Hey y’all - how we makin’ out? Gotta step in and say before anything - sometimes life gets busy and all your plans for things can sometimes get pushed or delayed - whether that’s some as extravagant as a house build or as miniscule as an instagram post. In this case the house is mostly on track but mostly because we’ve been spending every available hour there that we can (and collecting content and writing words along the way). Which means we’ve had some time in between but lots of updates to come over the next couple weeks. The big thing at this point is cleaning and prep so that different trades can come in and do their thing without having a mess to work around.

Anyways - thanks for sticking around. Next up on our list we’re talking interior framing and windows/doors. Arguably some of the more important and future-proofing decisions you’ll make on a build like this.

I guess now would be a good time to rehash some of our previous chats - from the designs you could see that this build is a two bedroom, two bathroom house. Unless you’re raising an army of kids, that should be more than enough space for most people.

We decided on 2x6 construction throughout the entire house to keep things solid and also because we went with pocket doors. Great space saver for houses of this size and also because they look awesome.

Once the interior framing was done, it definitely started to feel more like a house. But when the windows and doors got installed - that’s when it really felt like a house.

The one thing I can absolutely recommend about windows and doors in this day and age is to order them as soon as you can, as early as you can. Especially if you’re looking for anything custom. We specifically chose the sizing and shapes that we did because they were pretty close to standard sizings - that saved some ordering time. To give some perspective, we ordered our windows in mid-July and they finally arrived mid-November. This also depends on the supplier and the material you choose (vinyl vs aluminum) and color. White windows are cheaper and quicker, black are more expensive and take longer. Of course.

We decided on black exterior and white interior. Until we really settle into the place, we’re going to be keeeping most of the walls white inside so that made sense. Pops of color from our furniture and appliances and fixtures will help.

The windows went in on a cold late-Fall day with a fresh layer of snow - then the snow went away and it was +10 degrees mostly til Christmas.

Here’s a bit of a rundown on sizing. Because our walls are 10’ high, we wanted to go with windows and doors that keep that same idea - make the place feel bigger than it is. Our sliding patio doors are all 8’x8’, our entry doors are 36” x 8’, the tall slim windows in each bedroom are 12”x8’-ish, our kitchen window is Xxxxx and the big windows in our main bathroom are 8’x6’ each. We also have a small window in our second bathroom that actually opens up - every other window is fixed. That saved some money and we also thought we didn’t need them all to be able to open because each room has at least one 8’x8’’ window that opens already.

Building on PEI during the Fall/Winter - muck.

A lot of people have assumed but yes, a photographer designed those. I wanted all the light in there and this definitely did it.

The patio doors and entry doors are super heavy and feel very solid. We went with Kohltech windows and doors - if anyone wants to see our order sheet, more than happy to share.

Another thing to mention that went up before the windows/doors did was our exterior foam board. We went with this at the time because (at the time) we thought we were going with regular batt insulation and wanted to add another layer of insulation between the steel siding. We then decided to go with spray foam insulation so we’ve definitely over-insulated but that’s better than the alternative.

Once the windows were installed, the house was more or less weather tight. Once that happened, everything else inside could happen.

On to the next!

Al

INTERIOR FRAMING & WINDOWS/DOORS