Getting started...

One of the keys to a successful project is to get the right manager. While much of the work on my job could be sub-contracted it would be essential to have a sustained presence on site to coordinate the trades and to do a portion of the work. In fact two people would be better because it’s difficult to work effectively alone, and to provide continuity if one has to be away for any reason.

About eighteen months earlier I’d contacted George Wade about running the project. George is an experienced builder and friend with whom I’d worked on projects in the past, whose skill, technical knowledge and easy temperament made him the ideal choice. I knew that someone of George’s caliber would need lots of notice so I planted the seed early. To help George I called Jesse Drerup, a twenty three year old carpentry apprentice with experience beyond his years. Jesse had spent time building panels in our shop and recently erected a Super E house for us in Korea. Despite their difference in age and experience both guys have the same thoughtful approach to their work and my hope was that the chemistry between them would make them an effective team...

The plan was to get underway in May 2008, but with delays related to environmental approval, minor variances and the building permit (I’ll spare you the details...) we didn’t start on site until July 2nd.

Actually, that’s not quite true, we began clearing trees in April. I won’t digress too far here other than to say that while micromanaging the professional arborists I’d hired to take down a few big pines, I decided to put my own chain saw to use on a copse of dead birch trees. The biggest of these trees broke in half, fell back and clobbered me, breaking my wrist and hitting my head so hard I temporarily lost my eyesight. X-rays, cat-scans, stitches and a couple of months of fogginess followed but considering the force of the blow I’m lucky the job didn’t end before it started...

The septic system saga...

By the time the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority had defined the 100 year flood limit and the minimum setback from the Provincially Significant Wetland, the build-able area of the site was too small to allow the construction of a conventional septic system. In fact the design of the septic system - it’s size, location and elevation - had a strong influence on the siting of the house and more than anything else determined the height of the ground floor slab.

With a conventional septic system out of the question I chose a “Bionest” ( www.bionest.ca ) one of the increasing number of tertiary treatment septic systems on the market. This one combines a regular septic tank with a second tank or “bioreactor” containing two chambers - one aerobic, the other anaerobic - where bacteria break down the waste-water pollutants before the water is discharged to a much smaller than normal weeping field.


To get the Bionest tanks in we would have to break rock, so in order not to damage house or garage foundations we decided to do this first. Four hundred dollars an hour plus float charges is what you pay in our area for a “hoe-ram” capable of breaking dolomite so I took a keen interest in the installation of the tanks. The contractor hired to do the work had all of the design criteria for the system - elevation of the tanks, field etc. - so on the Friday afternoon when he declared success I was prepared to believe him... but it just didn’t look right. Rather than say
the tanks were too high, with all that would mean - lifting the tanks back out, floating in the hoe-ram, $400 an hour, floating out the hoe-ram, lifting the tanks back in - I decided to bring my level out the next day and in the peace and tranquility of a day off, shoot my own grades. Sure enough the tanks were too high, almost 20” too high, so I tracked down the contractor on his cell phone and ruined his weekend.