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    • Watching Paint Dry!

      December 14, 2020

      Normally, watching paint dry is as boring as...well...watching paint dry. But we’re very relieved to be watching paint dry at one of our new home builds in Turtle Valley.

      Why? Well, this stunning new home is being built without any hydro or natural gas availability. And since we typically use a ton of electrical heat and fans to cure drywall (particularly in the fall or winter), we were a touch apprehensive about how long it would take us to work through the drywall stage in preparation for painting. One of the options we considered was renting an industrial diesel generator to power our 220 volt heaters. But in the end, we didn't need to.

      As you can see from the photo below, we are now, in fact, at the painting stage. Heidi Friesen, our Project Manager, explains how we managed to complete and cure the drywall without any hydro except what we had available from the home’s new array of solar panels.

      “We ran the solar to power the plugs in the house that had heaters plugged in to them,” says Heidi. “We also had a wood burning fireplace going everyday. And we had rented a propane construction heater to help when we needed that extra heat.”

      She adds that all the interior trim has been completely finished, and that our painters are now prepping and spraying all the trim. They will then carry on and paint the whole house. Cabinets are due to arrive in early January, with flooring to follow mid-January.

      This stunning home has provided us with an excellent opportunity to learn more about off-grid construction—something we believe we’ll be doing more and more of in coming years, considering the alternative energy sources now viable, and customers’ increasing desire to live in our area’s beautiful rural and wilderness settings.