Dear Friend of Half-Acre Homestead,
I have big news! My wonderful eco-cabin has passed its final inspection. The building permit is closed. This represents the end of a significant, and challenging, chapter of my life. In this post, I am going to celebrate this achievement and share some of the details on how I completed the required tasks wearing the two hats of general contractor and also the worker.
Just to be clear, this doesn’t mean that the eco-cabin is completely finished. There are still a number of things to work on inside and finish up. What is important is that there will be no further inspections. My formal relationship with the local municipal building authorities has officially closed. As the inspector put it, my project is “off their books.”
I am celebrating this achievement with art! I hope you enjoy the beautiful painting of my eco-cabin that is the thumbnail for this post and also appears inside the post so email subscribers will also see it. So, if you are seeing two on the website, I can assure it is intentional. It was painted by my talented sister. It looks as joyous and happy as I feel inside as I celebrate this success.
Excavating and Grading Around the Eco-Cabin Foundation: What Did I Need to Do to Protect my Slab?
In my last post, I had shared a bit of what I was working on to complete the construction. In order to pass, I needed to complete my excavation and grading of the exterior of the eco-cabin, ensuring that there was an adequate slope away from the concrete slab. The importance of this cannot be overstated: if water runs and pools around your concrete slab, it will inevitably find a way in. When it freezes, it can heave the foundation and shift and damage the house, causing expensive repairs.
Through the course of this multi-month excavation project, I gained a new appreciation for the importance of proper drainage. In particular, the east and north sides of the cabin were not in good shape. Water could run down a small slope right to the foundation. On the back of the cabin, extra insulation was collecting all of the drips off the monoslope roof and directing them towards the foundation. Not good!
Here is the back of the eco-cabin before:
Here it was partway through the work:
To complete this back part, I needed to lay more protective sheeting and cover it with the 3 inch styrofoam insulation sheets. The backfill with washed stone will take place in the spring, once the specialized delivery truck I need is available again. All of the pink styrofoam will be covered with the stones, as this adds an extra layer of frost heave protection for my concrete slab.
Here’s a photo of the side of the eco-cabin mostly completed. At this stage, I was waiting for the delivery of the concrete step, which needed to be placed on the white sheet of metal in front of the sliding door opening..
How I Approached this Big Job during a Difficult Time
This project is a great microcosm of the build itself. It was a huge undertaking. So big, I would sometimes head out to start work and honestly not know where to start. I sometimes wondered if I “could do it,” especially with my injured back. Here is where my approach to the work would really help me out. I would take a deep breath. I would ask myself, “Hey, I know I can’t finish this today. What if I just do something (carefully) for 15 minutes. How does that sound?”
Well, yes, I would be able to find something to do for that amount of time. In order to protect my injured back, I found that small bits of work added up to big achievements over time. Something else that kept my spirits up was simply enjoying the beauty of the nature around me. There were no bugs,too! (Given how bad the mosquitos usually are in the summer, this was quite a treat!)
Once in a while, a beautiful spectacle would arrive. I would hear it in the distance, first. A honk, sounding a bit like a trumpet. Then, I would stop everything and listen attentively. The trumpeter swans would fly over. Sometimes two, sometimes five or six. If all was quiet, I could hear the magical sound of their wings flapping in the air. It never failed to encourage me and make me smile.
Late Season Challenges
There were some other challenges, however. Because I was unable to do any manual labour for most of this year, I got a rather late start. At the beginning of December, I found myself with this snow:
Oh dear! How was I going to receive my delivery of the heavy concrete steps for the doors in the snow? The weather forecast was not certain it wanted to cooperate. It kept promising a few clear days and then snow would come back in the forecast. I decided not to cancel my delivery of the steps, as they were required for the inspection.
Luckily, we got some rain that melted all this snow! I found some tarps on sale and laid down tarps in a pathway for the delivery, hoping for the best. The snow that was threatened to come, didn’t. I felt like laying my tarps brought me good luck!
Research, Design, Discussion and Implementation of Exterior Steps in an Ontario Building Code Compliant Structure
This job also required quite a bit of research into what the code requires for steps (which are not stairs, because they only have two risers, or steps!). I researched as much as I could. I accessed the Ontario Build Code online and also some resources created by a couple of house inspectors down in Florida, of all places.
The Building Code appeared to cover stairs, but not steps. However, I felt that being compliant with those requirements would be helpful. I was also juggling some pretty substantial technical challenges. For climate change readiness, I could not have any flammable materials attached to my home on the exterior. However, a crane truck was not going to be able to get close enough to the house to drop solid cement steps without driving over my septic system. NO WAY! The risk of damage was too great. This meant that I was having problems finding a solution.
In the end, the fantastic salesperson from our local cement company came up with the idea of a single hollow cement rise that was light enough that it could be moved into place from the crane truck by hand, saving my septic system. However, it appeared that the riser violated code in two areas: When set on the metal sheets in the photo above, the first step up would be two inches higher than the second step up into the eco-cabin. As well, the depth of the step was slightly deeper than what code allowed.
As this appeared to be my best option, and I had exhausted my research options, I decided to call our local inspector to see whether my solution for the steps was compliant enough.
I asked him: Did each step need to be the same height, as my research seemed to suggest they did? Yes, he said, they did. So, I would then need to build up the gravel in front of both of my steps (front and side) with an approach ramp to ensure it was the same height as the step to my door threshold.
And then I asked him: Would it be OK that the depth of my step was slightly deeper than the code maximum of 14 inches (but that is for a staircase), being 16 inches. Yes, that would work fine in this case, he told me. I thought this was likely OK, as part of the step also sits under the threshold of the door.
The steps were slid into place onto a special platform I had designed myself. I dug down several inches into the dirt in front of the doors and then slowly laid layers of limestone screenings (basically very fine gravel), tamping them down thoroughly each inch.
By doing this carefully and slowly, I was able to build up a level platform that would hold the steps and maintain level without compressing. On top of the styrofoam sheeting, I laid a couple of sheets of metal flashing to prevent any compression into the styrofoam itself, even though it was the more rigid type.
For those of you potentially interested in building your own place, I hope this gives you some ideas about the kind of research, dialogue with local building authorities, and sometimes creativity that a build like this requires. Oh! and don’t forget the numbers!
Preparing for my Final Inspection: By the Numbers
In order to complete this final stage of the construction, I needed to:
-excavate, shovel and move over 500 pounds of soil from around the foundation by hand with my shovel and wheelbarrow. Thankfully, most of this was moved a short distance to build up the other side of the eco-cabin! (This also required first cutting back all of the sod that had formed in these areas, too!)
-cutting back and removing one tree stump
-cutting back over 60 linear feet of 3 inch thick rigid styrofoam that was extending past the metal flashing on the foundation. This was all at ground level and done by hand on my knees (wearing knee pads!) with a knife. A big job!
-sealing approximately 8 seams on the metal flashing surrounding the fondation with special caulking and screws. If the seams weren’t sealed, water running down the side of the eco-cabin in a hard rain would get to the foundation, even after all of my hard work. As several of these seams had no overlap, I also had to research and improvise and how to seal them my adding some extra sheets of metal over and under the seams.
-transporting, moving from my car, emptying from bags, and tamping down over 2,000 pounds of limestone screenings. Yes, you read that right! Over 2,000 pounds! I needed to use them to stabilize the platforms for the steps, as well as to build up in front of the steps to make a ramp. They came in 60 pound bags and no, they didn’t all fit in my Toyota Corolla at one time!!!
Here’s a photo of what the front door looks like now. Once the concrete step was in place, I had to use another couple hundred pounds of the fine gravel to build up a gentle approach ramp to the first step and ensure that both steps were of equal height. Although there is snow around, I think the spacing of the steps can be seen nicely. I placed my treasured antique milk cans from our family farm on either side. I am quite pleased with the result!
What remains to be done? In the spring, I can order my washed stones, which will be used to cover the insulation sheets on the ground. They also protect the foundation, as they don’t retain water. The stones will also create a perimeter around the eco-cabin that is made of non-flammable materials. This is part of the eco-cabin plan that is designed with climate change, in this case, forest fires in mind.
Final Thoughts on Passing my Final Inspection
YIPPEE! HURRAY! TA DA!!! WOO HOO!!!!
There are no words to express how grateful I feel that I was able to accomplish this. Most days, I feel that it is nothing short of a miracle. Completing the build to this stage means that my obligation to the township has ended. After years of building in stages, as my budget could afford, I can finally take a much deserved rest.
I really am fortunate to be taking some rest now. The project was a huge exertion in many ways. I was certainly glad that I live in a way that I focus on my resiliency and overall health on a daily basis, as I needed it to get through that!
I teach about the importance of building up resiliency and health daily in my course, “Growing Self-Sufficiency: The Whole Picture.” Thankfully, meeting the inspection deadline and another big work deadline at the end of last year didn’t result in any illness, just some fatigue. I was able to recognize that I had been out of balance for a time. So, while I am celebrating this landmark achievement, I am also reflecting on my health and life balance and what I envision for myself in this wonderful new year of 2024.
With 2023 now past and a new year beginning, I hope that you can find some time to reflect on your year that was. What challenges did you face? How did you approach those challenges? What did you learn?
Is there something that you dream of doing in the coming year? How can you make that happen? Is it something tangible, like an eco-cabin, that you want to build, or does it have to do with what kind of person you want to be?
Whatever you are dreaming of, I wish you the best in achieving it.
I am grateful that you take the time to read my writings.
As always, I welcome your comments and feedback through email.
Wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year for you and your loved ones!
Kind regards,
Colette
P.S. I love the idea of celebrating my eco-cabin success by beginning and ending this post with some eco-cabin art. I thought you would enjoy this work of art from a talented Half-Acre Homestead community member: photographer Chris Goodyear. https://www.chrisgoodyear.com/ This is a portrait of the eco-cabin she took when she visited here for a fun-filled photo shoot in 2022. It is nice to enjoy the sunshine and warmth in this photo in the midst of winter. Thanks again, Chris!
