Choosing colours

We are very happy with how the door colours worked out. Willy actually stained them with two coats of Muskoka red. It actually looks better here, a little darker than anticipated, but I think it actually looks better than the preview. The lighting probably helps.

It's pretty much the only splash of colour on a very neutral house, so it doesn't overwhelm the eye as you might expect red to do.


Choosing Door Colours
So red it is for the doors, but which red?

After deliberating with Willy, we decided to go with a stain instead of paint. Paint chips, especially on doors; stain does not. Stain also lets more of the grain of the wood get through and protects the wood.

Fortunately, a company called Sansin offers a fine alternative of saturated colors in stain (see link below). They offer three shades of red, and I had to see how they looked so I simulated them on some image editing software. They are in order of appearance:

• Primary red
• Heritage red
• Muskoka red

We already picked out a colour. Can you guess which one? We're ordering it tomorrow from Simon Fortin in Abercorn (he built the wall trusses).



Link: Sansin saturated colors

Hydronic heating partially installed

The hydronic heating system is partially installed. Seen here is the utility closet. The first picture gives the view from the living room (a door will eventually block this view, although the plumber and I agreed that this beautiful work of copper and heating technology should be displayed; Lisa seems to think utilities should be hidden by silly doors; what an artsy!). The second image shows the view looking around the corner in the closet to the right towards the hot water tank.


I've already pretty much outlined everything this does, so if you are technically inclined, I refer you to the link to the solar hydronic heating system at the right side of the blog to read up on this.

Roof and chimney flashing

The roof is finally covered. We actually got it done end of September, but I haven't had time to update. It's good to get it done, though, especially with these torrential rains we've been having. It was one of those things that kept me up nights. The unfinished roof was actually covered by a black, water-proof membrane that held through the winter and summer, but there is nothing like the security of 26 gauge metal over your head.

Lisa and I were originally horrified by the flashing around the bottom of the chimney. Then we looked around at some roofs with brick chimneys. Flashing is just not pretty. You just don't notice it until you really look.

The flashing is important. It keeps the water from infiltrating in the crack between the chimney and the roof metal. We have a leaky roof now in the old place. Not fun. We'll keep the flashing as is.

Kitchen window sill

A nice thing about timber frames over conventional houses is that the walls are made of light trusses and can be made thick. A side benefit of this is deep window sills. Lisa made an executive decision to have Willy finish the kitchen windows with the same ash as our kitchen counter tops so that we can treat it as an extension of the counter. It was kind of hard to capture this because of the glare you get off the finished wood near windows, but these pictures illustrate the effect. The window remains unfinished for now, but eventually (i.e. when we have money again) we'll have the ash lining the entire window. Lisa is putting on a urethane finish on all the windows to protect them from mold and condensation in the wintertime. I wish I could say it was worth the effort, but I can't because it's all Lisa's effort; we have occasionally discussed the advantages of PVC when faced with the work necessary for maintaining wood windows. This will be the only window finished for the winter. We thought we'd leave it all until the spring, but Lisa figures she likes her time in the kitchen and that it will be all the more pleasant with a finished window supplying that extra counter space. .

South-side door

The south-side door actually looks a lot like the east-side door, but it is framed by the porch. It still works as that splash o' colour on the natural neutral tones of the wood.

The little step is a temporary measure made of hemlock by Joey because he was sick of using blocks (stacked on the left in the photo) as steps. Oh yeah, the insurance required it as well. I kind of like the steps. With a more suitable footing, we can probably keep them for a while. The stacked blocks are actually off cuts from Willy's timbers, and the carpenters use them to keep the good lumber off the ground.

I'm kind of looking forward to the metal going on the porch roof. Once the solar collectors are installed, that should get done quickly. You want to step on the metal as little possible.

Here's a picture of the hardwood threshold that came as part of the doorframe. It's protected by the porch and made of ash, so it should now be quite durable. Hardwood is susceptible to weathering, so Lisa put 5 coats of urethane on it last week. I guess you can say Lisa gave our ash a good shellacking :-).

East side door

Here's a great picture of the east-side door. I like it because you can see the view from the east side of the house in the window reflection better than if you take an actual picture of the view. It adds a little tone of blue to the red of the door and the warm yellow of the hemlock siding. It gives a good idea of the different elements of the door: the white trim, the red door, and if you look carefully, the ash threshold. Behind the windows, you can see a little bit of the scafolding that Lisa will be using to urethane the upper window interiors. The green borders around the window interiors are is tape that protects the windows from the urethane.

I like the detail in the second picture because it shows how the knots of the pine doors still come through the red stain. That wouldn't happen as readily with paint.

Lisa just accused me of navel-gazing for my heartfelt, earnest appreciation of these photos. Hmph!

Copper pipe insulation

One odd thing about the heating trade is that they don't really want to sell the the products they manufacture. I've been going crazy trying to hunt down some heavy insulation for my solar pipes. The regular stuff you buy in stores melts when facing the high temperatures.

Armaflex
I've managed to hunt down some Armaflex insulation at the Home Depot in Burlington, Vermont. It's usually used in refrigeration systems to ward off condensation, but it works well in high-temperature solar applications.

• Price: $6
  
• Max temperature: 220 F or 105 C
• Min temperature: -257 F or -183 C
• Lengths: 6 ft
• Diameter: 1.875" (about 1/2'' thickness)
  
• Pipe diameter 3/4"

Aubochon hardare sells it in bulk by special order 54 lengths for $253.