Yearly Archives: 2015
Moved the Spa but…
Dave and I were able to move the spa onto the concrete pad by some accurate trailer back up placement and an ingenious plan to hold the spa on the pad while the tilted trailer moved forward. Much easier than … Continue reading
Front Stoop
One of the tasks we have to complete before the doors can be repainted is to put in a patio in front of the french doors. I remember my grandmother used to call the door patio a “stoop”. We were … Continue reading
Temporary Bathroom
I picked up another free toilet. This one is also a Glacier Bay but it is a dual flush. It is currently selling at Home Depot for $98. Since I broke the first one I got for free, I promptly … Continue reading
More Chiller Disappointment
I could not get the new Penguin chiller to cool the 50 gallons of water in the old hot water tank. The company was very helpful but also could not figure out why the chiller was not chilling. It actually … Continue reading
Repurposed Fiberglass Packing Corners
I love perusing the offerings at Repurposed Materials. Actually I kind of hate to see them growing by leaps and bounds because they were my own little treasure trove here in Denver while now good stuff is located in Chicago, … Continue reading
Slab for Spa
Today we finally got the slab for the spa poured! It has rained all week so we had lots of water to bail out of the form and from around the outside of the form. The rain also delayed the … Continue reading
Success Repairing Another Short Circuit
I did it! I finally fixed the short in the front lights. It took a lot of disentangling of wires and trying to understand triple switching etc. but in the end the issue was just a bad wire to the … Continue reading
Landscaping Fabric
I purchased this “professional” landscaping fabric from a guy on craigslist for $75. The roll is 4 foot by 225 feet so longer than what I could purchase at the home improvement store. It is heavier fabric too. I used … Continue reading
Existing Circuits and Where they Go
We have been trying to figure out all of the existing circuit breakers and their function in the house. One day last winter we went through the box and labeled every dangling wire in the house with the corresponding circuit … Continue reading
Rock It
Yeah, had rock delivered today. The cheapest gravel I could buy is road base. It is not nearly as pretty as pea gravel because it is a mix of aggregates from about 3/4″ gravel down to sand particles. Used mainly … Continue reading
Excavation with a Dingo
I was working too hard to take photos so I found this short video on You Tube that shows basically what I was doing all day. Not using the rotary digger but just the excavator on this Toro walk behind … Continue reading
Summer List
So did ANYTHING get done this spring? Actually work was done but little was actually FINISHED. And there were things that we did that were not on the official list of next steps. I’ve written about what I have been … Continue reading
Rebuilt Honeywell Zone Valves
The Honeywell zone valves on the radiant system were all part of the original boiler system from 1984, So I purchased rebuild kits to have on hand if the valves didn’t work initially or stopped working. Luckily they all worked … Continue reading
What’s the Weather Like Today?
Hum along with me to the old tune, “Its Good News Week” if you know that one you are probably a baby boomer. It is a 60’s one hit wonder by a group called Hedgehoppers Anonymous! Not that I remembered–what … Continue reading
The Rain was Raining All Around
It falls on field and tree. It rains on my umbrella here and on the ships at sea. A Child’s Garden of Verses–Robert Louis Stevenson I always liked these little verses as a child and memorized several of them. They … Continue reading
Door Doldrums
The Therma Tru doors from Alpen are a remodeler’s nightmare. After the initial install, they didn’t work very well at all. They didn’t close correctly apparently due to being out of level and not plumb. SOO the installers, the door … Continue reading
Switcharoo to Penguin Chiller
I was very disappointed about the new/old Arctica Chiller not working, although ebay is fantastic in providing free return shipping. I let it drain for a day and packed it up in the original box and plastic bag making sure … Continue reading
Radiant Cooling
It was easier than I thought it would be to switch the thermostats to cooling and hook up the circulation pump as the primary pump on the system. I just had to switch the white wire from heat to cool. … Continue reading
Heat Exchanger Piping
I finished the heat exchange piping this morning. This is how the heat exchanger works. Notice the hot in the upper corner going IN and the warm after exchanging its heat going OUT in the lower corner. Conversely the cold … Continue reading
Killer Chiller (DOA)
For the past couple of years I have installed a window evaporative cooler that I bought on craigslist in one of the front windows. This year, however, that window has been replaced and there is not a new window that … Continue reading