We took a week to visit our friends and family in Indiana and Illinois. We need to go out and check on our vacation house which is what we call our first passive solar home.
Indiana Passive Solar
The house is in need of maintenance after several years of renters and is now serving as a place for us to stay when we visit Indiana. We have not lived in the house since 1999. So it has been neglected for almost 20 years. The porch seems to be sinking and the windows need repair or replacement. The siding is natural unfinished boards and could be replaced.
When we designed the house, we planned to be able to leave it unheated during cold weather. The plumbing all drains back into a pit under the water heater where the water comes into the house. There are three drains for separate areas of the plumbing. The one in the rear empties the most water and it is the one that drains the pipes that go to the upstairs tub.
 Front Drain Valve |
 Rear Drain Valve |
 Broken Pipe |
 Sharkbite Fix |
This is the drain that is hardest to see and get to and it was left closed by accident and the pipe to the tub froze and split. I used CPVC pipe when the addition was built and copper in the main house. The same pipe split once before so it was relatively easy to cut a hole in the drywall in the ceiling to reach the broken pipe and behind the tub faucet to replace the pipe. I had the other half of the pipe from the former fix, and this time I used sharkbites in case it has to be repaired again! Then the holes in the drywall were patched and I even got the upstairs repair painted.
But the best part of going out to Indiana is visiting our friends and family.
 Friends at the Harrimans |
 Steak at the Hallas |
 Antique Tractor Show |
 Enjoying the Day with Angie |
 Fender Grandkids at Weinie Roast |
 “Strawberry” Full Moon |
I forgot my camera when we went up north so no photos to remember our trip by, but we sure had fun seeing a travelogue of photos by my brother who just returned from a tour of the Rhine River with his wife. We also enjoyed a visit and overnight at my cousin Jackie and her husband Grant’s home. Then it was back to Spencer to winterize the house, sit on the porch with our neighbors and pack up to go home.