The sea container chateau atop a hill by Gull Lake remains relatively untouched since last year — at least on the outside.
While snow piled up and mud bogged down, the Glennon family have been working like ants inside the metallic labyrinth, slowly shaping the layout of their future home.
Mom Roseann took a grinder to the walls and started slicing through the high-tensile steel, leaving doorways and open spaces in her wake while the remaining sheets got stacked outside like cord wood.
And 17-year-old daughter Kala was letting sparks fly in the basement as she welded together door jambs and the beams to the sea can floor.
“I pay her to do this and she gets good experience. She’s not afraid to get her hands dirty,” said dad Bill, whose brainchild currently looks more like a movie prop from Mad Max than the low-lying, stately country home in his blueprints.
He’s got a lot of work ahead of him this summer, a fact he readily admits.
But Bill has no shortage of motivation for the project on quiet, rolling farmland.
“The wife wants to be in here in June. Of this year,” he said, chuckling. “She doesn’t want to spend another winter in the mobile. Oh, it’s so cold in there.”
The level of the soon-to-be four-storey structure that has seen the most advancement is the basement, consisting of eight cans pushed together in the dirt in a C shape.
The interior has been painted, there are heavy doors in place with grout installed, there are solar-powered lights and electrical outlets, the beams are welded to the floor and there’s heat fanned down from a new wood stove on the next floor up. In a few rooms, the Glennons have even gotten so far as moving in bookshelves and desks. It’s also where the sump pump moves excess water and other unwanted materials out to the pond a stone’s throw away on the 20-acre property.
The most exciting part for Bill, though, is the prospect of wine and root cellars in the 2,200 square-foot space.
New stairs take you up to the next level, where Bill has finished a work room, home to his tools. This will be the rather gigantic garage area — complete with a painting workshop — as soon as he can get the engineering done on a heat sink, which will sit below where the vehicles pull in.
Sea cans are laid out for the next level up, but it’s unreachable right now except by ladder. No work has yet been done to form the inside of this level, which will be home to a rumpus room, his daughter’s bedroom, a TV room, bar and laundry facilities.
Although they have the sea cans on the property for the top floor, those haven’t yet been installed. This level will be turned into three bedrooms and the kitchen. Above that, Bill plans to pour a concrete roof for a viewing area (he hopes to have this done by September), set up more solar panels (he already has 16 in place) and possibly put a wind turbine on one of the two upended containers that currently stand as towers looking out on the west country.
“I kind of just want to have a nice place to set a telescope up and watch life go by,” said Bill. “On a clear day, you can see the mountains.”
The Glennons have had an “unbelievable” number of people at their property since their project was first publicized, and have started a guest book for those interested in checking out the unique construction.
The sea can house is located between Parkland Beach and Rimbey.
mgauk@www.reddeeradvocate.com