tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26458230108669881462011-07-07T20:57:55.077-07:00Keep up to date with all the news from the Peirces' Mandala Construction!Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-30537715398738093962009-11-15T10:46:00.015-08:002009-11-18T07:54:01.643-08:00

Merged photos (Alex Peirce) of the cabin, maple tree and house.Completed house, looking from the south. Photo by Josee VelsenView of house looking SE. Photo by Josee VelsenMain entrance to the house, showing skylight and rain chains. Photo by Alex PeirceJohn working in the kitchen. Photo by Alex Peirce.Corner of kitchen with living room beyond. Photo by Alex Peirce.View to SE, looking over the

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-68391286026532231102009-06-08T19:53:00.011-07:002009-06-08T20:38:23.109-07:00

The big accomplishment this month was getting the backfilling and grading done, so the house starts to look as it should when we are all done (minus planting, which can't be started until we have rain in the Fall.) Tiling and trim inside are moving ahead. We have to do final painting, finish the trim work, install countertops and sinks, and a whole bunch of finish details still to do. And also

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-38242619719358131942009-05-09T11:06:00.024-07:002009-05-09T12:18:11.637-07:00

Here is a view of the new knees on the carport, showing how they connect visually to the kees on the house (apologies for the iridescent green color in the photo).Here one can also see the copper gutter across the front of the entry skylight and one of the copper rain chains. Of course the gutter will turn to a verdigris green as it weathers.Here is the front entry skylight, looking SE. You can

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-62482011503266771532009-05-08T17:02:00.010-07:002009-05-09T11:01:55.861-07:00

Here is the main deck on a very rainy Easter morning. The glass panels have no upper rail to get in the way of the view. Beer drinkers will need another place to put down their beer cans!The grey lumber on the deck are synthetic 2x4's that will act as sleepers. The main deck material (Timbertech - another synthetic "woodlike" product) will run across the sleepers in three fans, picking up the

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-82825874112128903982009-03-13T20:33:00.009-07:002009-03-13T21:23:35.675-07:00

A panoramic view of the front windows of the main room (which look generally south towards the ocean) and looking west towards the kitchen (the blue room). Note the caps (2x4 cedar pieces) covering the joints between the ceiling panels. The white square behind the scaffold is a panel in the ceiling so we can access the turnbuckles on the airplane cables that hold the roof together. They may need

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-34701980247857562142009-02-16T17:13:00.010-08:002009-02-16T19:19:38.952-08:00

The big step forward has been the completion of all the drywall, Now we can finally see what the rooms will look like!This first photo is a composite of the main room, from the alcove leading to the master bedroom on the left around to the kitchen on the right. You can see the arch of the ceiling above (which will be covered with cedar).We also finally fired up the geothermal hydronic heating

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-42927002878605403972008-12-22T18:11:00.022-08:002008-12-23T08:43:40.449-08:00

The pictures in this posting are from early December. As I write just before Christmas, we are seven months since breaking ground. We are about 2-3 months behind our original schedule, but I have learned that all contractors are as hopelessly optimistic as I am when it comes to scheduling. Because everything in an almost round house is custom-shaped, carpentry costs have been our most serious

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-33195758841519933692008-11-18T19:48:00.007-08:002008-11-18T20:33:29.300-08:00

View through the French doors in the master bedroomWe've been making steady progress through the Fall, although not much of it shows up well in pictures. Since the last post we have accomplished the following:- Installed basement partitions,- Installed main floor radiant heat loops,- Poured concrete slab for radiant heat on main floor,- Installed main floor partitions,- Built inside stairs,-

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-82882017361319584812008-09-14T16:35:00.005-07:002008-09-15T06:32:41.263-07:00

Sept 14 We are now back in Calgary for two weeks, and we have to sadly admit that summer is over. We had a fantastic time with all our many volunteers - it was a very special experience to share our house project with so many friends and family.We also want to say a big thanks to our professional crew from Creative Carpentry, particularly Jim Woitowich, the foreman, for adapting to having a

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-27725859139361902282008-08-20T13:52:00.007-07:002008-08-20T21:48:34.735-07:00

August 20: We took have taken some big steps forward this week - completed installing and sheathing the roof, first dinner in the house, insulation and radiant flooring completed in basement, and removing all the interior braces from the house. Doing that last step was dramatic as we now have light pouring through the skylight and we can see the entire cathedral ceiling at once. For the first

John Peircehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00308287061568741342noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-1379789667850593182008-08-15T10:36:00.007-07:002008-08-16T13:29:53.945-07:00

This week has seen some pretty significant progress. On Tuesday we put in the last of the trusses for the inner Mandala. These were the trusses that go out towards the deck, however, so they have cantilevered rafters bolted to them. The trusses themselves aren't too heavy, but adding two 15-foot long 2 x 10 Douglas Fir rafters on adds a lot of weight. So hoisting them up into place is not

Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-24008581260152481782008-08-07T17:17:00.006-07:002008-08-07T18:17:47.660-07:00

Now we're finally getting back around to one of the earlier steps in building the house. The trusses that support the ceiling and roof of the inner ring of the Mandala were finally delivered, three weeks late. To be fair, they were late because there was a concern with how they were being built. I'm just glad they resolved their concerns before sending the trusses out to us - it's kind of like

Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-33260608092434650652008-08-02T09:00:00.002-07:002008-08-02T09:01:39.877-07:00

There have been some mixups with the prefab stuff - windows not being installed according to local code, some wrong windows, etc. so we have spent some time making sure everything is fixed up correctly before proceeding. The past couple weeks haven't really seen much visible progress.We have all the materials for the car port, however, so we decided to start working on that to see some real

Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-85155571358844687132008-07-27T20:54:00.005-07:002008-07-27T21:52:09.539-07:00

Ok, so this is another non-building post. But this was pretty phenomenal, so I figure I should share. Beth and I went kayaking last Friday afternoon. As we were paddling along, a seal surfaced a foot in front of my kayak. Before I had any time to react, I nudged him (or her, I suppose, but somehow I feel like it was a male) with my bow. He dove under, and surfaced again 10 feet behind us a

Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-80666251014111535852008-07-24T21:39:00.003-07:002008-07-24T21:57:42.382-07:00

Those who have visited us out here know that we're on a first-name basis with the local deer. This summer I've seen at least 3 different bucks, a couple does, and two fawns. They're very friendly and curious:Unfortunately, Dad left the gate in the orchard fence open one night, and we had some visitors overnight:Luckily they only ate a few green apples and nibbled on the broccoli. The next

Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-69573033973349321622008-07-22T06:53:00.003-07:002008-07-22T07:02:36.156-07:00

Beth and I went out canoeing last Saturday. We were on our way back from a little beach on another island, with beautiful weather (only slight swells), when we dumped. Seriously, we're on an almost perfectly calm ocean, and we tipped over. We were pretty close to shore, so it was easy enough to swim over to bail out the canoe, and the sun was out, so we dried out and warmed up pretty quickly.

Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-42129056191070958552008-07-21T19:09:00.004-07:002008-07-21T20:58:32.155-07:00

Here are some photos. Also, please feel free to leave comments (there's a link at the bottom of each post).First off, for those who don't know, the house is a 22-sided structure, mostly pre-fab kit (from Mandala Custom Homes). Here's a CAD model, to give you a sense:Breaking groundLaying the Lego Block foundation (technically called ICF)Pump Truck (that's an 80 ft. boom)Radial Floor

Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-78941829465845689442008-07-20T15:27:00.004-07:002008-07-20T15:49:36.497-07:00

Dad has been taking notes as the construction goes along, so I've copied them below. It gives a bit of a sense of what has been going on for the past two months. I'll try and get some photos up soon.May 18:Nancy and I arrived after a long drive from Calgary, made worse by two mud slides causing road closures. We picked up a new battery for the lawn tractor and spent two days mowing to clear

Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2645823010866988146.post-29940446982424408562008-07-19T18:36:00.003-07:002008-07-19T19:13:50.838-07:00

Hello from Gabriola Island! I (Alex) have finally arrived out here, which means this blog is finally getting started. Apparently Dad has a lot to do, between the general house stuff, putting in a geothermal system, getting the electrical, water, internet, phone, etc. run to the house, gardening, a bunch more stuff that I'm forgetting, and trying to enjoy the summer. The next bunch of posts (or

Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04669225234696134532noreply@blogger.com0