In my previous post I shared that my family and I live on a plateau amid the St. John River Valley, known as Dawnland to the Maliseet people of the region.
I said you’d find the nuts and bolts of our homestead in this post, so here it is.
On one hectare of field and woods we attempted to build a load-bearing strawbale house on a 24′ x 24′ rubble trench foundation. The attempt itself is earmarked for another post, so I will just stick with the present version of Gladenook.
On the same 576 sq.ft foundation we hired a contractor to build us an A-frame structure.
Him and his helper framed the house in, sheathed and roofed it, insulated it with blown cellulose, and had our doors and windows framed in.
With the exception of casing and trim around doors and windows, and stove-pipe installation, myself and my partner have done everything ourselves with occasional help from friends and neighbours.
The house runs exclusively on wood heat, solar electricity, and propane.
We use a second-hand woodstove, which is a volatile one to use, admittedly. The plan is to replace it. Probably not until next year, as it can be a big investment if bought brand spankin’ new.
Our 24V solar system is fair. Four 275W panels from Canadian Solar, roof mounted by moi. Four 425aH lead-acid batteries from the Rolls battery company outta Nova Scotia. A 2000W inverter, and a 30 amp MPPT charge controller courtesy of EPEVER. Seldom is our power so low that we would need to connect a generator. I don’t even have one of those things, anyway.
Downstairs our flooring is reclaimed oak parquet. Upstairs we have composite flooring, also reused.
Our cathedral ceiling consists of pine tongue and groove boards, and some of our walls are sheet rock. There are a couple areas where we used some pallet wood boards we had lying around.
We have way too many windows. All but two of which are second hand. Our bedroom skylight, and our mudroom window are the only new windows we have at the Gladenook abode.
Our washroom is disproportionately large, taking up what I reckon to be a full quarter of the home’s footprint. It is tiled and includes a dry toilet, tankless hot water heater, bathtub, basin, and walk in shower.
The kitchen is a charm. The sink’s live edge counter-top came from a friend. And our propane oven range was a generous house-warming gift from my parents.
Up until recently we were using a second hand upright freezer that I converted to run as a refrigerator. That was only meant to be temporary. I ordered a 24V DC fridge/freezer from Unique Appliances out of Oakville, Ontario. It hogs more power than the mock freezer, which was unexpected, but it’s roomy and doesn’t drip water on the interior.
I did all the plumbing and electrical myself with the exception of wiring together all the solar components properly.
That the house. There’s more to share, but that’ll do for now.
A new entry is in the works to describe the outdoor qualities of the Gladenook abode.
Yipee yaw. Doo-dah-day.
therusticator.com 