Monday, August 13, 2007

It started like this


Well Im having some trouble getting the video editing sorted out, so in the meantime have decided to get started on this and will add the video links at a later date.

Meet David aka The Mad Canadian Artist

So as I mentioned in the last post, David was given a free 40x60 ft floating boathouse in late May by his boss Steve. They hooked it up to four tugboats and waited till late at night when the tide had dropped to haul it up to the shipyard on Mitchell Island. It looks like a big red barn. About one third of it is a long one- room apartment with a separate bathroom and the rest is a garage to store a boat.It is over 60 years old and had been hit by a deadhead that punched a hole through the floor of the apartment. Its basically a floating roof at this point, luckily the roof and supports are in excellent shape, leaving lots of room for creative building practices. The plan is to add more log stringers outside for stabalization and across the the open space that was the boat storage area so floors can be installed. The walls need to be raised and put on the new supports so the whole building will be straight and stabalized, then foam insulation sprayed throughout the whole thing. This will make it unsinkable and fireproof as well as toasty warm. The large garage doors will be removed and the back wall framed in with lots of windows and sliding glass doors which will go out to a deck that has yet to be built.The deck will wrap around the house with a large area in the front for a sunken woodfired hottub. The apartment wall will be moved back to double the space of the living room and kitchen. The bathroom is being enlarged to accomadate a double shower and some counter space. Two bedrooms are being added on the main floor, with the rest of the space to be used as an art studio with tons of windows for natural light. The loft above the apartment will be turned into a master bedroom with lots of storage under the eves.

David has his work cut out for him. He is doing all the work himself with the odd helping hand from roomates and friends. He is trying to do this for little or no cost, so time is spent looking online for free materials and organizing to go pick them up. Nothing about this is easy, its tons of work and determination, luckily David has the energy of ten men and is making this happen.

Here is some pictures of the floathouse when he first got it, as you can see its work in progress but if anyone can do this its David.