Twinsprings Research Institute

Koffee Korner

Posted on November 19, 2017 by ellen

We kept the plumbing location from the old kitchen sink even though we had moved the wall. Originally I thought we might install an outdoor sink near this water supply. But as the house progressed I thought a bar sink would be fun on this short dining room wall.

Dining Wall Plumbing

I really like copper accents and I made the bar sink out of a copper tray that I had purchased at Target some years ago. It is a unique shape and fits on a tall plant stand I also had in Arizona. In order to make the tray into a sink, I had to be sure it held water, then cut a 1 3/4″ hole in the middle of the bottom. I measured the diagonals to get the center point and used a punch to mark the center of the circle. Then I used a diamond covered hole saw that I bought to make holes in granite. First I tried a regular hole saw and it didn’t work, in fact skipped around and scratched the surface. I had the sink clamped to a few 2×4’s and plywood to hold up the center as I cut.

The copper faucet is from our Arizona house. It was replaced under warranty because it rusted inside. I cleaned out the rust and some of the interior metal broke out with it, but the rusted part was a brace that was around the copper internal pipes and I am still able to use the faucet. Moen charged a hefty shipping charge to replace the faucet, it was about $60. So I don’t feel too guilty in keeping and reusing the original faucet.

I wanted to recess the faucet into the wall and for that I found that the second oak medicine cabinet from the demolish was a nice fit. So I drilled a hole for the faucet into the bottom of the oak box and cut the drywall to fit. Just like the Schluter shower niches, I installed side pieces of wood to the interior 2 x 4’s to nail the box to and fit it into the wall.

Bar Sink

I had a leak in the faucet so I took it all apart but the leak was from the hose sprayer spout so I found a rubber washer to install there and it stopped leaking. Then of course I had to put the faucet back in the oak niche. But before nightfall we had an exciting bar sink installed. I’m still working on hiding the plumbing though.

I bought a wrought iron shelf at the ReStore for $5 and i thought it would make a good cup rack. The set of shelves that holds the coffee maker, the filters and coffee grinder was $30 from Amazon. Kokopelli is from Arizona too and he beckons all to enjoy the brew. The finishing touch will be a Coffee sign to post above the shelf.

Coffee Arrow Sign

I hope that the setup is practical enough to use on a regular basis. It is a little tight but clears a lot of counter and shelf space in the kitchen.

Koffee Korner

Posted in Kitchen, Plumbing, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Leave a comment

First Two Doors

Posted on November 11, 2017 by ellen

We brought in the two small closet doors because they were in the way in the garage. Well, they were in the way in the house too. I found these doors on Craigslist about 18 months ago. They were only $20 each and are brand new hollow core wood veneer prehung doors. It so happened that both the pantry and the vacuum closet in the family room required 18″ doors and we measured and built the openings to fit these doors.
With my 20 watt finish nail gun (Christmas present last year) it was quick work to level the doors in the openings and nail them in.

Dewalt finishing nailer

I fitted a door on the vacuum closet first. I had to remove the plastic braces and bolt holding the door shut and used some spacers to insert it level into the framed space.

Vacuum closet door

Next I tackled the pantry closet door. Unfortunately this one was framed a bit crooked and I nailed in the door without seeing that it was off level. I had to cut the nails with the multitool and then cut the jamb at the bottom to get it to fit level in the framing.

Cut off casing to fit opening

The trim should cover the gap that was needed to level the top of the door.

Uneven framing

And now the pantry door is installed although it does not fit as well as the vacuum closet door, the door wants to pop out of the jamb too easily. I double checked the levelness of the frame and it is true. It appeared that the hinges were not fully set on the door so I took it off and trimmed a bit more wood from the mortises. It is better but still requires firmness in closing.

Pantry door

Ideally we would use door trim something like this cabinet I saw on craigslist. We like the rustic look.

Nice door trim

Posted in Reduce Reuse Recycle, Tools, Trim | Leave a comment

Fire Alarms

Posted on November 9, 2017 by ellen

I finally got the fire alarms installed after having the item on multiple lists since the electrical was finished. I’m trying to check off all the requirements for our final inspection.

LEED requires that we have a carbon monoxide alarm near the entry from the garage because the garage is attached. I purchased combination fire and carbon monoxide alarms that are interconnected throughout the house so that if one sounds the others do also. There is one in the entry to fulfill this requirement.

Each bedroom needs an alarm according to code. This requirement changed a bit during our project because originally we were told we needed an alarm within 15 ft. of the bedroom entries and one in the master bedroom. So we wired one between the bedroom doors in the hallway. Now that they are required inside the bedrooms, the hall alarm loses its function. However, the alarms in the bedrooms do not have to be wired alarms. I thought I had a couple of battery powered alarms from a previous project but I could only find one. So I ordered a second one today for the other bedroom.

Although we don’t really need the alarm in the hall now, the drywallers covered that fire alarm electrical box. They also covered the box on the dining room ceiling. The electricians didn’t extend the boxes for the depth of the drywall so it was easy to cover them. I will need to find the boxes and cut open the ceiling to install the alarms.

Hall Fire alarm before drywall

Rear Hall Drywalled Ceiling

Someone mentioned that the dining room alarm might be too close to the kitchen and could result in nuisance alarms from cooking. But I think having the covered boxes is actually a fire hazard so I better install the extra alarms. I ordered five alarms and I have installed four but six were wired. Luckily Ebay still has the same model and I can get another one. There is one in the family room, in the master bedroom, in between the living room and the hallway, and in the entry.

I was also worried that perhaps the electricians didn’t include the third wire to connect the fire alarms on the circuit so that they were in sync. I didn’t remember specifying that to them, but they did include the third wire in each box.

Fire alarm box with third wire

The alarms are interconnected so that when one is triggered, the others repeat the same information. The voice announcement helps recognize which alarm is going off.

Voice Fire Alarm

This is a video of the fire alarm sound which echoes from one alarm to the other.
Video of the fire alarm sound

I will need a sixth alarm to finish the project. I think I had not counted on the bedroom hallway alarm when the inspector told me we needed one within fifteen feet of the bedroom doors. But for now it is not obvious that more work needs to be done!

UPDATE: The alarms were delivered and now are installed. With the before and after photos I was able to cut the ceiling quite close to the boxes. Where the cuts went beyond the alarm plate I used painters caulk to fill in the space.

Cut ceiling for alarm box

Patched ceiling at alarm

This was the last of the electrical installs for the final inspection. Although I did get a Sense Me switch for the Haiku fan and installed that too.

Posted in Electrical, LEED Project, Trim | Leave a comment

Adding a Shower Light

Posted on November 6, 2017 by ellen

The family room shower is big and it was dark inside. It really needed a light but I didn’t specify one in the electrical drawings so I had to add it as a retrofit.
The light I bought came with an incandescent bulb so I also ordered a GU10 LED bulb for it. The light is really white compared to the bathroom lights.

Shower light and switch

I bought a Globe 4″ recessed chrome light rated for shower use because I could not find a brushed brass fixture. I tried to buy a 4″ antique brass trim that was supposed to fit 4″ can lights but the diameter was already 4″ so it didn’t fit my light. It was a bit too dark in tone anyway.

4 inch pot light for shower

The chrome blends in with the current unpainted ceiling. I cut the hole a bit too big and it took me several tries before I realized I had to push the arms that hold the can out over the drywall from the inside of the can and snap them into place. I finally figured it out though. It looks like the can might have to be lowered for the light to be snug in the can when there is tile between the can and the light baffle and trim.

Chrome shower light

The wiring was not too difficult because we have a junction box for several circuits in the attic area so I just had to fish the wires from the switch to the junction box and from the switch to the light.

Wiring path for shower light wire

As part of this project Dave and I labeled all the circuits in the attic junction box. Now we know what is going through there. I added the wiring to the same circuit that will control the ERV and is the circuit to the Master Bath and the post where the modem is located. It is circuit 17.
It has taken months to accurately label the electric circuits. The electricians only partially labeled them and left me a scribbled list! I think this is the most detailed description of the circuits in both the inside and outside boxes.

Electric Circuits

Posted in Electrical | Comments Off

Radon Proof Sump Cover

Posted on November 6, 2017 by ellen

When we demoed the slab floor we saw that drain pipes were connected from the outside perimeter foundation of the house into the sump tank.

Exterior pipes into sump tank

We seldom saw water in the sump tank so we were not sure the system worked, but we left it as originally designed as we think it supplements the drainage around the foundation perimeter. But the sump cover was loosely laid and the holes in it were raggedly cut and open.

Sump cover and Boiler drainage

Having that hole in the utility room is not good for Radon infiltration. I knew we needed sealed radon cover but the covers made for radon were too large for the space. So I ordered a sealed cover with a few extra fittings for our existing pipes.

Structural Foam Sump Cover

Unlike the photo, the holes in the cover I received were both sized for 2″ pipe with a third hole for the sump pump wire plug. Our sump pump had a one inch pipe but unfortunately when I was working on the system, I discovered that the pump is clogged or broken and does not pump water anymore.
In order to fit the cover over the sump hole, I had to cut the plastic corregated pipe down to the concrete level. I was reluctant to try to bolt the cover directly to the concrete because the cover was so close to the edge of the hole that the concrete would just crumble. So I got the idea of attaching a ring around the tank. I cut the ring from 1/2″ plywood.

Plywood set up to cut round hole

I marked the hole with a nail and a piece of wood and cut both an inside and outside circle.

Inside and outside circle cut with jigsaw

Unfortunately I had cut the inner circle exactly the size of the tank so of course it didn’t fit. Luckily I had cut it wide enough that I could take out a second circle and end up with a ring of the right size.

Second circle cut to fit

I used Liquid Nails again to glue the circle of wood to the concrete around the sump tank. Then I weighted it down with some boxes at hand and waited for the glue to dry.

Plywood ring glued around tank

Then I used concrete caulk to seal the inside and outside of the plywood ring to the concrete.

Tank caulked inside and outside plywood ring

Next I had to prepare the cover. To seal up the larger openings, I ordered a sample kit of neoprene materials in 4″x 4″ size and a couple of plugs for the pipes I have running into the sump. One is the 3/4″ overflow for the boiler, and the other is the 1/2″ condensate drain. Ideally we would have a pump in the hole but I vacuumed out the water that was in the tank and noticed enough silt on the bottom that it may have clogged the sump pump which I bought for clear water only. I just put a neoprene patch between the bolted on hole gasket and the cover.

Neoprene patch over one of the 2″ holes

I decided to try to mount a smaller gasket inside the second 2″ hole. I ordered some 3″ plastic covers and drilled a hole in one to pop in the 3/4″ rubber gasket. I used the adhesive neoprene sample to seal the plastic cover to the hole.

Adhesive neoprene

I used a spade hole bit to cut a hole in the cover and neoprene layer to make a hole for the gasket and then I used extra flat neoprene tape to reinforce the gasket in the hole.

Gasket in plastic lid

The rubber gasket material that came with the cover was stretched around the outside
edge of the bottom of the cover to make a seal when it is screwed on. I also made an extra 1/2″ hole in the cord plug and temporarily plugged the cord hole.

The cover was ready to be fitted to the sump tank. To fit the cover, I made sure the pipes could be inserted before I screwed it down. Without the pump piping, I only had the boiler overflow and the condensate drain to fit into gaskets.

Cover screwed on with condensate and overflow pipes

Until I replace or fix the pump for the tank the tank cover is finished. It is sealed so that any radon gas that gathers in the tank will not be released into the house.

Posted in Moisture Intrusion/Expansive Soil, Radon Mitigation | Comments Off

Ladder Pot Hanger Shelf

Posted on November 5, 2017 by ellen

I have two of these old kiva ladders. They are popular in the Southwest and I like the look of them made out of logs and leather straps. I needed to use the 12′ ladder to help hang this ladder for the kitchen shelf and pot rack I had in mind.

Rods installed in the ceiling

I had a bit of trouble deciding how to connect the shelf to the ceiling. We had plenty of wood crosspieces in the ceiling to hang hooks for chain, but I was worried chain would sway too much under use. So I found threaded screw in rod holders and threaded rods that seemed to be more sturdy. I would have used iron pipes and iron pipe flanges but I couldn’t find a suitable angle piece to mount them from the pitched ceiling.

Twelve foot ladder to help hang shelf

I found eye bolts that would hold the iron pipes under each side of the ladder. I used rod connectors to add the eye bolts to the ends of the rods. I cut the taller rods to make them even with the shorter ones. I had figured I wanted the ladder about 65 inches from the ceiling at the tall end and 45″ at the shorter end. With eye bolts all one size I ended up with an uneven ladder. So I exchanged two of the 8″ bolts for two 4″ and the sides were even.

First Hanging

I had the pipes to connect the front and the back pipes. So I threaded them together to create a large rectangle to hold up the ladder and its shelf.

Added side bars

With the side bars I supposed it would be the right height to hang pots from.

Ladder pot hanging shelf

When the metal S hooks arrived to hang the pots, the cast iron pans hung down too low and Dave hit his head on them. I discovered I could use the space between the pipe and the ladder as a rack though. So I used the hooks to hang some utensils that are too large for a drawer.

Pot rack and hooks

I have several misplaced holes in the ceiling that have to be caulked and painted but the pot rack is finished.

Posted in Design Style, Kitchen, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Comments Off

A Fall List?

Posted on October 29, 2017 by ellen

It’s a little late in the fall to post a new list of tasks for the house, but I have been working from a list and I think I should share it. First, a review of the summer list. I believe more items were crossed off this list than many of the previous lists! Good progress for summer and beginning of fall.

1. Move more furniture back into the house to clear up working space in the garage.
Before the drywall the furniture in the family room was sitting on the foam area that needs to be prepped for tile. Should I move it back and then have to move it to do the tiling or should I do the tiling first? I will have to move the furniture out of the way to finish the tiling on the perimeter of the house.
2. Set up master bath.
This requires finishing the wall paint job, I did clean the medicine cabinet but I might need to just remove it and reset it.
3. ~~Paint master bath brick wall.~~
4. ~~Remove and reset medicine cabinet in master bath.~~
5. ~~Lay tile in master bath.~~
6. ~~Hook up tub drain and faucet.~~
7. ~~Find ceiling fan and install in master bedroom.~~
8. ~~Install header over window in master bedroom. Seal with polyiso and siga membrane.~~
9. ~~Bring the doors and trim wood into the garage for storage.~~
10. ~~Install more light fixtures.~~
11. ~~Finish family room outlets.~~
12. ~~Arrange furniture in family room.~~
13. ~~Install family room bathroom sink and new faucet.~~
14. Install safety bar by guest toilet for Mom.
15. Put rug in second bedroom and place futon against wall with pillows. Changed this plan when we needed the space to store the dressers.
16. Reinstall trombe wall glass and solar panel.
17. Hook up mini split air conditioner. Cannot hold pressure in mini split lines. They must have a leak. Have to redo the flare joints and try again.

The list I have been working on is smaller in scope than the summer list. With house tours, presentations, and the solar conference I have been very busy.

~~Electrical covers in family room closet and others~~
~~Add track lights.~~
~~Clean out garage and rearrange tools for winter.~~
~~Install ERV vent covers and returns.~~
Vacuum ERV vent shaft
Clean beam
~~Fix track lights in living room, family room, dining room~~
~~Move furniture etc into house~~
~~Unpack boxes moved into house.~~
Install fire alarms
Put Kerdi in master bath shower. Rear wall 9ft.
Hang storage box/shelves over tub
Grout tile over tub
Install tile on perimeter of house floor
Fix kitchen sink drain
~~Install new spa pump and motor.~~
Close hot tub siding
Tile entry to family room bath
Install coffee bar sink and faucet in dining room
Hang pot ladder in kitchen
Install shower light in family bathroom shower
Install niche in family bathroom shower
Install bench in family bathroom shower
Cut granite for shower ledge/bench
Install radon cover on sump tank

The summer list came closest to getting completed perhaps because I have a better idea of how much I can get done. Hope to also make that kind of progress on this new list. Since I have been working on it several of these tasks have been completed already.

I’m also considering what needs to be done to get the building permit finished. I believe that is only the final electrical, plumbing, structural, and HVAC. I think the HVAC and structural, are completed. The fire alarms need to be installed for the electrical and I need to finish the showers and the sink in the dining room to finish the plumbing. So those should be the priority.

Posted in Planning | Comments Off

Unpacking!

Posted on October 27, 2017 by ellen

Being surrounded by boxes is no fun. So I started unpacking right away. All this finery that was in storage for so many years, and we are just now seeing it back in the house! As I unpacked the boxes, they began to pile up. So Dave emptied them of packing material and flattened them and took them to be recycled.

Boxes Being Emptied

I took over a bookcase with the china and other breakable treasures. The china was from my mom and I only had it a few years before we moved. But after I brought it back from my mom’s house I got rid of the chipped pieces (it was shipped and some pieces got damaged) and replaced them from online sources. So the set is complete for twelve. I’m excited to use it this Thanksgiving.

Bookcase to china cupboard

I found a place for most of the contents of the boxes, but a few small items don’t have homes yet. I sorted them on the half wall to the kitchen.

Small decorations and treasures

My granddaughter was visiting and had fun looking over the treasures. Some of them she borrowed to take home and some became hers! And after the first load of boxes, there were plenty for a second load.

Empty boxes

I put together all of the antique kitchenware that had been in different places at our other houses. It is quite a collection.

Antique Kitchenware Collection

Happily the boxes that were brought in are all unpacked or they are going back out to the garage. Some of the boxes had my mom’s old photos and some of her every day dishes that I don’t have room to display. I did not bring in our photos in frames to hang on the walls or display around the house.

The many boxes of books that I saved from our library are still in the garage too. I did a major weeding of our books before we moved. Now that I used the bookcases for other things though, I’ll eventually have to find other shelves for the books. Dave will have his office in our current bedroom and there will be bookshelves. We have bookshelves in the guest room and maybe if I run out of space I’ll have to weed out some books again.

Posted in Moving | Comments Off

Annual Garage Clean Out

Posted on October 20, 2017 by ellen

Each fall it is time to empty the garage enough to store the car out of the snow and park the mower inside too. This year we did not beat the first snow as it came in October. But we knew our time was limited and the weather was perfect this week.
We have so many tools now that we needed extra space in the garage. With the walls up and painted it was time to move most of the furniture and the boxes of stored home goods into the house.

Boxes and furniture in garage

At least a quarter of the garage was packed with furniture and boxes. We brought in most of the household items but left the books packed away. Also we are not ready to move into the master bedroom so we put some furniture in there but stored several other pieces in the extra bedroom.

Dressers and secretary in extra bedroom

Dave’s office will be in the room we are in now so we also left his desk in the garage.

Garage boxes mostly cleared out

A few pieces of furniture went into the master bedroom and the second large bookcase was moved into the living room.

Antique dresser in master bedroom

The boxes have taken over the living room!

Boxes near second bookshelf

Boxes near kitchen are mostly kitchen items

There are boxes with good china and with steel pans, boxes of decorations like pottery and glassware. It will be interesting to unpack and see these items that have been out of circulation for so many years.

Boxes in living room

We had to bring in the acrylic stucco that I purchased so that it won’t freeze. So we hauled in the 5 gallon buckets and made a workbench with an old door that I got for free.

Workbench made with old door and buckets of stucco

The large tools and tool shelves were brought back into the garage so things got a bit crowded again.

Tools shelves and table tools back in the garage

But now there is room for the car in the garage and room for the riding mower.

Room for the car in the garage

Posted in Maintenance and Repair, Tools | 1 Comment

Solar Inspiration

Posted on October 19, 2017 by ellen

At the Solar Decathlon information booths I signed up for consultations with three solar panel install companies. The one that represents Tesla products, and in fact will be changing their name to Tesla, is Solar City. I have looked at the specifications of their Panasonic panels and Powerwall and I was sold. When the representative came for his sales pitch he found he didn’t have to be very forceful as I had already determined that this was the company whose products I was most interested in purchasing.

Since I already signed up for the Tesla solar roof, I knew that there were some superior products available from this company. I’m pretty sure the Tesla roof would not be a great match for our mostly north facing and flat south facing roof. We have basically one roof area that would efficiently host solar panels and that is over the garage. So I signed up for a smaller solar panel production at 3.9 KW. We use approximately 9.5 KWh last year. So the new system will only meet about 46% of our energy use. Since we live in Colorado, an area that has high solar gain, it makes good sense to add solar.

I should have added solar two years ago when Xcel was offering rebates, but at that time it was difficult to get into the limited amount of money they were dedicating to solar and the products were less robust. Our system will still qualify for a federal tax rebate of 30%.

We will have to wait for a Powerwall because Elon Musk sent his entire existing production to Puerto Rico for disaster relief. That generous use of these solar battery backup systems made me more than willing to wait for a power wall myself.

The panels used will be Tesla’s version of the Panasonic 325 watt solar panel, one of the most efficient on the market.

Panasonic-VBHN325SA16

Energy Sage created this graph of the relative efficiencies of current solar panels by manufacturer.

Solar Panel Efficiencies

My system will be 12 of these panels that will fit on our garage roof. We will also have a grid tie inverter, probably Power One as that is another Tesla owned company (formerly Aurora) and a Tesla Powerwall battery backup.

Tesla Powerwall technical specs

Solar City like all the installers handles the entire process from site survey which we had yesterday, to engineering plan, to building permit, to Xcel energy application to final install and warranty. The warranty on the system production is for 20 years and on the battery backup is 10 years.

I’m excited about adding solar even though my challenge was originally to be Platinum LEED without the additional cost of a photovoltaic system. Being in contact with those who have the systems made me want to add one to our energy efficiency goals.

Posted in Solar | Comments Off

Solar Decathlon!

Posted on October 19, 2017 by ellen

I spent one day at the 2017 Solar Decathlon at the Panasonic building near the airport in Denver. John Avenson hosted a booth at the Solar Decathlon for the Passive House Institute and included the various energy efficiency non profit groups in Colorado. He also represented the Colorado Renewable Energy Society local chapter of the national group that put on the conference, the American Solar Energy Society, and the Colorado Springs EV Club . He invited me to come and spend some volunteer hours at the booth and I did. John is amazingly dedicated to sharing energy efficiency with others and I worked to get people to stop for some solar wisdom. But I also took some time to visit most of the solar homes built for the Decathlon competition.

The houses are built by college students using the latest technologies and vie for points in architecture, water conservation, energy use and production, marketing, market potential, engineering, communications, appliances, health and comfort and home life. The home with the highest points in all categories wins the competition.

Walking through the houses I was looking for energy saving ideas, unique building materials and style. The homes were 2 bedrooms with bath, living room and kitchen facilities. They were very nice. The completed homes are donated to Habitat for Humanity in Denver this year. My favorites were the UC Davis home with its homemade furniture from beetle killed pine and its demo system showing household water use in led dots. Another favorite was the Silo house by Missouri S&T, a modern farmhouse style with a very interesting grey water filtering system. I didn’t get to all the houses though, including the winning house built by the Swiss team! It is possible to walk through every house virtually with Youtube videos.

A few of my favorite things:

Modern Farm House	Pre cast concrete house
Interior wiring chase	Modular hand built furniture
Tesla power wall battery backup	JLM wall mount battery backup
Heat pump and ERV	Gosun solar grill

Posted in Green Building Interests, Solar | Comments Off

Poster Presentation at the National Solar Energy Conference in Denver

Posted on October 16, 2017 by ellen

It was a busy week. From the NREL talk to the Solar Decathlon, I spent a good deal of time sharing our LEED project. I was one of 33 poster presenters at the solar conference.

Conference goers looking at my poster

It was great to see the young people especially sharing their research projects and data. One of my favorites was a research proposal to study wind catchers made of tensile materials to improve ventilation and cooling in hot arid climates.

Tensile wind catcher

Several homeowners also had posters of their projects like me.

New Jersey Solar Home

A solar architect who has been designing solar homes for over 30 years had a poster displaying the tools she uses to plan for building energy efficiency.

Solar Architect’s Energy Use Tools

I brought the video I made for NREL and played it in a loop on the photo frame.

Solar conference posters

I also brought along the signs from the solar house tour and several conference attendees took time to read some of them.

Signs from open house near poster

I enjoyed a day at the conference, attending sessions and viewing demonstrations. The solar cooker information was really inspiring. Organizations are working to bring low cost solar cookers to those who spend a good deal of the day collecting material for fires to cook with. Solar cookers cuts that time dramatically and gives women especially more time to apply their other skills. Of course there were fancier cookers available too. This was one of my favorites.

Fancy Solar Cooker

And the solar chef uses a concentrator to aim heat at a cast iron pan then removes it to cook on it. Kind of amazing to observe.

Solar Chef

There were three concentrators in all and three cooking stations.

Solar Cooker Concentrators

At one session I learned that there is a local company that sells solar hot tub covers. The collectors are passive and have some black and some reflective areas of the polycarbonate PV panel to prevent over heating. They use a small 12v fan to transfer heat from under the panels to the surface of the water in the tub. They advertise that they can save about half the heating costs for a hot tub depending on location and shading. I’m pursuing purchase of one of these covers.

Aztech Solar Hot Tub Cover

It was an exciting and interesting day and I met several people who were passionate about solar power, including a very nice young woman from South Korea working on a project to bring solar power to Jeju Island a resort area where my daughter in law’s sister lives. More power to them all!

Posted in Green Building Interests, LEED Project | Comments Off

Passive Solar Open House

Posted on October 15, 2017 by ellen

The Green Homes Solar Tour was a great success at my house anyway. We had many visitors though I did not count, nor did I take photos. One of our volunteer docents took this photo though!

Solar House Tour

It was fun to share the house and the LEED features with so many interested people. I was especially glad that Vera, the original home owner, and her friend Carol visited the house because Vera has not see the house for a couple of years. So much more is done. Carol was often in the house when their kids were growing up. So they have good memories that lend a happy ambiance to the house I think.

I had several signs that were posted all around the house to share the technologies we used. Also had samples of some of the materials used in the construction.

Utility room signs

It was fun to answer questions and explain some of the features of the house. When I was occupied some visitors could just wander around and read the signs. I had a whole wall dedicated to LEED including my checklist!

Signs on post in living room

Dave had a good time too explaining the greenhouses, the negarim soil mounds, his giant solar cooker and the slip form construction for the garden wall. Luckily it was a lovely day so people could walk around both inside and outside. I was losing my voice by the end of the day. Haven’t talked all day for quite some time. My biggest regret is not being able to see the other houses on the tour!

Posted in Green Building Interests, LEED Project, Solar | 1 Comment

Preparing for an NREL Lunch Talk

Posted on October 6, 2017 by ellen

Our house is going to be on the 2017 Denver Solar Home Tour on October 7th! I’m very excited about it because we have attended Solar Home tours in both Arizona and here. Having a home that can be included in one is a dream come true.

Metro Denver Home Tour

As part of the tour promotion I was invited to speak at NREL’s lunch series on October 3rd. So I have been preparing for both events. I have printed several signs with explanations of the various systems and technologies used in the home that I plan to post throughout the house for the tour. I will use them as notes for the presentation at NREL.
I made a slide show in Photos on my Mac and then exported that to iMovie to add an introduction and conclusion. I was able to also add a timeline as the events are displayed to help viewers visualize the time frame of the different stages of the construction. The result is about a 19 minute video slideshow with a timeline to show during the presentation.
The talk is about the major remodel stages since we found the property in foreclosure in 2011. The home was built in 1984 with the help of then current research at SERI. The Solar Energy Research Institute began in 1973 and opened in Golden Colorado in 1977. The institute was named the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in 1991. I’m speaking about the systems that were replaced or repaired to upgrade the home to LEED standards.
The presentation was a great deal of fun. There were several good questions about materials and methods used. I had a wonderful time. Dave came too and talked a bit afterward about his greenhouses and solar ovens.

NREL Presentation

The video was a quick look at the whole project. Quite a few topics were introduced in a short time.

Video on NREL Screen

I’ve printed out the LEED Operation and Training Manual as it is an important piece of documentation for the LEED requirements. It also addresses each of the systems of the home.

The exposure of the home to the public is also a LEED requirement. This will be a tour and another presentation that are documented as completed requirements.

Posted in Green Building Interests, LEED Project | 1 Comment

Problem with Hoppe Three Point Lock on ThermaTru Door

Posted on September 24, 2017 by ellen

One of the sets of french doors was stuck closed. It appeared that the three point lock was stuck at the top of the door keeping it from opening. I thought I was going to have to take the door pins out to remove the door and fix the lock. That did not turn out to be the case though.

Instead I searched for information and on a couple of building forums I found folks with similar problems. Although the lock itself could have been broken, and I took it apart to see if I could pull the shoot bolt down from inside the lock. Unlike the Pella locks, this one did not have a manual release for the shoot bolt. But it also appeared that the lock itself was not broken. The mechanism was turning and the shoot bolt was moving. Just not enough to open the door.

On closer inspection I noticed that the door jamb was sitting right on top of the door. Another installation problem I supposed. I also read that when drywall is connected to the jamb, cracking and pulling the jamb out of place can happen. It is considered a poor job. But the drywall was not connected to the jamb at all.

I ended up using long enough 2 x 2 and 1 x 2’s to lever up under the door jamb to release the retracted bolt end. Once the door was opened, I had some thoughts about how to keep the frame from descending onto the door.

I consulted some older photos of the construction and could see the gap between the frame and the header.

Door jamb header gap

I wanted to avoid extra nails or screws in the jamb so I just decided to take out the short screws in the metal guide for the shoot bolts and used longer screws to pull the jamb up into the header more tightly.

I also did the middle door but the end door did not have the same problem so I left it alone for now. Again the installation seems to be problematic. But luckily I have the time and inclination to figure out a fix for these issues so far.

Posted in Maintenance and Repair | Comments Off

Guests! An Ebay Scam and ERV Maintenance

Posted on September 24, 2017 by ellen

We have had the pleasure of several recent guests who have stayed in the new master bedroom and bath. The new curtains have made the space more private and it has proved to be great to have another bathroom with more people in the house. Everyone seems to enjoy the space and the fancy Haiku fan.

My granddaughter took the first bath in the new tub today. She loved it. It is pretty tall and big but she could handle it. I was impressed by how long the water in the tub stayed warm. I left the water in and only had to add a bit more hot to take a bath myself. It has been years since my last bath in the steam spa I installed in the Arizona house! It did not keep water warm like this tub does though. The water was still warm when I drained it.

Unfortunately the sprayer did not work. I may have installed the back flow preventer backwards! I’ll have to take it apart and figure that out. But the shelf came in handy. Not sure if I want to get a tub spanning shelf or build a little storage cabinet to hide shampoo and soap. Always looking for ideas.

First Bath in New Tub

Only small tasks have been accomplished in the last few weeks. Some have been just decorating, arranging, and making space for guest items. Plumbing connections have stayed tight, although the bed railing suffered a little bit from use and had to be reinforced with more nails from the nail gun.

I’ve cleaned up a few more of the track lights that were left hanging from the track during the drywall phase. It seems like so many of them that I just take them a few at a time. I have to take them down, clean the drywall paste and some paint off them and the bulbs, and then be sure they are dry to reassemble.

I was scammed on eBay. I should have known better. I was told the eBay payment did not go through and to cancel and pay another invoice. That happened once before because the user had changed email addresses but the second invoice was also eBay. This time I did not notice it was not through eBay and paid it. So the seller absconded with the money from both eBay and PayPal. I have been asking for a refund but neither company has returned an answer on my request. This is the first time in six years of using eBay regularly so I suppose I just got lax in my due diligence. I’m feeling stupid about it. UPDATE: PayPal honored their online purchase warranty and refunded the total that I paid for the Nest thermostat. So happy with buying with PayPal. I had a return they helped negotiate too and got a refund on that amount. I’m glad I used PayPal.

I was buying another Nest thermostat for the master bedroom. Somewhere I have a couple of expensive Honeywell thermostats but for the life of me I don’t know where. They would have been packed up for drywall and I can’t find them. So with buying the Haiku fan, I thought another Nest to help control the fan would be good. This is the third, so we are only using one of the original programmable Honeywell thermostats now. The Ebay price was good for a third generation thermostat but not great with the extra shipping charge. I wish I had gone for a few more dollars now with shipping included. Although I got a shipped email, it was not tracked and I waited the entire shipping estimate of time before becoming concerned. Then I got an email saying the seller had withdrawn the item and from Ebay. Oh oh. So I went though the eBay stuff about contacting the seller and then Ebay. The problem was that the seller showed my original purchase from eBay as refunded because they charged me directly through PayPal. Ebay says only to pay through them and this is why.

Having no response from the seller, I went to PayPal a few days later and registered there for recompense, but although the case was still pending after their 48 hour limit, eventually PayPal refunded the purchase. So disappointing but of course I am also at fault in this one since paying outside of Ebay is not permitted. I just did not notice.

At any rate I bought another Nest on Ebay and installed it today. I had a bit of trouble getting it to access the modem and had to restart the modem but it finally took. Then the family room thermostat seemed to go off the network and I had to restart it. I found out how by following the directions on the troubleshooting page that I was directed to from the application. It showed online at the thermostat but not in the application.

The weather here has gone from 80-90 degree days to the 40’s. We don’t need heat yet as the house has been staying at about 72 degrees. I also have the ventilation system running full time. I turned off the econocool mode which lets cooler air into the house at night.

I just changed the filters for the new season. The filters are pie shaped and ordered directly from the Ultimate Air company. The wheel that holds the filters does not have to be removed when they are changed. When the metal screens are out the wheel is accessible and I also washed the filter holder from each side with a bit of spray cleaner and a rag.

ERV Filter Pies

I wondered if I could wash and reuse the old filter material but it is not recommended. It seems like it would work because the material is quite sturdy. I would rinse out the black dirt and then machine wash and dry. I don’t want compromised filters in the system though. I read that they can be vacuumed but these were far too dirty to just vacuum dust out. I also washed out the dirt from the metal filters on each side. This is about the third or fourth time I have washed them. It is a pretty easy project.

Posted in Bathrooms, Diversions, Maintenance and Repair, Ventilation | Comments Off

Family Room Bathroom Vanity Sink

Posted on September 7, 2017 by ellen

It is a granite sink on a heavy and thick granite slab. I originally had the sink sitting on the logs of the vanity stand but with the addition of the slab I needed to figure out how to hold up the sink for the drain connections. I noticed sink rings as a plumbing supply for basin sinks that apparently do this, but a small ring would not work with a large rectangular sink. So I ordered a stainless steel tray in a brass color to set the sink upon.

I cut a hole in the tray and it lets the sink sit up about 3/4″ above the granite.

Tray To Cut Out

Tray Mount

I did not run across instructions to secure the sink to the vanity top after using a ring so I used a ring clamp on a rubber sleeve to keep the sink from lifting from the surface of the countertop.

Clamp to secure sink

With the sink installed I needed a box to mount the wall faucet. I saw the idea of building a box on another website. It was a bit difficult to figure out where to mount the faucet valve inside the box. I put in two cross pieces and then chose the lower one with the pipe about even with the valve. I realized that made the font too close to the sink. So I moved the valve up and changed the outlet pipe straight across from the faucet mixing pipe.

Three walls and a cover

Then I used the hand sander to sand all the surfaces with four different grid sandpapers. I applied two coats of Waterlox and let them dry and the box was fitted behind the sink.

Sanding and Waterlox

I want to use pine logs as trim in the house and I started with this box. The faucet is mounted at the right height over the sink. The valve is a little too low because it does not clear the sink rim but it can be shut off in either the hot or cold positions so I’m leaving it for now.

Wall faucet mounted in box behind sink

Posted in Bathrooms, Design Style, Plumbing | Comments Off

Another Leak Fixed

Posted on September 3, 2017 by ellen

The Victorian style sink I’m using in the master bathroom was in the shed when my daugher and her husband bought their new house. There were a pair of them. I told her I wanted them and they said sure. Even after storing outdoors for three years, I cleaned off the old caulk and the sink is in great condition. With the powder coated metal vanity, it is a Victorian/Industrial style. Eclectic!

Victorian sink

The bathroom sink faucet was purchased from eBay and either it was missing parts or I lost them. I didn’t have the below sink tightener and I had to improvise, although it is not tight enough and I ordered a Toto sink version that looks like the original and I should be able to tighten it completely.

I used an old bent up chrome supply trim and cut it to fit around the pipes with my Dremel tool and drilled a hole for the threaded rod. In order to get the fastener below the tight pipes, I used a section of drain pipe.

Improvised faucet fastener

The supply pipes are so close to the threaded rod that holds the faucet that while I was tightening the bolt, I was loosening the copper pipe. It was just enough to have it start leaking. Unfortunately, I thought the leak was at the shark bite connector. So after lots of hemming and hawing around at the hardware store, I brought home a compression fitting that I didn’t end up needing. But the discovery of the leak meant I had to take the whole faucet out to tighten the pipes to the faucet.

Source of the leak

The copper pipes have a threaded end and a small gasket to keep them from leaking. It is kind of nice because they could be replaced if they become too damaged. If I could find the parts. So the faucet leak was fixed and the faucet put back into place.

Faucet in place

I also removed the toilet AGAIN. Although the foam gasket allowed me to install and remove it several times, it also worried me that the flange was over a part of the drain area. If waste was restricted there it would be a mess to take care of later so I decided to cut a portion of the flange away to allow for a more open waste area.

Cut opening in toilet ring flange

Then one more time, I had to align the toilet over the bolts just right to set it. I fiddled with the bolts two or three times before I got it right. I also noticed that the bolts I used are kind of short and really are meant to be broken off. So there is a stripped area on the bolts that was keeping me from tightening the toilet. I struggled with that for awhile until I realized washers would move the nut up enough to use the normal threads. Sometimes it takes awhile to really see a problem that is occurring.

Final toilet install

So these two pieces are now ready for my sister’s visit this week! I wanted them done for visitors in late August but DIY often takes a longer time than planned.

Two piece bath ensemble

And thinking to figure out what I could use for storage underneath I checked out craigslist and found a brown former medical cart that I liked and took a ride over today to buy it. It just feels good to add this touch.

Storage cart under sink cabinet

Posted in Bathrooms, Design Style, Plumbing | Comments Off

Leak Central

Posted on August 30, 2017 by ellen

It seems like no matter what I’m installing in the master bath, I’m having an issue with leaks. I had to install an offset toilet drain because the original drain position did not account for the extra insulation we decided to use on the wall. I installed the toilet as usual but the wax ring didn’t cover the rim of the toilet flange well enough and the toilet leaked at the floor when it was flushed.

First install–leaked

I un-installed the toilet and had to clean off all the yucky wax from the ring. It didn’t look like it was on crooked but it was flatter on one side. So I decided to try a non-wax ring. The plumbing inspector had recommended them when he learned I had radiant heating pipes. Although hot water radiant does not get hot enough to melt wax, nevertheless, he gave me the idea. So I bought a foam rubber type of toilet ring. But I also tried a new type of bolts that really didn’t work for me so I took that toilet off and on the foam ring about three times.

Sani-seal waxless toilet gasket

The bolts were “zero cut” and I liked the flat bolt covers.

Zero cut toilet bolts

But I could not get them to tighten enough to hold down the toilet. They kept slipping and turning under the rim. I finally gave up and went back to old fashioned bolts.
I also had a difficult time finding the shorter bolts in the foam ring. They came with plastic locaters but I promptly broke one trying to locate it with the heavy toilet.

Multiple tries to set toilet on bolts

It was the Sani-Seal gasket that allowed me to place and lift the toilet multiple times. The gasket comes with a rubber “throat” that goes into the pipe. I hope since the pipe is offset, that the rubber flap won’t restrict the flush.

Foam and rubber toilet ring

After I switched back to the long bolts, I was able to tighten them and get the toilet re-installed without leaks.
Next try the sink. Hmmm.

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Master Bath Decorative Trim Tile

Posted on August 26, 2017 by ellen

I noticed these decorative tiles on Craigslist in early 2016 and they were reasonably priced leftovers. They were not far away and I bought them. I love these thick relief tiles with the western animal scenes and I had just enough from the purchase to trim over the tub and sink in the master bathroom. I paid $40 for them. Normally these tiles would cost at least $15 each.

Decorative Tiles

First I caulked behind and around the sides of the beam. There are two coats of Waterlox which turned the wood rather dark so it is a great contrast with the white tile.

Caulking the edges of the beam

I had to caulk the back of the beam because there was about a 1/4″ gap and I needed to have a surface to rest the tile on.

Full beam caulked for tile

The white tiles lined up to the exact width of the beam using 1/4″ tile spacers.

Decorative tile with spacers

The remaining three tiles also fit perfectly over the sink tile with two of the brown animal tiles. The third one unfortunately got a corner broken off, but it was not needed for the space. I used tile adhesive for the wall tiles, back buttering each tile, as it is easier to apply than mortar.

Gluing the sink tiles

The decorative tile over the sink with the five animal relief tiles are mounted with sideways 1/4″ spacers or about an 1/8″ space between the tiles.

Master bath sink tile

The next step will be applying the epoxy grout to this half of the bathroom. Then it will be ready for fixtures.

Posted in Bathrooms, Design Style, Tile | Comments Off