An overdue update

Once again it's been a long time between posts. A lot has been accomplished since mid February. Here are a few highlights.

Walls:

All of the walls in the apartment are now installed. About 80% of the drywall has been completely finished: taped, "mudded", sanded and re-mudded/re-sanded if necessary. The rest will be done this weekend.

The bedroom has been painted (primer and finish) as has more than half of the large living area and virtually all of the kitchen end of the large room. As soon as the last drywall sanding is done, these will be finished quickly. The bathroom is the last room to be finished. Also the entire stairway area is awaiting drywall finishing and paint.
It has a lot of angles and surfaces due to the turn in the stairs and the positioning of the radiant heat control panel above the stairs.

While installing drywall on the stairway we were able to add a nice little shelf above the stairs which can be used to display art or some nice heirloom or, dare I admit, knick-knack. You can see it to the right, looking down from a few steps above the half-way landing.

Plumbing:

The utility room is plumbed for the washer and I'm running a load or two every day or so. Sandy won't be gong to the laundromat again.

The bathroom toilet and shower are plumbed and working, though the shower surround is not quit finished. Of course, for these to be turned on we had to install the hot water heater. Soon two small bases will be made for the cabinets we got at an auction to serve as support for the bathroom vanity. When they are ready and placed the sink can be connected to the PEX lines and the drain can be attached.

The drain is in place for the kitchen sink and awaiting the final placement of the sink cabinet. This is delayed while we decide on what type of counter tops to buy or build.

Along the way, two very serious snags were encountered. One will be described under the "Heat" heading. The other was the water distribution manifold itself.

When the water heater was connected we turned on the water at the meter outside. Then it was turned on inside where it enters the building. Before water could come in, air had to be let out, so the cold water inlet for the water heater was turned on, and the overflow valve was held open while the cold water forced out all of the air in the system up to that point. So far, so good. No leaks, no problems.

Then we opened the output valve on the water heater to allow water to flow back to the distribution manifold on the "hot" side. Oops! A pin-hole-sized leak appeared on the top of the manifold. After carefully checking the connections we determined that it was a flaw in the manifold. A call to the manufacturer linked me with the regional rep who promised that they would reimburse us for the cost of a replacement. I called the supplier and ordered a new manifold and tried to put the problem out of my mind until it arrived. The replacement is working fine.

Heat: (Warning, lots of detail ahead.)

The entire radiant heat system was connected and ready to fill with water.

Here's what it looked like before some of the opening was covered with drywall.

Prior to filling with water we attached an air hose to be sure the system held pressure. It didn't! Bummer. What to do?

Spritzing the system with soapy water showed there to be a leak on the board that was built by the Floorheat company. A call to them quickly authorized me to bring in a plumber to re-"sweat" the connection. The entire system was pressure tested prior to shipment, but a leak had developed since then. A plumber fixed that problem pretty quickly and we turned on the air pressure again. It seemed to hold so the system was left under pressure overnight.

Bad news in the morning... the pressure had dropped. There was a leak somewhere in the nearly 800 feet of aluminum-clad tubing. Of course it was possible there was a flaw in the product, but this was very unlikely and proved not to be so.

Since there are three lines on the system I had to isolate each one to determine which had the leak. One end of the line has a valve, but the other end does not, so just turning off the various lines in turn would not tell where the leak was because the open ends of the lines were all open to each other. I had to disconnect and cap one line at a time to see if the other two held pressure. (This assumed the problem was only on one line.)

At one point in the installation I had caused a slight kink in a line. I thought I had caught it before it damaged the tube, but it at least gave me a point on a specific line to start my search for a leak. So I isolated line 3 and cranked up the pressure. It held.

Line 3 had the leak so I took the screws out of the panel where the small kink had been to see if the leak was there. It wasn't. However, on that same section of the tubing there WAS a hole in the line, right in the middle of it. I had carelessly drawn the line too sharply on the cement board where the line curved. In retrospect there was no good reason to even be close to the line, but I thought it curved away two inches earlier than it did.

But what luck! With about 35 3' X 5' panels, the leak was in the first one I tried.

So the leak was found and I had to patch the line. The leak was on a curve which meant I couldn't just cut it out and replace it with a single connector since a connector would not fit on the curve where only the tube had been. So I cut out about a foot and a half in preparation for using two connectors to replace the cut out section.

When I purchased the connectors I bought two more than needed in case there was another leak. (Sadly, that proved to be a necessary action.) I repressurized the system and waited to see if it held the pressure. It seemed to be fine, but after a few hours the pressure had dropped enough to show there was another leak somewhere. At least I knew it was the same line, but where?

At this point, having nothing else to go on, I decided to unscrew any screw that was within a half inch of the lines drawn on the cement board. After undoing maybe a few dozen screws, I backed out another one and heard the rest of the air pressure in the system gush out. I had found the second leak. I repeated the process of cutting it out (also on a curve) and installing a new section with the other two connectors I had bought.

When I went to re-screw the two panels down it was obvious that the connectors, resting on the subfloor, were thicker than the plastic grid, and the panels could not be replaced without cutting out some of the thickness of the cement board where they touched. Once that was done the panels were screwed down and the pressure added.

Everything seemed to be fine, the pressure was holding, so I left for the night.

The next morning I found the pressure had dropped about 5 pounds. By the end of that day it had dropped about the same again. Multiple attempts to test the two fixes (four connectors) did not show any air bubbles when they were sprayed. By this time I was thoroughly discouraged and decided to take a day off from trying to solve this problem. Imagine trying to find a leak so slow it will not even make bubbles on the tubing. It could be anywhere on the 250-foot-long line three. What other strategy might work?

The next day I decided to try the soapy spray one more time. This time, though, I bent the two replacement sections up from the floor ever so slightly so I could be sure I'd see any bubbles that might appear on the bottom sides of the connectors. I pumped the lines up to 70 pounds per square inch (PSI) again and sprayed them. Again, no bubbles. There were still lots of other tasks to be done, so I decided to walk away from this problem for a little longer.

The next morning, when I walked past the system panel, I noticed the pressure was still at 70 PSI! I hadn't really done anything to fix the problem since the second set of connectors was installed. What had changed to make the system hold the pressure? There was obviously no other leak, so what had happened?

Here's the answer: One of the four connectors used to patch the leaking tubes was installed where the tube had literally been running right against the base plate for a wall section. (Anywhere a room dimension is not a multiple of 16 inches, the plastic grid must be trimmed to fit. In this case that trimming resulted in barely enough room for a run of the tubing.) When the connector was installed, the connector itself, being a tiny bit wider than the tube it was repairing, also was pressed against the base plate. This caused the tube to be so slightly askew with the connector, that it was barely noticeable.

When I pulled up the tubing at the fixed corners the night before, it took the pressure off the connection and allowed the tube to "set" parallel with the centerline of the connector. I chiseled about a quarter inch off the side of the base plate so the connector could be in line with the tubing which was still tight against the base plate. After two days like this, the line still held 70 PSI. We were ready for water in the line.

I'll finish this thread in a day or so. Next, "Another room."

A tight fit

I found this quote today: "The way to succeed is to double your error rate." - Thomas J. Watson

With respect to the apartment project, I think I had already figured this out.

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Yesterday Sandy and I moved all but one of the kitchen cabinets upstairs so we could verify that they will all fit along the west wall. Fortunately there is a 3 3/4" spacer on the end of one of them. If I cut off 3 1/4" of that they will fit perfectly! We lucked out there.

Here they are, sort of where they will go. They aren't all placed flush against the wall yet.

The upper cabinets sitting on the floor to the left are two different heights, the one on top is 30" tall; the other 42". There's also a 42" corner cabinet still downstairs. It turns out that the taller cabinets will not be able to be used as intended because the ceiling is too low. (If you've been following the blog, you'll remember that the entire building, from the concrete slab to the bottom of the trusses, is only 16' high, and, with the joists and floor between the two floors, each is less than the normal height for most living spaces.)

The smaller one will probably go on the west wall at the left above the other cabinets. That decision awaits approval of my supervisor. I think I'll use the large one as a part of the pantry I plan to build. It will be to the right of the refrigerator and broom closet. (See below.)



Another revelation: our refrigerator is about an inch too tall for the surround. That can be "fixed" by adding a few inches to the bottom of the surround, or by buying a new refrigerator.

It's particularly surprising since we had to take down part of the ceiling light just to get the surround upstairs yesterday. And we had to carry it up top first because it is too high to be turned end over end upstairs.

The north wall of the kitchen, between it and the bathroom, is still without drywall awaiting the purchase of light fixtures for the bathroom wall. Wiring and a switch are in place and the drywall is already cut so it will go together quickly when the fixture(s) arrive.

A few partial prints

Progress continues.

The first picture is a test of spacing in the bathroom. We bought two cabinets at an auction a few months ago. I'm going to make our bathroom vanity using them and a sink and counter top we got at the ReStore. They are shown sitting on some 2X3's to simulate the height of the kick panel that I'll build for them. After some side panels are added, the whole setup should look pretty nice.



This is how the water distribution manifold looks with everything plugged in except the kitchen sink. It's on the first floor, of course, in the utility/laundry room.

Snow views

Just thought I'd post a few pictures from the snow flurries today. They were both taken from the apartment window.


The trail, barely visible in the left picture, leads to one of the springs. Down the hill to the right takes one to the pond.

Do we know how to party or what?

Our Greene County CASA program had a Valentine's Day fund raiser yesterday. Tommy Teddybear entertained the kids, at least the ones he didn't scare, and his main squeeze showed up and obeyed the sign.


Today it was back to work.

New address(es) - UPDATED

We have started using the rural route address at the property and have begun changing our address with all our correspondents. We haven't moved yet, but our Post Office box rental expired last week and could only be renewed for 6 months at a time. Since I am at the site virtually every day, and since we hope to be moved to the site within weeks, changing the address now made sense.

Sadly, we will have to change it again sometime soon. Greene County may be the last place in America that hasn't assigned real street addresses. We are finding some companies, insurance and financial institutions for example, will not accept an RR box as a valid address.

A company is contracted to assign addresses but no one, not the county clerk, the postmaster, nor the company itself, will say when they will announce the new addresses for any particular route. The upshot: we will soon have to change from our RR address to a street address. In the mean time, for those who won't accept the RR box number, we have made up a street address. If they use both in the sequence we have given them, their mail to us will go to our mail box. If they switch the sequence or don't use the box number at all, we have no idea if we'll get their mail or not. Time will tell.

On the topic of addresses, today as I was crawling around on the floor drawing lines, I though I saw Sandy coming in the door. It wasn't her. It was the UPS man looking inside to determine if anyone lived here. I told him "Not yet." Now for sure, UPS and the Green County Daily World have the new address.

By the way, in response to a comment, the address is:

RR 4 Box 262, Bloomfield IN 47424.

See, I do read the comments.

Progress on the heat

Today Sandy and I got the last of the tubing run for the radiant floor heat. Here's what it looks like in the bathroom.



You can also see the base of the shower. The over-stuffed bag contains cellulose that will be poured into the wall behind the shower once the fixtures are mounted inside the wall.

As I have shown earlier, the system has five "layers". The last "layer" is the cement board shown here, partially in place.



The cement boards are 3' X 5' and are placed so that four boards do not intersect at the same point. As each board is placed it is marked to show where the tubing under it is located. (The lines are easily seen if one double clicks the picture.) With these lines one can avoid damaging the tubing when the boards are screwed to the sub floor through the grids. The lonesome grid on the right is being used as a template to get the right curve when drawing the ends of the loops below onto the boards.

I hope to get all the rest of the boards in place tomorrow except where the toilet will be placed. The grid has to be cut out there first and the exact location of the toilet hasn't been determined.

Lookin' for a home

Sandy and I took a long walk around the property on Sunday. The sun was shining and the temperature was about 58. We looked carefully at areas near and at the bottom of the south-facing hill. We discussed the possibility of a larger pond and locations for our house. We decided we might need to arrange for a survey of at least the area near likely spots for the house before deciding on one. Further, since we can see large rocks at the surface at spots on the hillside, we will try to find someone who might be able to survey under the surface so we don't pick a spot where we'll have to dig or blast out huge rocks before we can dig a foundation.

We are certain we will find a great spot that will provide nice views down the hillside, an unobstructed south face for solar heat gain, sound buffering from the state road, and easy access to other areas of the property.

When we finally select the site I'll start sharing pictures from it at different times of the year.

Can't believe it's been over a month

Tonight I realized it's been 36 days since my previous posting. One might get the idea that we haven't been making any progress, but that just isn't so.

Here are a few of the things that have been done since then.

1. We finished blowing insulation into the attic.

Here are two "before" and two "after" pictures:

 

 

2. The first floor walls have been framed.

The first floor is where we will have our clothes washer and dryer (which I hope we will use sparingly in warmer weather), a toilet and a large wash tub. It will also be used for storage of things that need a bit more protection than provided by the heavy shelving on the east wall. The first floor has a concrete slab and can get pretty cold. I built the walls with 2X6's supporting two rows of 2X3's, 24 inches on center. This will allow thicker insulation on the first floor that, for the most part, will not be heated. Since neither wall surface will touch the other side of the wall, the 2X3's will prevent a "thermal bridge" between the inside and outside wall surface.

3. The water manifold has been moved to an inner wall.

If I'd thought enough about it to begin with I would have put it there in the first place. Though all the walls of the utility room will be insulated, putting the water distribution manifold on an inside wall will give it a few extra degrees of buffer on the coldest days.

4. Most of the radiant heat grids have been placed.

There are still some grids to place, but they go pretty quickly. Then comes the metal plates that distribute heat from the PEX to the cement board. Next I'll run the PEX tubing into them. After that they are covered with the 1/2 inch cement board. Here's a picture of the bedroom floor so far.

5. The stairway is installed.

You'd think I'd have taken a picture of the stairs, huh? I'll post one soon.

6. Lots of miscellaneous tasks.

It's amazing how a day can go by and nothing particularly visible gets done. The bathroom has been wired, but without the fan and medicine cabinet and its lights, one can only throw the switches on and off with no results. And they're quiet switches so there's not even a click.

I hung up some bird feeders. Dozens of birds showed up and are there all the time. At one point there were seven male cardinals around the feeder at once.

I made some time to organize the "shop area," currently just a section of the first floor defined by clear plastic walls.

I had to rework the walls behind where the shower will go because the shower base we purchased goes against the studs, not the drywall, and an additional stud was needed on each wall where the glass shower walls abut the solid walls. Lesson learned: buy, or at least decide on, everything as early as possible so dimensions and requirements can be incorporated the first time.

Still more to do, but the end is in sight.

Santa was very good to me!

Among my Christmas gifts, I got two that will get plenty of use at Greene View Springs. The first is a great movable stand for my miter saw. It has two working heights and collapses and stands up for storage with the saw attached.

The other Christmas gift is insulated work overalls. They're being used every day while the temperature is so low. It was 3 degrees Fahrenheit last night.

You don't need to see that picture this early in the year!

I guess they know it's safe

Nearly every day lately one can see a large flock of wild turkeys along State Road 54 just east of Bloomfield. The picture's detail isn't too good, but here they are.

Warm floors

It is getting cold and we're not quite ready to install the radiant floor heating system, but I thought I'd show how the system goes together. Our system is produced by The FloorHeat Company. Their web site explains the system in more detail. It is mostly a do-it-yourself process.

It starts with a thin sheet of foil that goes directly on the OSB floor panels. The foil is covered by 16-inch square plastic grids which snap together to cover the entire floor. Metal pieces are snapped into the grids. These will help transfer the heat from the plastic tubing which will be snapped into all of the grids to the panels which cover the grids. The panels are then covered by the laminate floor panels. The tubes are attached to a panel which contains a tankless water heater and a pump to move the heated water throughout the system.

Here is a grid, a metal piece, and how they fit together. Of course there are hundreds of them in the system.

When all the components are together it will look something like this:


You can see four of the laminate panels snapped together. Under them is a 3'X 5' cement board panel. Under that are the plastic grids. The foil is not shown because I don't want to put it down until we're ready to do the installation. Finally, the OSB panels can be seen.

Notice the piece of 2X4 next to the floor system. It is the same thickness as the system. This allows us to build a wooden grid in closets and under cabinets that will have the same laminate sheets on them but will not be heated.

I forgot to take a picture of the control panel. I'll do that after the plastic tubing (PEX) is installed and the system is ready to go.

Has it been that long?

Once again, time has flown and I haven't posted for over two weeks. I've got a few pictures to share. I'll start with a follow-up on the previous post.

Using a 1" X 4" strip of wood behind the top of the drywall sheets did the trick. The drywall is solidly supported at the top, just as if there had been a full nailer there. It turns out attaching the strip to the drywall before erecting it wasn't necessary. In fact, doing so made it harder to get the drywall in place. It worked a lot better to just slide the wood strip up behind the 2" X 10" board at the top of the wall. The pressure from the packed cellulose behind the tarp section kept it in place while the drywall was screwed to it.

Here's a picture of an installed drywall sheet showing a section of the wood strip to the left of it. You can see the 2" X 10" board that runs the length of the long walls. The white on the board is from raising the ceiling drywall and will wipe off. I plan to sand the board smooth and cover the nails which hold the boards to the barn's main posts.



All the drywall in the apartment has been installed except for a few wall sections that will have water tubes in them. These need not be finished right now, and getting heat in the building is a higher priority. The next post shows what we're doing for heat.

Getting the walls straight

I have been worried that the drywall on the outside walls will eventually bend in toward the room because of the pressure of the cellulose stuffed behind it. The drywall will be screwed into 2x2 "nailers" at the bottom and 2x4 nailers every two feet up the wall as well as into the 4x6's every 8 feet along the wall. But at the top of the east-west-running walls there is a 2x10 that supports the roof trusses. It is nailed inside the 4x6 posts. This means the drywall will come up under, but not behind, the 2x10's.

As an aside, when I first realized the 2x10s were at the top of the east-west-running walls I worried I would have to build those walls inside them. Instead we decided to make them an architectural "feature" and leave them exposed along the entire length of the north and south walls, even in the bedroom and bathroom. I'll sand them down and "spackle" them to hide the seams and nails, just like drywall, so when molding is added and they are painted it will not be apparent they are wood.

Here's what a typical 8-foot wall section looks like, shown with one sheet of drywall attached.

 

Even though there will be a piece of trim under the 2x10 that will help keep the drywall vertical, I am concerned that the trim, only being nailed into the 2x10, will not be strong enough to resist the cellulose pressure against the drywall. I've decided to add a 1x4 behind the drywall and the 2x10 by screwing the drywall to the 1x4 before putting it up on the wall. I don't think it will be necessary to attach it to the 2x10 because the cellulose pressure against the billboard tarp sections should keep it tight. Here's a closer look.

 

Here's the view from inside the wall. Of course the exterior sheets, the cellulose and the billboard tarp sections are not shown.

 

Of course this means the 1x4 attached to the drywall will have to be tucked under the 2x10 first, then screwed to the nailers below. If this works it might actually make it easier to install the drywall. So far, without the 1x4, the first any only drywall sheet I've stood up has been difficult to hold firmly against the wall. I'll write about how it works soon. Tomorrow I've got to go find 64 feet of 1x4's.

Our first snowfall

It wasn't a lot of snow but it shows where one of our sledding runs will be. The area in front of the trees to the left has lots of birds in it most of the day. They eat seeds from the tall grasses and wildflowers. The view is from the large window where the kitchen table and benches will be.