Although our basement guest bathroom is not complete, we have started the finishing on our little loft “powder room,” above.

I want it to be funky and interesting, not so sophisticated as our other bathrooms. The nice thing about bathrooms is you don’t necessarily have to coordinate them with the general interior, because the door is usually closed. You can have a little decor-fest in there on its small canvas, so to speak.

I was casting about in tile stores for a starting place, but not having any luck. Then, while trolling Craigslist one day, I saw these vintage 18″ wooden Chinese tiles.

They are hand-painted with some kind of embossing material, on 1/8″ mahogany veneer, and the Chinese characters in the medallion part read a general good fortune, according to the woman who sold them to me. She had three different designs, and these were the brightest. They provided my colour inspiration.

The orange is called “Devilish”, and the gold is called “Wheat”, both Beauti-Tone semi-gloss from Home Hardware. The orange took four coats to cover, the gold just two.

I thought about applying the tiles as a border above counter height, all around the small room (3′x7′), but I really wanted to use them on the floor. They would not be durable. The paint would rub and chip off in no time, and the veneer would delaminate.

How to make them durable? Epoxy! I remember how expensive the two-part coating was when D was building a cedar-strip kayak. But, I found some at Home Depot, sold as a kit for faux-finishing countertops to look like granite.

I have also seen it used over pennies on a kitchen countertop.

So, confidently (read: blindly), I started:

1. D glued, then screwed down a half-inch plywood sheet over the existing 3/4″ sub-floor, to make a more solid base.

2. I fitted, trimmed, and auditioned the tiles, drawing the placement lines onto the plywood.

3. Using a trowel-on adhesive designed for parquet, I applied each tile along my drawn lines.

It immediately became apparent that the edges were distorting and lifting in a completely unpredictable manner. I think the bare wood on the back of the tile was absorbing the moisture, and warping against the finished top, which did not absorb any moisture. What to do????  Send D on a hunt for heavy things to weigh down the tiles. I only applied half the tiles the first day, partly because I was not at all sure this adhesive was going to work. In the morning, I removed the weights, and the tiles were solidly stuck.

So, I applied the rest, piled on more weights, and even stood/sat on the edges for maybe a total of an hour.

D declined my invitation to enter my personal pub and stand at the “bar” to drink a pint! I had to drink alone in my little room, but could just see his movie if I peered around the corner, so the time passed, as time does. The adhesive set for 24 hours.

I wiped and vacuumed the tiles in preparation for the epoxy.

4. The epoxy comes in two parts. The activator (part “B”) is added to the base (part “A”), and thoroughly mixed for 3 minutes. There is no measure on it, to allow me to mix 1/2 the epoxy. I wasn’t sure what the coverage would be (packaging claims 30 square feet, but no thickness was indicated, and I knew I would need at least 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch to cover the embossing.) And remember that I was doing this blindly, no experience, just as I do most of my jobs here. I would have liked to try a sample tile first, but had no idea if I would have enough to do the whole job. The working time of the epoxy is only 30 minutes, tops. I just had to dive in.

5. The epoxy is poured onto the tiles,

then brushed into the embossing to fill the gaps.

I cursed the dog (yet again!) because she is copiously shedding these days (and winter’s coming – go figure.) I have NO IDEA how those 40 or so hairs migrated into the epoxy as I applied it, and I continued cursing while I messily scraped the hairs up.

For her part, she just grabbed one end of the toilet paper and had her way with it.

6. There was just enough to cover the floor and two more tiles for spares (a total of 26 square feet.)

By the end, I was sweating like a horse, partly from anxiety. Imagine tearing it all out if it didn’t work.

It needs to dry/cure for 72 hours, but then should be very durable.

Stay tuned for the next funky-bathroom-in-progress post. No one knows how this will end, including me. If that epoxy caper hadn’t worked out, I’d have to go to Plan B, and there is no Plan B.

I hesitate to number this post, because I don’t think there’s anything “green” about this how-to. Someone asked how I managed to get this cool look of wallpaper in the small bathroom.

This is how:

1. Paint wall with eggshell (I used a colour called “Endless Dusk” because it went well with the 2″ tiles.) Let dry overnight.

2. Tape strips of masking tape (this blue 2″ from Home Hardware seems perfect in scale and is so far the best kind for not ripping off any paint when the tape is removed) so that the spaces between the strips are the same width as the tape. I cut a couple of spacer tapes that measured the distance between each strip. (I also tried using a level/plumb and a piece of cardboard for spacers.) This step took the longest time to get the spaces even and plumb.

3. Paint the wall again, over the masking tape, with the same colour, this time in semi-gloss.

4. Wait about 1.5 hours (dry to the touch) before pulling off the masking tape. (Pulling it back on itself rather than straight out seems to  lessen the risk of pulling off paint.) Don’t let it get super-dry, because that stiffens the tape and I think, causes more damage.

I think it’s a sophisticated look that sneaks up on you when you’re not really looking.

There’s not a whole lot new going on around here – I’m spending my time planning and shopping for future projects, cleaning, organizing, hounding tradespeople, refinishing old wood for doors and window trim, and sealing/caulking the shower in readiness for the plumber. Last weekend we had some help to build a deck and install some seasonal greens.

But, I wanted to post on 11/11/11, just because!

My sister, who writes daily on her blog about collecting and re-purposing vintage items, has dozens of related links and a whole international circle of blogging friends who have similar interests. There’s a blooming subculture of these clever DIY and shabby-chic afficionados.

I wondered if there was a similar subculture of building blogs. Maybe it’s all been written before we started our project.

So I thought I’d (belatedly) research and offer a small survey of green building case studies (new-build single family dwellings, like ours) in a journaling or blog format.

I found only two relatively non-commercial blog sites that offer perspectives on building green homes:

1.

Green Building in Denver‘s focus is “low and zero energy home design and construction for Denver. A recent post on the lighting efficiency of bulbs (itself linked from the Green Building Advisor website) offered this useful information (paraphrased):

-old incandescents provide about 15 lumens/watt

- CFLs provide an average of 54 lumens/watt

- high quality (i.e. expensive) LEDs provide an average of 60 lumens/watt

(I’ve always wondered about the comparative light output of bulbs, because there is no consistent labelling.)

GreenBuildinginDenver is the work of Kevin Dickson, a graduate in Engineering Physics.

2.

More like my blog, Our Round Green Home is a diary about a project in Nelson, British Columbia, started July 20, 2011. And it’s not commercial! No ads (except for the blogger’s husband’s business, Mandala Homes) or sales. Pretty cool. I particularly like this post: How to Design a Green Round Mandala Home. Less than 4 months, and they are already at lock-up. They used Insulated Concrete Forms for the foundation, and prefabricated panels that come with cladding and windows already installed. The blogger, Rachel, chronicles a beautiful strategy for a meeting with all the subcontractors together. Makes so much sense. Such a meeting would have pre-empted problems with scheduling and location of the mechanicals for our project.

Apart from these two examples,  there are a few more sites that could be useful:

Another web site with a blog is greenbuilding.com. Its stated purpose is “to help separate the real green products, professionals and procedures from all the green-washing …” It provides architect and builder referrals. Its author, David Johnston, offers comprehensive advice, as well as his e-book and his lectures. One of his links, Chapter 1 – The Building Envelope (download chapter for free) doesn’t seem to be working. The site includes an article on a Boulder, Colorado home case study. It lists the processes and technology used in this net-zero home.

A huge website called buildinggreen.com has short synopses of case studies. It describes itself as “an independent publishing company committed to bringing our members accurate unbiased and timely green design information.”

Sustainability advice from Canadian Peter Parsons, who is “pursuing a masters in electrical engineering” on his site, nlcpr.com includes some interesting headings, such as “deceptions,” a “scam-busting section.” He says his “main focus is in the underpinnings of a sustainable society which includes housing design, cooperative enterprises and alternate energy.” A recent entry in his associated blog, “Voice of Reason” shows a Student Loan Debt Clock ticking furiously.

I have linked to the Green Builders’ Talk Forums before, whence came many of my early statistics and building decisions. Although it was helpful, there are so many conflicting opinions and people promoting their own products, that it’s hard find the cream that rises to the top for our project.

So, faithful readers, that’s my survey of useful/interesting sites for building a green home. Not a huge circle of bloggers. I guess all those green home builders are doing it instead of writing about it.

One day last year, while D was working alongside our stonemason, he overheard a visitor to the site (a new tradesperson) comment to the stonemason, almost bitterly, “What do you care, you’re working on a million-dollar house?”

We had never thought of it as a million-dollar house. It’s just our home, the last home we will live in, if we have the freedom to choose where we live in our dotage. If you’ve been following the “Spending and Saving” page, though, it would appear that this IS a million-dollar house, especially if you include in its value the “Saving” contributions we’ve made.

When we worked on the design, more than two years ago, we were asked by architects and the regional district building department, what our budget was, and we had no idea. We have just been building as we can afford it (with help from the local credit union!)

Interestingly, from my point-of-view, a homeowner-built house is assessed lower than a professionally-built home and its green features don’t appear to be a factor in its assessment (this I gather from talking to the assessor who came around to determine a value.) I could be wrong about this. If any reader knows better, let me know, please. When the assessment notices come out, the neighbourhood’s property values seem to be based on square footage and number of bedrooms (we have a smaller square footage than the homes in our area and only two bedrooms.)

To readers who may be interested in building green but are discouraged by its high cost, I have some comments and suggestions which may encourage you:

1. The actual cost to build our home is closer to $660,000, or $244 per square foot, after I deduct the cost to build the studio and the landscaping/land-shaping/garden.

2. The studio, using insulated concrete forms (ICFs), has been a bargain to build (and it’s green-to-the-bones!) It weighs in at $94 per square foot. I know that it doesn’t have a kitchen or a bathroom, but it is a basic, well-insulated building that would pass the EnergyGuide 80+ratings.  If we did it over again, I would seriously consider building the whole house with ICFs, then just use the expensive spray foam insulation in the ceiling. That way, you could avoid the whole rainscreen headache and cost. The thing is, you’d have to be sure of your design – not so easy to alter this building material once it’s built. On the other hand, ICFs are just Lego blocks, that come with excellent instructions, and a careful, logical homeowner with more time than we had, could build with this product him/herself.

3. If you build on a level lot, the foundation would cost about $60, 000 less.

4. Our rentals (forms/scaffolding/toilet/storage bin/generator) cost over $16,000. If we were smarter about this building stuff,  we would have bought a generator (or got a temporary pole for Hydro hookup) and a simple two-stage scaffolding to move around the house as needed. Both could be sold afterward. We also could have built a bigger storage shed and biffy for the framing crew, rather than renting a bin and toilet. And, if we had used ICFs (see #2 above) no forms would need to be rented or taken apart after the pour.

If we had taken this advice before WE started building, we could have built just as green, but for $191/square foot. Mind you, if you build before the reversal of the HST in 2013 (with its additional 7% sales tax on labour) it will cost you at least $18000 more. If you’re contemplating building in BC, I would recommend waiting until after the HST is reversed.

One of our overarching goals for this project is to use materials, such as stone, that will endure for a long time after we’re gone. Another is to build with these materials in such a way that we will not have huge maintenance issues. Aesthetics sneak in there, too.

So, we have stone for our central fireplace, and for four pillars inside:

There’s flagstone in our entry:

And on the pillars and doorstep outside:

There are big stone retaining walls on the lot:

There will be stone covering the green building wrap.

And, we are in the process of applying flagstone in the front patio area:

To apply flagstone: On very solid ground, we raked all the stones, pulled weeds, cleaned up debris from our building and stonework, and flattened it. Then, D brought in 70 wheelbarrow loads of sand, which I raked and flattened.

We have distinct edges to build to, but where we need a form, along the house, D has built one.

Our goal is to use the flagstones just the way they come, fitting them together as best we can without having to do any cutting. I’m not so worried about the size of the spaces between these stones – we will fill them with sand and encourage moss to grow in between the stones. At the transition between the doorstep and the stone patio, I laid down some landscaping cloth, to help keep weeds down.

Another of our goals for our home is to make it wheelchair-accessible. This means we need the flagstone to meet the doorstep. The first stones we laid were thicker, and we built a bit of a slope so that a wheelchair could navigate over the transition.

Once we have placed a stone for its shape, we need to make it lie still and even with the edges of the surrounding stones. We lift it up, see where the “print” of the stone has not flattened the sand, and add more sand or remove sand to help with “seating” it firmly in its place.

Then, with a heavy post, we pound the stone to tamp it securely into place:

On the first two days, we were able to lay 156 stones, and only had to chip off a couple of points. We didn’t need to use the angle grinder with its messy dust.

I will add photos when we have finished the job, including the joints.

In the meantime, I ask you, is this just too much stone???? I long to add flora (that fauna do not like to eat) to soften all these hard edges we have so painstakingly (emphasis on “pain” on some days!) installed. These stones may be here forever, but is this landscaping too “hard?”

Regular readers will wonder how many posts about tiling Gail can possibly write.

We’ve had a few guests lately, so the demand on our one shower has been high. We decided to prioritize the guest bathroom on our still-two-pages-long job list. I’m doing a post on this bathroom because its design raised some questions about how I might proceed, and I hope it might help someone else with some of these decisions.

Because it’s designed to be a wheelchair-accessible steam shower, the access and water-proofing had to be thoroughly thought out. There is a concrete base, installed by the plumbers, covered by a rubber film, then another layer of relatively dry concrete, sloped to the drain and to the rest of the floor outside the shower.

The second layer of concrete over the rubber dam. You can see how "dry" the mix is.

Two coats of RedGard waterproofing were applied on top of the second concrete and onto the cement-board walls and ceiling, which had been prepared with taping and cement.

The lighter pink is the third coat of RedGard which is still wet.

In corners and whenever air bubbles developed, a third layer of RedGard was applied.

The white bubble-holes had to be re-coated

If this shower leaks, it will be a miracle.

I chose to use mosaic glass and marble tiles to accommodate the sloped shower pan, and large white tiles for the walls and ceiling.

Turns out the glass tiles are very challenging to cut because they crack and splinter. The Home Depot staff had no suggestions on how I might cut them. I took some to the local glass shop, but they couldn’t help me. They did cut a 4″ circle for the drain, which was the biggest hole they could cut, but it wasn’t  big enough, so I had to re-cut as best I could with my wet-saw and angle grinder. I used the electric grinder to smooth the cut edges of the glass. Frustrating indeed. I bought a 1.5″ diamond hole saw for the numerous pipe holes.

So, do I tile the walls first or the floor? In the last shower job, I did the floor first, then slopped the mortar all over, even though I had covered it with cardboard. This time, I decided to start with the second row of wall tiles, and tile up.

Then the floor, then the bottom row of wall tiles to cover the floor tiles.

I’m always thinking of where the water will go: it will slide down the wall and onto the floor, then, obviously, to the drain. I sloped the “floor” of the little shampoo nooks so they won’t collect water.

I had to make oodles of decisions about aesthetics, too – what do we see when we enter the room? On the diagonally-tiled main floor of the bathroom, do I center the floor tiles to the door?

Do I have a flat-cut tile presenting first, or the point of the 12″ tile (bad Feng Shui)?

In the cases where partial tiles must be cut, do I put the partials in the corners, equally divided on each side? Where the tiles’ edges will be exposed, I put the one white-glazed edge facing out. Do I allow any cut edges to be seen, or must they always be concealed by another tile?

When applying the diagonal floor tiles, I  drew a straight line from the center of the door to the shower, then lined up the corners of the tiles along this axis.

Then I drew in the placement for each tile and row of mosaic accents. This took a lot of figuring and careful measuring and squaring, but it still has flaws. Hopefully, our guests will not nit-pick!

I used the white thin-set mortar, because I like the way it keeps the tiles in place and doesn’t allow slippage. (Two 30-lb bags of MegaLite, for 250 sq ft of tile.) Also, the glass tiles are translucent, so a dark mortar would produce a darker effect.

I won’t bore you with a photo after the grouting and sealing is done. But, expect another guest bathroom post when it’s all finished, because I will be re-using some old building materials, and this is, after all, a blog about building green!

linking to: Funky Junk Saturday Night Linkup Party: Favourite Outdoor Projects

We have a concrete slab by the front door. In keeping with the random slate entry look that we have inside, I put aside all the thicker (3/4″ or 2 cm thick) flagstones for outside.

I spent a few hours (many fewer than with the inside job, because of increased confidence, I presume) cutting and fitting the puzzle pieces together.

The basket contains the only remnants (1/2" thick) of patio stones

The amazing thing is, I used up ALL the available 3/4″ stones. There were only shards left, and  these were the thinner stones. We have often used up EXACTLY the materials available (mortar, tiles, stones, upholstery fabric, slat wall, wrought iron railing, bricks.) I consider these “coincidences” good karma in the building of this house.

Numbered the stones in the order of application, and marked the slab with the shapes and numbers:

The process for adhering and grouting the outside flagstones is the same as for the inside flagstones, except that we used “Type S” cement for both steps, rather than a polymer-modified concrete, because the stones were being applied to a concrete base, rather than plywood and Schluter-Ditra.

I sealed the flagstones with Broda Clarity:

BEFORE sealing

AFTER sealing

The final look

As an aside, here’s a photo of one of the gravel slaves who dropped by:

We tired them out. And, apparently, we don’t have enough beds in the house – they slept on the deck with the rain pounding down on the metal roof above.

Some months ago, we picked up 94 lineal feet of wrought iron fencing (Craigslist – Langley). It was heavy, but the Toyota was up to it. With helpful strong men (and one woman) we moved it to the house, then to the sand-blaster, then to the studio roof, then to the grassy knoll by the garden. You’re getting a picture that this stuff is being shoved around, with some effort and expense. Finally, this week, the rusty-again wrought iron has been extricated from the weeds, and pressed into its second life as our garden fence. Here’s the “Before” photo:

A careful plan was drafted to use the fence to its maximum. I designed, ordered, and painted, and D installed 14 post brackets and posts alongside the garden’s perimeter box.

Kim, the welder, adjusted the posts for plumb with plastic shims and set screws in the brackets. Then, he cut and welded the sections according to my plan. That took him about 12 hours. This is all the railing that was left over:

I treated the rust with Rustmort (above), let it do its chemical thing for 24 hours, then rinsed the fence panels. (1.5 litres of Rustmort.)

Next, a rather painstaking primer application.

By trial-and-error, I learned a few techniques. Regular nap rollers do not bend around the twists and curlicues. I found that the cheap foam roller got around the curves much better, but lasted about 2 minutes:

I have read that a tube sock over a rubber glove is a good way to paint wrought iron. But…messy.

Then, because the stores were closed by this time, I found a piece of (free) foam in my art supplies. I scrunched it up, dipped it into the primer and it worked great. It held lots of paint and got into those small spaces.

Then, a thick coat of paint with a water-based rust paint. Because the paint was thinner than the primer the foam roller and an ordinary brush worked better.

It took me a whole week of 12-hour days to paint the wrought iron, and I am soooo tired of painting. (Quantities used: 2.5 litres primer and 3 litres paint.)

Kim and Dave lifted the sections into place, and hung them on a clamped-on bracket to tack then weld the sections to the posts, taking great care not to step on the plants.

This photo shows the majority of the railing installed.

The pole beans and sunflowers will be very happy to have a fence to finally climb/grow against:

I know we should have installed the fence BEFORE planting the garden, but time happened to be marching on.

And, by the way, would you like to see one of our cauliflowers?

We have already harvested 2 broccoli, all our spinach and most of the lettuce, swiss chard, and given away those plus cilantro and parsley. I’m loving the organic pest-free garden (the pests haven’t discovered it yet.)

Update July 22: The cabbageworm found the brassicas after all! I deleafed them and crushed the larvae, as well as harvesting most of the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. The threat seems abated.

Also today, Kim the welder finished installing the railing.

Hoping for another hot summer for the garden and valuing my time, I planned and ordered a drip irrigation system from Northern Garden Supply in Smithers, British Columbia. Their web site has instructional videos and case studies that are very helpful.

Drip irrigation can save at least 50% of your water, because it waters where it’s needed, and because it’s shaded by the plants so evaporation is minimal.

You’re supposed to install the system before planting, but I just finished installing it yesterday. It was reasonably easy to do. Required strength and very hot water to get the pipe into the compression fittings, and required patience to straighten the pipe, which just wanted to curl, even in the hot sun.

Our goal is to use the collected rainwater for the garden. The plumbers and I are having some difficulties getting that working. I have finally cleaned up the collected water in the cistern (It was collecting dark-coloured water draining from the roof garden, with its rich black compost soil, creating an unattractive water flow in the waterfall and a rich medium for unattractive algae bloom. We’ve diverted the rooftop drain so it doesn’t flow into the cistern.)

How to create the required 25 lbs pressure for the drip irrigation faucet to work? The plumber cut into the big 2″ pipe that recycles the pumped water to the waterfall, but it wouldn’t pump up to the garden faucet.

So a stop-cock was installed, which would require turning off the waterfall while watering the garden (not an ideal solution.) Surprisingly, even that was not enough pressure to create a low-pressure flow through the garden hose.

Now, I’m thinking that we’ll have to pump the water out of the biofalls filter bottom, setting its own pump up on our timer.

The Biofalls filter is quite deep. A pump could be installed below the filter pads.

I will talk to the plumber again, and update this post when we finally have a solution.

The studio has finally been cleared of all the sanding/painting/general storage debris. We’ve put up the slat wall, suspended ceiling, and storage wall. John has hooked up the electrical fixtures. I’m mostly moved in. Who knows, I may even be able to start making art this month!

Studio Before photo

I’ve given a fair bit of thought to studio design. I’ve been very fortunate to have had my own two wonderful large studio spaces in the past, plus a shared space at Granville Island, and have visited the studios of scores of fibre artists. My lecture, A Space for Sewing: 101 Great Ideas presents examples of practical design.

Studio After photo

This studio will be the culmination of all I’ve learned about studio design for quilt artists. Some salient points:

Light/Electrical: Most of the natural light is from windows facing south east. I have that light at my back when sewing, and have a mirror mounted to reflect the view. Four energy-efficient fluorescent ceiling panel lights are outfitted with natural daylight tubes, and the sewing machine, dyeing sink, and pottery wheel have pot lights mounted directly above. There are plenty of electrical outlets, mounted in the ceiling, and at counter height and regular height. Heat is provided by a small electric kick-space heater under the dye sink.

Floor: Is sealed polished concrete, which acts as a heat sink on sunny winter days. Four inches of styrofoam insulation below the slab. The floor is sloped to a drain, should any dye sinks over-flow.

Storage: The 18′ back wall is covered with 24″ deep floor-to-ceiling shelves. Quilt storage is on the wall, covered with cloth and plastic, to keep out dust, light and water leaks.

Four ranks of Omni-carts fit below one shelf, and another shelf is sized to store two dollhouses. Fabric storage is in laundry baskets.

Thread storage is in plastic bags in the drawers of the table.

Thanks to Judy Morningstar for this idea.

Thanks to Judy Morningstar for this suggestion. Fabric is arranged by colour, easy to see, and has air circulation to prevent mold.

The doors for this storage unit are 8′x 8′ felt-covered work walls, mounted with sliding barn door hardware. (Photo to be updated!)

Clear acrylic drawer fronts show what's inside

Two stacks of acrylic-fronted drawers hold notions.

Workspace: Is an L-shaped arrangement of the sewing machine and work table (an old Home Economics clothing lab table, covered with melamine for fabric dyeing/painting and fitted with a hanging shelf below.) Two old re-purposed office cabinets are high enough to do rotary-cutting and hold my 2′x4′ ironing board..

Those are the highlights of my studio. I’m very lucky.

I will update this post when the barn doors are made and installed. Floor plan: