on our kitchen floor.

That brings you all up to date on the non activity that took place here today but with the angry brick layer and extreme humidity that was probably a good thing!

The Bricks Arrive!

With yesterday being a holiday,we did not figure on anything getting done today......

And we were right!

Okay, I shouldn't put it like that because they did deliver the bricks(10 skids) today for the foundation.I guess that means something was done,and we were not even expecting that.We figured with the holiday on the Thursday that we wouldn't see any kind of activity around here until Monday assuming they would take today off.Hopefully this means Monday morning they will be ready to lay some bricks.

  

Speaking of bricks, here is a picture of them all lined up ready for action.

There you have it.All that went on here today.With the bricks ready, hopefully Monday morning they will be put where they belong!On that note this concludes another week on the construction front,we will see what next week brings.