The roof is done: time to go

So, we had our party, with its bubbly wine, BBQ chicken (delicious) and a retropective of the last 6 months in images. The Master Builder has done it: the building is up, the roof is on and the place is waterproof! Now we can build an interior. Great party, with three sisters and their husbands, three very close, very lucky brothers-in-law who can celebrate the construction of this beautiful wooden house. Time to pack up and leave, as the seasons end and drive us back into the city. The MB takes off for Switzerland and another life: we go back to Montreal. I'll leave some photos of this place as we go dormant for 6 months!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of an episode

We'll be leaving here soon. I'm looking forward to the city. Deborah's looking forward to going out after supper without worrying about cougars. It'll be fun to meet up with old friends. To have a TV again. I miss the West Island... We've been working on this project for a year, naively planning what kind of place we want to build in this beautiful place. We sat on a stump a year ago and decided to do it, to buy the land from Michael and build a house like his cabins, massively wooden, surrounded by Cape Breton beauty, quiet and really a great place to invite all the family and friends for really good meals in a sensationally beautiful spot. And in the home of Gaelic culture in Canada and in sight of Chapel Island, the Mic Mac site dedicated to Grandmother Saint Anne... Of course we wouldn't have launched out on this project without the Master Builder. And the Master Builder said he could do it, do it all, and I knew he could because even if he is a solitary sort of guy, and not the most communicative companion on the building site, he's a very big man who won't be defeated by any thing and ultimately, even after 8 hours putting up metal panels on the roof, he's still able to smile at the absurdity of our little setbacks. He is an amazing problem-solver and expert user of all kinds of tools. And I gave him a few problems this year as I tried to find out how a house is built and how a 65-year old can hold out during those 8-hour labouring sessions. We had a lot of fun in those slogging sessions. But I was frequentloy slogged by the end of the day. But yesterday I finished the day feeling like I still had that huge appetite for physical life which I had as a younger man. I felt really strong again, not a heart-fibrillating wuz in his sixties. Not ready for a rugby game on the weekend but not far off. And to witness the Master Builder bent over on the roof for 8-hours, roped to the building, struggling with fussy drill bits, not losing sight of the end, getting it built in time to leave for Switzerland and his winter job. I can understand why they want him back there: for me he is a phenomenon, and bit like brother-in-law Paul's Helmut, massively strong and what else can I say but what fun it's been to work with him, watch him struggling with his machines, finding solutions to all the problems we've thrown at him.. Not a day's sickness, hours of back-testing work. You can see that I'm a Master Builder fan. Come a see his art work in Cape George. If you're lucky you might get to work with him for a few hours. Don't expect a fine line in conversation but you will get the results. I'll post the final photos before we leave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now for the metal cap!

Saturday, October 29, and Wayne and Janet report for roof-building volunteering at 8 in the morning. A certain amount of confusion as we try to organize the work and who does what without really knowing what the Master Builder's Master Plan is. There has been a frost overnight, so we start on the sunny side of the roof. The MB soon has Wayne marching up and down the slope as if he were in a shopping mall. Our team quickly builds the 2 by 2 framework to receive the 2 inch foam insulation panels and then we proceed quickly to the first 15 foot by 3 foot metal panel. We don't know exactly how they recommend attaching these panels, so the first one looks like it's been attached to the front of a military tank: we shall call this first panel the "hurricane corner". That panel will never come off, ever. I do a calculation and realize that we'll need twice the screws they've sent us if we carry on with this screwing pattern. It will also take at least an hour to screw each panel. Our family doctor, work site co-organizer and Swiss MB comforter (one of the three sisters who are wives of the three men involved in this exercise) has the answer: using her magic I-phone she contacts the company and manages to get help from someone doing a Saturday morning shift! We have it! Now we know how to screw it down. The magic of Apple. Thank you, Mr Jobs. In the remaining six hour session we get 2/3 of the way along one side of the roof at which point there is a shower of light rain and magically a double rainbow breaks out across the lake. It is time to call it a day before Wayne's feet fall off and Michael permanently develops a Charlie Chaplin penguin walking style. I am sure that those size 14 shoes help keep him balanced on the roof but nevertheless it is amazing how flexible and balanced he is for such a big man: tribute to his dad, Oldy who was an accomplished Alpine climber. Oldy would be proud of the MB's building. The evening party and feast helps to get us over the trials of the working day, but rain breaks out overnight and Sunday, with Janet and Wayne both ready to help us finish the roof, is lost to high winds and rain. At least it's only 1/2 of the house now getting wet... But how shall we finish the roof with only the two of us, and only one MB?

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have a peak!

WE should be drinking champagne! The Master Builder spends two long days finishing the peak, coming up with an ingenious solution to the inevitable discrepancies in his huge beam construction. All that remains for this year is to insulate and cap with the metal roofing. Just a few photos to show the effect, the massive beauty of the beamed roof and, of course, the beaming Master Builder himself. What a dance on a roof from such a massive man.

 

 

Working against the clock

Well. now we have a roof, a wooden one, very wooden, several tons of wood in fact. On this blustery, almost cold day, the Master Builder strides across the roof while I cling to the gable roof to screw in a few long screws to hold the gable trim, a 15 foot 2 by 10 board to end the house (or begin it), very heavy and very impressive. I am terrified of walking on the roof, even if it is only a 7:12 slope. Even though there are straps along the roof to stand on and push off on, I don't like walking up there. Meanwhile, Michael the MB, strides around like he's having fun up there in the cold wind. He even hauls the boards up to finish the peak which he will now have to finish tomorrow, after which we'll start putting on the tar paper and insulation. I somehow thought the house might be protected from last night's rain by all the wood, but you still have to have waterproofing and, finally, the metal. Then the house will have to dry out. Then we put in the 3 patio doors and the place is ready to be left for a winter rest, for me that is... Deborah takes off for Randy Cormier's wake and I am invited to share pork and potatoes with the MB, a fine dining experience with the master of construction. It even tastes good here.