Springtime surprise

All winter long we have kept the temperature in the new apartment above freezing to try to save as many of our house plants and outdoor tropical plants as possible. There have been some casualties but most have survived.

Two plants in particular seem to have gone into suspended animation through the darker months. They were kept in the unfinished bedroom, the only room we could close off and keep warm, but it is on the north side and the window was kept covered most of the winter to retain warmth.

Here is one of them, a bird-of-paradise plant that I grew from seeds Sandy's son brought home from his honeymoon in Hawaii about 8 years ago.

The seeds sprouted soon after they were planted, and the plant seemed healthy all this time, but it wasn't until spring last year that I realized it needed full sun. I put it in the front yard of the house in Indianapolis until it was moved to Greene View Springs in July last year.

In the fall I noticed the flower stalks, but by then it was time to bring them in from the possible frost and freezing, and the hibernation began. A few weeks ago they were moved to the south-facing room in the sunny windows and the rest you can see.

There are a few more buds. I'll try to remember to get a picture when they are all blooming.

The Clampets return to the hills

Saturday was the big day. With help from Brian and Ed III, and a borrowed truck, we got all the big things moved from the rented apartment to the new apartment on the property.

There are still plenty of things to finish, but we are now living at Greene View Springs. The trash in the picture will be going away soon, and with warm weather's return, we will finish the panels at the top of the east and, pictured, west wall.

Tomorrow satellite TV is being installed, and sometime this week if it doesn't get too wet again our driveway and multiple parking places will be built/regraded.

Stay tuned, there has been tons of progress, just not enough time to take and post pictures.

A telephone land line should be installed this week and I'll have effective access to the internet to post more pictures. Right now I'm only able to use the laptop and steal service from a neighbor who has wi-fi, but it is spotty at best. This post so far has taken 40 minutes to enter, again and again until it finally worked.

Another room

As some of you know, Sandy's dad Matthew has been ill on and off over the last two years. His most recent stay in a rehabilitation facility was handled so poorly by the facility staff (it took them four days to realize that he was supposed to be on oxygen at night for example) that we determined he would not go back there when he left the hospital, no matter what.

Three Thursdays ago the hospital called to say they were releasing him that afternoon! Earlier we had decided we would bring him, at least until he was stronger, to our rented apartment in Bloomfield. But we were expecting his release to be at least one day later than it was.

Sandy had just hours to arrange for oxygen systems, both fixed and portable, a bedside commode, the transport of his C-PAP machine for nighttime breathing assistance, a wheelchair, a walker and a hospital bed. Then we had to empty most of the apartment's extra bedroom and stash things wherever they would fit somewhere in the apartment. We then had to get to Indianapolis quickly, pick up some things at his apartment, get him from the hospital and get back to Bloomington to meet the delivery of the bed and other items before his bedtime.

It was a long day and tough on him, but by 9PM, after bumping him a step at a time (15 steps) up the stairs in his new wheelchair to the rented apartment, he was in his own hospital bed and the other equipment was hooked up in the room.

Of course, if you're reading this blog regularly, you know we are getting very close to our move to the apartment on our property. We can't leave him at the rented apartment, so he will move with us.

Problem: No extra room at the property.

Solution: Add another room.

Over the last few days we have hired some local contractors to quickly build a room on the first floor of the pole barn. It will be just under 200 square feet, have one exterior and two interior doors and two windows looking south. Another 64 square feet of ceiling had to be added to the east end of the barn next to the large storage shelving on the east wall. That new deck space above the new room will also allow us to move lots of the items stored on the first floor onto it to replace the space lost to the new room.

Here are two pictures of the space so far, one inside, the other outside.

Can you say "rain"?

Here's a view from the car, facing west, on the main road between Bloomfield and Greene View Springs.

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.