HOME BUILDING
Posts about posts! And holes and studs and timbers and all of the various pieces that make a house a place to live as opposed to an ominous pile of materials a truck drops off beside a big hole.
Author 
nik
nik Review! Security Chain Company ZT747 Super Z LT Light Truck and SUV Tire Traction Chain
It's no secret that our driveway has been the source of a lot of drama and trouble over the 3 winters we've now spent here. This year's attempt at conquering the beast is a 1995 Chevy Silverado in remarkably good condition, with a Snowbear plow. Although not the biggest plowing unit out there, so [...]
Author nik
nik Throwback! A Previous Project – Kitchen Demo and Reno Timelapse
Our last home in the city was an estate sale requiring major renovations and overhauls top to bottom. Here's a timelapse video of the kitchen renovation, complete from the first (ceremonial) sledgehammer smashes by the kids, through demolotion right to the finished project! It's a bit of a longer timelapse, but there are very few [...]
Author nik
nik Timelapse Vid! Building the Fireplace Surround
Here's a fun timelapse video of us building the fireplace surround. There aren't a lot of photos online (a few dozen maybe?) of freestanding fireplaces with nice big mantels and hearths surrounding them, so we had to be creative while respecting the necessary clearances for combustibles. We used Rockwool insulation, steel studs and concrete board [...]
Author nik
nik Tool Review: RIDGID R350PNA 3-1/2-Inch Palm Nailer
A review of the RIDGID 3.5" Palm Nailer. As you'll see in the video, this little guy saved a lot of work, but it's durability may be questionable after it started leaking air quite badly, but 'fixed itself' after I dropped it from about 3" from the floor ??♂️. Stuff we used here: RIDGID R350PNA [...]
Author nik
nik No Soup for You! JK, come on in.
The ALMOST finished kitchen in its unnatural state (i.e. no kids, no dishes, no mess). I'll probably mention it in another post, or maybe I already have, but we've been really impressed with the cabinet combos we went with this time. In the past we've done IKEA, higher-end Martha Stewart from HD, and I even [...]
Author nik
nik Back-Front of the House
Lots of confusion about which is the front side and which is the backside of our house. Mostly because we built it at an angle and put the designed “back” of the house closest to the road (which is really not close at all, about 300m away). This view is from the second corner of [...]
Author nik
nik Front-Back of the house
Here's what we call the back and others call the front. Long deck with a porch swing and octagon, and some Polk Audio speakers pumping the tunage 🙂 On the left you can see a spruce tree. We had a company come and move some of the trees from other parts of the property to [...]
Author nik
nik Where’s the Toilet?
It’s behind that door. Thank goodness. This is the master bathroom; the walk-in closet is through the door on the right and features an IKEA-hacked built-in closet system using PAX wardrobe pieces (which will definitely need its own post soon!). A lot of showers were had without the glass installed because let's face it: custom [...]
Author nik
nik Live-ing on the Edge
John S. at Morningstar Enterprises hooked us up with some beautiful and THICK slabs (or half trees, practically!) of local live-edge jackpine that I couldn't wait to turn into a whole host of things. First up were some shelves for the sides of the range hood in the kitchen. After cutting them to rough length [...]
Author nik
nik Range hood test fit
The range hood is sprayed and test fit around the off-centred beam. Now to take it down, clear-coat it, and install the backsplash.