Pre-fab no more

We’ve thrown the towel in with our pre-fab builder. The red flags have been flying for a while now. We’ve finally decided that we would feel more comfortable building the good old fashioned way — with site framing. 

Despite this setback, we're feeling much more comfortable with where the build is headed. With tried and tested techniques and builders. We’ve got several enthusiastic and experienced builders anxious to join our team. Mark has had to redesign our wall panels so that they can now be built on site (rather than the factory), using updated modern framing methods. His new wall system is pretty exciting. One in which he might actually like even more than before! He will write a post about it, because it’s worth writing about. Something new that can open up the doors for blah blah blah… (I say blah, but it’s very fascinating. Blah is because I’m not sure how to explain it.)

Now the ball is back in our court. We’ve got structural engineer looking at the new wall system. He should be giving us his feedback and stamp this week so we can finally get the city all of the drawings it needs to issue our permit. Quelle relief that will be.

Assembly instructions

This is how our factory-built house will come together. There will be 15 wall panels, three floor panels (one framed on-site) and three roof panels. Easy peasy — alan key not required. 

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Ikea would be proud...

The house factory: an adventure in pre-fab

We took the kids to check out the "house factory" yesterday, aka Green Giant Design Build's assembly shop, which is just outside of Picton. The owner, Adam, is just putting the final touches on it. It will be up and running this spring and our house will be one of the first off the line. 

The basic shell of our house will be made in Adam’s factory, loaded on to a truck, and assembled on-site in a matter of days (vs. weeks using traditional construction techniques). There are some major benefits to be had by going this route, not the least of which is cost. 

All the building stuff is very cool, but I’ll let Mark or Adam discuss it in more detail as construction approaches. 

Meanwhile, I’ll tell you a bit about the factory building itself. Adam’s shop is tucked inside an old airplane hangar that was once part of a WWII Army Barracks. The whole scene is surreal. Row upon row of identical, weathered, old, shingle-clad buildings – all of which are now commercially rented out, though you would never know to look at them. It looks like a ghost town. Inside the airplane hangar was a treasure trove of random objects like: the Niagara Falls fire truck, pair of Airstream trailers and heating ducts from a cement factory. So very bizarre and fascinating. Take a look at the pics.