Pouring Concrete

First thing Monday morning, Phil called Bowmark, the concrete place in Port Alberni & put in his order for 2 cement trucks. We had our fingers crossed - the usual waiting period from order to delivery is 3 days, but Phil had called the Mars Rustler barge in Port Alberni & he was unable to come in Wednesday thru Friday. We had either Tuesday or Saturday open - the sun shone on us Monday - Bowmark was ready to deliver on Tuesday!!!

July 24th at 1:00, the barge came roaring into the harbour. There is a ramp on the east side down in Grappler Inlet - which is just to the right of this photo (I'm down at the General Store waiting).
The cement truck drives on to the barge (which beaches itself & lowers a ramp).

Then the barge travels down the harbour to the ramp on the west side. The Mars Rustler is the smaller of the 2 barges that service Bamfield. The Mars Lander is much larger & I've rarely seen it here - it costs a very pretty penny to bring these things into town.

It's rather difficult to view this photo - I couldn't make it down to the fisheries dock in time to get a clearer shot - there is another pier going in behind the fisheries dock. So, the barge has to time it right with the tide - a low tide makes it very difficult to get in close enough to the landing ramp to have a very low angle on the ramp. That's why we had to wait til 1:00 - when the tide was coming up (& we couldn't leave it too late to get the equipment back across because the tide then goes out - we had about 6 hours).

Finally the first cement truck arrived on site.





We needed to use the excavator with a bucket to bring the concrete to the back walls & it was slow-going at first, until everyone got into it.



Phil did a lot of hands-on work today, getting right into the thick of things with the machines & the muck.

It was taking much longer than everyone wanted to get the job done. Working with concrete is very tricky - it's a chemical reaction once the water is added - you have only so long to get it out of the truck & into the forms. Our first truck was already getting thick & difficult to work with so everyone who was on site was working as quickly as possible. Even still - we were 2 hours behind.


Right towards the end of the pouring (around 6:30 or so) Phil got to play with 'the vibrator' - ha! It's just a rod that vibrates & is jammed down into the wet concrete to make sure it gets down & packed in place properly - very messy.

We also had a dump truck waiting on the road with our drain rock & crushed gravel. He had to wait til the cement truck was out of the way before he could back in & unload the bags & dump the rock. Very funny guy (Reg) & the great thing was that we filled his truck with our scrap metal left over from the demolished trailer. A friend of ours got him to go over to her place to remove some stuff too - never let a large vehicle cross the harbour empty!

Making our Foot Print

On July 17th, the boys came in to start on the footings. Our 'crew boss' is Ken (the Dude) & Colin & Malcom (who cut down all the trees). This didn't take them very long & it is interesting to see how our footprint looks on the site considering we've been looking at the blue prints for over a year & a half.

This view at the end of the day is from the north-west corner where the back entrance is jutting out. As you can see, the house is angled on the property to get the best view & light.

Phil tied in the rebar & started to put up the forms which arrived on Sunday, the 22nd. That was a bit of a mess-up & bless the Lady Rose for delivering them that day. They ususally do not make deliveries on Sundays - that is a day for bringing in tourists & they stay in town for a few hours instead of just the usual 'quick' in & out. The company that we rented the forms from were unable to have them ready for Thursday (the 19th) so they were to be delivered on Saturday. Another company was renting forms from them as well & instead of leaving the alloted amount set aside for us, they took ALL the forms. Phil was furious - it was setting us back & the boys are anxious to get going. But we were lucky to be behind only by a day.

So, you can see that the back part of the foundation is going to be taller than the front - the grade is higher in the back & 'pony walls' will be added later to the front to make a level crawl-space.

We are not having full foundation - we can only build so high (& we couldn't dig down much further than we had - bedrock), so we are having a 3 1/2 foot heated crawl-space under the first floor.

"Phil & 'Pat"

Our building inspector, Don, came by to check out the hole & we found out that we had 2 options to make it ready for the footings & forms. We could build the footings & forms to fit the landscape of an angled hole (we had to dig down much further in the front than in the back because of the wonderful top soil) or we could fill in the lower part & rent a compactor.

The boys decided to rent the compactor. So, all the money we saved by having the 'medium' excavator come in for a few short hours was spent on renting the smaller excavator & the compactor for 2 days of filling back in the hole.

Phil's joke was: 'I'm 'patting' the material & Pat (the excavator operator) is 'filling' the material. We should switch machines & find a guy names "Doug"'. Well, it was funny when Phil said it.....

On July 12Th, Phil got his first delivery on the Lady Rose of material needed for the footings. We borrowed a decrepit truck from a friend (the brakes are unreliable & it over heats in a matter of a few minutes).


On July 15th, Phil had a compactor arrive on the Lady Rose & brought in the small excavator to fill back in our lovely hole. While Pat worked in the excavator, Phil manned the compactor.

It was difficult going at first - the compactor works most effectively on level ground (hmmm), so it wasn't until Phil & Pat came up with an excellent idea to tie the compactor to the excavator shovel & move it up & down the slope that the work moved forward. Unfortunately, I was at work while this happened so I didn't get to see it, nor take photos.

It took about 2 days to bring our hole to this level of being level & compacted enough for the forms. It was quite funny to come home to see 2 excavators on site & then have people driving down asking for the excavtors to be moved to their places as they needed work done too. I guess there is quite a bit more work going on than we had thought - but with this being the fishing season, the operators are sometimes unavailable at the exact moment they are wanted.

How to Dig a Really Big Hole

On July 7th, a large excavator arrived on the property (refer to first posting of us celebrating). It was very convenient for us that this excavator 'lives' on the west side. (lower equipment cost - no barging across the harbour required)
There is another 2 excavators in town - a smaller one, also on the west side & a larger one yet, on the east side. I doubt the larger one would have fit on our available working area!

When Tom brought the machine in he dug an 'unofficial' first hole & the shovel went in like knife into butter - a very good sign. We had to wait for 2 days while the boys went fishing.




On July 9th (Monday) Dave arrived to start digging the hole.
The building site on the property has been ready for about 12 years, already leveled out & lots of drain rock brought in & compacted down. It was a very quick job - he started just after 8 am & was done before noon.



The nice thing is, he found top soil!! I wasn't expecting any to be dug up, but Dave piled it up on the 'high' slope for use later after all the drainage is put in & is back-filled around the foundation.







While Dave was digging down in the front where the top soil was found & where the septic tank is (left side of the hole), Phil & 'the Dude' (Ken) were checking to make sure the hole was level.

Giant Leap to the Near-Present

I could tell you stories leading up to our current adventure 'til the cows came home. What I need to do is just get into it. I'm looking for scanned copies of our house plan (& site plan), so those will come after the fact....

We are putting the house in the north-west corner - right where the junky trailer & a small copse of trees are. The following took place in June 2007 - so we are relatively current... (remember, you can always click on the photos to get a closer look at what's going on)

First step: Get rid of the trailer.Second step: Clear out trees.Third step: burn the tree debris.Fourth step: Get the building permit. June 29th

We even got the lines marked on the spot where we want the house - it was a bit of trial & error, & we moved the house east by 8 feet (we forgot about the entrance that jutts out).
Not too bad, eh?

Autumn - 2006

A wonderful way to end a hectic summer.

Just another Day....

I have to include at least one shot of the snag outside our currently place. The eagles love to sit here, observe the harbour waters below (which we don't see from our windows) & they talk to other eagles up & down the shore line. It's not until you stand out on the porch to look at these birds that you realize just how big they are!!


If anyone can help me identify this beared iris I would be ever so grateful! I saw it on a card last year & forgot to write it down, but this is my favorite plant in my landlord's yard. I've been babying it for the last 5 years & believe that I have taken some younger shoots (there are other iris in that flower bed), so I should have some of my own in a few years.

Introducing 'the Lady Rose'

The Lady Rose (& Francis Barkley) is a passenger/freight ferry that travels down the Alberni Inlet to Bamfield & surrounding smaller communities bringing visitors, mail, food & other items for living out here. In the summer, many, many tourists arrive from all over the world.


She docks at the West government dock first - shown here to the left of the Coast Guard & unloads people & goods to go to the General Store - located on the left in the creamy building along the boardwalk. There is a road running alongside the coast guard that leads to other 'back trails' that people travel on to get to the beach or other houses. Our house is further down the inlet, but only about a 5 minute drive from the dock - driving mostly in 1st or 2nd gear.

Landscaping - 2006

In April & May we finished clearing out the rest of the 'junk' from the neighbour & hauled a bunch of logs out of the ditch in the front & along the east side of property. We hope to use the larger logs (not shown) to make a split cedar rail fence - purely decorative, along the east side. In the front, we are building a secondary entrance (the main lane way is to the left of the birch tree seen on the far left). When we walk up the hill from the boardwalk, we want to take the shortest route to the house - especially if we have heavy wheelbarrow loads of groceries. So, a 'bridge to Terebithia' is under construction.

The front ditch is full of huge lady ferns that grow every spring & then die in the fall - this allows us to get in there & hack out the blackberries & tame things down. We have laid out the logs in the front along what we believe to be the property line & I've got my 'L' garden there. It was supposed to be lupins & lilies, but spring 2007 didn't produce many lupins. There might be too much clay in the soil.

A Spring-time to Remember

For years I had been watching the seagulls try to eat sea stars & we finally got this one on film - there really is no nutritional value in sea stars & they must cause the seagull a bit of pain when they go down - being all hard & scratchy.



April was full of sunshine, warm weather & a traditional wedding held in the small community church & hall. It was an opportunity for many people to dust off the dress-up clothes & dance their winter blues away.

I just had to show off Phil's chops - over the years, he's gotten many compliments on the big bushy chops - I can't recall the last time he was completely clean-shaven........

House Plans

I can't recall how we went about looking for house designs, but we wanted to work with something coastal & preferably on Vancouver Island. We ran across a place called Pacific Homes that had a lot of designs on their web site - we also got our hands on one of their catalogues & tried to figure out how small or big we could go on our property & what we could try to expect for building costs.

The year 2006 was a year of giant learning curves - we weren't very knowledgeable about what the right questions were to be asking - which is one of the hardest things to figure out. We felt we were 'hosed' a bit when we purchased our first blue-prints, but the overall concept of those drawings were & are what we are working with today.

I found a picture of a house that is very similar to what we hope we end up with. Mind you, colour, landscaping & some structural items will not be the same - but this will give you a quick idea of what we are going for.We had hoped to have a 2 1/2 storey house (the 1/2 storey is a loft bedroom with a bathroom), but we can't afford the loft - just yet. So the roof will not have the dormer jutting out. This house is backwards to what ours will be - put the side door on the other side of the house.

The wall of windows is facing south-east - how lovely for sunshine!!

We have designed a suite in the lower front 2/3rds of the house - a bedroom on the left, open living/dining/kitchen area on the right with a bathroom just in behind. There will be large windows down under the deck & I'm not sure what kind of decking we will end up with.

We had thought about a metal roof - but the upper floor will have a vaulted ceiling & with all the rain that we get, it will make a horrendous noise, so we are opting for regular shingles (charcoal?). We are not using vinyl siding, nor cedar shakes. Instead we are going to use Hardy Plank - I believe it's a composite material - much thicker & sturdier than vinyl & has the look of wood. I'm hoping for a olive green colour & I would love to have almond/beige windows & doors, but if we get white, than that will look sharp too. The deck will have shatter-proof glass along the front so that we don't block our view down the harbour.

Where in the World?

Bamfield is one of those interesting places where half of it is inaccessible to regular road traffic. We have a water taxi (2 this year) & it's almost like 2 separate communities - East vs West. Both sides have little grocery stores & both sides have a firehall with a fire truck. There are people who live on the East side (the one that is hooked up to the logging road) that have either never been to the west side, or haven't been over for many, many years (they don't own a boat, or else couldn't be bothered). But, there are people on the West side who never go over to the East side either - other than to get out of town - but taking the road isn't always necessary either. The Lady Rose - a passenger & freight ferry, comes into Bamfield 3 times a week in the winter & 4 days a week in the summer, bringing in people for a visit or food items or, in our case, building supplies.

Our property is on the West side & as said before, the view is south-east down the mouth of the harbour. It's situated mid-slope on the hill (of which, there are many hills around - if you aren't going up, you are going down).
The photo above is from the down in the harbour looking back to where we will be building. (so we are now looking north-west). On the boardwalk (right on the water's edge) you see a house with a grren roof, then mid-slope there is another house with a green roof (just right of the center). Move left along that mid-slope level & there is a small white speck - that's the junky trailer sitting on the spot where the house will be.
This is a zoom of the photo so you can see that trailer a bit more clearly. There is a road running in front of the property - right behind that funny little wooden structure just to the right of the trailer. The structures up the hill to the left of the trailer is our neighbour - Roy - an interesting character to say the least. Further back up the hill is a new house being put up by Carol & Mario. A rather big project for just 2 people to do on their own (yes, they have no help, plus Mario is missing most of his fingers having lost them to frost during a mountain climbing accident years ago).

My list of photo updates is growing by the day. This is a spring time photo & trees have been removed or blown down by the winter storms.

As you can see, we will have a very sunny spot. I would like to name our place - but haven't come across anything that seems fitting. Maybe I should hold a contest for names & come up with a good prize for the winner!!

2005 - What a Year!

What else happened in 2005?

Well, we had a bear in the yard......








Phil caught some fish......








I harvested some kelp for the abalone hatchery I work at......











Phil & I got all 'cute-sy woot-sy' right before the wedding.......









We 'did the deed' & went on a wonderful cruise........










And we burned the property!!!!!

I think we will be burning the piles of brambles & brush for many years to come, but this was the 'unveiling' of the actual boundaries of the land.

We found a property pin & the hunt was on for the remaining 3.

With a bit of luck & grubbing around in the brambles & dirt, we found 2 more & are confident that we are within the real property lines by a foot either way.

Take a Step Back in Time

So, we have to start back in the spring of 2005, when we had an opportunity to spend 'a lot' of money (by our standards) in a very short amount of time.

What to spend it on & be wise in our decision?
Pay off student loans?
Up-grade our car?
....Purchase property?!!

We had been renting in the same house since the spring of 2002 & right behind the house was an open 'field' that we had been picking blackberries off of for many seasons. We thought we'd check it out & after finding the owners of that land - on Thetis Island on the east side of Vancouver Island, we found out that they had just relisted the property!

Fortune smiled on us that month & after a few heart stopping moments during the 'negiotiating' phase with the real estate agent, we became the proud owners of a chunk of land.

As you noticed, there was quite a bit of 'junk' on it - a crappy truck, a junky trailer & tonnes of huge logs. Most of this 'junk' belongs to our neighbour behind us, up the hill. He eventually moved it all off & onto his land - not before running into the trailer & renduring it 100% useless....

We are situated mid-hillside facing south east - our view will be down the inside of the harbour towards the east-side government dock. We have a view of the water & that alone was worth all the hassels of agents, lawyers & neighbour's junk.

Another benefit to this little piece of heaven: it already has a septic system in place (it met code requirements & was re-approved), has a drop pole for hydro connection & it has been prepared for building by the original owners 12 years ago. The lane way has a swamp at the end, but we don't have to worry about building one for the equipment & the building site is almost exactly where we want it to take advantage of the sunshine & the view.

Now we just had to find ourselves a lawn mower........