Twinsprings Research Institute

From Primer to Paint with Detour to Hospital

Posted on May 9, 2017 by ellen

I didn’t go to the hospital because of the painting, but because I developed scar tissue from the August surgery and had to be cut open again to alleviate a blockage in my intestine. Another Friday night emergency, although Dave could take me to the hospital. I actually went to the closer hospital but only their emergency department takes Kaiser so I had to transfer to Good Samaritan, the same hospital I was in for the surgery. In fact the same surgeon was on call and the pain meds worked so I was able to wait until Sunday morning for the surgery. Now I can’t do much for a month or so. Which is a another setback.

Hospital Info Board

Hospital Instrument Wall

But the painter finished while I was gone.The paint for the walls was the Sherwin Williams Whole Wheat color. I had the second 5 gallon of white eggshell tinted to match the first five gallons.

Light tan ceiling

But I thought the flat white can was flat white, but it was a light tan, that coordinated with the whole wheat. I had him use that where the ceiling did not need to be bright for the light shelves and Dave ran to Lowes to get the Valspar no VOC white satin paint for the rest of the ceilings.

White ceiling

I actually love the tan walls and light tan ceilings and we have enough paint to finish the old bathroom when it gets remodeled.

More white ceiling

Now the big job of cleaning up and bringing the furniture back in without me being able to help will be a challenge.

Posted in Design Style, Diversions | 1 Comment

From Drywall to Primer

Posted on May 5, 2017 by ellen

The drywall is finally done. I think Hector feels good about the job being done too. It was a long hard battle to get the drywall around all the odd shapes of our house. It took more sheets of drywall than estimated too as well as more joint compound to level. But it does look pretty darned good. We love all the angles of our house. It sure makes the acoustics nice for a home. Even with all the furniture out and all hard surfaces, it doesn’t echo in the house!

Kitchen Drywall before Texture

We used fans to speed up the dry time on the mud to be ready for the texture the next day.
Here is the small bathroom before texturing. After this photo we finally took out the toilet so that the wall behind could be textured and painted.

The bathroom has blueboard and Denshiled sheathing

The bathroom has blueboard and Denshield sheathing

The texture is sprayed on by another subcontractor. The compressor and pump were in the truck.

Texturing

Hector took these pictures for me because my camera was taped into our bedroom!

More Texture

After texture, Jose and Hector came back to sand what oversprayed on the flat ceiling. Whatever they used for texture it was pretty difficult to sand it off!

Jose Sanding

And Hector did lots of this sanding from those amazing drywall stilts.

Hector on Stilts

Finally the painter arrived today and spent the first few hours caulking. Then he started spraying the primer. I just noticed the utility room was not primed, but looks like everything else was done.
I thought his pump setup was kind of neat. It is different from paint pumps I have seen in the big box store.

Painter’s Paint Pump

And Ignatio used almost 15 gallons of primer today. Luckily he has some left for the utility room!

Spraying Primer

Tomorrow he will start the ceilings with flat white. I have five gallons of paint for the ceiling and 10 for the walls. Hope it is enough.

Posted in Construction, Design Style | Comments Off

Safety for the Birdies

Posted on May 1, 2017 by ellen

Covering the chimney opening with barrier wire has been on the to do list for some time. Luckily some square wire mesh was accessible in the full garage so I cut some and installed it on the chimney.
Every spring a bird has flown into the chimney and gotten disoriented enough to die in the stove. It is gross and makes us feel bad as we never noticed the frantic scrambling to escape.
So this mesh cover should eliminate the problem.

Steel mesh cover on chimney

I used caps from the insulation cap nails to capture the wire mesh with self drilling screws. Not the prettiest job but it should last a few seasons at least.

Installing the steel mesh

Posted in Fireplace Boiler, Maintenance and Repair | Comments Off

A Week’s Worth of Drywalling

Posted on April 30, 2017 by ellen

Kitchen Half Wall to Family Room

Our drywall contractor had a problem with his subcontractors. Basically, they didn’t show on the date he set for the job. They probably would have showed eventually, they did send two guys for a short time at the end of the first day, but then nobody the second day when they promised to come. We were so disappointed, another subcontractor was contacted to help fill the gap.

The new crew agreed to stop work elsewhere and come and hang drywall for one work day. But they didn’t get to the site until about 10 a.m. and although they were fast, they didn’t complete the job. So our contractor and a helper are finishing hanging as well as mudding and taping. That just means it is taking longer than we figured, but there is nothing so far on our house that has NOT taken longer than we figured!

It is amazing how different the house looks with drywall installed! This is the kitchen area. Of course it looks different with all the cabinets and appliances removed too.

Kitchen with Utility Room Door

The dining room ceiling and the entry to the air lock with the garage door in the background has one coat of mud. The family room is on the right.

Dining Room to Air Lock Entry

Looking the other way toward the living room from the family room door.

Dining and Solar Hallway

Here’s the solar hallway french doors and the living room clerestory plus the light shelves/ventilation shaft.

Living Room Clerestory

The upper corner of the family room clerestory with the ventilation shaft/light shelf where the garage attic access was covered.

Clerestory Window in Family Room

And the peaked entry to the back hallway that hides the radon pipe with the ventilation shaft and the master bedroom on the right side.

Hallway and Radon Shaft

This area is not yet taped. The bathrooms need a bit more drywall and denshield hung and there are a few other odds and ends–the utility room, the pantry and vacuum closet in the family room, and more coats of mud on most areas. We think it will be finished this week and the painter will come next week. Drywall is a big step towards finishing the remodel.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope | Comments Off

Drywall Prep: Empty House and Beginning Drywall

Posted on April 24, 2017 by ellen

It makes the house look big to have it completely empty with no drywall to separate the rooms. My friend sent me a panorama shot and I thought it would be a good technique to capture the feeling of the almost empty house.

Empty House Panorama

Panorama from Living Room

Panorama from Master Bedroom

Drywall barely got started today. The sub contracted drywall hangers that were supposed to make the job go more quickly did not show up. So most of the day our contractor worked alone and did a great job on some of the tricky areas.

Shower Denshield

Wainscot in closet

Two guys showed up for about 30 minutes and didn’t follow directions and slit the membrane where it was too tight without telling me! I was able to tape it again and add a piece to stretch it to fit better, but not a good sign. Hope they don’t mess it up too badly.

They put up about three sheets of drywall and then left and Hector finished the front entry.

Entry Drywall from Kitchen

Front Entry Drywall

The crew and their boss are supposed to show up tomorrow at seven. Hopefully they won’t disappoint Hector and us again!

Posted in Construction | Comments Off

A Hole for the Minisplit AC Lines

Posted on April 23, 2017 by ellen

Used Mini Split System Frigidaire

I bought a used minisplit air conditioner for the compressor, thinking it would chill water for the radiant cooling system. But I have decided after lots of experiments with radiant cooling to just install it as an air conditioner this year. It is only a 9000 btu cooler but mini splits have the ability to modulate cooling so 9000 can cool up to 12000 btu or one ton and can scale down to about 30% of capacity (about 2700 btu) if less cooling is needed.

It is a Frigidaire 115 volt unit and the electricians installed an outside electrical box for it last fall.

Frigidaire Mini Split

The minisplit is plumbed with two refrigerant lines and a drainage pipe as well as the electric cord that goes through the same hole in the wall between the inside and outside units.

Access to the area where the minisplit air conditioner lines have to exit the house will be restricted after the drywall is installed. So one extra item on the list of prep tasks was to drill the hole in the rear wall for a pipe to accept these lines.

Drilling the hole was more difficult that I imagined. I knew the electrician had difficulty drilling through the same wall so didn’t expect it to be easy. He only had to drill a 1″ hole and I have to drill a 2″ hole. Actually 2 1/8″ for the pipe. I have been drilling almost all day first from one side and then from the other, hoping the holes would line up. But they do not seem to be meeting and I’m out of drill bit length on both sides.

Outside Hole

Outside Hole Interior

Inside Hole

I read about drilling deep holes on the internet and found that there are drill bit extensions for hole saws so I bought the Milwaukee 12″ extension which worked great and I was able to line up the two holes.

Milwaukee 12″ bit Extension

I put a left over vacuum pipe in the hole and screwed it in on one side so it is stable. I just have to fill the surrounding area with foam spray and seal it up with membrane and tape again.

Posted in Mini Split Air Conditioner, Tools | Comments Off

Fixing the ERV

Posted on April 23, 2017 by ellen

I broke the ERV by trying to install an automated control system with the Nest to the Boost control and with Lutron devices to the 0-10 variable control system. The support for the Recouperator was very helpful and sent a new fuse and transformer.

ERV Boost Wiring

Luckily the new transformer and fuse fixed the ventilation system. I brought it all back to factory settings to be sure I was not breaking it again and will start again with connectivity.

I had the Nest connected to the ERV boost by wiring a direct wire from the Nest to the ERV. There are two wires, red and white. But the ERV connections are Boost, Line, and Rtn. Which is think is return or negative. The ERV uses 24 volt AC same as the Nest common and I had the Nest wired white to common and red to G Fan. At least I think I did. I was uncertain of the wiring I used that allowed the Nest to control the ERV!

Recouperator Boost Wiring to NEST

If I connected the Nest common wire to the ERV 24 volt line, then it may have been sending 24 volt from the ERV to the Nest. Probably not a good idea to double the positive inputs to the Nest. If I connected the white wire from the common to the Rtn. Then there would be no connection from the ERV’s 24 volt power which is necessary for the boost to run according to support. So my guess is I used common which allowed the Nest to act as a switch which is what I wanted. BUT support also said that doubling that common wire at the Nest could have caused the issues with the ERV transformer.

There is another option to connect the HVAC system to run the ERV with a furnace blower. Since I have a radiant system that does not use a blower, the furnace control that is typically connected to G on the Nest thermostat, I connected the G and Common wires to the ERV.

ERV Forced Air Connection

Unfortunately, I removed the wrong jumpers and blew the fuse again! I removed JC #6 and 7 when I was supposed to remove #2 and 3. I didn’t see the smaller jumpers and removed the two I saw. So easy to make a mistake when you are unfamiliar with the circuit board.

The air handler/blower connection allows the ERV to run at less that full speed-t0 whatever is set by the variable control that came with the unit. Or with a setting that is controlled by the 0-10 vdc input. Boost runs at full speed only.

I found a way to hook up the Nest to Boost at the same time as the blower connection. There are instructions on the Nest pro installers guide for hooking up a two wire humidifier. The star connection is for a humidifier but I can use the same type of relay to connect to the G fan connection with two wires that come from the ERV. That means I can use a variable speed blower input with one Nest and wire the family room Nest to turn on Boost speed. I also want to have a humidstat in the guest bathroom to turn on Boost when the bathroom is fogged up.

Nest to Humidifier Connection

Here is an explanation of how it was set up by another user at Wrightfuly.com And there is a good explanation about how this works on that site.

Nest with Relay

I ordered more fuses–two packages of the 1/4 amp glass slow blow type and the new fuse fixed the ERV again. Now I have enough to make more mistakes. I also received the relay for the boost control to the Nest and I bought the humidistat for the bathroom. But the completion of the controls will have to wait until after the drywall job.

Posted in Maintenance and Repair, Ventilation | Comments Off

Drywall Prep: Moving Stuff

Posted on April 22, 2017 by ellen

Tools, furniture, kitchen–moving it all out to the garage, which is of course not large enough so quickly ordered two storage units from MyWay to hold more stuff!

MyWay Delivery

We packed the garage as tight as we could.

Pile o’Chairs

And all the pillows from the couches and chairs (as well as the guest bed) were put in the sleeping loft in the guest bedroom!

Pile o’Pillows

The house is definitely starting to look empty.

Master Bedroom Cleared

Family Room Cleared

There were so many unorganized tools to put away! Some just got put in boxes to organize “later”!

Table o’Tools

We have one more day to finish a long list of to do’s before the drywall hangers arrive on Monday morning. We may need a bit o’luck.

Posted in Construction, Planning | Comments Off

More Drywall Prep Items

Posted on April 19, 2017 by ellen

As we worked to prep for drywall several other items were added to our list. Little stuff that had to be done before the walls were no longer accessible or where we needed a wall we had not yet built!

1. Box in the ERV air returns.

Family Room Air Return

Kitchen Air Return

2. Frame for a transom window in the bathroom

Framing transom window

3. Bring in some corian to test for the top of the light shelf–ventilation shaft.

Corian for light shelf

4. Add ERV control wires to family room Nest and for bathroom humidistat.

Wire for humidistat

Wire to Nest

Wire at Nest

5. Move switch for bathroom lights to inside of bathroom.

Bathroom lightswitch

6. Add elbow to family room ventilation outlet–the elbow didn’t fit so I finished the vent with a metal ring clamp and tape.

Family Room Vent

7. Add partial elbow to kitchen ventilation outlet.

Kitchen Vent with extension

8. Build closet wall to divide family room and entry closets.

Dividing Closet Wall

9. Set up back bedroom for temporary living

Back bedroom eating area

Back bedroom sitting area

10. Hook up garage sink for doing dishes during construction.
I had the spigots in place and I had the connecting hoses so I thought this one would be easy. No way, I had to shim the sink up a bit to reach the drain pipe and had trouble getting the hoses attached to the old faucet. But then when I was so close, the water and drain were hooked up, I found that the faucet was broken.

Garage Laundry Faucet

I thought I had a faucet to replace it with but I needed the laundry sink type and the faucet I had was a bathroom sink type which also had a crimped copper line. So I’m waiting for a new faucet on order to finish this job.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off

Boxing in the Radon Vent

Posted on April 18, 2017 by ellen

Another pre-drywall project that I forgot to list was to box in the radon vent that entered the attic shelf over the storage closet.
The vent has a slant to it that meant the lower part was uneven with the cross piece.

Stanted Radon Vent Pipe

A large area of the pipe protruded from the ceiling and I needed to figure out how to disguise it under drywall.

Radon pipe to box in

I decided to put in a peak at the hallway entrance to add drama and to help draw the eye away from the boxed in radon pipe. On the left the radon pipe is boxed in with one and two by lumber. Old pieces were used whenever possible.

Peaked hallway entrance

Originally I thought I might do a double peak with the left side being wood and the right metal to meet up with the metal studs.

Double peak

I thought that it might be easier to drywall that way but then after thinking about it, I changed my mind and took down the metal side and cut back the wood side. The final plan was to have another cross piece in the peak that would meet the 2 x 4 across the rear for the “ceiling” of the peak. The rear 2×4 needed to be shimmed down a bit to allow for the full slant of the pipe. And the cross piece is squared to that rear piece.

Cross piece installed

The final boxing in includes nailers for the drywall on all surfaces. The shelf area over the closet has nailers for a drywall panel in front of the randon pipe. Plus metal studs were used to fill in around the vacuum pipe in the side wall over the master bedroom door. The metal studs allow the header for the door to meet up with the light shelf/ductwork above. There will be a lot of cutting and fitting in this area but I think I have the boxing figured out.

Peak with new metal studs on right

Posted in Construction, Radon Mitigation | Comments Off

Drywall Prep: Membrane Installed

Posted on April 14, 2017 by ellen

The membrane on the rest of the walls has been installed, the seams taped, and the edges caulked to the studs.
The caulk is super rubbery and stays flexible. It is recommended for the edges of the membrane. I put it all around the ceiling membrane and used it for some corners and around doors. It requires about a 1/3″ bead that is then flattened behind the membrane edge leaving a continuous seal.

Siga Primur Caulk

Even though the whole north wall is stucco and buried, and the south wall is mostly block and windows, there was still a lot of membrane to install. I completely used the 9 foot roll that I ordered and there is only a partial roll of the two 5’8″ wide rolls left. I eventually used all the caulk and Todd Collins of A&E Building Systems dropped by to bring me a last roll of tape and a humidistat for the guest bathroom to control the ERV. My estimate for the Siga membrane materials was very reasonable. Always good to see that.

The west wall is tall and slopes to the buried north wall. There is one window in the family room that faces west. The membrane was overlapped, taped with Sicrall, and sealed with Primur.

Partial Stud Wall

Upper Family Room Wall

The airlock entry has a door to the outside, one to the garage and one to the rest of the house. The garage door had the membrane sealed at the edges and taped elsewhere and so did the entry door.

Airlock Entry Door to Garage

There were penetrations for the plumbing and electrical in this wall that had to be taped around.

Plumbing for Garage Sink

I did not finish the membrane in the family room skylight. Had to stop to do some research about the broken handle on the skylight. When I took off the extra membrane over the skylight, there was a lot of dust in the covering and even a wasp was buzzing around the space. I can see clear to the sky on one side of the window and the latch is broken. Probably keeping the window from sealing tightly.

Time to research fixing the skylight.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope | Comments Off

Drywall Prep: Ensure Denshield in Bathrooms

Posted on April 12, 2017 by ellen

I signed the drywall contract and the work is to begin April 24th. Included in the contract is Denshield in the bathrooms. We decided to have the walls match the existing knockdown texture but have the ceilings be smooth which added to the cost. But we think it will be worth it to have the smooth ceilings especially for the light shelves.

The company is Unique Drywall of Aurora. I tried a couple of other contractors but either they could not do the job until June and cost more or I didn’t get a final estimate. I saw the truck for this business in my mom’s neighborhood at a similar type of house and it turned out to be the best contact I made.

Unique Drywall

Hector is thinking about ending his website because he said he has not gotten ONE referral from it. Instead his referrals are all word of mouth. So I copied the info from his website to have it here.

Posted in Construction, LEED Project | Comments Off

Drywall Prep: Install the nailers for drywall.

Posted on April 12, 2017 by ellen

These are all finished now. Unless the drywallers find they need another one somewhere.

Hallway Nailers

There are some tricky areas where the house orientation changes direction to catch the sun. The rafters come together at an angle and the nailers had to follow that angle and remain about 24″ apart to screw in the drywall.

Room Angle Change

In the master bedroom the house again changes orientation this time to the west. So the rafters are also at an angle and the nailers had to make up this difference.

Another tricky area

In the front hall and family room closets, the temporary membrane holding board was just left there in the middle and the two nailers installed on either side.

Leaving the temporary board

There may be a nailer or two to finish in the utility room but essentially this step is completed.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope | Comments Off

Drywall Prep: Reinforce Ventilation Shaft with Corner Braces

Posted on April 11, 2017 by ellen

The ventilation shaft is constructed of metal studs. It is long and hangs from only one side. The idea is that the drywall will reinforce the structure and keep it from sagging. Right now it flexes when pulled down.

Our friend Mike suggested we use corner shelf brackets to reinforce the shaft. It is an inexpensive idea and will not be visible from the outside after the drywall is installed. So I ordered shelf brackets from ebay for about $1 each and I’m installing them inside the ventilation shaft.

Shelf bracket to support shaft

I’m placing these every two or three feet along the shaft. They are reasonably easy to install. Either screwed into the rear metal stud or into the roof framing. When in the roof framing I have to drill new holes in the bracket a bit below the existing holes in order to hit the wooden cross beam.

With the braces in place the shaft still flexes a little but not nearly as much as it did.

The long shaft in the living room measures about 30 ft. and some of the metal studs are 24″ OC and some under the windows are 16″ OC. The shorter shaft is in the family room and it is about 15′ long. It is all 16″ OC. so it flexes less. I’m temped to skip the braces on this side. I can always use them for shelves later. I’m just worried we won’t get everything done by drywall day!

Posted in Construction, Ventilation | Comments Off

Drywall Prep: Install Membrane Progress

Posted on April 8, 2017 by ellen

We are making good progress on the membrane installation. The first area was to finish the wiring chase with insulation, polyiso and then the membrane seen installed here.

Wiring Chase Membrane

The wiring chase included some tricky areas around the radon pipe where the ceiling height changes.

Ceiling Membrane around Radon Pipe

Second was to work on the master bedroom which was finished a couple of days ago. Then I moved on to the master bedroom door, the patio doors and the south facing corners of the house.

South Dining/Kitchen Corner

South Patio Doors Membrane

The last project of the day was to install the membrane around the front door at the air lock entry.

Front Door Entrance

There are two large areas left: The west wall of the entry at the garage, and the west wall of the family room. Then I can work on boxing in the radon pipe at the stairs and finishing the membrane in the upper storage closet.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope | Comments Off

Connecting the Ventilation Fans

Posted on April 7, 2017 by ellen

The ventilation fan connections also had to be done before the drywall can be installed. We have to ventilate the crawlspace to meet the requirements of a conditioned crawlspace. This can be done by placing a heating vent into the space or in our case by sucking heated and cooled air from the house through the crawlspace. Luckily the cubic feet per minute requirements are low. Just one cfm per 50 square feet of space. We have about 500 square feet of crawlspace so we have a 10 cfm ventilation fan that I installed in the master bedroom closet into the crawlspace below the hall.
The code requires the continuous vapor barrier as I installed and also a few options for conditioning the space. I am used the second one.

2004 Supplement To The IRC
IRC, Section R408.3, Unvented Crawl Space
b. Conditioned air supply sized to deliver at a rate equal to 1 cfm (0.47 L/s) for each 50 ft2 (4.7 m2) of under-floor area, including a return air pathway to the common area (such as a duct or transfer grille), and perimeter walls insulated in accordance with Section N1102.2.8,

Ducting for Crawlspace Ventilation Fan

The duct work attaches to the fan which ventilates to the hallway just behind the back door.

Closed Duct Outlet in Hall

It is unobtrusive either open or closed.

Open Crawlspace Ventilation Fan

There will be a cold air return vent near the stairs to allow the ventilation air to pull conditioned air into the crawlspace and vent it here at the rear of the hallway near the back door.

Inside the crawlspace the fan ductwork is capped by a plastic hood that draws in the air.

Hood for Fan inside Crawlspace

Unfortunately the fan is made for a 6″ to 8″ wall going straight through. I will have to box in the duct work but that is not such a problem since it will make it accessible in the future.

Duct for Ventilation Fan

I also had to connect the bathroom shower fan’s duct. I had installed the fan and the duct through the wall several months ago but the duct was not connected. Now it is.

Bathroom Shower Fan Duct

These were just two projects from the long list of items that need to be completed before drywall is installed.

Posted in Ventilation | Comments Off

Drywall Prep: Decide About and Alter Master Bathroom Wall

Posted on April 3, 2017 by ellen

Seems like it shouldn’t take two days to complete the wall in the master bathroom and closet but it did. First I put up the membrane in the closet area as the bathroom was done already. The 50 amp wire for the spa goes through these two areas and it had to be protected from drywall screws so I cut leftover metal studs to create a channel for the wire. The drywallers just have to remember to screw only into the top of the metal stud and not into the lower part possibly nicking the wire. The position of the wire can be seen through the stud openings too.

Metal stud for wire chase

Then I had to decide how to build out the wall that will be over the vanity and that holds both the plumbing and the electrical boxes for the sconces so that the outer wall is not breached.

Spacing for sconce lights

The original spacing for the left electrical box was too close to the shower wall so I moved it over a bit. Also added a second 2 x 2 in front of the first spaced out with 1/2″ plywood to make a 3 1/2″ deep area so the drain pipe fits inside the wall.

Build out for plumbing

I had to add cross pieces to the bump out to have enough nailers for drywall. The 3 1/2″ depth allowed enough space to reuse more 2 x 4’s for the nailers.
I decided to create a space that would hold a reused oak medicine cabinet from the original house for over the sink. I will have them just drywall this area and cut out for the medicine cabinet later.

Space for medicine chest

While I was working on this I remembered that I had originally planned to replace the outside spigot on this side of the house. I already had the spigot and just had to drill through the wall and cut into the pex to add a sharkbite tee fitting that I also already had.

Tee fitting for outside spigot

I tried to drill through the stucco from inside but the drill bit was making no progress so finally I just used a huge nail left over from holding down the waffleboxes and punched the hole in the outside wall with a 5 lb hammer and that nail. It worked like a charm. And then I was able to drill the 1″ hole from the outside to open it for the spigot.
In order to have the tee fitting inside the concealed plumbing area, I had to push the spigot out further than the outside wall. The freeze proof pipe for the spigot had to be as long as it was (9 1/2″) for me to add the connections on the inside but then it was too long to hide the pex connections inside. So I decided to just protect the outside with a piece of leftover vacuum plastic pipe and a rubber pipe end that I had laying around.
I stuffed the opening with the intruder stainless steel mesh to keep out mice and then I caulked the opening. Then I added the white pipe and the black end, taped them underneath and caulked it to the wall. I didn’t screw the spigot into the wall yet. Since the pipe inside is stabilized, it may not need the outside screws.
The next day I had to take it all apart and fix a leak between the spigot and the sharkbite fitting. I had not tighted the two enough in the wall. So I tightened them outside the wall and pushed the whole thing through to connect again on the inside. Then of course redid the stainless mesh, the white pipe and the black end. I waited to see if the leak was fixed before I re-caulked the spigot.

This area would be finished if I didn’t also remember that I have to install the low speed ventilation fan that will pull house air through the crawlspace to help it stay conditioned. Another project that was not on the preparation list but must be done before drywall.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Plumbing | Comments Off

Broken Ventilation System!

Posted on April 3, 2017 by ellen

Amazing isn’t it? I can’t be satisfied with the existing system, I had to try to control it automatically. That would be OK if not for the problems I cause.

The first project was just to connect the system to its boost control with the NEST thermostat. Boost runs the system at full speed and is usually controlled by a humistat or CO2 sensor. With the NEST connection I can set up a schedule throughout the day to run continuously or for a certain number of minutes per hour.

Recouperator Boost Wiring to NEST

I reused the old two wire thermostat wire and ran it from the Recouperator to the NEST in the living room. I wired the Boost to the NEST Common and to G to the fan control. Unfortunately it is not yet possible to just turn on the fan by asking Alexa although the temperature can be set.

I explained the control made possible by the Foobot air quality monitor. The Foobot can use IFTTT to have the NEST turn on the fan for a preset number of minutes. I have the NEST set to 30 minutes. Of course if air quality is lower than ideal, the Foobot will send the signal constantly until air quality improves so the 30 minutes is reset without manual intervention.

The system is designed to also be controlled by a 0-10v signal from a home automation system. This would allow use of the variable flow other than through the manual dial that comes with the system.

Unfortunately I did not understand the difference between an analog 0-10v system and an electronic PWM or MLV 0-10v signal type. Pulse width modulation PWM is often used with LED lights. Instead of sending a straight voltage to the lights, the PWM sends a variable voltage that makes incandescent lights flicker but somehow works better with LED. The MLV signal is used with florescent ballasts for large lighting systems especially.

My first experiment was to purchase an inexpensive PWM LED driver. It takes analog voltage input and converts it to PWM. Of course when I purchased it I did not realize it needed analog and output PWM. Actually the opposite of what I needed. That is because I should have known LED usually uses PWM output. Also notice that this controller requires 24v direct current while the Recouperator has 24v alternating current at the auxiliary outputs. That was a distinction I had failed to make. I could use a 24v plug in transformer to control the LED driver but the output doesn’t match what the control on the Recouperator needs.

LED Dimmer 0-10 volt

I needed to find a variable control that outputs 0-10v and can be managed through an internet interface. Lutron makes several variable controls for various types of lighting and fans.

Lutron Lighting Load Interfaces

From this list only the Caseta Wireless operates with the Lutron Connected Home system that uses a smartphone to set the signal and dim lights or control a motor. The Caseta comes both in an electronic low voltage version (ELV) and 120 volt AC. Although the ELV is new and I didn’t see it on their documentation.

Lutron Caseta Load Types

Several of the Lutron switches can create a 0-10 VDC signal. But they require a TVI which is a 0-10VDC interface also made by Lutron. I purchased I purchased the PRO 120 VAC version of the Caseta Wireless switch and the TVI that was recommended in the charts, the Grafix-TVI, but later found out it puts out magnetic low voltage 0-10v which the system cannot use either.

Unfortunately I can find no way to translate an electronic low voltage (ELV is AC or DC) or magnetic low voltage to analog DC voltage. That doesn’t mean I didn’t try.

The MLV transformer the Grafix-TVI puts out 0-10vdc with no load but when I attached it to the analog 0-10 the signal dropped to 2.34v. The Grafix can’t take the 0-10 load from the ERV. There is also sink and source sides for 0-10v. The Grafix-TVI is a sink device which means the ERV needs to have a source control. I don’t know what the ERV is but I think I can assume it is also a sink control.

I also have a small circuit board that will translate PWM into analog 0-10v but that would require a driver that puts out 0-10v PWM signal.

Sometime during my tests, although I always had the ERV off during connections, one of them was not right enough to blow the internal 120 to 24 VAC transformer. At least I’m not getting the 24v power through the transformer now. So I’m getting a new part and hopefully that will fix the problem.

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Drywall Prep: Insulate with Polyiso around Doors

Posted on March 20, 2017 by ellen

We are cutting and fitting the polyiso left over from the wiring chase around the door areas to use up smaller pieces.

Cut and Fit Polyiso

By using the polyiso so sparingly we can keep more of it tacked up as temporary bathroom walls.

More Cut and Fit

The wiring chase is not finished but progress is being made.

Another large area that needed polyiso insulation to seal it was the opening to the attic for wiring. I had to spray foam into the wiring holes and a bit into a crack between the attic and the entry area to the wiring chase first. Then I cut a piece of 1″ foil covered polyiso to fit the opening. I used some leftover telephone wire to hold the foam against the opening and stapled it to the 2 x 4’s.

Wire Stapled to 2 x 4

I had to cut a hole for the vacuum piping and then seal it all with spray foam. The spray foam was a bit awkward and the job was rather messy. I got spray foam all over my hands and some on my arms! But I have some cleaner that helped remove most of the stray foam from my body. I’ll have to trim extra stuff on the wall with a razor knife.

Spray foam sealing job

If we have enough 1 1/2″ polyiso I may fit a piece between the 2 x 4’s in front of the foil covered piece. After the polyiso is finished we can move on to installing the Siga membrane.

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Drywall Prep: Insulate the Plumbing in the Walls

Posted on March 19, 2017 by ellen

Insulation on Family Room Bathroom Hot Water Line

I almost forgot to insulate all the hot water lines in the walls. LEED requires at least R4 pipe insulation but I was able to order more R7 insulation from Supply House.
We were out of town for our Mom’s birthday and stuck in New York a few extra days because of a snow storm. I ordered the insulation to arrive just after we got home, but it got here before we did.

New York Snow Piles

The hot water line is in a loop and so when the water is turned on it rises above the floor to the point of use and then returns under the slab to the next point. All of these risers needed to be insulated.

Insulated hot return

Now these returns are well insulated. So are the hot water pipes to the faucets in the house.

Insulated Master Bath

The only spot that I didn’t insulate was in the Family Room Bath’s shower wall. The stringer there is not deep enough for the 1″ insulation on the way to the shower and hand spray. I either have to double the width of the stringers or use a shallower insulation.

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