Site Supervisor

Yesterday I got to go up the lake to personally see how things are going with the construction of our bathroom and side porch addition (also see Under Construction and Up Goes the Frame).

I've had some really good help in my absence. Mr. Ducky has been acting as the site construction supervisor. His report today was that John is doing an excellent job and I'll be "flushing" and bathing in a flash.

The walls are all up except for an impromptu opening for an entrance. John doesn't want to remove the existing window and open the wall to the cabin until the last minute. Here's the view from the new window placement. Nice!

The rafters tying the new roof into the old roof are in place. The perpendicular collar ties will make it even sturdier. The new roof has a shallower pitch so there will be enough head room for Wayne and others over six feet tall. I saw Eddy at Overwaite (I still refuse to call it Save-On-Foods) and he said John has the metal roofing on order. I love living in a small town!

The interior seems nice and roomy right now with nothing inside, but I know once the compost toilet, tub and shelves get installed, it will feel a bit smaller. Probably to you, 6'X10' room doesn't sound large, but in a 20'X21' cabin it's all relative.

With the 6' width, there's still a nice walk-around left outside. I know I'm going to love this new addition in more ways than one. - Margy

Night Watchman

On July 9, you met our construction site supervisor. Today I would like to introduce you to our night watchman.

At least he's as black as night. Here Bro's watching over our new siding.

Bro is our good friend John's sidekick. Where John goes, so goes Bro, even during the noise of construction while John builds our new bathroom and porch addition at the cabin.

The walls are up. The siding Bro was so carefully guarding is now on the walls and almost ready to paint.

Doesn't my new blue roof blend nicely with the existing metal roof? John does such great work.

In case we may want to enclose the porch some day to make an additional room, John made that section of roof to the same standard as our bathroom's interior ceiling. Who knows - maybe.

The window that used to be in the bedroom is now in the bathroom. Since that made the bedroom so much darker, John created a new larger window for us there as well.

Construction is coming along. I sure will be happy to have a bathroom right in the cabin. When winter comes, I'll especially appreciate not having to climb those four flights of stairs to the outhouse. The comforts of modern living makes it up the lake. -- Margy

Toilets and Telescopes

When you're under construction, things get a bit messy. The bed in our downstairs guest room is stacked with stuff. And soon, that'll have to be moved for the new siding to go in.

We purchased our compost toilet early to make sure the new bathroom was large enough, including space to pull out the drawer to extract the completed compost. So for now, it's sitting in the kitchen (where we have the most floor space) next to Wayne's telescope.

We got our Sun-Mar Excel NE (non-electric) at Pete's Plumbing here in Powell River. Since then, I've learned there's a new distributor in town, Justin Behan. He also provides other cabin services such as cargo delivery, flotation cubes, propane tanks, and anchor rope supply. You can reach Justin at (604) 483-6527.

The non-electric version is perfect for off-the-grid living. It comes complete with a vent pipe, roof flashing and composting products. I purchased the optional 1.4 watt, 12 volt fan to help with air movement in the pipe. The fan can be operated using a solar panel or directly from the cabin's electrical system. I'm so excited about getting the toilet set up ASAP (and out of my kitchen!). -- Margy

Bathroom and Porch Addition Nears Completion

Wayne returned to our float cabin home this week and has sent me some pictures. Our good friend John has completed both the exterior and interior work on our bathroom and side porch addition. You can see that the roof matches perfectly, and John inserted pitch transition flashing to prevent leaks. Now it's ready for Wayne to paint.

Inside the bathroom you can see our new Sunmar compost toilet is installed. And you can see the shelf John built for me. In addition to a place to store towels, it helps finish the end of the tub that was designed to be installed next to a wall. I can also see that John has also installed cedar moulding. He has such an eye for detail.

And our bathtub has been moved from the storage room into its proper position. Now it won't fill up with stuff like it did in the storage room. I can see Wayne has hung our towel rack, and there in the corner is the $1.00 thrift store end table I fixed up. Maybe I'll paint the new shelf to match.

Thanks John and Wayne, I can hardly wait to see (and use) it for myself. -- Margy

Indoor "Plumbing"

Our new bathroom has been a big project for John (our good friend and builder) and us. Here's how it progressed:

Under Construction - Ed's video
Up Goes the Frame - walls
Site Supervisor - roof beams
Save That Nail - rain delay
Toilets and Telescopes - composting toilet
Night Watchman - John and Bro
Bathroom and Porch Addition Nears Completion

We are trading in our trusty outhouse up on the cliff for an indoor composting toilet inside the cabin. The view won't be as great (looking out through the trees and down the cliff to the the lake below), but the convenience will be appreciated.

Instead of climbing four flights of stairs, we just have to go into another room. No rain, no wind - how civilized.

We chose a Sunmar Excel NE. The NE stands for non-electric. While it isn't hooked up to our cabin's solar powered electrical system, it does have its own panel to run a small fan within the air circulation pipe. That helps eliminate odour, and keeps the air moving around the compost as it processes. We've had our composting toilet in operation for almost a month now, and are very pleased.

We purchased our toilet at Pete's Plumbing here in Powell River. It's important to shop local. There's also a new distributor in town, Justin Behan. He also provides other cabin services such as cargo delivery, flotation cubes, propane tanks, and anchor rope supply. You can reach Justin at (604) 483-6527.

As you can see, the air circulation pipe rises above the roof line and has a built-in rain deflector. There's also an overflow tube just to make sure there are no accidents indoors.

Our bathtub was in our downstairs storage room. Now it's part of a real bathroom. The tub, however, isn't connected for hot or cold water. Our bathtub is a cold weather luxury. In the summer, our natural swimming pool is all we need for a cooling swim or wash.

We'll continue to heat our water on the wood stove. I can fit four large pots on the surface at the same time, and a hot winter fire will get them almost boiling. Add an equal amount of cold water, and you have enough for a nice soak or soaping down. And there's nothing like bathing with a friend to save water.

The bathroom will give us some additional space for storage, but that's another story. -- Margy

Inexpensive Bathroom Shelf

When John was remodeling for us, he moved our bathtub from the storage room to the new bathroom. One challenge he encountered was the tub's direction. In the storage room, it was a left hand installation. Now it needed to go right, leaving the tub's end open and quite ugly.

Rather than adding a panel to close the hole, he built a simple storage shelf. John had a leftover 1 by 12 of finished pine. A few cuts, screws, and the tub now has an attractive, and functional closure. The natural wood matched the window frames, but I wanted a bit more colour in the room.









After a coat of wood primer, I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Gloss spray paint. Our transition float was a safe place for spraying. Now my inexpensive bathroom shelf is the spot of colour I was looking for, and a match for my redone Economy Shop bargain end table. For about $10 for primer and paint for the shelf, I have some really colourful and inexpensive bathroom storage. -- Margy

Refinishing a Thrift Store Nightstand

I've written about my favourite thrift store several times. When I'm in Powell River, I stop by the Hospital Auxiliary's Economy Shop several times a week. You just never know what you will find. Last week I hit the jackpot again. Treasures big and small abound.

I was out looking for bathroom storage units and was surprised how expensive they were. As Wayne keeps telling me, this is a "cottage." Well, it's also my home. But there's still that thrifty bone in my body. And there it was, sitting in the corner next to the rack of second-hand coats, a 50's style end table with two drawers. The size was perfect for the future space between the compost toilet and bathtub under the new window. And the price was sure right, $1.00. The only thing wrong was the condition of the paint.

I stopped by Canadian Tire and bought a can of Krylon Interior/Exterior gloss spray paint for $4.99 and a sheet of sand paper for $1.00. For a grand total of about $8.00 (don't forget HST), I have a new treasure for my cabin collection. It took the whole can to cover the old white paint with the new "true blue" that matches my handmade curtains. Doesn't it look great? And think about all that great storage for the bathroom.

Have you found any thrift store treasures lately? -- Margy