5 Criteria for Sizing a Septic System

A prerequisite to getting a building permit is a septic systems study and report undertaken by an engineer (see "The Septic System Report" - April 30).

Well Peter MacIntosh, the engineer that conducted the study provided a report about two weeks ago. Turns out that I have the perfect location for a septic system - enough area and the right soil.

The report covers the following considerations:

1. Size of the Cottage
The size of the required septic system is directly related to the size of the Cottage. More precisely is the number of people regularly using the cottage, hence, the volume of waste generated. The engineer uses the number of bedrooms as a proxy for the number of people. In our case we will have three bedrooms which is a proxy for four to six people on a regular basis.

This is a save number given the cottage will mostly be used on weekends and primarily three months of the year. Thus the weekends that boost the number beyond six - those when the whole (extended) family is there for a get together, sons, grandchildren, cousins and their friends - averages out with the weeks there is no one at the Cottage.

2. Topography of the site
It is important that there be a reasonably level area the right size for the septic tank and the seepage bed. While there are system designs for a slope, they start to be a bit more pricey. It is also better that the location of the septic system be a bit lower than the cottage.

3. Soil & Percolation
The type of soil that the seepage bed will be placed in is very important. The fluids coming out of the of the septic tank need a place to go and disperse. So it is important the that soil have a high percolation rate - that is the rate at which water flows through the soil. Certain kinds of soil are great and others are verybad for septic systems. Other than solid rock, clay soils are the worst - water just pools and doesn't drain away very well. Sand is the holy grail. We are fortunate as the soil up at the lot is a gravely sand. The engineer indicates that the percolation rate for this type of soil is less that 4 min/cm and considered to be very permeable.

4. Water supply
The septic system must be positioned as to not foul your source of drinking water. I intend to draw my water from the lake which is more than 75 feet from the septic system. In the future I may consider a well. The engineer indicated the best place for the well. Any source of water must be at least 50 feet from the seepage bed.

5. Choice of System
The choice of system is determined by the engineer from the above requirements. Our system is a 850G NQ approved prefabricated concrete septic tank and a modified seepage bed utilizing a new higher efficiency infiltration chamber system. This system allows for a seepage bed that is up to 30% smaller that the classic tile and stone system. I will describe this new system in a future post.

Bottomline is that with the septic engineering report I was able to secure the building permit. In fact I had the permit the next day.

Coming up in the next few posts:\

• Getting the building permit
• Investigating the infiltration chamber system

6 Criteria to Consider when Selecting a Building Material Supplier

or...
And the Material Contract goes to...

Today I finalized the supplier for the building materials for the cottage. The winner is Dale's Home Hardware Building Center in Otter Lake.

I have been working closing with Brad Dale at Dales Home Hardware finalizing the last few items. While his quote for almost all of the materials was relatively equal to his main competition at Home Depot, his quote on the Roof truss system was way out of whack with that of Home Depot and a quote I obtained directly from a roof truss supplier. And by out of whack I mean it was almost twice the price.

Brad was a bit curious himself so he had a few 'discussion' with his supplier. The result was that they agreed to not to match the Home Depot price to beat it by roughly $100 dollars.

Now, with almost identical price quotes I determined that the the Home Hardware would be the best overall, based on the following considerations I now deem very important:

1. Price
It is important to drive the best price, but there are other considerations, as long as there isn't a big difference say 5% then the other issues are as important, perhaps become more important. Beware the low ball bitter. Sometimes they are too literal in pricing your materials list, leaving out important elements. for instance for s steel roof, make sure the bit includes all the various metal connectors that are required, those 'extras' cn often skew a price by 10% or more, if they are not included.

It turns out that that the Home Hardware quote was very close to the Home Hardware quote so the following issues became important factors.

2. Service
How has been your experience with the supplier through the bidding process. Did they take you materials list and bit it directly? or did they take the time to understand what you are trying to do? Did they suggest alternatives? Did they suggest ways do reduce the cost?

Your experience with the supplier before you buy is often a good indication what kind of service you are going to get after or while you buy.

Home Hardware, Brad Dale specifically, was very interested in understanding my project and suggested many alternative options and materials.

3. Delivery Flexibility
Any number of things can cause the building schedule to change such as the weather, a missing helper, and heaven forbid a person catastrophe of some sort. Gee! maybe I have even over estimated how long a building task may take and the schedule goes faster.

Home Hardware is close to the Cottage, about 2 kilometers, with a weeks notice, sometimes less, I can make significant adjustments to may delivery schedule.

4. Materials Storage
I will be building from a far. That means I will be building my cottage on extended weekends and a few weeks in which i will take vacation. Security of my materials is paramount. The construction site will be unlike most - there will not be constant constant presence of workers to discourage a thief. Hence I need my supplier to store materials until I will need them, delivering them just in time - as I need and can immediately use them up. If the stud, or the truss, or the engineered floor joist is nailed down it is very difficult to steal.

Home Hardware is willing to keep my ordered material in their lumber yard until I need them. They will even do this for materials that they have sourced from a third party like the roof trusses. In fact the trusses are likely to be delivered well in advance - a month before I need them.

5. Ad Hoc Materials Needs
I am expecting that my materials list is not perfect. I am sure there will be the occasional time when I need that extra stud, or box of nails, or whatever I didn't quite consider or measure right. Without a close source of materials, the project could grind to a halt while that now key piece is sourced and delivered.

Dale's Home Hardware is only 2 kilometes away. I can easily go get the missing material or call them to deliver it.

6. Payment Flexibility
I will be getting, receiving and hence purchasing materials on a weekly, maybe some weeks on a daily basis so having a convenient and fast fast way to pay will reduce the frustration. Plus I may need to send one of the building team, my wife, Lucie or one of my sons to get the material. having a means to address these issues just materials it easier to spend time building rather than dealing with logistics.

At Home Harware, Brad suggested setting up an account and listing all the people that can purchase on the account. I can pay the account weekly or monthly as the balance grows.

For those of you that have been following the quote contest the final point score is :

Home Hardware: 5 (WINNER!)
RENO: 0.5 (complete)
BMR: 0 (complete)
Home Depot: 3 (runner up)

Dale's Home Hardware Building Centre is found on Highway 303 just as you arrive in Otter lake, Quebec:

10 tips for packing a PODS Container

If you have been following my blog, you will remember that I sold my townhouse and moved in to my Wife's highrise condo. She already had furniture plus I think my late Canadian Bachelor furniture didn't quite win the popularity contest so my furniture needed to go somewhere.

Having all this 'extra' furniture certainly made the building of the Cottage an urgent matter. Plus ripe with cash from the sale of the townhouse I could now afford to build it.

Anyway... the Cottage is not yet built so temporary storage was required. As described in an earlier post (See "Moving And Storage" May 1, 2008) we selected a storage solution from PODS.

Sunday, May 11th was the day we packed the PODS storage container but let's step back a bit.

The PODS container was delivered the day before (Saturday), and unfortunately I was not able to be there to receive it. (Opening day tournament at our golf club beckoned!). Fortunately my son agreed to be on the stop to receive the drive. On the way to the golf course Nathan, my son called, saying that the PODS container would not fit in the driveway. Or to be correct it would fit but the lift mechanism they use to place it wouldn't fit. The problem was that the crabapple trees on the front lawn over hang the driveway and do not provide the needed 11 feet of clearance. A quick request of our neighbours, who fortunately do not have a car, and a near catastrophe is averted.

In fact the having the storage container next door and freeing our driveway actually made the move much easier. Not only was access to the garage now unobstructed the access from the front door and to the PODS container was much easier.

Moving Day!
I am fortunate to have three strapping adult sons, and they all arrived early Sunday morning to help in the move. The middle one, kept saying... "Dad, there is just not way that all this stuff is going to fit!" I have to admit the task looked daunting, even with the largest container that PODS provides, 8' x 8' x 16', my mind's eye had that tiny bit of doubt as well.

We set to the task, and by just after 12 noon, the task was complete. All my furniture, less the appliances, as the were staying, was in the PODS container. It was very tight, all the space was used, side to side, top to bottom, and end to end! And that was the trick!

Here are the 10 tips or lessons I learned in packing a PODS Container:

1. Make sure everything is well packed in boxes - loose items waste space - big time!
   
2. Match the size of the box to the weight of the material. Use smaller boxes for heavy stuff like books and dishes, and larger boxes like linen.
3. Use the indented portions of the container walls to store flat items like pictures and mirrors and awkward items like poles.
4. Use mattresses and box springs to line the walls both holding the items in the indents secure and providing a soft wall to place items like china cabinets.
5. Place the sofa on its end.
6. Place heavy boxes on the bottom and lighter boxes on the top of furniture
7. Think like a puzzle master - make every space count - use the inside of bureaus, dressers and drawers (just do it after you have moved them...
   
8. Tie down the furniture every four feet - place your furniture to take advantage of this tie down location by placing flat items like the backs of china cabinets and bookcases so you can use them like walls every four feet.
9. One person, let's call them the foreman, should be responsible for the packing, and be permanently stationed in the PODS container. The rest of the moving team is responsible for bring the materials to the container, and placing them where the foreman suggests. The foreman provides guidance to the moving team to bring the right shaped items - "I need a box this size to fit there..." or "I need the mattresses now..." etc.
   
10. Start early, provide lots of water and drinks, and wear a smile

Bottomline, you have to plan the move, including planning where things need to go into the storage container.

The container was filled and padlocked and read for removal by 1 PM. We started at 9 am. Actually the container was picked up promptly Monday morning and is sitting in a warehouse somewhere in the outskirts of Ottawa.

Next event will be retrieving the storage container, delivering it to the Cottage and an unpacking it. If all goes well that event could be as early as August!

The Dream has become a reality! The footings are in...

I went up to the Lot today for two reasons. First reason to was to take yet again more stuff from my just sold and vacated home up to store in the sled on the Lot. My most eager reason, however, was to see the progress of Doug on putting in the foundation.

Doug started earlier in the week, on Monday, and was hoping to get the foundation walls in. Rain and other issues meant he didn't quite get that far.

But I was elated!

Seeing the hole dug for the foundation and the footings in meant that my dream was finally happening. After walking around, on and over the footings I was finally able to spot pinching myself. As you can see from the pictures in the post the footing are there as well as the drainage system around the outside of the footings.

The footings are on two levels as the cottage is being built on the side of the hill. So the foundation is not a simple 'box'.

What amazed me was the awesome amount of sand that was dug out. There was almost not enough room on the rest of the lot to place the sand temporarily. Obviously some of the sand will be used to back fill the foundation and to create a grade up to the cottage, but I hazard a guess that a good portion of the sand will have to be trucked away.

ASIDE: The sand, as the septic engineer mentions in his report (see upcoming post), is absolutely the best material for the septic system. It percolates very well.

The plan calls for the foundation walls to be poured this upcoming week, followed by the piers (sonotubes) for the deck supports.

My status update and next pictures of the foundation will be a few days after my next trip up there which will be June 6-8th - when we build the lake side wall of the basement and install the engineered floor.

The Move is Complete! I'm Back!

Well the move took more time than I expected... and at the same time I was traveling for work and dealing with finalizing things for the cottage.

In the next few posts I will cover:

• How well the PODS process went
• The result of the septic engineer report
• Getting the building permit
• The foundation progress so far
• The materials quote 'contest'

Material Quote Status... they are dropping like flies...

Oh I forgot I to tell you, I received a voice message from the head of the contractor's department at BMR (Building Materials & Renovations) last week. He confirmed they have misplaced - let's call a spade a spade - LOST - the request for quote and set of plans I left with them. ...and in this words, "would I be so kind to bring around another copy".

Not likely! Plans are not inexpensive! So I have written BMR off the list and assessed them a minus 0.5 (-0.5).

So the running score is:

Home Depot: 3
RENO: 0.5 (complete)
BMR: 0 (complete)
Home Hardware: 1

NOTE: I am moving primary residences this weekend so posting will resume earlier next week...

NEXT: Coming up next week

• Getting the permit
• Getting the foundation started
• ordering materials (maybe

Moving and Storage

I mentioned in a previous post that the furniture in my home is destined for the cottage (See "The Snow is finally Gone! April 28).

The issue at hand is the furniture needs to come out of my home on or before May 15th, the closing date of the sale of my home but the cottage will not be ready to accept the furniture until likely this fall. Where do I put the furniture as our new home is already furnished - the benefit of marrying a woman with a furnished high-rise condo!

I had initially planned on using a new local storage facility run by Dymon Self Storage, and in fact I have a small storage space there right now. I love the model that Dymon has created:

• Storage is inside, heated, very secure
• Access is 24-7
• Loading docks are all inside - this is great during the winter
• It is clean, safe and just simply a great place

Then, I happened to discover PODS at a local cottage show about a month ago which provides an even better solution for our situation. I provide the following description from the PODS website on how the solution works:


The PODS solution really fits for our situation in that:

• I only load and unload the furniture once.
• No rush to fill the container.
• No trucks to book, pay for and drive.
  
• PODS will deliver the storage container to the Cottage when I need it

I love the Dymon storage model, and will continue with the storage space I have because I can easily access it anytime, and it very close to where I live less than a kilometer. That is the beauty of the Dymon solution - it just fits in to the community an my way of life.

Bottomline:

• A PODS container will arrive the morning of May 10th
• I will go golfing in the afternoon
• On May 11th my sons and I will leisurely pack the POD
• On May 12th PODS will come and retrieve it and store it until I need it delivered

I'll let you know how it goes in a future post...