Extreme stone and tile mason

Scott, our stone and tile mason just happens to also be an exteme mountain biker. This picture was taken of him near our property off the boat launch access to the lake.  We think he did an ‘EXTREME’ly good job of our fireplace as well.

Many ways to conserve in a household

I installed several timers to mitigate phantom loads. For example, the microwave has a clock which is a phantom load, which we don’t want to run 24/7. Therefore, in order to power the microwaves, the dial must be turned on. Once turned on, everything works as normal until the timer runs out. Other timers are used to turn on our bathroom ventilation and kitchen exhaust fans and also the power bars to the TV/DVD/satellite receiver.   The thermostat shown does not draw power from the grid like most thermostats do. This one actually has four small batteries to power it so there is no phantom load drawing power from the main system. The thermostat is also programmable and can do a number of functions. Firstly, it lets us know the temperature in the house. It will also be able to control the heating and cooling once the geothermal is installed. Currently it is being set to turn on the furnace blower to recirculate the heated air from the woodstoves in the winter and the cooler air from the lower levels in the summer. The showerheads we chose for the washrooms use 1.5 gallons per minute flowrate, whereas typical showerheads use about 3 gallons per minute. We enjoy our showers every bit as much with the lower flow. Also, there are many low-flush toilets on the market to choose from. There are about 170 properties that share our water system and currently ony about 60% of these properties are developed. Our house was one of the first to get a meter on the water supply. As more properties are developed and more people using the system, it will likely become necessary to conserve the water. So, I guess we’re good to go.

Great Picture Day for Mountains and Sunset

Lawn – Going even Greener!

I threw some lawn seed down so we would have a place to sit and look at the view from the lower level. It didn’t seem to grow at first but after about a month I needed to borrow a mower  to keep it under control.
Things really grow well here…especially the weeds! The wildflower seeds I planted in early summer have grown quickly and are looking colourful (although somewhat spindly) now in the fall – which is strange as I was told it would take a few years before they looked decent. Next year they should fill in a little more with reseeding. In terms of the small vegetable garden I planted, we really enjoyed eating the fresh peas, carrots, radishes and tomatoes. I don’t think I would try to argue that it was cost effective, but we did get amazingly fresh flavors along with satisfaction of growing our own food  – and who can put a price on that?

Would you like Ice in your Drink?

We were so impressed with the downstairs SR10 Sun Frost fridge that we ordered the larger model RF16 for the upstairs kitchen – this time with a freezer too. You are able to see both compressors in the photo. Yes, the compressors are on the top, where it only makes sense!  The Sun Frost RF16 is an extremely efficient full-size refrigerator. It has two independent cooling systems and temperature controls.  In fact, one compartment may be left running while the other is shut off.  The uniquely designed cooling coils on the outside (top) of the Sun Frost do not require fans. This fridge is actually installed now and I will update completed kitchen photos soon.

LED Uses Less Power than LCD TV

LED TV’s are available and they take significantly less power than a LCD or Plasma TV, however they do cost about 20% more to purchase.   I had to dig hard to find the manufacturers’ ratings for energy consumption. The only way I was able to find out the energy consumption was to read the CSA label on the back of the TV, so I had to get the sales person to remove the TV from the box in order to read it.  After reading it and confirming I would purchase the TV, the sales person told me that I would receive a $100 discount off the sale price because the box had been opened. I’ll take it! Go figure.

Solar Nightlights

Everyone has seen these Solar PV self-contained yard lights. I thought it would work well to insert them into the logs that border the path from the house to the beach. It’s nice to be able to see where you’re going at night, especially if you’re driving down a path that has a very steep embankment that you wish to avoid driving off.  These lights can be very helpful just as long as the weather is sunny. I am, however, underwhelmed by how quicky they diminish light output during rainy days and therefore would have to classify them as unreliable. It was also difficult to find a resource person or company that could give me good information on this lighting. Perhaps the ‘big box’ stores are dominating this part of the market and the pricing  has been driven down so low that there are no good quality one to be found.

Green turns to Brown after the landslide

Hey! Where did my pristine glacier-fed green lake go? About a month ago, there was a huge landslide north of Whistler at Meager Creek.  It was the second largest landslide in Canadian history and had prompted an evacuation alert for about 4,000 people in the area.  A state of emergency was also declared for the village of Pemberton and electoral areas A and C of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.  The two kilometer wide and ten km long slide washed over and completely dammed Meager Creek, about 75 kms west of Pemberton, severing access on the only road connecting the remote area and partially blocking Lillooet River. An evacuation alert was issued for the area near the slide and emergency officials were handing out notices at people’s homes in the Lillooet River floodplain, including parts of Pemberton and Mount Currie. The regional district had said that the immediate threat to the area was a possibility due to a rapid release of water from the lake forming behind the dam created by the slide. Well, the threat didn’t materialize, however our lake (over 100 km away from the slide) is likely to have muddied waters from the Lillooet River coming into it for some time to come. It’s unknown how long it will take before we once again will be able to enjoy the beautiful jade green waters that would sometimes just take your breath away. Sigh.

Enjoying an evening by the Fire with Norman

The faux slate you see on the wall is a Canadian product called EasyRock which is 100% inert, non-toxic, non-gaseous and odour free. This product has an insulation value of R-5.7 and the surfact of it is fire retardant. It attaches easily to wood, brick or concrete and was very easy to install by ourselves.  We used real stone to surround our fireplace upstairs. Nothing can compare to real stone, but the cost of materials and labour is understandably high. Using EasyRock in our suite helped to keep our costs down considerably. Click on picture to enlarge.

Bedding and Backsplash complete the Suite

We salvaged some distressed pine bedroom furniture from a 5-star hotel in Whistler that was being updated. This included headboards, dressers, nightstands and hope chests which will be used in all of the bedrooms.  Note the propane wall heater which can be used as back-up heating in the winter months. It is a Longvie model DV-12 from Concorde Distributing in Abbotsford, BC.

The basement suite kitchen backsplash is a natural slate brick pattern tile from Tierra Sol in Burnaby. We liked the rustic texture and wanted to reflect some of the stone from outside in our finishing materials.