Yearly Archives: 2015

Plumbing Inspiration!

My guilty pleasure is watching home improvement shows on TV. I usually watch one each evening. I mix it up with a different series each night so they are not too repetitive. I have Netflix and lately they have been … Continue reading

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Planning for Walls

This winter we are hoping to start putting up walls and with the new tub in the master bathroom, I wanted to tweak the floorplan to accommodate the larger tub and create smaller closets in the entry and family room. … Continue reading

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Cleaning the Challenger’s Heat Exchanger

When I was wiring the boiler, I checked the condensate overflow system on the boiler and noticed the plastic drain was full of black gunk. I cleaned it out and about a week later checked it again and it was … Continue reading

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Siding Arrives

Just before we left for Thanksgiving the siding arrived from Lowes. I had unfortunately chosen the Westminster store that was farther away for the delivery which I found out when I arrived at the closer store. It was about 20 … Continue reading

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Thanksgiving!

We visited family in upstate New York for Thanksgiving. The weather was mild and we enjoyed our visit. The turkey was a success. My grandson’s favorite dish at the meal. During prep time three generations of Dibbles posed with the … Continue reading

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Boiler Wiring Fix

This summer I re-built the zone valves for the boiler. And I planned new logic for the wiring so that I could include the fireplace boiler and hopefully a chiller. I had the new single pump relay using the output … Continue reading

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Waterway Rainscreen

Just as I was planning the rainscreen layer for the siding, Repurposed Materials had an auction to move some of their excess inventory. Among the treasures being sold were several rolls of Waterway rainscreen. The rolls are 35′ long and … Continue reading

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Siding Rainscreen

Building Science experts recommend a rainscreen layer between siding and the house wrap to protect the house wrap and siding from holding moisture and allow for evaporation of moisture that penetrates the siding. This rainscreen layer incorporates a drainage plane … Continue reading

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Advantium Still Dead, Oster Alternative

Despite the new TCO (Thermal cut off) the Advantium is still dead. Sad to say. There is some more testing I can do for the other TCO and various boards. Ebay has some of the parts that are not too … Continue reading

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Door Trim Finally Repainted!

The painters that Alpen sent had several setbacks before they could make it to the job. Apparently Alpen only has one vendor for the original paint job and one for repainting. Maybe that means that most jobs don’t need repainting–until … Continue reading

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Reorganization

With cold weather around the corner, it is time to clear out the garage from summer projects and make room to store the car for winter. I put this project on the fall to do list and it meant a … Continue reading

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Where the Cold Gets In

We finally had our first frost on October 28th. The end of October is very late for first frost, but we got more tomatoes from the garden because of it. And we are warming up for an Indian Summer the … Continue reading

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Absolutely Amazing

I planned to join my sister in Paris for a few days and stop over in Iceland on the way back. This was my very first trip overseas and I just wanted to see what it was like.  If you … Continue reading

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Master Bedroom Membrane

Another part of the membrane project started in May was finished today. Mostly through the inspiration of our friends Jan and Mike Halla who visited last week. They said, what can we do to help? Mind you they were only … Continue reading

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Fall is Here and What Now?

It has been quite warm this week after a week of rainy days. But there is no doubt that fall is here. The trees are mostly turned what colors they do in Colorado and leaves are getting thick on the … Continue reading

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New Tub and Faucet

Another amazing Craiglist find; thank goodness people in the Denver area use it regularly. I did not see so many and such variety of offerings when I lived in Arizona. Although it seems that most of the city’s best deals … Continue reading

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More Old Hickory and Handcrafted Log Bed

Well, why not more Old Hickory? I found two chairs and a table on Craigslist for a reasonable price. They were in Larkspur about an hour away, but it was a lovely day and I enjoyed the drive. I think … Continue reading

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Dead Advantium

Unfortunately this morning I was going to melt the butter and sugar on some cinnamon flat bread in the Advantium and the control panel was completely blank. Dave had done some roasting in it just yesterday and didn’t notice it … Continue reading

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Contactor Chatter

The contactor is a switch that is used for high power applications. In this system it is normally closed until power is called for by the heaters through the PC board. Acura Spas expert Joel told me the chatter meant … Continue reading

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No Power to Spa Pump

At first I thought that the power problem could be something the electrician could figure out for us. But they could not send someone over right away so I got out the multimeter to check for power. I found the … Continue reading

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