E ventured across the lake this weekend on cross country skis to check on the condition of the cottage and try to ascertain why our cottage hydro bill was so high mid-winter.
Short answer: the contractor had a construction heater running inside. Why!?
Here are some pics of his visit.
The crossing
The post comes without pictures. It's a storytelling post.
So you might have noticed that we're rebuilding the cottage and nothing is being done about the peaky bunky that lives right next to the cottage. That's not by choice.
When we submitted our building plans - including rebuilding the bunky - to building department at the township, We communicated with them a bunch up front about the viability of rebuilding the bunky; it's larger than your usual 10x10 bunky, and, like the cottage itself, it's too close to the water. The environmental people had no objections to the plan, since there's already a building sitting there (it's not a new build).
In spite of our contact's assurances that there would be no problem getting the plans approved, the decision makers rejected the bunky. As it turns out, a tiny tyrant had recently come into power and was wreaking havoc on everyone's plans (thus says our builder, who was NOT a fan of this guy). After trying and waiting and considering options to end-run their objections (Make the bunky sans toilet - i.e. just a big ol' room, Make the bunky 10x10 or less, Connect the bunky to the cottage with a breezeway, Omit the bunky, and another option I can't remember right now) we needed to get moving on the cottage build, and the bunky was holding everything up. So we pulled the bunky from the application, it was almost immediately approved, and we ended up where we are today.
Now, since all of that nonsense, Lord Farquaad at the township left/got sacked not sure which. It doesn't honestly matter, because the end result is we're not battling the tiny tyrant anymore. The bunky plan is being added back to the plans via an amendment that will need to go thru the approvals process again.
Cross your fingers that the bunky is approved! If so, it will delay the installation of our septic because they septic dude doesn't want to be driving construction equipment over the septic bed. But it will be the ideal solution to the plan we originally wanted to execute.
Here's a dump of photos from our builder. The panelling is going up inside the cottage. We can't use drywall because of the 3-season nature of the place (MOLD), so we're going with GOS wood panels that will have a faux board-and-batten treatment.
I think the latest update on the borked exterior gable siding is that it will remain up for the winter while builder/supplier/manufacturer knock heads to sort out/correct the error. At least the walls will be covered for the "absent" season.
Pity his camera is such poop.
R's bedroom:
