This week has seen some progress. As of now the pool is 99% "swimable." All we need are a few warm days to bring the temperature up. I'd like it better if the trees were down and the leaves not able to fall in the pool, but since Eloise the tractor is still out of commission, it won't be happening today.
I actually got the right ignition coil to get Eloise running but when I installed it one of the terminals snapped off. At least I got to turn over the engine with the new battery. First I've been able to do that in more than a year.
Most of this week's been spent on the Airstream, getting it ready to support us while we're building the rest of the house. There's a serious mystery with the fresh water system that I haven't figured out yet. Details to follow once I know what's going on. We have electricity for lights and battery charging, the gray water works. As soon as I get a backhoe on site we'll have a place to dump the black water. No major leaks that we've found so far.
Once I get the water issue resolved we'll figure out if the hot water heater works or not. And I'll need to install better electrical hookups to check on the refrigerator's operation.
Sal is packing up the house, we're hoping to get this taken care of in the next few weeks.
We're on our way!
Doug
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Aug 20 update
Here's the link to some pictures I just put up:
by Stickbug54
In other news:
I went for the more expensive, solid rubber tire on the wheelbarrow. At least it's impossible for it to flat. Cross at least one SNAFU off my list.
Still haven't found more blue barrels, but did buy two large garbage cans to help out with the log jam in debris removal.
Two more loads of water should give me enough depth to think about vacuuming the pool. Hope to get that in on Thursday.
The drill and bits came in this week. We can tear up some wood now!
The second application of Roundup seems to be taking effect, albeit more slowly than desired, in all areas except the sumac. If conditions later this week are favorable, I'll hit that area again.
Tomorrow I'm off to visit relatives and share some old photos and documents that have recently come into my possession.
Blessings!
Doug
by Stickbug54
In other news:
I went for the more expensive, solid rubber tire on the wheelbarrow. At least it's impossible for it to flat. Cross at least one SNAFU off my list.
Still haven't found more blue barrels, but did buy two large garbage cans to help out with the log jam in debris removal.
Two more loads of water should give me enough depth to think about vacuuming the pool. Hope to get that in on Thursday.
The drill and bits came in this week. We can tear up some wood now!
The second application of Roundup seems to be taking effect, albeit more slowly than desired, in all areas except the sumac. If conditions later this week are favorable, I'll hit that area again.
Tomorrow I'm off to visit relatives and share some old photos and documents that have recently come into my possession.
Blessings!
Doug
Saturday, August 16, 2008
The Black Death - Tarpaper on wood floor
I'm deep into trying to remove the kitchen floor. If there were not so many layers to it already, and if those layers were not so saturated with animal waste and mold, I'd have left the floor in place. But it had to go, so here I am.
There are three layers of linoleum and vinyl, plus a layer of 1/4" plywood sandwiched together and nailed 1' on center. The plywood and top layer of vinyl are relatively easy to get up, but the bottom two layers are stuck to tar paper which is in turn glued to the wood floor. What a mess to try to get up. I've spent some time online looking for a simpler solution and it seems that either heat or chemicals are the key. I like the idea of either a hot iron or a wallpaper steamer to soften the mess, then scrape it off. Several days on my knees ahead.
Fortunately, my only concern is that the floor be relatively level so that we can put down a layer of underlayment and then install tile atop that. I don't have to worry about cleaning and refinishing the wood floor.
Other news, in no particular order:
My "hoped for" supplier of blue barrels has lost his connection. So now I have to find an alternative source for debris removal. I've started to take the plaster out to a convenient hole behind the chicken shed and bury it there. There's nothing in it that will hurt anything I can see. But the linoleum/tile/vinyl needs to go to the landfill.
Speaking of debris removal... the tire on the wheel barrow went flat. I can either take a chance on a new tube ($6) or a new "never goes flat" wheel ($40). The tube replacement would take some time to get the old one out and the new one in. The new wheel looks to be a straight forward "bolt in" replacement. Right now I'm leaning towards anything that won't break or require maintenance and is easy.
On the pool front, I was able to use a product this week that made the particles in solution clump together and fall to the bottom of the pool. This got rid of the cloudiness almost like magic. The problem is that the only way to get the particles off the bottom of the pool is to run the vacuum on "waste", bypassing the filter and pumping the nasty water out of the pool. Getting water in the pool has been a problem from the get go. The water level in the pool dropped below the level needed to run the skimmer/vacuum before I was done vacuuming. Since the well has run dry again, I delivered three loads of water Friday and brought the level up a fair amount so at least the pump could run. But, I will need another four loads before I can vacuum again. And probably three or four loads of water after I vacuum. And I need two days to shock it once it's vacuumed. The only water source is to bring it from our old home, 14 miles away, by tank in the pickup. Yech. I did rig up the gutters on the barn to feed into the pool, but we haven't had any significant rainfall since I did that. This is all a lot of work for a little relaxation, which will soon be too cold to use. Oh, well, at least we'll be ready for next year...
I've ordered a special drill for boring holes in joists and walls. I'm going to be running a lot of wires and tubing, I figured I'd better have the right tool for the job. It should be here Monday.
The areas sprayed with Roundup earlier this week don't seem to be showing any signs of ill effect. Those areas I hit on the first application are really dead, no signs that the sumac is coming back. Yet. But those areas from application #2 are not showing any ill effects. I'd hoped they'd be yellowing by now. If they don't start to turn yellow by Monday, I'll hit them again on the next bright sunny day we have. I think I sprayed them too late in the day for it to be absorbed in the plants. I spent some time Thursday evening picking up dead limbs and debris in the "sumac grove" on the north side of the property. Friday I cut some dead limbs off some trees there. I think this might actually work and the area look OK once the grass recovers! My neighbor on that side has a lot of old lumber she wants to burn up. I told her she could bring it over and toss it on my burn pile and we'd take care of it for her... :)
That's all I can think of for now. More another day.
Doug
There are three layers of linoleum and vinyl, plus a layer of 1/4" plywood sandwiched together and nailed 1' on center. The plywood and top layer of vinyl are relatively easy to get up, but the bottom two layers are stuck to tar paper which is in turn glued to the wood floor. What a mess to try to get up. I've spent some time online looking for a simpler solution and it seems that either heat or chemicals are the key. I like the idea of either a hot iron or a wallpaper steamer to soften the mess, then scrape it off. Several days on my knees ahead.
Fortunately, my only concern is that the floor be relatively level so that we can put down a layer of underlayment and then install tile atop that. I don't have to worry about cleaning and refinishing the wood floor.
Other news, in no particular order:
My "hoped for" supplier of blue barrels has lost his connection. So now I have to find an alternative source for debris removal. I've started to take the plaster out to a convenient hole behind the chicken shed and bury it there. There's nothing in it that will hurt anything I can see. But the linoleum/tile/vinyl needs to go to the landfill.
Speaking of debris removal... the tire on the wheel barrow went flat. I can either take a chance on a new tube ($6) or a new "never goes flat" wheel ($40). The tube replacement would take some time to get the old one out and the new one in. The new wheel looks to be a straight forward "bolt in" replacement. Right now I'm leaning towards anything that won't break or require maintenance and is easy.
On the pool front, I was able to use a product this week that made the particles in solution clump together and fall to the bottom of the pool. This got rid of the cloudiness almost like magic. The problem is that the only way to get the particles off the bottom of the pool is to run the vacuum on "waste", bypassing the filter and pumping the nasty water out of the pool. Getting water in the pool has been a problem from the get go. The water level in the pool dropped below the level needed to run the skimmer/vacuum before I was done vacuuming. Since the well has run dry again, I delivered three loads of water Friday and brought the level up a fair amount so at least the pump could run. But, I will need another four loads before I can vacuum again. And probably three or four loads of water after I vacuum. And I need two days to shock it once it's vacuumed. The only water source is to bring it from our old home, 14 miles away, by tank in the pickup. Yech. I did rig up the gutters on the barn to feed into the pool, but we haven't had any significant rainfall since I did that. This is all a lot of work for a little relaxation, which will soon be too cold to use. Oh, well, at least we'll be ready for next year...
I've ordered a special drill for boring holes in joists and walls. I'm going to be running a lot of wires and tubing, I figured I'd better have the right tool for the job. It should be here Monday.
The areas sprayed with Roundup earlier this week don't seem to be showing any signs of ill effect. Those areas I hit on the first application are really dead, no signs that the sumac is coming back. Yet. But those areas from application #2 are not showing any ill effects. I'd hoped they'd be yellowing by now. If they don't start to turn yellow by Monday, I'll hit them again on the next bright sunny day we have. I think I sprayed them too late in the day for it to be absorbed in the plants. I spent some time Thursday evening picking up dead limbs and debris in the "sumac grove" on the north side of the property. Friday I cut some dead limbs off some trees there. I think this might actually work and the area look OK once the grass recovers! My neighbor on that side has a lot of old lumber she wants to burn up. I told her she could bring it over and toss it on my burn pile and we'd take care of it for her... :)
That's all I can think of for now. More another day.
Doug
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Sumac and Thistles and Burdock, Oh My!
There is no Yellow Brick Road to house renovation, but at least there are no Lions, Tiger or Bears roaming the grounds. Weeds are as close as I get, so far.
About a week ago I sprayed a bunch of the aforementioned weeds with a double strength Roundup. Slowly they are withering. Tough weeds. The area north of the barn that has been so infested with them seems to be showing improvement. It will be nice if I can get that under control and my neighbor won't have that sumac stinking up her house.
The pool is still not useable, needs more of something to clear up the water. A trip to the pool store is in order for Monday. As near as I can tell the bottom is slowly appearing, most of the leaves are out and as soon as the water clears up and the deck is scrubbed down, we'll be ready to swim.
Sledgehammers were procured since I last wrote so the upstairs demolition is almost done. There are still two doorways to open up and then we're done busting up stuff. I'm waiting for delivery of some plastic barrels before trying to remove the debris. Much more efficient than trying to bag it and haul out the bags.
The repriming of the well turned into a huge task. I put over 200 gallons down the well over more than a weeks's time and it just barely filled it enough to fire the pump back up. Once it got running again, I let the hose run for about four hours, at a reduced rate, to bring the pool level up. And I ran it dry again. But this time I caught it in time. So I waited two days and tried it again and with a few slurps and spits reprimed itself.
On the first round of fillings I dumped a bottle of Chlorox down there to try to kill off any nasties that crept in. We'll see if that worked. I don't think the Chlorox permeated very far though because you could sure smell it when it came back up. Good to have water pressure on site again, however.
The frost proof hydrant by the barn is now back in operation and doing a bang up job. I finally found the right fitting under the "black plastic piping" section of Lowes. I'd been scouring the regular plumbing area and going nuts to get a 3/4" barb fitting on one end and a 1" pipe thread on the other. When I wandered over to the black pipe section I about fell over when the right fitting was sitting right there and only $.34. When I finally got the fitting installed and began to refill the hole I put a wheel barrow full of gravel in the bottom, tamped that down and then put the dirt back on top. Since I had extra dirt and extra bricks laying around, I built a little "casing" above ground and topped it with brick to help hold the hydrant upright. Seems to have worked so far and provides a nice surface to set a bucket on if you're filling it under the hydrant.
Eloise still needs to have the jumper cables put to her, so to speak. It took forever to find a battery that would provide the amps needed and still fit in the case that was on the tractor. I finally found one and now just need to clean, prime and paint the case so I can reinstall the battery and crank her over. The good news is that most of the grass is mown and not growing very fast right now. But it would be nice to get some of those trees down before they start to drop their leaves soon.
This afternoon I've scheduled a trip to Lowes to pick up some heavy duty linoleum scrapers to see if we can remove the kitchen floor without damaging the wood floor beneath it. Once that floor's up, I can begin work on the PEX tubing which will go in under the floor. I have only about six inches between the floor joists and the top of the cistern. My plan at this point is to open holes in the floor on the east side of the kitchen, under where the cabinets will sit, and drill through the joists. Then I'll thread the tubing through, pulling a loop across under each joist pocket and attaching it on the far (west) wall. There is no way to get in there to attach the tubing up alongside the joists. My plan is to slide 2" thick sheets of insulation in from the side, in the basement, on top of 2x4 "sleepers" on the flat, then twist the sleepers to lift the insulation up close to the bottom of the joists. I'll have a perimeter lined with 2" rigid foam insulation board as well, so theoretically this should force the heat from the PEX upwards. It's not perfect, it won't be airtight on the perimeter, but at this point I don't see a better alternative given the limited access.
Once the kitchen floor has the heat run, we can cut the window and door openings we need, run the heat for the second floor and start building out that room.
Yesterday I spent the day moving dirt since it was such a lovely day to work outside. There were two places on the south and west side of the house I'd dumped dirt the last time I'd had a backhoe on the property. Those piles never got smoothed down and were an obstacle to mowing. Now they're shaped up properly and I can get to more of the property with Eloise once she's up and running.
Much more to write but that's all for now.
Onward and upward!
Doug
About a week ago I sprayed a bunch of the aforementioned weeds with a double strength Roundup. Slowly they are withering. Tough weeds. The area north of the barn that has been so infested with them seems to be showing improvement. It will be nice if I can get that under control and my neighbor won't have that sumac stinking up her house.
The pool is still not useable, needs more of something to clear up the water. A trip to the pool store is in order for Monday. As near as I can tell the bottom is slowly appearing, most of the leaves are out and as soon as the water clears up and the deck is scrubbed down, we'll be ready to swim.
Sledgehammers were procured since I last wrote so the upstairs demolition is almost done. There are still two doorways to open up and then we're done busting up stuff. I'm waiting for delivery of some plastic barrels before trying to remove the debris. Much more efficient than trying to bag it and haul out the bags.
The repriming of the well turned into a huge task. I put over 200 gallons down the well over more than a weeks's time and it just barely filled it enough to fire the pump back up. Once it got running again, I let the hose run for about four hours, at a reduced rate, to bring the pool level up. And I ran it dry again. But this time I caught it in time. So I waited two days and tried it again and with a few slurps and spits reprimed itself.
On the first round of fillings I dumped a bottle of Chlorox down there to try to kill off any nasties that crept in. We'll see if that worked. I don't think the Chlorox permeated very far though because you could sure smell it when it came back up. Good to have water pressure on site again, however.
The frost proof hydrant by the barn is now back in operation and doing a bang up job. I finally found the right fitting under the "black plastic piping" section of Lowes. I'd been scouring the regular plumbing area and going nuts to get a 3/4" barb fitting on one end and a 1" pipe thread on the other. When I wandered over to the black pipe section I about fell over when the right fitting was sitting right there and only $.34.
Eloise still needs to have the jumper cables put to her, so to speak. It took forever to find a battery that would provide the amps needed and still fit in the case that was on the tractor. I finally found one and now just need to clean, prime and paint the case so I can reinstall the battery and crank her over. The good news is that most of the grass is mown and not growing very fast right now. But it would be nice to get some of those trees down before they start to drop their leaves soon.
This afternoon I've scheduled a trip to Lowes to pick up some heavy duty linoleum scrapers to see if we can remove the kitchen floor without damaging the wood floor beneath it. Once that floor's up, I can begin work on the PEX tubing which will go in under the floor. I have only about six inches between the floor joists and the top of the cistern. My plan at this point is to open holes in the floor on the east side of the kitchen, under where the cabinets will sit, and drill through the joists. Then I'll thread the tubing through, pulling a loop across under each joist pocket and attaching it on the far (west) wall. There is no way to get in there to attach the tubing up alongside the joists. My plan is to slide 2" thick sheets of insulation in from the side, in the basement, on top of 2x4 "sleepers" on the flat, then twist the sleepers to lift the insulation up close to the bottom of the joists. I'll have a perimeter lined with 2" rigid foam insulation board as well, so theoretically this should force the heat from the PEX upwards. It's not perfect, it won't be airtight on the perimeter, but at this point I don't see a better alternative given the limited access.
Once the kitchen floor has the heat run, we can cut the window and door openings we need, run the heat for the second floor and start building out that room.
Yesterday I spent the day moving dirt since it was such a lovely day to work outside. There were two places on the south and west side of the house I'd dumped dirt the last time I'd had a backhoe on the property. Those piles never got smoothed down and were an obstacle to mowing. Now they're shaped up properly and I can get to more of the property with Eloise once she's up and running.
Much more to write but that's all for now.
Onward and upward!
Doug
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