After 18 years living in Vancouver, in the spring of 2024 I retired and moved back to New Brunswick. What follows are occasional updates on my first experience with building a home.
- Home Update : 2026-Jan-02
Happy new year!
The shed now has a door.
- Home Update : 2025-Dec-23
I’ve been in my place for three weeks now. The fire keeps the space warm and the insulation keeps the heat in. It’s generally been no cooler than 15° in the mornings with just embers in the stove. Outdoor overnight temperatures have been between -10 and -15°.
I’ve finally tackled building a door jam for the shed.
- Home Update : 2025-Nov-28
A fair bit of activity last week. Two loads of firewood was delivered and then stacked.
Throughout the early part of the week I continued closing in the ceiling cavity for the blow-in of insulation. The outer layer of wall insulation was finalized throughout the structure and the inner layer was placed on the upper portion of the gable end walls.
Wednesday evening I set up the scaffolding for the insulation installers. They arrived Thursday afternoon and after a couple hours had completed the job. I should have about R60 in the ceiling.
Before dismantling the scaffolding, I opened the windows to help clear the air. Once everything was cleared away, a fire was started and two hours later it was ~20° throughout the space.
On Friday I moved my futon over and have been sleeping there since.
- Home Update : 2025-Nov-21
The contractors finished the exterior siding today.
The wood stove has been installed and is fully functional.
It’s still chilly though. The wall insulation is incomplete and the blow-in of roof insulation has been delayed until next Thursday.
- Home Update : 2025-Nov-19
The siding on three walls are up. The contractors will be back on Friday to finish.
- Home Update : 2025-Nov-17
Shape of things to come.
- Home Update : 2025-Nov-16
Today was the first snowfall of the season. By early afternoon it had shifted to rain.
The contractor (Adam’s Yard Maintenance) had finished the house wrap and soffits by the end of last week. They will be back this week to start with the siding.
On the inside, I’ve been preparing the ceiling for the installation of blow-in insulation on November 24.
Scheduled for this week:
- Gypsum board delivery (Monday)
- Stove and chimney installation by Classic Stoves and Fireplaces (Friday)
- Home Update : 2025-Oct-29
The windows and doors of the house are in!
I purchased a portable power station and charged it up with one of the solar panels today. It will be a source of power as I spend more time in the house. The solar power system will not be set up until I’ve prepared the ceiling for blow-in insulation contractor.
The building contractors return next week to install the soffits and hopefully get started with the siding, which was delivered today.
- Home Update : 2025-Oct-24
Warm shingles are easier to cut than cold shingles. 😉
- Home Update : 2025-Oct-23
Today, the contractors built the back gabble end wall, applied the lower house wrap, and installed most of the windows & doors.
I shingled half the shed roof.
- Home Update : 2025-Oct-22
Another rainy day. The contractors haven’t been in this week.
I started preparing the underside of the roof for the blow-in insulation.
- Home Update : 2025-Oct-20
The shed was mostly closed in over the weekend.
Today I cleaned up the site.
Tomorrow, the contractor is back on site to start building the gable ends, finish the sheathing, apply the building wrap and install the windows & doors.
- Home Update : 2025-Oct-05
The contractors finished the roof by the end of last week. They will be back to close the gable ends and install windows & doors soon.
…and I’ve been building a shed.
- Home Update : 2025-Sep-29
The contractors arrived today. 🎉
The trusses were up by early afternoon.
Sheathing and fascia installation is underway.
Tomorrow they will start shingling.
- Home Update : 2025-Sep-24
Autumn has arrived (and it’s still very dry). The colours are sneaking up on me.
Materials for the shed arrived and floor construction has begun.
A contractor (Adam’s Yard Maintenance) is coming to start installing the trusses and roofing for the house this coming Monday.
- Home Update : 2025-Sep-11
A potential contractor is putting together a quote to install the trusses and roofing.
In the meantime, I started to install foundation screws for the shed. Besides being used for storage, the shed will house the solar power batteries, inverter and controller.
- Home Update : 2025-Sep-03
Siblings and their partners came by to put up roof trusses today. I’m grateful for their help and expertise, but it was becoming evident that clambering about on walls and ladders 3 – 4 m above the ground was too dodgy. So after five trusses were up, I halted work.
I’m in the process of finding a contractor to come in to safely place the remaining 14 trusses.
- Home Update : 2025-Sep-01
I had started to push a few roof trusses up. They are inverted and hanging on the side walls. A couple siblings have volunteered to come over later this week to lend a hand. In the meantime, I’m installing OSB sheathing.
- Home Update : 2025-Aug-29
The roof trusses are on site.
- Home Update : 2025-Aug-28
The last exterior wall section went up today!
Roof trusses and materials are to be delivered tomorrow.