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00:00From the bottom, then repel down from the top.
00:02One of those airs fell down, you're trying to decaffeinate somebody.
00:05Great wall of insulation.
00:06Whoo!
00:07This is really the cornerstone of our passive house, high performance.
00:11A roofer was supposed to be here on Monday, and they jammed.
00:14I don't know what we're going to do.
00:17I mean, there's a few things in a house you need.
00:20A roof is one of them.
00:23Oy, oy, oy.
00:25I'm Todd Talbot, and after ten seasons of Love It or List at Vancouver,
00:29my wife, Rebecca, and I invite you to join us on our building journey.
00:33We are building a net-zero passive house on the shores of Okanagan Lake in beautiful British Columbia.
00:38A resilient, energy-efficient, and architecturally stunning house.
00:42And even though this story doesn't end the way we planned it, it was an adventure.
00:59So we finished the whole roofing system, cross-strapped, insulated, everything's ready to go for the roof.
01:10And it's September.
01:12Todd came back and stayed home for two weeks because we knew that the transition from elementary school to high school was going to be difficult.
01:21And so he was there before school started and after school started for a total of two weeks,
01:31which was the longest stint that he had been home.
01:34And the kids thrived.
01:36And the transition into school went really, really well.
01:39And so Todd went back to Kelowna, and I was managing things myself.
01:43And it seemed like it was going to be okay, but it just started to fall apart.
01:47It definitely was a tricky time.
01:50And what compounded the issue was the fact that we were racing to put the roof on.
01:56Like, there just was no option to stop, unfortunately, because we had this beautiful structure exposed to the elements.
02:04And we hadn't been able to find a roofer.
02:07Everything just took longer than we anticipated.
02:10It started off at the beginning of the summer when Structureland didn't deliver the beams.
02:14Like, that really messed up.
02:16One thing happens here and has this trickle-down effect.
02:19There was no way that I could leave this building unprotected over the winter.
02:29I was scrambling to find somebody.
02:33And it wasn't just finding anybody.
02:35Like, you couldn't just bring someone out here who didn't know what they were doing.
02:40It was dangerous.
02:42It was complicated.
02:44And it needed to match the standard that we had set.
02:48He'd call somebody, and I could hear it in his voice on the phone.
02:51He'd call somebody.
02:52He's like, hi, I'm looking for somebody to do a roof.
02:54And he's like, oh, yeah, no problem.
02:56So, yeah, it's going to be on an A-frame.
02:58It's 65 and a half degrees.
03:00Next thing you know, click.
03:01In fact, I got so desperate looking, I actually just posted it on Instagram.
03:08I was searching at Instagram, and I saw this video where he was looking for a roofer.
03:14Desperately looking for a roofer.
03:16And I looked there for a while thinking, huh, I wonder if I should send him a message.
03:24And so I did, and I'm nervous.
03:27I always sent a little man crush on Todd from a lover to listed.
03:32Rebecca and I were married before online dating, but this is the closest I've ever come to.
03:37We'd never met each other.
03:39You know, he hadn't seen the project, but he was excited.
03:43We take the back and forth for a while.
03:45Don't mind me.
03:46I don't.
03:47I won't.
03:49Anyways, I said, look, before we can move forward, you have to see it.
03:53You have to be out here and actually see the terrain, how we're going to do this.
03:59I took my business partner, Ben, with me, and we drove to Kelowna for the day.
04:04We kind of met Todd, and we met Peter, and we kind of took a look at the project.
04:09So this guy, Kevin, shows up, and he looks at it, and he's like, I love it.
04:15Let's do it.
04:21These guys specialize in metal roofing, which is exactly what we wanted because it's super durable,
04:27long-lasting, fire and weather resistant, great for the buildup that we've got.
04:33This roof is so steep, you don't want to get back up there and have to do any repairs.
04:38So we're like mid-October right now.
04:40It is getting chilly, but we got super lucky with weather.
04:45We really haven't had any rain.
04:47There's forest fires actually all over the province still.
04:50This is mid-October.
04:52Todd was desperate to get this done quick.
04:55I was very afraid of probably because of the steep section of it.
04:58How are we going to get the panels down there?
05:00But I also know with our workmanship, we will be able to pull it off.
05:05It was high risk for us to lose money, which we did.
05:09But I was willing to take that risk.
05:13So we used 24-gauge, 20-inch panels.
05:21We had to carry the sheets.
05:23I think we're three or four men carrying the sheets from the driveway
05:27and try to carry that up without kinking the sheets.
05:31That was a bit of a challenge.
05:33Carry it over, pass it up to someone up on the roof, climb up the roof,
05:39try to work with the ropes at the same time as we're carrying these sheets up.
05:43It wasn't easy.
05:45And I don't think we damaged one single sheet.
05:48And I'm surprised about that.
05:50It took a lot of teamwork.
05:52We're like lifting 42-foot sheets all the way out on that south side
05:59and then installing them, and it's gone reasonably smooth.
06:02Kevin and Ben were awesome.
06:06I learned a ton about metal roofing, a big fan of the system.
06:10It was a big job.
06:12The square footage wasn't that big, but the shell itself with the steepness of the roof.
06:16It was intense.
06:18It was like climbing Everest every day.
06:20We had the 2x4 strapping that we kind of used as a ladder,
06:25getting all those sheets up one step at a time.
06:28It's awesome.
06:32The color, the style.
06:34I love it.
06:37It's fantastic.
06:39It was a huge relief to have the roof on,
06:42not only from a construction standpoint,
06:45but also from a schedule standpoint because we were running out of time
06:48and I needed to get back to Vancouver.
06:50The next step was the windows.
06:53Windows!
06:56I was introduced to this company called Veta.
07:09We were referred to Veta because in order to hit our passive host targets,
07:13we needed a window that was going to be able to do that.
07:16And we were introduced to Veta.
07:19They got excited about this project.
07:22It was a unique structure.
07:24It was very complicated for them as well to figure out how to fit all those windows into that shape.
07:30Yeah, and how to stitch them all together because they came in separate pieces
07:33and then we had to put them all together.
07:35There's a long, long history of really incredible window technology coming out of Europe.
07:40It's a tilt and turn window which is a little bit different than the casement style windows
07:45that we know and we're comfortable with in Canada and the US.
07:48So the tilt brings the window in at the top, opens it just a crack,
07:53lets a little bit of air in, but lets that little bit of sound in as well.
07:57Lets that little bit of smell of the trees, of the lake.
08:00You can still keep that high performance.
08:02You're not opening every window all the time,
08:04but having connection with nature is really important.
08:07We had a very complicated window system because we wanted the front of the house to be all window
08:15so that we could enjoy the incredible view.
08:18I wanted you to be able to stand at the edge of the A-frame
08:21that is perched up on the rock and be able to look straight down.
08:26I didn't want a deck out there, I didn't want any railings,
08:28I didn't want anything obstructing the view.
08:31I wanted this experience of standing there and being like,
08:34whoa, kind of like in a skyscraper.
08:37The stress was that once they were ordered, being built in Poland
08:42and then shipped over here, if they didn't fit, there was no turning back.
08:48And this math and this geometry is beyond me.
08:52So I really pushed the people who were working on it to triple check, quadruple check.
08:58I would ask questions, probably annoyingly,
09:01until everyone felt like we'd eliminated as much chance of error as possible.
09:09So we decide to pull the trigger.
09:12We order these windows.
09:16So they actually had to go on a truck from the plant to a boat.
09:21Then they shipped it via boat across the water to Montreal.
09:26Then they had to be put on a train and trained to Vancouver.
09:30They're in a sea container and you can't unload them into a smaller truck.
09:34So they're in a 40-foot sea container, they go on a semi-truck,
09:38they drive it up here, but they can't get down the driveway.
09:41So they had to park at the top.
09:43My buddy Josh, who was also a saving grace in this entire process,
09:50he was the man behind the scenes who was connected in this area,
09:56had relationships with different suppliers,
09:59all these things that I had no connection to up here.
10:03The guy's amazing.
10:06We order a Zoom boom and Josh drives it
10:09because we're carrying thousands of dollars of windows.
10:13I did not want to drive them.
10:15But Josh was like, yep, I'm there.
10:17So he stops his busy life, comes and helps me.
10:22We had to reach with the boom all the way to the back of the sea container
10:26and just gently pick it up and kind of wiggle its way back and then bring it out.
10:32But, you know, Josh was a surgeon.
10:34It was awesome.
10:35Awesome.
10:43We unloaded everything up there, placed them at the top of the driveway.
10:51And now we shuttle them down, crate by crate,
10:55and then distribute them around the house.
10:57We travel very slowly.
11:00I walk in front of him because he can't see,
11:04even though they're windows, ironically enough.
11:08And they are heavy.
11:09Oh, my goodness.
11:10Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
11:11Go forward.
11:12Okay, now we're good.
11:13Good.
11:14Okay.
11:15Passive house windows are famous or in some circles infamous
11:18because they're heavy, but they're triple pane.
11:21And in the coldest weather, you do not get any chill from those windows
11:25or any heat transfer.
11:27Any extra money you put into them, you save.
11:30Perfect.
11:31Thank you, boys.
11:33Stand it.
11:34Good time.
11:35Woo!
11:36He actually used the boom to very carefully get through
11:41what was going to be the front door wall.
11:44We left it off until the windows arrived.
11:46And he extended the boom very, very gently up into the second floor.
11:52It was amazing.
11:53I'm already planning for next week,
11:55trying to figure out how we're going to lift these windows.
11:58They have to go super high.
11:59The triangles at the very, very top are over 600 pounds each.
12:02One, two, three.
12:04That thing's fucking heavy.
12:14It is.
12:15It's hard to imagine what 600 pounds feels like.
12:19You're like, ugh!
12:22Ah!
12:23Burst something and something gets kinked and ugh!
12:26I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to lift them up
12:29because we can't get a machine in there.
12:32Sometimes I wish Rebecca was here more.
12:43Because you go...
12:44Because you love me.
12:45Yes, because I love you.
12:46But also because you go through the process of like,
12:49even just bringing the windows from the road down to the site
12:52was absolutely epic.
12:54Then I try to explain to Rebecca how cool or how much of a struggle it was.
12:59You know, she listens somewhat patiently.
13:03I don't listen very well.
13:05For the bottom, it's fine.
13:07But the top needs to come up a little bit.
13:09Yeah.
13:10That's all I thought about was, are the windows going to fit?
13:13What are the contingency plans?
13:15Well, I could cut the beam a little bit or we could shim it in a little bit.
13:18What if something goes wrong?
13:20Because once the windows are here, there's no turning back.
13:23So it was critical that we get it right.
13:25Are we too narrow?
13:27Yeah.
13:28The window's wider.
13:29Yeah, the window's wider.
13:30Yeah.
13:31All right.
13:32Well, I guess we peel this back, pop this plate, drop her down.
13:40They're high performance windows, but if you don't install them correctly,
13:44then what's the point?
13:51We're in.
13:53The window's in.
13:54Oh, what is that?
14:00The installation was interesting.
14:02We had a lot of people who were keen to help, which was amazing because we had to move these
14:08all by hand, so we had to shift them all around to get them into place.
14:12We had builders who were up here who were fascinated by what we were doing.
14:17Well, we're there.
14:18I think we just need to get a pry and pry it down.
14:21One of the things I love about the Passive House community, high performance building,
14:25is that everyone shares their knowledge.
14:27Yeah.
14:28People would literally show up that I didn't know and offer to help.
14:32It was unbelievable.
14:33So we got the pride in this place.
14:35Good.
14:36We have the detailing of making sure that these windows perform, and then also the challenge
14:43of being 80, 100 feet up in the air, trying to install a window without dropping it out to the lake.
14:54But if it does, I'm going with it.
14:56Yeah.
14:57And it took a long time to be that detailed with the windows.
15:01It took much longer than I thought it would.
15:03It was a team effort, that's for sure.
15:06It was a team effort, that's for sure.
15:08So this is late November this past weekend, we came up to finish the windows.
15:22We got almost all the windows in, except for this beautiful front array of windows that we installed.
15:39It took two days.
15:40I thought we'd get it done in one.
15:42There's 13 windows.
15:44They all get stitched together individually, so these panes of glass come out.
15:49We've got them temporarily installed over the winter, and then we'll glaze them next spring.
15:54I think it looks spectacular.
15:56The windows was a big conversation, actually.
15:59We got a really good match of windows to Tonny Groove.
16:04One of the color options with Veta was basically a perfect match to the pickled white.
16:11And so the seamlessness between the window frame that was exposed on the interior
16:17to everything else we were building was, it was perfect.
16:22Yeah.
16:23It was meant to be.
16:24That, there's a few things that happen where you're like, oh, this is just…
16:28That's a good one.
16:29And we knew it was going to work, and then once we put them in…
16:33It worked.
16:34I love it when you have a plan, and you think it's going to look a certain way,
16:38and then it actually turns out better than you thought it would.
16:41It's awesome.
16:42You can see we've done some framing in the background.
16:50Framing is still going on upstairs.
16:54This is going to be the main bathroom.
16:56So we've got a bathtub back here, sink and toilet.
16:59This will be the space that, you know, guests can use when they're here.
17:03In this area over here will be the pantry.
17:05We're going to try and get this wall in.
17:07And the reason I'm trying to push hard to get the framing done is so that we can get
17:11in and we can actually do pre-sex measurements for the cabinetry, and we can build all of
17:15that over the winter.
17:17So we're coming upstairs.
17:18We've got all kinds of action going on.
17:21I hate talking to the camera while everyone else is working.
17:25It makes me feel jealous that I'm not doing anything.
17:28This is going to be the ensuite, and this is going to be the entryway into the primary bedroom.
17:34So we get the best spot in the house.
17:37Beautiful view straight out through that top triangle.
17:42It's actually going to be a bathtub that sits right in front here.
17:47This is actually going to be a hallway.
17:50So you come up to the top of the stairs and the hallway will come down here.
17:53This will be the entryway into the first bedroom, so my son's room.
17:57And then we've got a bathroom right here, a powder room that the kids will share.
18:02And then into Ashland's room.
18:04They're both big fans of Rockwool.
18:06They didn't want a bed.
18:07They just wanted stacks of Rockwool to sleep on.
18:11The things I was trying to figure out in the first two years, there were things I'd never done before.
18:27So there was a certain level of anxiety.
18:30I'm sure my anxiety level didn't help Rebecca either.
18:35Yeah, because you kind of feel bad.
18:37Like, I know that I have to take care of other things, and yet I feel like I should be doing something more.
18:44I also feel that Todd wants me to be doing something more to support him or be making him feel good about the struggle that he's going through.
18:52And I can't do it yet.
18:54Yeah, I mean, you'd like to have your partner with you as you're kind of, like, trying to figure these things out.
19:00Yeah, the same way that I would like to have my partner with me when I'm trying to deal with running a household and...
19:05Kids and school and all that craziness.
19:08We basically pushed the season a little bit longer than I intended.
19:13With any project, you always want to be further along than you are.
19:18But we've definitely gotten to a good place right now.
19:24Doing some interior framing, which is great.
19:26I mean, it starts to make the house take shape.
19:31But most importantly, as you can see behind me, we've got the roof on and the windows in.
19:37So we are essentially protected from the elements over winter, which we were not last year.
19:44Oh, I'll put to bed.
19:47And it was super stressful.
19:48Jesus.
19:51But this year, we've managed to do that.
19:54There's not an exposed screw on this roof.
19:57It should perform for two generations, three generations.
20:02And it's funny because we spent, like, four months in a harness dangling off the side,
20:09applying all of those layers to build it up, put the structure together, then insulate it, then roof it.
20:16And it's amazing.
20:18I never thought I would start to forget the struggle that we went through to do that.
20:24It's an opportunity at this point to reflect, and I don't do that very often.
20:29You know, it gives me a weird sense of pleasure when people come over and they look at it and they're kind of inspired by the space.
20:39I think great architecture, great design speaks to people.
20:43It's not just a space that is protected from the elements, but it's a space that, you know, people come and gather and they feel something while they're there.
20:54I have to take a moment, even in the freezing cold, to just be like, you know what?
20:59It's, it's super fun building this thing.
21:03And I can see a little light at the end of the tunnel.
21:07Our little private goal between Rebecca and I was that we would be able to celebrate Christmas up here.
21:13But that's not going to happen this year.
21:16So fingers crossed for next year.
21:19I need a vacation.
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