The House & other Arctic musings

Apologies

Yesterday the Federal Government apologized in Arctic Bay, to people relocated from Kinngait, Pangnirtung, and Mitamitalik to Dundas Harbour on Devon Island. Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island in the world, and to promote sovereignty the Canadian Government created an RCMP post there from 1926 to 1931 and 1945 to 1951. In between the two periods of an RCMP detachment the Hudson Bay Company leased the buildings and tried to establish a trading post there for about a year before abandoning it.  Inuit families were relocated there from 1937 to 1948. Inuit families also accompanied the RCMP members for all but the first year of establishment. You can read the CBC news article here. 

I was unable to get to the ceremony because of work, but by all accounts it was a moving and profound moment in the history of our community. The Minister of Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Gary Anandasangaree, delivered the apology on behalf of the Canadian Government. Isaac Shooyook, who lived at Dundas Harbour as a young boy, was one of the people who spearheaded the push for an apology for the relocation, which like all of the Arctic relocations was filled with false and broken promises. Essentially these relocations were all about using Inuit as human flags to promote Canadian Sovereignty. Shooyook is an amazing individual, and you can read a bit about his history starting here. 

I was headed to the celebration afterwards, and I had been asked to photograph it. It was supposed to start at 7, but when I arrived I found that they had started early, and were just wrapping up. Still that little bit of celebration was magical, and it is always a joy to watch the kids square dance Inuit style. The laughter and joy in the place is always magical.

 

I guess it needs a roof

Building alone brings challenges, and forces you to be innovative. There are times where you need that extra set of hands, that just aren't there. So, sometimes you need to make them. 

Sheathing the roof was the part of the build I was least looking forward to. The roof pitch is steep, its almost 45 degrees (42 to be exact), and plywood sheets can be awkward to handle. A 1/2" sheet of plywood weighs about 18 kgs (40 lbs) and acts like a sail in any sort of wind. The lowest line of sheathing would be the easiest, as I could reach it from a ladder or scaffolding. After that, means getting on the roof, without sliding off and falling. So, I started with the easiest job, and that was getting sheathing on the porch, a much less pitched roof and only two sheets.
So in order to get the sheets onto the roof, and not slide down and cut me in half. My solution was to screw small pieces of wood onto the rafter tails, that extended above them. Then I could lift the sheets up the ladder, lay them onto the roof and they'd not slide off.  Then it was simply a matter of positioning them, and nailing them in place.
Once I had the first rows done, it was more or less time to figure out how I could, safely, get the other rows up, and nailed into place. Some of it could be done from the porch roof, and some I could reach, but clearly that wouldn't be enough. 

They make a hook system that attaches to a ladder, allowing you to hook it over a peak of a roof and work off the ladder. They make them, but clearly I couldn't run down to the store and pick up a set. I did end up ordering one, that arrived to late for this portion of the build (although they'd come in handy later on). So... I made a set. Now these were heavy af, and awkward, and I needed to change the angle of the hooks when I moved from one side of the roof to the other. (It's probably not clear why, so a brief explanation... when hanging the ladder onto an unfinished side, the ladder hangs on the centre ridge beam, when hanging on a side with sheeting in place it hangs on the sheeting, a difference of 42 degrees.)

I built these hooks on with Soviet engineering concepts: Over build the heck out of it and hope it holds together. But they did the job, and gave me a workout at the same time. I spent a lot of time going up and down ladders on this project, and this certainly was the case here.  The basic process was to get a sheet of plywood up on to the aforementioned jigs/stops. Reposition and then push it further up so it could catch the edge of the lower sheet of plywood, climb a ladder, then get onto the hanging ladder. After that the sheet would be put into its final position, nailed, the hanging ladder would then be moved across to finish the nailing across the entire sheet.

Typically I'd only get a sheet or three up in a session, along with perhaps some other fiddly stuff.  So this part of the project took awhile. About three weeks awhile. But eventually, the entire roof got sheathed in, and I finally had an enclosed cabin.

Running on photons

This past weekend we switch over completely to solar at the cabin until (hopefully) the dark season.  During the day the panels run the electricity and charge the battery, and after the sun goes down, it switches over to battery.  Amazingly even after the sun has set the panels are still contributing. The other day is was getting quite dark and the volts were still trickling in, I mean not much at that point but I was surprised.

When I took this photo the panels were still producing 170 volts into the inverter. At that point both the panels and battery were supplying the power to the cabin.

Now that we aren't running the generator we've left the heat on all the time, which means we can make quick trips out after supper to do an hour or two of work (currently that's painting trim). Its nice walking into a warm, quiet cabin. 

Its a wrap

Continuing on with the history of the cabin build... After the roof joists were up, it seems that the next job up would be getting that roof sheathed. But there were other things that needed tackling and, quite frankly, I wasn't looking forward to that aspect of the job. 

Now not every joist was done. The last few on the south side, next to the porch and above the deck, were still off. I'm a little fuzzy on why, (this is a year and a half later) but I think I needed material. But onwards and upwards. So the next big job tackled was the weather membrane. 

You can think of a weather membrane as a Gortex jacket for the building. The most common one, and the one I used, is Tyvek.  Now a weather membrane is designed to keep moisture away from the wood, so in that case its like the rain shedding properties of Gortex. But like Gortex it has a breathability to it, allowing water vapour to escape. So any moisture that does make it into the wooden shell escapes through the Tyvek. It is also windproof, helping to keep the cold out. 

Tyvek comes on rolls, and is stapled onto the sheathing. So you wrap the building in Tyvek, stapling it as you go. And because it is intended to be a complete barrier, you tape the seams, any holes, and the edges. 

There were still pieces of sheathing added to the gable walls before this job could be complete. And the Tyvek needs to be secured and covered.  You might have noticed that we Tyvek'd the walls before raising them, which is much easier than when they're vertical. But because winter happened and the Tyvek was left exposed the wind ripped our Tyvek off. Staples do not provide much holding power. 

Again, much of construction is about protecting the wood and materials. So you don't just slap siding against the Tyvek. Moisture would get behind that siding and eventually destroy it. So before the siding goes on you put strapping over it.  The strapping are strips of wood that follow along the studs (and around windows and door openings). This creates a gap between the siding and the weather barrier. This strapping is open at the top and the bottom, so that any moisture that does get behind the siding can drain out.

Some where along this process I also managed to get the remainder of the roof joists up, and figure out the joists for the porch and get them on. And once the cabin had been wrapped (missed the opportunity to say "once we'd wrapped up this job", or did I?) It was time to tackle sheathing the roof.

A warning for sailors

It was quite the sky this morning. 

Look! Up in the sky...

It's the Sun!

A bit hazy/cloudy today, but there it is, back in Arctic Bay.  An interesting note, typically our coldest month of weather comes now, after the return of the Sun.

Here comes the Sun

The Sun returned to Arctic Bay today. 

I've never minded the dark season. It holds its own beauty and charms. Ever changing twilight; the dark, filled with stars that brush the earth; aurora; and still, cold, biting air. It is never completely dark all day, and goes by quickly,. The night lengthens at a busy time, Christmas and the approaching holidays, the games, and then the earth begins to tilt back towards the Sun. Every day the light lengthens and the anticipation grows for its return. The Sun's first appearance back is a special day. 

Technically the Sun returns here on January 30th, but due to our topography we do not see it in town until now. Back when I first arrived here we would drive to the Nanisivik Airport on the 30th of January to see it.  The airport there was at 2200 feet and offered a view of the true horizon. Today, however, turned out to be overcast with thicker clouds on the southern horizon. So no glimpse of the Sun today. But I know the Sun is there behind the clouds, just as I know it is there for the dark season, beyond the horizon, grazing it at times and spilling light to my world.

Wait, that's not right...

The next step in the build was getting the roof joists in place. The joists, in this case, are 2X6s that run from the centre beam, down onto the wall, and extend a bit past it to create an overhang of the roof. In theory, although it appears complicated, they should be fairly straight forward. They are cut at an angle where they attach to the centre beam. At the wall they have a notch, called a bird's mouth (it looks nothing like a birds mouth), that rests on top of the wall. The part that extends past the wall is a rafter tail, and it ends at a cut the same angle as the beam side, and both of those are plumb, or straight up and down. 

Knowing the pitch of the roof should allow you to fairly easily figure these angles and cuts out, provided you know the technique, and how to use a speed square (which is one of THE handiest tools to own).  This is a speed square, and it is marked with different scales, including pitch. 

I won't go into the process, as it will get confusing no doubt, but trust me it is relatively simple, once you know how.  So my roof is a ten pitch roof. So once I had the measurements I needed and double checked my angles and calculations I laid out my first joist and made the cuts. Now a smart man, at this point, would drag that joist up to the roof and try it. 

I am not a smart man. 

Thinking I was smart, and efficient, I proceeded to use the first joist as a template and cut, oh, probably 20 joists.  Hey, think of the time I'll save not having to go and cut one every single time. Having done that I went up on to the scafflolding and wait, that's not right.  The joists didn't fit right. I could not figure it out. I double, triple checked the measurements, my roof is a 10 pitch roof, why did they not fit?

My roof pitch, was not 10.  If you remember back to when I built the gable walls, I laid out the wall with chalk lines on the floor and built it in place. Somehow I got the pitch wrong and my roof was an 11 pitch roof (meaning for every 12 inches of run it rises 11 inches). Actually its just a shade under that. So a screw up the previous fall, coupled with a massive screw up of not checking and pre cutting a bunch of lumber, left me with 20 or so useless 2x6s. Due to the nature of the cuts already made I couldn't just adapt these to be new joist.  Eventually I found uses for most of them, but I needed to go and buy lumber to replace these ones so I could get on with the job. I may have used one or two bad words. 

 I had a few 2x6s left so I was back to the drawing board and after much consternation and fiddling I finally got the a joist to where I wanted it be, and fitting properly. Then I cut one more and put that one up.  It was a lot less efficient but I only cut one or two joists at a time, install them then repeat the process. But, I was finally on my way to having the cabin framed.

It was slow going. Occasionally I'd have Leah's dad helping me, but mostly it was me. And it would be up on the scaffolding for attaching the joist on the centre beam, then down, and then up on a ladder to attach it to the wall, cut another one, repeat. There are, let me see..., thirty-six joists on the main roof, and I was at this from end of July to mid-August. 

The joists over the deck involved some creativity as I couldn't use scaffolding there. So I finished the cross piece that joined the two extensions of the top plates together, supported the middle of that with a temporary column, and then fashioned some walkways between that and the upper window. 

Looks a lot sketchy than it actually was. And I had to figure out a way to deal with the twist in that centre beam. Eventually I attached the two joists to it, and then pulled them down to twist it back straight, and attached them to the plates. 

And in case I forgot to mention it, it sure is pretty up there. 

Eventually all the joists for the main part of the cabin were done, and I had mostly figured out how I was going to make the ones for the porch. A big step towards getting things closed in.

Politics

How can I, that moon hanging there, 
My attention fix
On American, or Russian, 
Or Canadian politics? (With apologies to W.B. Yeats)

This past Saturday found me in a bad mood. I was grumpy, and irritable. And though I recognized that I was part way through the day it did nothing to mitigate it. Every mve the dogs made annoyed me, just being seemed to get on my nerves. 

I understand that a huge part of this is the state of the word right now. These are dark times, and the future looks even darker.  I've remarked before (not here) that this must be what it felt like to live in Austria in 1936.  I'm unsure what the world my children and grandchild will live in. And this mood persisted. 

Late that evening I was watching the FireAid concert from Las Angeles, and P!nk was performing. And as I was listening I was thinking what a beautiful powerful voice she had. And that flipped the script. Beauty. I felt the negativity begin to recede. The joy of music. 

And then I replayed my trip to the cabin earlier.  As short as it was.  The cabin was too cold to do the last little bit of painting we had planned, so it was a matter of refilling the generator and making plans to return the next day. The air was cold and still and hanging in a blue sky, rimed with gold on the horizon, was Venus and, below it a thin crescent moon. Two bright lights, existing only for my pleasure in that moment. What a universe we live in.

And thinking back at that moment I thought "how can I?..." how can I be in this mood when, as terrible as it is the world is still filled with beauty. And with "how can I?" Yeats' poem sprung to mind. And I appropriated it. 

Yeats' poem "Politics" was written at a time of upheaval in the world as well.  The Spanish Civil War was happening, and Hitler was consolidating his hold on power and changing the world. Times that feel not unlike our own right now. Disquieting troubling days. 

Politics (by William Butler Yeats)

How can I, that girl standing there, 
My attention fix, 
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics?
Yet here's a travelled man that knows
What he talks about, 
And there's a politician
That has read and thought, 
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war's alarms, 
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms!

Moving on up

It was clear to me, at the start of this process and certainly as I moved through it, that the roof was going to be the most challenging part of the cabin build. Doubly so doing much of the work on my own. In order to accommodate a loft, and give enough height in that loft, I settled on a roof pitch of 10. In the end it turned out to be more than 10 but more on that later. A roof pitch is determined by how much a roof line rises over the course of one foot of run. So a 10 pitch roof rises 10 inches for every foot of run. A 12 pitch roof is 45 degrees.  There's a pretty good view from the peak of this roof. At least this American Pipit thinks so...

The first step would be to get scaffolding up inside the cabin, so there would be a platform to work on up high. The size of the interior and the eventual height of the ceiling meant that you could fit one section of scaffolding, two sections high, pretty much in the centre. There was a lot of climbing up and down, scaffolding and ladders in this project. I didn't need to hit a stairclimber back in town, that's for sure. 

The cabin itself is 20 feet long, with a four foot covered deck, so 24 feet of roof. The ridge beam, the board that runs up the centre and supports the joists, was a 24 foot 2x8. Now the longest 2x8 I would have access to here is sixteen feet.  Meaning I would have to join two 2x8s together. Surprisingly, that took a lot of thought, as it wasn't simply a matter of scarfing two boards together. Scarf isn't the right term for what I am doing here, which is sandwiching two boards butted together with two short pieces of wood, but I'm at a loss at the moment for the right term. I wanted the sandwiching pieces to fall between joists, so I could tie them to each other, and I needed to make sure that the extra pieces didn't interfere with the slopes of the ceiling or roof. It seems simple enough, and probably is, but I agonized over it for a long time, measuring and calculating over and over. 

One good thing about this jointed beam is that the ridge beam doesn't really carry much of the load of the roof, that is done by the joists and the walls, still its an important component. 

See what I mean by the view? 

Once I had the ridge beam constructed came the next big challenge, how do you get a 24 foot long beam, that probably weighs 50 lbs up to the peak of a roof when you are alone? I eventually hit on a method that happily worked very well.  I first constructed the two joists for the back wall and put them in place, which left a notch for the beam. As I wasn't ready to do the same on the front wall I tacked a couple of pieces of plywood that would allow me to place the beam in the right spot.  Then along the tops of end walls I screwed long screws in up the wall, every 18 inches or so, leaving a couple of inches sticking up. I placed the front end of the beam at the base of the gable end, supported by the screw, went up a ladder at the back of the wall with the beam on my shoulder and placed it on that wall. Then down the ladder, set up at the front, up the ladder, move the beam to the next supporting screw, then back down. I repeated the process until I had walked the beam up to its place at the peak of the gable walls.  Success. 

The pole at the joint of the beam is there to support it until joists start going in. And you can't see it in this photo, but there is a hell of a twist in that beam.

There was a heck of a lot of time spent on ladders in this project. Get yourself some good ladders taking on a project, and get more than you think you need.

The next step was to get the joists in place, and that led to probably my biggest, and costliest mistake of the cabin build. And it all stemmed from a mistake earlier on, and assumptions that I had done things correctly at that point.