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00:00or end up in the fire.
00:03I really wanted to have the A's up in the first year.
00:07My whole summer is contingent on these beams arriving.
00:11I get an email, unfortunately your order can't be delivered.
00:13And Marty says, I can do better.
00:17And we're off to the race.
00:22I'm Todd Talbot, and after 10 seasons of Love It or List at Vancouver,
00:25my wife, Rebecca, and I invite you to join us on our building journey.
00:30We are building a net zero passive house on the shores of Okanagan Lake
00:33in beautiful British Columbia.
00:34A resilient, energy efficient, and architecturally stunning house.
00:39And even though this story doesn't end the way we planned it,
00:41it was an adventure.
00:53Go, Todd.
00:54I'm going.
00:55No, say the word.
00:56Synonym, cinnamon, cinnamon, cinnamon, cinnamon.
00:59Too slow, faster.
01:01Synonym, cinnamon, cinnamon, cinnamon.
01:03Last year, I had this idea the family would have kind of summer vacation
01:07while I was working, and then we'd kind of get together at the end of the night.
01:09Wait, synonym, cinnamon, cinnamon, cinnamon.
01:12Oh, nice.
01:13That's learned.
01:14But I think it's safe to say it was a disaster.
01:20It wasn't a great situation to have Rebecca and the kids up here.
01:23There was really nothing for them to do.
01:25Things went wrong.
01:28But I'm not sure we saw a great alternative.
01:32We were excited about the project and the end result.
01:35We were willing to kind of go through that.
01:38We knew it would end.
01:39This wasn't going to be forever, this situation.
01:42We'd get back to normal when we were done.
01:43I would flip-flop between thinking I need to not bother him
01:49because he's got such a heavy load on his shoulders,
01:52and then I would flop to the other side and think he's up here every night
01:57with the campfire, and he's building his passion project
02:01and gets to hold on to his hammer and bang things.
02:06And I'm at home slog 24-7.
02:10Like, no break.
02:11Let's define bang things, shall we?
02:15Banging things with his hammer.
02:19We planned a little birthday for Todd.
02:21We went out on the boat, had like a little picnic lunch out there,
02:25just floating on the water, and gave Todd his gifts.
02:28Whoa! What is this?
02:30We wrapped it up and the kids decorated it
02:32with all drawings of stuff happening at the lake.
02:34Eye crampies.
02:35Yeah!
02:36Oh my goodness, what is this?
02:38We got a sign that says, A-Frame established 2019.
02:42Look at that!
02:43How cool is that?
02:45It's cool, right?
02:46It's good, yeah.
02:48It was nice.
02:49But it was really hard to manage by myself at home.
02:55It's not ideal.
02:56Anytime you're apart and in a relationship, it's not great.
03:01But it's good in a way because I can just be focused
03:04and I can get up early in the morning and start working
03:07and there's no distractions.
03:10Right now the goal is simple.
03:11Step one is to get this place so that the water doesn't come through.
03:14We've got dry space.
03:16It's protected from sun and rain.
03:18Then I can think about the next step,
03:20which is insulation and that roof.
03:21We finally got the A-trusses up so everything's locked in place.
03:34So we walk through the door here.
03:36This is the main floor living space,
03:38which is much bigger than I thought it was going to be.
03:41We've got the staircase right down the center,
03:44basically where the scaffolding is.
03:46And then over here between this glue lamp and the back wall
03:51is the main bathroom.
03:53And then we've got a pantry right here between this bay.
03:58And then the next two bays, we have my tool storage,
04:03which is a bit weird inside a house.
04:05Just kidding.
04:06This is going to be the kitchen.
04:07So we're going to have counters that run right along here
04:10with a sink.
04:11This is all windows.
04:13You can look out at the water.
04:15And then we've got dining area here.
04:17It's just a big open space.
04:18You can see these beams above me.
04:20These are at 11 feet.
04:22These colletize, they form the floor of the primary bedroom.
04:26All of the bolts are tightened on 300.
04:30How many bolts are there?
04:32332.
04:33332 bolts holding this together.
04:35That's just in the base.
04:37So that's all secured, tightened down.
04:39Everything is plumb and ready for our roof assembly.
04:43With Passive House, we have a real simple saying.
04:45It's not rocket science.
04:47It is building science.
04:48And that, you know, that can be a bit overpowering for people.
04:51I take my hat off to anyone who project manages a build of any size.
04:58Arnie?
04:58Yeah.
04:59I need those TGI's.
05:00Because juggling all of these things.
05:03It's going to be 45 and three quarters to the short.
05:0535 and a half to the short.
05:08You're doing mental gymnastics.
05:10Okay.
05:10One at 35 and a half short.
05:12One at 45 and three quarters short.
05:14Yeah.
05:14With spicy fries, too.
05:15I need to get the roof on before the end of August.
05:26So I've got about six weeks.
05:28Is that possible?
05:30I think it's possible.
05:31I wake up every morning with enthusiasm.
05:34My schedule is going to work.
05:36And then at the end of every day, I'm slightly discouraged because you never quite get as far as you want to.
05:44You know, people say, well, why do you set goals like that?
05:47If you don't, then you'll just be discouraged all the time.
05:52You kind of have to throw it out there and be like, this is where we're going to get to.
05:56And if we don't get there, then fine.
06:00Recalibrate, reboot, and go at it again the next day.
06:06The first step of the roof was actually putting on the siding.
06:14The idea was to build our way up with this TNG.
06:17Okay, so we're going to do one right here.
06:19That's on an angle.
06:20Yeah, we want to toenail it slightly.
06:22So it goes into.
06:2315 degrees.
06:24Yep.
06:25Now, these are not your everyday screws.
06:27These are the screws.
06:30Don't mind that's out.
06:32These are seven and a quarter inch assy screws.
06:35And the structural engineer has required us to put three in every board at every beam.
06:43We have to use an extremely strong grill.
06:46It was a kick.
06:48We drill through the TNG into the glulam beam on the other side.
06:52You got a lot of screws.
06:54$3,000 worth.
06:55And it was meticulous because this was going to be seen from the other side.
07:06This is what you're going to see at the end of the day.
07:09These are two by eight tongue and groove boards that span our seven foot bays between our glulam.
07:16So every section here is at seven feet.
07:19They're flush.
07:20They're butt on the outside.
07:22It's all been pre-stained to match our glulam.
07:25The color was beautiful.
07:27It was like the camera.
07:28Some type of pickle color.
07:29It wasn't green, but it was white pickle or snowy white.
07:34Snow pickle or something like that.
07:36I can't remember what it was called.
07:37Pickled white?
07:38Pickled white.
07:39Yes, pickled white.
07:40That's what it was called.
07:41What a great name.
07:42And a clear coat on top of that just to make sure that we don't get sun damage or while we're building any rain damage or water damage.
07:51I mean, we screwed in thousands of screws.
07:53We are almost at the main floor.
07:55We are almost at the main floor.
07:57And little details people might not think about.
07:59You want the screw head to bite into the wood just a little bit.
08:03Oh, extra bite.
08:04Because we were going to put sheeting on the outside.
08:06So that screw head couldn't be proud of the wood at all.
08:11I actually have some future wrist damage from that.
08:19We eventually climb our way up both sides of the A and we get all the T and G on.
08:26My structural engineer wanted another layer and he spec'd 5 eighths of an inch plywood.
08:32So we needed to get 4 by 8 sheets of plywood consistently across the face of the roof and staggered the seams.
08:38It was impossible for us to bring those sheets up from the bottom.
08:44We needed to actually bring them down from the top.
08:48I'm not sure I had really considered how we were going to attack the roof.
08:53It was going to be very difficult to be up there and be safe, you know, 80 to 100 feet down to the lake.
09:01I mean, I thought about scaffolding, but it's not like you can build scaffolding on a 65 degree angle.
09:06Maybe bringing a lift down to the beach, but there was just no great way of doing this.
09:12We really had to go back to a rudimentary way of being up on that roof consistently,
09:19being able to get up and down easily, get material up and down and be safe while we were doing it.
09:25Fortunately enough, my wife and I used to be rock climbers.
09:29So I said if we get some anchors on top for the beam there, you know, we can rope ourselves in and be very, very safe.
09:36Peter trained me. We checked each other's gear.
09:40Rope us through our anchor at the top. Yeah, that's good.
09:42I check his tie off. I check his blade and make sure it's looped through the blade properly.
09:46Then I check his autoblock is on.
09:48Tight around your waist. You are good.
09:50And then he would basically do the same for me.
09:52Autoblock is on and we know that we're good to go.
09:58I'll be honest. I mean, he launched himself out there on the roof with no fear.
10:02So one guy would be up top, one guy would be at the bottom.
10:05The guy on the bottom had their feet against the side of the first sheet that was put in
10:10so that when you slide the next sheet in, it would actually sit on that little 5 eighths inch of a lip of the sheet below,
10:15so it wouldn't fall over.
10:17I mean, the first time that I went up to the peak and had the harness on and let my weight drop into the harness while looking back down to the lake,
10:30there's a moment where you're kind of like, show no fear. Here we go.
10:38Okay, the first few times, it definitely got my heart racing.
10:45We were 45 feet up in the air, so it was actually quite challenging.
10:50If one of those airs fell down, you tried to decapitate somebody.
10:52But there was no other option.
10:54And Peter was doing it, so I was like, okay, I'm going to do this.
10:57So after the plywood's on, the next stage is getting that continuous air barrier on.
11:15We're using Adhero, which is a high-performance peel-and-stick product.
11:18Okay, and then this side goes back around.
11:20It's breathable both ways, but waterproof one way, so if it rains on it, you don't have to worry about it.
11:25Okay, that'll work.
11:27In order not to compromise our air barrier, any screw or any nail that goes through, it needed to seal and be airtight.
11:33Adheroes an exterior membrane that's extremely watertight, airtight, and vapor permeable.
11:39It kind of works like a giant piece of tape. It's fully adhered.
11:43So there's an adhesive across the entire backing of it.
11:46A lot of house wraps are actually little holes in the membrane, and that's how moisture escapes.
11:52This one has no holes, so it stays airtight and watertight, even with fasteners going through it.
11:58Once you push down on that adhesive, it's really not going anywhere.
12:02Then it's gone through some simulated age testing to show that it'll last for at least the next hundred years.
12:08So we're really building to last through that timeline.
12:11We would roll out a 12-foot piece, we would cut it, roll it back up, and then tie ourselves into the ropes.
12:19Then we would rappel down the side.
12:25One of us would hold the roll.
12:28You got the bottom?
12:29I got the bottom.
12:30The other one would stick the beginning piece on.
12:34And then I had to stare at Todd's ass, because it was basically above me.
12:38Yes, sir.
12:39And then we peeled the backing off this stuff, roll it out a few feet, and then with these giant scrapers, scrape it down to make sure it adheres onto the plywood.
12:49It's not very advanced.
12:51You just scrape it with the weight of your body, activating the glue.
12:56Can you reach up there?
12:57Yes.
12:58If you don't, there can be performance issues with the air barrier that you're spending so much time and money paying attention to.
13:07So we just walk our way up the building, day after day.
13:12Yeah, it was quite the process.
13:14The more I did it, the more confidence I got in doing it.
13:22In fact, it was kind of cool.
13:24I mean, what an experience up there, dangling in a harness off a roof like this, hanging out with a buddy, rolling out blue peel and stick, and ending up with the biggest smurf hut in the world.
13:38The next stage was the insulation.
13:50We had a huge delivery from rock wool.
13:52Whoo!
13:53The great wall of insulation is moving from the top to the bottom.
13:56So we had to put in the insulation and make sure that that was all prepped, cross-strapped, and ready for roofing.
14:04Yeah, that's good.
14:06But I also was looking way down the line, realizing that I didn't have anyone to do the roof.
14:14I'd reached out to somebody at the beginning of the process, and they had said yes.
14:19Then something happened with their business.
14:22They weren't able to do it.
14:23They bailed.
14:24I found somebody else, they came in, they were excited about it, or at least they looked like they were excited about it, and somehow they bailed.
14:34This started to become a little bit of a pattern.
14:37I'm not sure if it was that people were busy or they were intimidated by the project.
14:42So it's late August, and I always wanted to finish September-ish.
14:48Kids are going back to school, et cetera, so I wanted to be home.
14:51But I just kept running into roadblock after roadblock.
14:58As you can see, we've got a wall of insulation behind me.
15:01There's insulation all over the site.
15:03All the bad insulation for the roof assembly.
15:05And then also our four-inch continuous cover boards.
15:08Todd, are you allowed to seam a bit more here?
15:10Talk about this one into that end if you want.
15:14At the same time, we were also framing up the kids' bedroom, this north wing.
15:18I'm hoping to have this whole thing done by the end of tomorrow.
15:22The square footage is more than enough.
15:24And normally, we wouldn't have needed to do the extension.
15:27However, it's not as much as you think when you look at the structure.
15:30And part of that is because of the A, you start losing space as you go up.
15:34And there was no room for a second or a third bedroom.
15:38There's really only room for one bedroom upstairs in the A-frame.
15:41So we needed to figure out a spot for kids to sleep or guests or whatever.
15:47So we're basically all framed up.
15:49We got the roof on.
15:50It's all sheeted.
15:51It's all ready to go.
15:52That was important because then we can actually stand on top of there
15:55and do our insulation and roof build up on the A-frame.
15:59This is really the cornerstone of our assembly as it relates to high-performance passive house.
16:08We'd worked with Rockwool to design a system that would deliver the highest level of insulation possible.
16:17Stonewool is a critical component in high-performance construction.
16:22And that's true for thermal performance.
16:24It's also true for fire.
16:26Rockwool means stonewool.
16:28We take wool from stones by melting it and spinning fibers.
16:33We do what you do when you're making cotton candy.
16:36You know, melt something, spin fibers, and then collect them to make thicker or thinner types of materials out of it.
16:43It's non-combustible, retains its shape, and it doesn't shrink away in the case of high heat or high radiation.
16:51We put on the TGI.
16:53We space them two feet on center.
16:55Then we fill that with two bats, so 12 inches, of Rockwool comfort bat.
17:03So we've got this full cavity of bat insulation.
17:07Then our next level was four inches of comfort board.
17:10I know some people are probably going to fall asleep at this point, but this is important.
17:14This gave us our continuous insulation.
17:17So this stopped any thermal bridging.
17:19What is thermal bridging?
17:21It's really a simple process where the structure from inside the house extends to outside of the house.
17:27And that acts like a highway to allow heat to travel in or heat to travel out.
17:32You want to make sure that the wall of the building is thermally broken so that those structures don't meet,
17:39that there's insulation between the two, and that makes your house that much more comfortable.
17:44So we're going to attach this comfort board with a 2x4 along the TGI.
17:50We're going to screw this in all the way through to here.
17:53So that holds this whole thing tight to the wall.
17:57And then we cross strap with 2x4s all the way up.
18:01And that creates our ventilation for our roof.
18:04And it also creates the connection point for our standing seam metal.
18:09Whew!
18:10That's a lot.
18:11And if you can imagine how tricky it is right here.
18:15I mean, we have got a lot of roof to go.
18:35You can see behind me, this is the front of the little A where the living room is.
18:39And we've essentially completed our insulation build up and our cross strapping.
18:43I like this four foot overhang.
18:45To me, those little details make it look super cool.
18:48That part won't be insulated because it's on the outside of the envelope.
18:52And then we'll put a nice facial board on the outside.
18:55And then the metal roof will wrap around the front.
18:58That is if we can find a roofer.
19:02The roofer was supposed to be here on Monday.
19:04And they jammed, which is in, what, four days from now?
19:08Three days from now?
19:09Three days from now?
19:10So I'm back to the drawing board with no roofer.
19:14It's still sunny out, but I don't know.
19:17I don't know what we're going to do.
19:21We had a number of roofers come.
19:22I don't know if they were intimidated once they got to the site and they looked at it and they thought,
19:27this isn't for me, or whatever the situation was, but no one was willing to help us out.
19:34We had people say yes, and then once they left, I never heard from them again.
19:39So it was this weird scenario.
19:41I called basically everyone who was a top roofer in the valley.
19:45So I've gotten referrals from different people that I know for other roofers.
20:10I've called four other guys, one who seemed like the perfect fit.
20:15He comes out today and he is absolutely slammed with jobs that he's committed to.
20:22He said, I really want to do this, but I just can't in the timeline that you need it.
20:27But with the insulation on, we can't have rainstorm after rainstorm.
20:30We have to get the roof on quite quickly.
20:33It's frustrating, you know, you're trying to like navigate all these things coming at you.
20:39And things aren't kind of panning out the way you want them to.
20:44I mean, there's a few things in a house you need.
20:47A roof is one of them.
20:50Oy yoy yoy.
20:52I want it done before the rain comes.
20:57I don't want it done before the windows come, beginning of October.
21:00And that urgency really is only with me.
21:03Because no one else feels the urgency of it.
21:06People come, they care, they work.
21:08But they're not, they don't have that in the back of their mind.
21:12Plus school's starting in September.
21:14I'm going to have to be there.
21:15It's a cool result.
21:18It's a painful process to get there, unfortunately.
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