Twinsprings Research Institute

LEED Rough Inspection

Posted on May 18, 2016 by ellen

I have been emailing my new project person from Energy Logic for over a year and he has been very helpful, but now I needed to have the rough insulation inspection before we covered more of our Roxul rock wool install with the interior air barrier and drywall. I also really wanted him to see the project so we could discuss the details better.

I was able to show him around the house, pointing out the various construction details and the radiant heating system. He seemed interested in some of the details and I sent him the documentation for the wafflemat system and landscape plan with irrigation that I told him we probably would not install. Instead we are using drought tolerant grasses and plants and using hand watering in the garden and greenhouse.

It turned out that he also asked to go over the LEED checklist with me and it appears that I had the durability checklist filled out incorrectly and I have overlooked the requirements for initialed accountability forms for the various stages of the project. I will have to go back and get some signatures from the architect and the wafflemat engineer and should get a signature from the landscape planner but unfortunately I believe the company has gone out of business or changed hands.

I was able to redo the durability strategies to itemize 18 that were NOT part of the LEED requirements or point items. That was a little difficult but I think I have the list made. Now I just have to document each item.

Durability Strategies by Issue Type

Exterior Water / Moisture
1. Slab replacement with moisture control system–WaffleMat
2. Exterior rain screen under siding
3. Siga Moisture Air barrier on exterior
4. Fiberglass edging installed over exterior insulation
Interior Water / Moisture
5. Rebuild exterior window access retaining walls
6. High R value windows and doors keep condensation outdoors
Air Infiltration
7. Multiple air barrier layers in ceiling–polyiso sealed, Siga air barrier, drywall
8. Polyiso barrier over original construction where there are multiple 2 x 4’s
Interstitial Condensation
9. Siga Moisture permeable air barrier allows moisture to escape from insulated ceiling
10. Rainscreen layer under siding allows moisture to escape from exterior walls.
Pests
11. Stainless steel mesh insect barriers at top and bottom of siding and around all exterior pipes
12. Caulking around doors and windows
13. Air lock entry separating garage and front door from interior
Heat Loss
14. Concrete slab edge insulated on both interior and exterior
Ultraviolet Radiation
15. Light shelves in clerestory
Natural Disasters
16. Earth berm protection against tornadoes and blizzards
17. Post and beam construction protection against earthquakes
18. Non-vegetated barrier around home protection against wildfires

I also had double credited some LEED items where if there were points in one area, then points in another could not be taken but I had tried! So my point total without innovation points fell below the required points for LEED platinum by 2 points. Adam said he would review the project and hopefully I can regain two points elsewhere.

The insulation so far passed the requirements for a quality installation at the rough inspection. Adam sent me a detailed list of accountability forms that have to be signed and documentation that has to be provided for each area. I’m excited to get started putting the documentation in the correct order and moving forward with this remodel as an official LEED project.

Posted in Inspections, LEED Project, Planning, Project Team | Comments Off

Big Snakes…

Posted on May 16, 2016 by ellen

These two guys were in our front yard near the deck. I did some research and they are bull snakes that can imitate rattlers. That is supposed to be a defense but people often kill them for the imitation not realizing they are harmless. They come out of hibernation in the spring ready to mate and have young. The males do this twisty thing trying to keep their head on top to subdue their rivals. The winner gets the female. These snakes kill their prey by asphyxiation. I’m thinking they are here to help control our rabbit population.

Two Large Bull Snakes

This is another photo. I also saw one of the snakes by the woodpile and the next day two of them duking it out back by the new shed. Maybe these same two? So they are active this time of year.

Bull (AKA Gopher) Snakes

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Storage!

Posted on May 14, 2016 by ellen

We are drowning in building supplies that are not being used right now or were extra from earlier projects. One large item is extra rock wool insulation that I over ordered for the house. We have seven full bolts of 24″ and a few 16″. I was able to fit the 16″ in the garage attic but I had “rented” the playhouse that Dave built for the grandkids for winter storage of the 24″ roxul. They only rented it to me for the winter and said I had to pay again in spring/summer so I wanted to get that roxul out of there!
I have been looking for a shed on Craigslist for some time. They were either too expensive or too small, or in bad shape, so when I saw a construction shed for sale for only $200 I thought it would be exactly what I needed. The construction site is wrapping up and the crew wanted to sell the shed basically for the materials that were in it. I thought $200 was a very reasonable price for the building.
I was able to use the trailer that we bought last year to move the spa to pick up the shed. The workers placed it on the trailer with a huge forklift and helped me secure it to the trailer.

Construction Shed

I had to drive it home about 25 miles and used only side streets. I felt like I had a very interesting RV in tow!

Shed in Place next to Playhouse

The trailer is a tilt type and when I got it home Dave helped pry it off the trailer onto some concrete blocks from our demolished slab. We leveled it and swept it out.
The next day we moved the extra 2 panels of chipboard and pieces of short 2 x 6 they threw in for shelving and repairs, and all the roxul into the new shed. I will be moving various pieces of wood and other materials into the shed to get them out of our way.

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Attic platform

Posted on May 14, 2016 by ellen

I finished building the attic platform over the guest bathroom and pantry. This area is going to hold the ventilation system and also encloses the plumbing vent on this side of the house.

Wall Remodel Drawing Plan Rotated 03_14_16

Wall Remodel Drawing Plan Shows Triangle Bath and Pantry at Right

We have the walls up around the air lock entry, the closets and the Master bath and closet. Building the platform allows us to finish the wall between the bathroom and the kitchen and the one between the bathroom and the family room. Along with the utility room, those are all the new walls.

Attic deck

I had to buy a couple of 2×6’s to finish the deck. For some reason we are missing the 2×6’s from our tear down. I only had a couple and one that I used for the deck was really warped, but I used it anyway.

Blocking for warped 2×6 on Left

The plywood was from a Craigslist buy but I still have a lot of wood from that purchase including an extra 2×6.

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Wabi-sabi Garden Gate

Posted on April 26, 2016 by ellen

I often have the pleasure of meeting someone special while purchasing Craigslist items. Some folks are all business, which is fine, some are cautious, which makes sense, and some are very friendly and sharing. I have to say that connecting with people from Craigslist finds has been a positive experience. Now if I think I need something for the house, I start shopping on Craigslist to see what I can fit into the overall plan or flow of the house. And I find gems in the people as well as the items.

This weekend I picked up a garden gate with an arch for $100. I thought that was a reasonable price. One of the interesting things about items on Craigslist is that some items are highly priced and some reasonably. I will ask for a reduction if I see a lot of the same type of thing listed for less, and the seller usually expects that and reduces a price a bit. But if the item is something I like for a reasonable price compared to other listings, I will pay that asking price outright.

Garden Gate on Craigslist

I have been looking for something to define the entrance to the patio as separate from the public front door. Eventually we plan to have a porch roof over the new front door, which I think will help, but we often have visitors skip the mud room front door and proceed to the door that is recessed and was the former front door. That door will be to our bedroom so I need to redirect traffic.

Front Walk blocked by Gate

My reservations were that the gate is very ornate and my house is definitely plain and I thought it needed a paint job. But the seller introduced me to the concept of Wabi-sabi. He even sent me the Wickipedia link when I thanked him for the gate.

The idea of Wabi-sabi is to appreciate simplicity and feature the process of nature wearing out the physical world. Sort of like appreciating getting older I guess. The legend I found in this Utne Reader article is that a tea ceremony apprentice was asked to clean up a garden, so he did it perfectly, but before showing his master he shook a cherry tree so some blossoms would fall to interrupt the perfection. He understood wabi-sabi. The seller was telling me not to paint over the rust on the gate but to leave it in its natural state of decay. I kind of like the idea. And it goes along with the simplicity and plain nature of our building itself.

To install the gate I leveled it a bit with some extra chips of flagstone and used large nail spikes in all four corners to hold it to the walk. I envision flower beds on each side of the walk and the recycled rubber patio blocks will be on the lower patio where the fiberglass edges are laying.

The Wabi-sabi of the gate

I think it needs plants around it to soften the contrast with the straight pergola. But if it truly doesn’t fit in this space, it will be easy to move to another. I think the gate is charming.

View of the gate from inside

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From Heating to Cooling in One Week

Posted on April 22, 2016 by ellen

I bought a little something to help with cooling this summer. It is an older Convair Award 2000 portable evaporative cooler. Again from Craigslist and only $20. I brought it home just in time as today is in the upper 70’s and I have been heating the house (although I have turned it off today) so it gets warm inside quickly. The owner said he used this cooler only briefly and because it takes a lot of space, he relegated it to the basement where it sat for 10 years or so. It seems to be in great condition and only needed a good cleaning and some fresh water to begin working to cool the living area.

Front of Cooler

These are amazingly simple machines. The water from the reservoir is pumped and sprayed onto the blanket of media in this case aspen fibers, and the fan blows air over that wet layer cooling the air. Cooling depends on the “wet bulb” temperature difference from actual dry temps. That is why these don’t work in humid areas, not enough difference between the dry and wet temperatures to cool the air. This cooler was made in Australia. The company started building coolers from plastic in the mid 80’s. At the time it was a new way to manufacture evaporative coolers. This model is probably from the early 2000s. I found an online post about someone purchasing this model in 2004.

I found the manual on the Seeley International Website but not by following links. The main website only points to manuals for the Australian and European models. I actually found the link to the manual from a question about how to get the rear cover off. It is not obvious from looking at the rear. The plastic case is flexible and the sides have to be pulled over slipping two fingers under the rear cover and popping out the plastic connection. Putting it back in requires flexing the cover to go under both the top and bottom lips and stretching the sides to pop the cover back behind the clips. If the plastic was not flexible enough it seems this would break it but it actually works fine.

Popping off rear cover

After taking off the cover, the media is in a metal cage that sits above the bottom of the reservoir.

Aspen wood cooling media

I took the media out by hugging it on each side and pulling it out of the case.
I cleaned the reservoir with bleach water and the case with Goof Off where there were stains. The black tub inside the case must hold a squirrel cage fan.

Tub holds fan-water below

I replaced the media and popped the rear cover back on.

Rear Cover

This cooler has a lot of capacity for a portable @ 5800 btu/hr. The fan speed is also high at 3000 cfm. Most models rated for 250 square ft. are much smaller with only 300 cfm and 2 gallon water tanks. Honeywell makes a model that uses 220 watts and is rated for 850 square ft. with a high fan speed of only 1580 cfm but a 15 gallon tank. I’m happy to get this cooler all cleaned up and working in the house.

Convair Award_2000 Specs

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Interior Doors

Posted on April 16, 2016 by ellen

Handmade Doors

I decided to buy these craigslist doors and I worry that they are not quite right for the house. They are just made out of 2 x 6’s which would normally have a tendency to warp but these seem to still be reasonably straight and they are not new. The planks are chamfered and glued edge to edge with plinths. The cross pieces have rounded edges and are bolted and glued to the planks on both sides.

I bought all nine doors the couple was selling. They thought they would use them in their house and even hung one of the doors for awhile, but they told me the design was too cabin/country for their house.

I could replace the majority of the existing hollow core doors in the house with these heavy, homemade doors. I would have to trim most of them to fit though. The two I have in the master bedroom doorway would have to be trimmed to be the same height, and I was envisioning about 24″ doors to make a 48″ opening but these two doors are 29″. So one whole plank would be trimmed off each door or I would have to figure out if a wider opening will work.

The first thing I did after getting my visiting brother and his friend to help carry them into the garage and a pair into the house, was order new bolts for them. These hex bolts and nuts are not very attractive and create a front (bolt head) and rear (nut) side, but the bolts and nuts used in put-together furniture are more attractive and have the same head on each side.

Hafele Bolts

These are rather pricey in sets of 4, they cost $5.99 at woodworking outlets. I found a supplier who sells in bulk at Home Decor Hardware. The free shipping threshold is $200 so I had to pay $12.00 for shipping but each set of bolt and nut was only 33 cents.

I measured the shank of the bolt from the door and it was 3 1/2″ so in millimeters, I bought 80 mm or 3.15 inch bolts plus the nuts that have 10 mm of thread or .39 inches to connect and tighten in the hole.

These cabin type doors will certainly give the house a rustic look. I just hope the homemade doors are not too heavy for existing frames and once hung operate smoothly. I’m thinking they can be cut to fit using table saw without too much trouble. Of course I need to get my hands on a table saw. I’m hoping I can improve the look of them with an antiquing stain finish.

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Arizona Wisdom and Geometry

Posted on April 9, 2016 by ellen

We lived in Arizona for almost 15 years and learned to love the flora and fauna native to the state. Despite years of living in the midwest, we had read about saguaro cactus, prickly pear, creosote bushes, palo Verde, mesquite, and the roadrunners, gambel’s quail, coyotes, tarantulas and scorpions of the desert southwest, but actually living with these wonders and learning to enjoy the sparse beauty and long views of the desert was a fantastic experience. One of the desert’s lessons that I read in a book was to never confuse being able to see a destination in the distance with the time it would take to actually get there. It is true that a mountain appears in the Arizona landscape hours before you actually arrive there by car. That lesson struck me as so true then and definitely applies to this house project.

I was just writing the end is in sight, but it feels quite a distance off once I start working on any one part of the project. Today it was the platform over the guest bathroom that replaces a portion of the attic that existed in a larger area in the original house. This platform will be mostly enclosed and will hold the ventilation system for the house. I had to buy 2×6’s for the project and I bought joist hangers. Because the two beams are not parallel to each other, I ordered 45 degree angle joist hangers from Home Depot.

I began assembling the platform by nailing and screwing the 45 degree hangers at 16 inches on center on the angled 2×6 beam. Then I attempted to attach 90 degree hangers across from them and realized I only had 47 inches to put in five joist hangers on the opposite side. I consulted my mathematician husband only to find that if I wanted the joists to be 16 inches on center on the opposite beam, I had to move all the 45 degree angle hangers to be not 16 inches apart but 16 times the square root of 2 or about 23 5/8 inches apart. So I never learned to apply the geometry I could do on paper to real world problems but luckily Dave did.

Moving the Joist Hangers

I had to pull out nails to move the hangers because I didn’t have screws that were narrow enough to go through both sides of the 45 degree hanger. I used 2 1/4 inch 7# galvanized nails because that is what I had that fit and I screwed the single panel side of each hanger. After I moved all the 45 degree hangers, voila, the opposite hangers worked at 16 inches on center. Amazing.

Opposite 90 degree hangers

The first board ended up a bit short after moving the hangers, but I used it anyway and centered it between the hangers which are long enough to hold it securely once screwed into the hangers. The hardest part of the project was keeping my hands on each screw as I secured the hangers and the boards. I must have dropped 20 screws, or about 25% of the total number of screws I used. At least it felt like that. I am reusing screws from the original drywall in the house that we salvaged and organized by size and thread type. No extra cost for screws for some tasks is a bonus. Only a small part of the original drywall was screwed in so we will not have enough to install new drywall. Besides, I really want to use professionals for that part of the job. To get it finished quickly and get the messy dusty part over with.

The platform is almost done but I would like to square up the inside edge with another 90 degree hanger and install plywood on top. I will have to attach the last joist to the current end one to move from 45 to 90 degrees at the platform’s open edge. The platform should end right at the bathroom door keeping the high ceiling for the shower and vanity half of the room. We will hang the walls for the bathroom from these joists and beams so building the platform was a necessary step to getting these walls installed.

Joists from Below

Joists from Above

Joists across Platform

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The Gathering

Posted on April 7, 2016 by ellen

Not of family but of materials. I have been craigslisting for weeks looking for doors for the master bedroom. I may have found some but have to go see them this weekend. I was taken by a set of arched double doors that were seven feet tall, but the owner would not come down more than $100 and $500 was more than I wanted to sink into doors.

Meanwhile, the day we left for California, I saw a listing for miscellaneous wood being sold in our town, so I called and the guy was super nice, he and his girlfriend have build a tiny house on an old truck with all scrap and recycled wood and he was reducing his inventory, now that the outside structure is completed. I got to tour the tiny house’s inside and it does remind me of an RV. Bunk over the cab, mid bath and rear kitchen living area.

Photo from their blog: muttandmapestinyhouse.wordpress.com

I came home with a truck full of rough 1 x 4’s in cedar, 2 x 6 pieces with one long one, large pieces of 1/2 inch plywood that will come in handy for the platform I’m building for the ventilation system, various smaller pieces of 1/8″ plywood, some chipboard, some shelving, one piece of cement board, and some trim. All for $35. He said he would call if he had stuff left over. They are moving the tiny house to the mountains so that he can apprentice to a cabinet maker to detail the interior. Then he hopes to move out to Oregon to work on an organic farm. Wow, to be young again!

The truck load of wood will soon be joined by a bit of ledgestone left over from someone’s job that I want to use for the exposed post in the living room. The seller described it as tan, brown and moss green and I’m hoping it will look something like this.

StoneWorks Ledgestone

Also a large pine TV cabinet/armoire that I will disassemble for the doors and side wood. I’m going to use the top for the range hood.

Rustic Armoire

Can’t wait to get far enough to use this stuff.

And I will pick up some Hardie board trim for the siding corners. It will be nice to have some on hand. It is pre-painted too so that it will be protected until I get around to painting it whatever color we finally choose. Whoops, don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. This guy just renigged on our deal. I only wanted the trim and he said a buyer offered to buy all. What gets me is another seller would have said the trim is already promised. Not that big of a deal I guess.

Hardie Siding Trim

In the meantime, walls are going in slowly and I’m working on the platform over the kitchen pantry and guest bath. We are fitting work between doctors appointments for us and my elderly mom who moved out here in September. But for some reason I keep thinking the finish line for this project is in sight. I hope so.

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Family is Precious

Posted on April 7, 2016 by ellen

We spent a wonderful week in California with our newest grandson, Wolfgang. He was born on Christmas Eve and this last weekend was his 100th Day celebration. His mom is Korean and the 100th Day is a traditional celebration called Baek-il (pronounced more like Paek-il). The table that the baby sits on is decorated with his name, his toys and photos, etc. Traditional presents are toys, clothes, gold rings for wealth, thread for long life, and silver for riches. Of course Wolfgang got all of these! The huge rice cake is also traditional. It says Happy 100th Day in Korean.

Baek-il

There was a family party on his 100th day and a picnic for friends and family on Saturday. Wow, so many young people in the park by Lake Merritt on a lovely spring day in early April. I just want to hold onto those moments forever.

Definitely a distraction, definitely a precious time with family.

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Rough Plumbing Inspection

Posted on March 27, 2016 by ellen

Although we were not really ready for it since the walls are not all up yet and only some of the plumbing is installed, I asked for a rough plumbing inspection to find out if the plumbing I am doing will meet code. It was a good thing because I have several errors that I didn’t know were errors. It also was a good thing because we had to get our permit extended by two weeks to qualify for the inspection and get the permit renewed for another 6 months. I guess I can’t count because our last inspection was in October and I thought we had until the end of March to get another inspection but it was the end of February. Talk about a scare…but as usual, the Arvada inspection department was very understanding and allowed the inspection to go forward as well as the extension. We are so fortunate to have such a friendly department.

The recommendations from the inspector are all very helpful. Even though I installed the water filter rinse tube according to the instructions, the inspector said it was not allowable to drain it directly into the waste piping. Instead we have to move the drain to the floor drain to pass code or at least he said that would be the easiest way.

Filter Installed with backwash directly into drain pipe

We also have the dishwasher drain going directly into the waste pipe without a trap, which is also not allowed.

Dishwasher drain hookup

He explained that it is highly important to keep all fresh water from contamination from the sewer drains. That is the reason for traps. I thought it was just to eliminate the odors from the sewer but I assume those odors are just a symptom of contamination.

Here are all of his suggestions:

Extend water filter drain tube to the floor drain with minimum 1” air gap, direct connection to sanitary drain not permitted. Install trap and stand pipe for dishwasher drain. Use proper fittings at lavatory connection. Provide back flow protection at connection to heating system. Kitchen, guest bath lavatory connections need to be reduced. Only one connection between trap and wall drain. May need a pressure balancing temperature regulator on tub filler faucet. (Since there is a temperature regulator on the whole house that might be good enough.) Also locking drains are required in the showers.

He drew a couple of diagrams to illustrate the errors and their corrections. This is the problem with the lavatory drain connection.

Inspector Drain Diagram with my note

You may be able to catch this error in the photo below. Of course the final plumbing should be in the wall behind the sink so the extra pipe length to reach the wall will be eliminated, still it is good to have this detailed diagram that has the requirements outlined.

New drain

I also have to be sure that the drain connection at the wall is the correct type as noted in the diagram. Also the cleanout is really not required here.

The new tub drain, however, is OK as well as the toilet, dishwasher and sink supply piping. I’ve ordered the locking drain for the master bath shower and just need to work on getting the concrete chipped out for it.

I have a friend who commented that this blog may be showing the incorrect way to build or as above plumb the drains. I guess I should include a disclaimer about that. I’m not claiming that how I do things is always completely correct, just that it is how I did things. When corrected, I try to update the original posts so that I’m truthful about what worked and what didn’t. Here is a case of a few posts where I included details that are incorrect. They have been updated.

Temporary Bathroom

Used Energy Star Dishwasher

Mang Ox Water Filter

Posted in Inspections, Planning, Plumbing | Comments Off

Stud Wall Plans

Posted on March 15, 2016 by ellen

I updated the stud wall plans to reflect a few of the changes from the original drawings. I’m using Sweet Home 3D which I downloaded for free several years ago. When I tried to open it I got an error message that the version I am using must use an older version of Java. This is apparently a common application problem so I was able to download the legacy Java Version 6 and install it to run the program.

This program is easier to use than the CAD Draftsight program that I also use for floor plans. It is not a full CAD program but made specifically to model houses. I like the 3D version of the plan that is created automatically.

Here is the 3D version of the revised stud walls. I created studs in the program and positioned them every 2 ft. The full size studs are in red, the 2 x 6 studs in green and the half wall is in blue. Sweet Home 3D also has premade furniture and fixture images so the bathrooms in this model have the fixtures included.

Stud Wall 3D Remodel 03_14_16

Below is the drawing for the above 3D image. I rotated it 180 degrees to be in the same orientation because the 3D image can be rotated and tilted to show detail and I thought the above image was the best for showing all the walls. This drawing is very close to scale for the house. I have included measurement lines for the rehabbed rooms. Unfortunately the posted pictures are way too small to see this detail.

Stud Wall Remodel Drawing Plan Rotated 03_14_16

This plan shows dual opening windows which are not installed but it is too much trouble to redesign the window template. We decided to save money when purchasing the new windows so that only one side opens.

LEED requires a detailed stud use plan although this is not required when using recycled studs, I wanted to draw this out anyway. They recommend saving lumber by using a 24″ OC spacing. That spacing seems to build a sturdy interior non-weight bearing wall.

It is amazing that we are finally building walls in the house. But I guess it is about time.

Posted in Floating Walls, LEED Project, Planning, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Comments Off

Lowering the Tub Drain

Posted on March 15, 2016 by ellen

I had to break out the concrete around the tub drain to get the elbow low enough to provide a slope on the tub drain. I had to reveal enough pipe to glue on the elbow under the floor surface.

PVC 90 degree street elbow

I used the street elbow to attach a 2″ to 1 1/2″ adapter for the tub drain piping.

PVC Tub Adapter

I tried just chipping out the concrete with a 5 pound hammer and cold chisels but the work was too slow and I was afraid I would crack the drain pipe.

Tub drain at floor level

So I brought out the big guns. I have a Harbor Freight electric demolition hammer and that did the trick.

Chicago Tools Demolition Hammer

My hammer is green and a bit different from the model they sell now. I bought it way back in 2012 when I was curious what was under the original concrete floor.

Demolition hammer in 2012

It was short work to chip out enough concrete to reveal the 3/4″ or so that is needed to glue on the elbow close to the floor.

Chipped concrete to lower drain

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A Door in the Wall

Posted on March 9, 2016 by ellen

Wall number one now has two sides–meant for each side of the inside entry door.

Wall on right side of door

The next step is a door in the wall. We plan to have an airlock entry. This is an old idea, to block off direct entry to the main house through an entry room that holds boots, coats, shoes, and cold or hot air from the outdoors.

Dibble Floorplan 11-14-12

The room also removes the main house from the garage so potentially from any fumes that might escape into the house from that area. The idea is that all the doors are kept closed except when entering and leaving the house. This is one of those user dependent features for energy efficiency, if not used correctly with one door shut before the other opens, it is ineffective. LEED also requires a storage space for shoes at the entry to keep outside allergens and dirt from entering the living space. So this entry room will gain that point in EQ, Indoor Environmental Quality.

I bought a door for this space from a craigslist ad. I was looking for a 36″ wood door with full glass that had not been painted and was in reasonable shape. FOUND it for $50. I didn’t even argue about the price. It has a lot of screwed in connections for blinds but it is is great shape for an older door. Of course it came without a door frame so I had to hunt up a clear pine frame. Turns out that you can’t buy a pine kit anymore in the box stores! I had to buy the two sides and the door stop pieces. I have plenty of left over pine 1 x 6’s for the top of the frame. But I didn’t want to try to rout the side pieces in our existing lumber and the new pre-routed side pieces were about $12 each. The stops were $7.50 each and I had to buy 7 footers because the 10 footers were horribly warped. How can they even stock boards like that in a store? But together the pieces were less costly than the MDF kits @ almost $60.

I have found more than one floating framing style for doors. In the first, the door just hangs from the casing which is suspended by nails in the frame.

Floating wall door frame

This is a labeled diagram of the same type of installation. Just the door frame is meant to float in the doorway although this one has double header plates.

The second style is meant for sound proofing the room. It has a plywood header that is insulated on each side. It also has triple door studs as well as gaskets between the floating frame and the floating wall. Notice the jack studs support the door frame and continue to the bottom plate.

Floating wall door framing 2

The version that we will use has a double frame and the jack studs will float with the door casing. The frame is attached to the floor plate as in this diagram. The floating connection is at the door header and the bottom plate can heave sliding the door up on nails attached to the upper header. The framing itself has a “false header” that is not nailed to the king stud.

Door frame with floating jack stud

Just for reference this is typical weight bearing door framing.

Typical door header

The entry door frame is done. Now onto another wall.

Air Lock Entry Inside Door Frame

Posted in Floating Walls, LEED Project, Planning | Comments Off

Floating Walls

Posted on March 8, 2016 by ellen

Way back in 2012 when the first wall was about to be taken down, I took this photo of the floating wall in the master bathroom.

Floating Wall in May 2012

A floating wall is not fully connected between the ceiling rafters and the floor of the house. In areas of expansive soil, the walls are not allowed to create a solid plane that could push up against the rafters when the floor heaves. The roof could become warped and the house pushed out of alignment. A gap is created between either the top or bottom plate and a second plate is connected to its base with long nails that can take the pressure and allow the wall to slide along them as the floor heaves or falls.

Interestingly in this photo some of the worst floor cracking had occurred. I sure didn’t notice when admiring the house to purchase it, but the inspector pointed out the big drop in this corner. A large crack is seen under the floor brush in the foreground and it goes through the wall, where the 2 x 4 is cracked and through the linoleum. The shower pan has dropped away from the back wall and there is a large crack at the perimeter behind and beside the toilet. So it is a good thing this house had floating walls!

Old wall–another perspective

Although the bottom plate is partially obstructed by the drywall debris in the photo, there is a gap between it and the 2 x 4 above it. This gap appears to be less than the 1 1/2″ that is required now, but it could be that the gap changed over time as the floor heaved and fell.

Aurora, Colorado offered a description of the building code for finishing basements on its website. Because our floor is slab on grade, many of the same requirements apply to our house walls.

In areas subject to floor heaving, non-bearing walls on basement floor slabs should be built to accommodate not less than 1-1/2 inches of floor movement.

Basement Finish Detail

The finish detail shows pressure treated floor plates, however our floor is not a basement so we are using the original 2 x 4 base. This specification mentions 40 lb nails for the walls to slide on. It also shows that drywall does not extend to the bottom plate but a spacer is installed instead, supposedly covered by the baseboard.

The floating or hanging walls are more secure than you might believe since they are only held vertical by a few long nails. We have just started our walls and Dave has developed a method he is comfortable with that is very sturdy.

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Thinking about the Tub Drain

Posted on March 7, 2016 by ellen

Sometimes my brain just trips over itself when trying to solve a problem.

I happened to have a lift and turn sink drain from the granite vessel sink installation that I realized had a long enough stem to use for the tub. So I cancelled the expensive drain order and thought I would try to use the sink drain.

Sink Drain

When I put it in the tub, I thought it would work, the threads are long enough, but I got distracted by looking at my original plan for the drain, which was to use a 1 1/2″ pvc female connector.

The standard PVC 1 1/2″ pipe was way too “fat” for the opening so I used the dremel tool to shave off the outer edge of the threaded part of the pipe leaving just enough to keep the threads and still be able to push it up through the drain to meet the shorter but nicer Moen lift and turn drain piece. I was able to get the pipe thin enough and pushed up into the drain so that the Moen drain piece met it and could tighten inside the tub.

Shaved PVC pipe with drain attached

Then I realized that I wanted the drain to be able to use the overflow so I unscrewed the drain and cut two slits into it to allow water to enter the drain to and from the built in overflow. But of course NOW I REALIZE why I decided this original plan would not work. I can’t seal the overflow from below the drain! There are no threads on the pipe that comes out of the bottom, just a glued pipe hub. Now water in the overflow will leak past the pipe that is fitting into the drain opening from below and then all over the floor. Not a very good idea for a drain assembly.

Shaved PVC pipe under tub

This might have worked without the overflow cut, but now I have two slits in the nice Moen drain. While taking photos of this process I saw that I probably could have used silicone caulk to seal the PVC where it meets the lower tub surface.

Shaved PVC pipe in drain

But another problem is that there is too much pipe under the drain. Gluing the female threaded pipe to another male threaded pipe and then screwing that into the drain elbow will not give me enough room under the tub to manage the 1/8″ per foot slope to the floor drain. I chipped out a bit more concrete and cut the drain down so that the elbow sits right on the concrete floor.

Floor Drain for Tub

If I could just find a narrow pipe bushing with coarse threads inside and another set of outside coarse threads to extend the pipe, I could connect the Moen drain with a gasket and threaded nut that would keep it from leaking. But there is no such pipe as far as I know.

I found drain bushings from Watco and the least expensive version changes the pipe thread type from fine–16 threads per inch to coarse–11.5 threads per inch. But I can’t find the specifications for the length of these bushings and I assume it is meant to screw completely onto the 1.5 inch long Watco drain threads. So this is not the answer either.

Watco Bushing 38101

So what about that sink drain? It is long enough at 2.5″ but I would again have to cut the overflow slits. The slits would work for this drain because I can use a rubber and washer below that comes with it. But it connects to narrower pipe than the tub elbow, only 1 1/4″ and I would have to use sink drain tubing to drain the tub which is probably not to code.

I finally found a possible solution on ebay. It is an American Standard lift and turn tub drain that had a quick response from the vendor to my question about size.

The total height is 3″, the widest point is 2 3/4″ and the pipe connection is 1 1/2″.

American Standard Tub Drain

I ordered it for $19.80 with free shipping. I could NOT find this drain on the American Standard web site. But once I knew what the drain looked like, I did find it as part number 791474-0020A available from Home Depot by mail order for $26.77. The photo above does not show an overflow, but the part at Home Depot does. The specifications state it is 3.5″ long by 2″ wide x 2″ deep. Which apparently is close enough for some buyers.

American Standard Tub Drain-Home Depot

In other research I found that American Standard’s normal thread type is coarse. So this drain should screw directly into the tub drain elbow, which I found is called a “tub shoe”.

I was able to get the pipe OUT of the bottom of the tub after whacking it in there with a 5 lb. hammer and tightening the drain to it to pull it into the socket more. I just used a screwdriver on the ledge of the pipe and whacked it with the 5 lb. hammer and it fell out. Next the new drain will be shipped and I’ll get to see if it will work.

UPDATE: The American Standard drain worked. I had to add an extra foam bushing and rubber seal to tighten the tub shoe below the indentation for the drain under the tub so that the drain pipe would fit into the shoe.

Posted in Planning, Plumbing | Comments Off

Happy Happy First Wall

Posted on March 4, 2016 by ellen

Today was a red letter day! The first wall went up. It is pretty exciting.

Our first wall is going up!

Dave decided to use screws instead of nails because he thinks they will make a sturdier wall. We are using a 24 on center 2 x 4 wall with the wood we took out of the original house walls. He used 3 inch screws to attach the top plate to the studs and to attach the wall to the furring board that he cut for above the wall. That board is screwed securely to the rafter above with 4 1/2 inch screws to go through the polyiso into the rafter.

Securing the top plate with screws

This first wall is between the entry and the dining area and next to this short wall will be the inside doorway. It should be directly across from the garage doorway.

Wall between entry and dining area

The walls are floating walls with a 1 1/2″ gap between the bottom of the wall and the floor plate. Then the two boards are spiked together with a 20# nail. I wanted to use double headed nails so we could be sure not to puncture the concrete but they may be a bit short.

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Tub Drain Problem

Posted on March 4, 2016 by ellen

I have two problems with the tub drain. First the nice quality Moen drain that I bought is too short to reach through the hole to a pipe below the tub. It is only 1 1/4″ deep and the opening in the tub is 1 1/2″ deep. The built in overflow in the tub also requires a hole in the drain similar to a sink drain.

Drain too Short

Most of the tub drains I have researched are at the most 1 1/2″ deep. There is a Mountain Plumbing drain for $100 that requires a 2″ opening in the tub and ours is the standard 1 7/8″ opening.
There is a Jalco 3″ drain with a hole for a built in overflow that is $100 on Amazon–that is the reduced price. But it is a toe touch pop up drain and I would prefer the lift and turn model.
Finally there is a Barclay straight pipe drain that was $56 on Amazon. It does not have a hole for the overflow but I believe for $44 I could cut one. One vendor shows the threaded area is 2 1/2″ long which would work for the tub, but it does not say whether it has fine or coarse threads. I’m thinking it will have fine and I’ll have to figure out how to attach to the metal extension pipe that comes with it.

Barclay Drain

I want an assembly that will extend with proper drainage from the middle of the tub where the drain is located to the floor drain about 36″ away. That is only a required 3/8″ drop so I should be able to get it if I can find a drain that will extend below the bottom of the tub but still allow for proper downward slope to the drain.

Tub on Flagstone Blocks

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Our Roman Tub

Posted on March 2, 2016 by ellen

I looked for installation instructions for the used tub that I bought on Craigslist and found this very similar if not the same tub at The Bath Works. This one costs over $6000 and it is cast of “Silacore” a resin and mineral combination very much like fiberglass. The coating is a more dull white finish than acrylic finishes and better evokes the original cast iron model. It is double walled and very heavy. They made this tub in imitation of a French style from the mid to late 19th century.

Roman Tub at Bath Works

I used the online inquiry form asking for installation instructions and they sent the size and measurement drawings for installation directly on the floor over the drain pipe.

Roman Tub Thru Floor Waste and Outlet Install

They also sent all the measurements in millimeters and inches. Although these tubs are made in the USA the designs were from their company in England.

Roman Tub (3.0) Specifications

This tub is meant to be installed on the floor directly over the drain pipe, but it has a solid bottom so I’m considering installing it on blocks so that I don’t have to chip into concrete to run the drain line under the floor. The existing tub drain is located near the supply and the tub drain will be closer to the middle of the wall.

Location of tub drain and supply

I’ve seen several idea photos with the tub set up on a platform or blocks in lieu of old fashioned feet. I have some Colorado red flagstone blocks that might look good under the tub.

RR Ties Bath Platform

Tub elevated on blocks

Tub on Platform

A platform such as a 2×4 box might work if it was just under the tub’s bottom. I ordered the drain kit and some extra pipe to determine how the drain could run and then I’ll try the various above slab solutions first.

Posted in Design Style, Plumbing | Comments Off

Cleaning the Spa Water

Posted on February 25, 2016 by ellen

The spa water was getting dirty. There was sand on the bottom that did not seem to be getting to the filter. So I bought a small Intex vacuum kit to suck up the dirt through the filter system.

Intex Pool Vacuum Kit

Unfortunately after fiddling around finding a vacuum adapter for the skimmer, the built in suction was not strong enough to use the vacuum. I’m guessing that means one of the pipes is partially blocked which I will have to try to fix next time I empty it to change the water.

In the meantime last weekend when my granddaughter and I were in the increasingly cloudy spa, I realized I needed a supplementary filtering system or the water quality would quickly be unusable.

Although it would be great to add a sand filter to the system, the sand systems were more money than I wanted to spend and I didn’t want to try to replace the existing system. The spa is 1000 gallons so I purchased a filter pump that uses a larger filter than the spa. It is for a small Intex pool, Krystal Klear 637R which is rated at 1000 GPH.

Intex Krystal Klear Filter and Pump

It took me awhile to figure out how to fill the system with water so that it would pump–just took holding the vacuum hose attachment pipe up above the filter until the pipes were mostly full. Some air was still in the system but the pump soon rid itself of extra air.

I was able to get the system working and I have it sitting on the spa stairs. It has been running for about 30 hours and the water is finally pretty clear.

Filter on Spa Steps

I’m letting it run a few more hours to get the water sparkling clear and will vacuum the settled sand again before I drain it and store it until the next vacuuming is required.

Filter and Hoses

The blue end is the discharge and the pole is being held up by the Intex skimmer part. I can’t figure out how to use the skimmer that I ordered since I have the vacuum on the intake line instead so I might return that part of the system.

Hoses and Clear Water

This was an inexpensive addition to the vacuum kit that works very well to vacuum and clear the water. The built in spa filter seemed to be working before the last month or so, but I have been cleaning out the filters instead of replacing them. I will extend the filtering time and install new filters to keep the water clearer and hopefully not let it get so cloudy again.

Posted in Maintenance and Repair, Spa | Comments Off