Twinsprings Research Institute

Moving at 94!

Posted on October 1, 2015 by ellen

In the RV

My mom is 94 last May. She broke her leg in January just after surgery to improve her circulation–she was probably still under the influence of pain meds. So she had to move to assisted living. That took away lots of her independence and it was difficult for my brother as he is not yet retired. He was visiting her every day off and also taking her to the doctors and handling her bills. I’m retired and the climate here in Colorado is so nice, plus we have the grandkids to keep us smiling. So thought it would be great if she could come live near me.
It has been quite an adventure. Almost a week of packing her stuff and eliminating what we could not move. Two days in the RV hauling her stuff in a UHaul trailer, and then moving into the new place in mid-September and all the work to get unpacked and settled.
So she has moved into an assisted living home in Arvada that is about 15 minutes away from me. She can come over for dinner and we can visit frequently. Here I have just set up a “senior” remote for her TV. I’m so glad she is closer now! Even though she had to leave the area she has lived for almost all of her 94 years–the Chicago suburbs. And she misses our other cousins and my brother too. But I tell her she gets to see ME more often!

New Home

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Where in the world you been so long?

Posted on October 1, 2015 by ellen

Our Indiana House

The first of September we drove the RV to Indiana to visit our first passive solar owner built house in Spencer, Indiana. We go out a couple of times a year to visit and do maintenance on the house. We used to rent it out but the damage and lack of rent payments cost us way more than we collected and for the last five years it has been our vacation home.
Besides some plumbing and drywall patching from a leak last year, we had to address the issue with the garage siding.
The garage has had a problem with rotting front siding. There was a nice gutter system but when Dave got up there to investigate, the new metal roof was too short and water was running behind the gutter down the siding.

Garage in Spencer

We used the RV to get up high enough to have a solid platform to replace the rotted siding boards. We used exterior paint that we had on hand, so the garage front is now two tone, but the gutter was reinstalled UNDER the roof by leaving out the trim piece. Hopefully that will be enough to keep rain from rotting the new siding.

New siding

After almost two weeks of fun in Spencer–we have lots of good friends in the area who we love visiting, we drove up to Chicago to move my Mom to Colorado!

Posted in Diversions, Maintenance and Repair | Comments Off

Keyed Alike?

Posted on September 1, 2015 by ellen

At first, I thought all the doors were keyed alike. I don’t remember why but I must have tried more than one set on a door and they worked. I had not asked for keying alike but it made sense sending all five of the doors to the same address etc. But then I picked up a set of keys that did not work on the front door. Hmmm.
I asked Alpen about getting the locks keyed alike and they said that a locksmith would have to change the tumblers if we wanted them all the same. Should have asked for keying alike upfront I guess. But yesterday, when we were getting ready to leave for a trip, we tried the sets of keys on all the doors and found that some of them ARE keyed alike!

The front door and the master bedroom door and one of the french doors share the same key, the back door and one of the french doors share the same key, and I have one door left and one set of keys that don’t work on it! Nor do they work on any of the other doors of course. So we are a bit confused. Must be another mistake! So Alpen will probably not be pleased to hear it either.

Door Keys

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Insulation Inspection Done

Posted on August 31, 2015 by ellen

First thing this morning I arrived at the building department to check if the building permit was expired. The online information said it expired on 8/24 so I was worried that the inspection I scheduled on Friday after I finished all the little insulation leftovers would not happen today. I was wrong. That was the original six month date, but every inspection extends that by 180 days and our last one was in early May. Whew.
I also had in mind to to add the new windows and doors and the siding projects to the existing remodel permit. These two items were not in the original project budget and I was worried that there might be an issue about how much we actually put into the house. It is worth it to spend $1000 now to get credit for the whole remodel when it comes time to sell. Plus I think the building department has been so helpful and flexible I thought they deserved more of our hard earned money!
So with that added to the permit, we are now justified in spending all the extra money we had not originally counted on. Yet both items will improve the LEED qualification for the house.
The inspector showed up about mid-morning and I explained the insulation we installed. He said the house even sounded well insulated, sort of dulled the sound of our talking in the rooms. So he passed us but said we needed to get the electrical done before we could cover anything up with drywall. We were trying to design the electrical to eliminate outlets and switches in the outside walls. But I did leave some wires for one outlet because I was having a hard time trying to get them out and decided to leave them to get insulation in that spot. He also told me that they no longer do drywall inspections just electrical, structural, plumbing and final left.
I didn’t take any photos of the last parts of the insulation install, but here is one from earlier work.

Roxul Insulation in Walls and Ceiling

And the ceiling has been covered with 1 1/2″ reused polyiso. Unbelievably almost all this load of polyiso has been used on the house and some on the spa.

Used Polyiso

Here is what it looked like on the kitchen and living room ceiling before we put up the SIGA air barrier.

Ceiling Covered with Polyiso

After the door issues are taken care of and the siding is on where we had to pull it off, I believe the next step is the wall framing. That will be a huge step in the right direction.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Inspections, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Comments Off

New Door from Alpen

Posted on August 30, 2015 by ellen

The Alpen guys came over on Friday and installed a new door panel in the front door. This is a better deal for me than trying to have them paint the old one on site. The old door had a rough finish in places, as if the door was not cleaned all the way when it was painted. We even thought the old one was warped a bit, but I’m not sure whether the door was actually warped or whether it appeared warped in the first install. Alpen has been good about fixing all issues, even if some of them may have been caused by the installers.

Removing the glass from the old door

They used the same pane of glass that was in the first door. All it took was removing the screw plugs and then the frame from the glass around the insert. Then they inserted the glass into the new frame and replaced the screws and screw covers. Finally they dabbed paint over the screw covers so they match the trim. They also removed and installed the lockset in the new door.

Painting the screw covers

Riley told me that dabbing the paint on actually works better than brushing it. The paint has small bubbles in the finish and dabbing it replicates these bubbles. Even if a blob forms it is better to dab it as the blob will fall and will blend in better than a brush stroke.
They left me the rest of the touch up bottle. There are a couple of little places that I will touch up with it after the painters come and redo the brick mold paint that is peeling. And I’ll have an extra bottle–one came with the original doors, for if we scratch one or otherwise damage the finish later.

Riley also had some extra pieces of weather stripping to install on the french doors where the old ones had been cut too short so that there was a gap at the bottom where the doors meet. I was upset that I could see light through that gap–if I can see light then the holes were big enough to let in several cubic feet of cold air in winter, not to mention bugs and even mice! He left the gasket a bit long so I can trim it if it is too long, but it will cover the bottom opening better. I can see a pinprick of light though and think I might dab a bit of caulk in the bottom of the gasket to seal that up.

Next time they come, he said he would bring new strike plates to replace those that are scratched by the lock screw that is not set deeply enough and they will bring a countersink for the metal piece on the edge of the door to bore the hole a little so that screw will be flush with the door. Once the doors are painted, we will buy and install the siding, hopefully before the snow flies.

Posted in Construction, Maintenance and Repair | Comments Off

Door Sealing Completed

Posted on August 27, 2015 by ellen

The back door sealed up nicely after spraying foam into the cracks in the polyiso layer and creating a level plane.

Back Door Sealed

I used almost all of two rolls of SIGA Wigluv 60 tape to surround the blue SIGA Majvest air membrane. The membrane is overlapped and taped on both edges.

Master Bedroom Door Sealed

The front door was sealed first, but I didn’t take a photo of the completed area until the whole job was finished. We are planning to remove the rest of the cedar siding too and redo the insulation we can’t reach from inside and replace the siding with the stucco cement board panels. But I was just trying to get to the point where the doors can be repainted.

Front Door Sealed

The doors are ready for painting. Just want to add a short overhang using the fiberglass corners.

Patio Doors Sealed

A closer view shows that the sealing is comprised of air barrier and tape surrounding it. Notice the tape around the light fixture outlet. On one side of the back door the tape overlapped the blue air barrier completely, so I probably could have just used tape. I left the other side and will wrap it when I replace the adjoining wall’s siding.

Closer view of sealing

The paint on the doors is chipping off pretty badly so I can’t wait until the painters can come and repaint them, probably in a couple of weeks.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Energy Efficiency | Comments Off

The Most Difficult Door

Posted on August 27, 2015 by ellen

I had Efficiency Matters return to frame in the back door with 2 x 6’s. The wall there was so crooked that the first installation had the door sticking out 2 inches at the top inside and almost 2″ at the bottom outside. Not sure how I was supposed to seal or side or drywall that! I thought the solution was to straighten the wall with 2 x 6’s and re-install the door.

Crooked Door

The new installation though did not solve the problem of lining up the new door to the plane where the siding will go. That is because the wall is crooked. Setting the door so that the bottom hit the plane of the siding meant that the top had to be out of line. Notice the old polyiso sticks out over the brick edge of the door.

Polyiso not in line with door

This left me with the problem of figuring out how to line up the new polyiso behind the door so that the siding can be installed in one plane. I noticed that on the right side of the door, they had installed the polyiso INSIDE the 2×4 in the corner. They had spray foamed it into place. So I realized that I had to inset the new polyiso inside the 2 x 6 door frame and under the upper wall frame to line it up. In order to do that I had to tear out the two supporting 2 x 4’s above the door. Luckily all they support is the drywall framing and we can do without them.

New Polyiso

I had to remove the awning frame to take off the upper siding and I split the boards to get them out from underneath the 2 x 6 trim on the top. Underneath is some polyiso where the old wall plane was so I’ll have to abut the siding under the trim and up to the old polyiso. But it is at least mostly in one plane now.

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Interesting Original Construction Details

Posted on August 26, 2015 by ellen

One great thing about deconstruction is that it reveals interesting construction details. I am removing siding around what used to be the front door but will now be our Master Bedroom door. The foil covered polyiso is being replaced because removing the siding pretty much destroys it. Over that the SIGA air barrier is taped to the edges of the new polyiso.
As I removed the corner where the interior wall meets the trombe wall I found what I thought were pretty interesting solutions to the angled wall construction. The interior block wall follows the foundation but the corner juts out past the wall to meet the front of the trombe cement block wall.

Rear side of the interior block wall

The interior of the wall is supported by the same type of steel posts that support the middle of the structure.

Structural post in trombe wall

Two 2×8’s form a beam that is attached to the top of the post. This is independent of the slag block interior wall and the cement block exterior wall that form the mass for the trombe wall.

Beams that hold up roof

The left side of this wall faces the interior of the master bedroom, while the right side faces the interior of the trombe wall. The insulation here was a few scrawny pieces of fiberglass, not even all the way up the column. So I replaced it with two layers of Roxul on the right side and the regular single 5.5″ layer on the left side.

Left side interior, Right side behind slag block wall

There was also a mass of mortar in the 2 x 6 wall that provided very little insulation value. I chipped it all out so there was room for Roxul all the way to the bottom plate.

Mortar removed from 2×6 plate

I found a snake skin at the top of the interior of the block wall! Obviously this wall was not sufficiently sealed. I am working on fixing that.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Deconstruction, Trombe Wall | Comments Off

Beautiful Stoop!

Posted on August 26, 2015 by ellen

I had to go back to the ladies who sold me the extra flagstone to get enough stone to finish the stoop. They had another customer pick up all the rest of the stone but saved me a wheelbarrow full. I paid an extra $10 and brought it home. It was JUST enough to fill in the rest of the area.
So as a side project, Dave was kind enough to bring over a couple of wheelbarrows of sand and fill in between the flagstone. He used a soft broom to brush it into the spaces between the stones. It is surprising how much more finished it looks with the sand between the rocks.

Completed Door Landing

So nice to say something is actually completed! And of course I didn’t get to it myself. On to another project. Thank goodness for Dave. 🙂

Posted in Landscape, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Comments Off

New Twist on the Chiller Problem

Posted on August 25, 2015 by ellen

I have been doing a lot of reading about DIY chilling systems and looking at systems that immerse a coil in a box of water and pump water in and out etc. Most of them are rather primitive, but there were several conversations about using a mini split air conditioning system to chill water. The mini split units have two sides, the outdoor unit is the compressor and condenser that vents the heat into the outdoors and the inner unit is the fan and evaporator that provides cooling and in some units heat as well. One of the benefits of a mini split unit is that the heat produced from the chilling process is outdoors. The refrigerant pipes are routed through the wall to the indoor unit.

So I was surprised that I saw a mini split unit on craigslist that had been there 20 days. It was located nearby and seemed reasonably priced so I emailed. We negotiated a price at exactly half of the new cost. That may seem high but this unit had several things going for it. It is 9000 btu’s about a 3/4 HP chiller size. It is 115 volt so I don’t have to run a separate 220 line to run it, and I can justify hacking it a bit if I don’t pay full price. I apparently am an extremely trusting customer since I could’t see it working before I bought it. I told the man who sold it that I was trusting him and he said after all, I now knew where he lives.

The seller told me the refrigerant was “sucked down” into the outside condenser when it was disconnected. I read the disconnect process online and that the way these units are disconnected so it sounded right. The air conditioner comes with 16′ of refrigerant pipe that seems to be in good condition; 1/4″ and 3/8″ copper pipes. The 1/4″ delivers liquid refrigerant (this unit uses 410a) and the 3/8″ releases the vapor back to the condenser unit outside to be turned back into liquid. The valve for the lines designates a high and low side.

Mini Split System Frigidaire

My intention is to create a chiller inside using this refrigerant. I have several resources about how to build your own chiller, including a Reefkeeping.com article from 2007 where someone used two minisplits to chill water using a “barrel chiller”. This is a container that water flows through that also has a refrigerant coil inside it.

Barrel Chiller for Aquarium Setup

It is almost impossible to find a barrel chiller for sale online. S&W Wilson Inc. carries them but the 3/4 HP size is $555 without shipping!

Chiller Barrel

Another article about creating a DIY chiller uses an indoor dehumidifier and a home built coil. It also has a link to a 1 ton coil that sells for about $60. But the author said that coil was too large for his application. He also describes how to build a refrigerant coil to immerse into water to chill it.

One of the coolest things about this article is a great short explanation of the refrigeration cycle.

The first half of the tube cycle is called the high side. Here the pressure and temperature are high. The refrigerant condenses from gas to liquid here. It then passes, in liquid form, through the long, thin, curled up, copper tube called “the capillary tube”. The capillary tube’s function is to hold back the liquid so that the pressure on the high side stays high. Some larger chillers use a thermostatic expansion valve instead of a capillary tube. The official name in both cases is “metering device”. On the other side it enters the low side where pressure and temperature are very low. Here it evaporates into gas. Now the point of all this is of course to get the cold section in contact with aquarium water and the hot section in contact with air so that heat is transferred from the water to the air. The part that is in contact with flowing air is called the condenser, and the part in contact with water is called the evaporator.

Refrigeration Explanation

I have an expensive water to water heat exchanger for the wood boiler system that I was going to use for the chilling system too. But there are refrigerant to water heat exchangers as well. A study of ebay offerings revealed an Alfa Laval AC10-16 Stainless Brazed Plate Heat Exchanger 650 PSI for R410A that has to have brazed connections for the refrigerant. The two refrigerant lines are 1/4″ and 3/8″ but they don’t specify the water connections. I believe they are 1/2″ which is what my pump is too. I looked up the specs and the CX-10 is rated for 1/2 HP. For about $60 shipped this is a much more reasonable investment than a barrel chiller.

Ebay also has a Coaxial Coil heat exchanger that seems to match the requirements for an evaporator. The one ton size is matched to 9500 btu on this chart.

Coaxial Coil Sizing

The one ton size is available for about $180 but the lines are 3/8″ and 5/8″ so it seems too large for the mini-split condenser. I didn’t find the smaller models for sale.

It also seems as though instead of blowing air through the indoor evaporator unit, I could have the water chilled by it by imitating the process used in a commercial chiller. The indoor unit is composed of a fan, an evaporator coil and the electronic controls. I found a generic parts diagram on Smart Clima which is a chinese site that also shows barrel water chillers but not with pricing to order online.

Mini Spilt Indoor Air Unit Structure

Indoor unit parts
1. Base
2. Cross Flow Fan Axletree
3. Cross Flow Fan
4. Cross Flow Fan Fixed Plate
5. Electric Heater
6. Evaporator Assembly
7. Room Temperature Sonde Frame
8. Louver
9. Outlet Part
10. Screw Cover
11. Middle Frame
12. Filtering Net
13. Face Plate
14. Step Motor
15. Armor Tubing
16. Plate
17. Motor Cabinet
18. Motor Platen
19. Motor
20. Electric Box Small Coverplate
21. Electric Box Cover
22. Electric Control Plate
23. Electric Box
24. Press Tube Plate
25. Wall-Mounting Frame
26. Remote Controller

I would rather not destroy the indoor unit to create the chiller though. That way if the chiller design does not work, I would still have the mini-split air conditioner to install.

As I see it I have four choices, in order of expense:

Purchase the Alfa Lavel heat exchanger for the refrigerant and use it as the indoor unit. (Learn to braze.)
Purchase the titanium coil for the refrigerant and build a container for it that allows water to flow through and chill. (Learn to braze too.)
Purchase the Coaxial Coil and just reduce the connections to 3/8″ and 1/4″ (Probably would need to braze these connections as well.)
Figure out how to use the existing evaporator to chill water. (This is most expensive if I take apart the interior unit as its initial cost is higher than the other choices.)

I will also have to figure out how to control the chilling process too. Perhaps with an aquarium temperature controller. But these are fun problems to have, right?

Posted in Appliances, House Systems, Radiant Cooling, Reduce Reuse Recycle | Comments Off

Small Victories

Posted on August 24, 2015 by ellen

I gave up on the spa electrical trench when I ran into the huge piece of concrete that was right in the middle of the trench area. I called the electrician thinking it would be better to pay for a trench than waste my time on the impossible or at least super slow. I thought the trench had to be 18″ deep, but the electrician said it was almost deep enough and only had to be 12″ deep for residential on just a lawn area. So I was encouraged to try again as it will save money when the hook up is done.

Spa Electrical Trench

Dave and the electrician both suggested I use water to help dig the heavy clayey soil. That really did help. I hooked up the hose from the outside well hydrant and dampened the soil to soften it. It was still difficult to get the shovel in more than an inch at a time though. But finally I got the whole trench to a 12 inch depth.

Twelve inch depth

I used a 36″ pry bar and heavy hammer to whale away at the dirt under the concrete. Also spraying the dirt with the hose and a spray attachment helped weaken the dirt enough to chip away at it. I dug out the dirt with a trowel. It felt like I was scratching away at a prison escape tunnel, but eventually the pry bar went though and I was able to scrape open a hole for the electric conduit at the 12″ depth.

Hole bored under concrete obstruction

The small victory was sweet; from an impenetrable barrier to a solution and a savings on the electrician. Not too shabby.

Posted in Landscape | Comments Off

Siding Decision

Posted on August 22, 2015 by ellen

In order to install the doors, some of the cedar siding was removed. Then to completely seal the wall where the doors were installed, we had to remove the rest of the siding and replace the damaged 1″ foil backed polyiso and seal it with house wrap and tape. Because we are using the polyiso, the doors were installed right up against that layer, so the brickmold will be inside the siding.

Probably the most ecological siding would be to replace the cedar with Forest Certified Wood. We have shiplap cedar siding but it is being attacked by woodpeckers who do quite a bit of damage to the siding and to the insulation in the walls. Pest infestation is one of the sustainability factors in our LEED project, so changing the siding to something less pest friendly helps us comply with LEED for our home.

My first choice would have been to side the front with stone facing. However, some stone would need a backer board and would be quite thick and we need to think about the depth of the brick molds. It appears that some thin stone products can be applied over foam sheathing covered with chicken wire and a scratch coat of mortar, but that work is more exacting and time consuming that we are capable of at this point.

I got a bid to replace the cedar with stucco. They would redo the whole house including the existing stucco. They actually they wanted to go right over the existing siding with styrofoam and a two layer stucco, for $18,000. That bid was just more than we have in the budget.

I looked at many types of fiber cement board siding: lap, vertical panels, shingle, etc. and opinions as to its “Greenness”. Generally it is a recommended choice especially when compared with vinyl siding which has a far more energy intensive manufacturing process. Fiber cement board is considered “inert” so that it does not leach chemicals into the air or soil, and its longevity is considered more sustainable too.

I have seen Certainteed fiber cement siding being sold on craigslist occasionally. But when I looked it up, I found that Certainteed “Weatherboard” has been sold to another company in Mexico because the siding did not hold up well. In 2014 they settled a class action suit to repay owners for damaged siding. “caused by a defect in the Siding that is manifested as shrinkage between the ends of Siding in excess of 3/16” except that for Siding installed abutting windows, doors or trim, shrinkage must exceed 5/16”. In addition, Siding with warping or bowing in excess of 1/2″, field and edge cracking through the board”.

James Hardie is the major manufacturer of cement board siding. Their products have been featured on “This Old House” and other home building shows and magazines. Apparently it is holding up just fine. Lowes carries this brand and has the stucco finish that I would like to use. It costs a little over $50 per 4 x 8 sheet.

HardiePanel Cement Board Siding Stucco Finish

The James Hardie website offers to send sustainability information by email. So I wrote and asked for information and their sustainability engineer wrote me back promptly asking for a few facts about the building project. They send an individual letter for each project based on location. Since LEED gives credit for locally manufactured goods sourced and made within 500 miles of the building site, they have the exact figures for the location of their components and manufacturing sites. I had the letter by email the same day I sent the information! Unfortunately there are no sites near enough to Colorado to qualify for the credit. I was also disappointed to see that only 2% pre consumer recycled content and 0% post consumer is used in the product so maybe they do use fly ash which is considered industrial waste. Apparently they do not use cellulose. Of course vendors believe that makes this product superior to others too.

Letter – James Hardie Siding – Recycled and Regional Content – Arvada, CO – 2015-08-21

There is also a brand of fiber cement products by Nichiha, a Japanese company that manufactures in Tennessee. The panels have been recommended on building forums, but I could not find it carried locally. Apparently the sheet siding is only available in the Southeastern states.

Menards does carry their fiber cement molded stone facing product. Nichiha uses fly ash and recycled cellulose although they don’t have LEED information on the website. I like the way the product looks online but it is very expensive. Each package is 5.35 square ft of product, 7 varied sizes of panels, for $50. Then each panel must be held on with at least 2 clips that are $1 each. A strandboard or plywood backing is required and the product is 1 3/8″ thick. Ten packages plus clips and starter strip for 80″ would cost over $1100 with shipping. There is free shipping to a store, which would save $300 but we don’t have Menards stores in Colorado.

Many installers say stick to what you know, stick to the best, James Hardie siding is considered the best. It is the best solution for our LEED Project. And the pre-colored boards mean that they will not have to be painted or stained, saving that expense for now too.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Energy Efficiency, Planning | Comments Off

Door Warranty Prep

Posted on August 20, 2015 by ellen

I met with the door warranty team in mid-June and they asked me to seal up the front of the house and add an awning of some kind over the doors, put in a landing so dirt would not splash up against the doors and then they would come and paint the doors and do the rest of the warranty work. Since then I put in the fiberglass under the door sills and built the flagstone stoop so it was time to seal up the walls around the doors. Of course it has been a very wet summer so no time was really good for outside painting, although Dave did do a bit of painting for other projects between rains. It will be best to get the painting done as the temps moderate and the air is dryer.

I had a colleague once who was also a middle manager, she advised that at the end of every meeting with your team, be sure everyone had a task except yourself. I always thought that it was unfair not to outline your own tasks for your team, but leaving this meeting it seemed I was the only one who left with a task to do. Although the installers were supposed to add this job to their list and get back to me. They made a show of measuring but they are busy on other summer jobs and of course never got back to me. Not sure I really wanted to pay them more anyway. So here I was needing to remove the rest of the old siding, and seal the front of the house where the doors are before the warranty work could be done.

When I complained that the installers were not going to do the job, the Alpen rep at AE Building supplies, Mark Attard, said he would bring me some of the SIGA house wrap and tape to do the sealing myself, which was nice of him. So with the spa job on hold because of the trench, I decided to tackle the front door areas. Plus Mark called me last week to ask where I was for the warranty work and I had to say not ready yet.

I had to remove the rest of the siding above the door in this case. Be sure the areas on the right of the door that are blocked on the inside were insulted, and replace the pieces of polyiso that were damaged or were cut above the door so that there was a gap above.

Removed siding and insulated

Then I tore out the old polyiso and installed new pieces of foil-faced polyiso around the door.

Installed new foil faced polyiso

The polyiso was covered with the SIGA house wrap and taped at the perimeters. It is overlapped about
6 inches at the seam. I cut it about a 1/2 inch from the door so that the tape would hold but the whole brick mold was exposed for repainting.

Installed and taped SIGA exterior house wrap

This morning I finished the front door wrap and moved on to the patio doors. The siding is really difficult to take off as most of it has 3″ or 4″ nails in it. It tends to splinter very easily and nothing is salvageable except perhaps for kindling. It took hours to get the siding off and the nails out.

Siding torn off patio doors

I was very disappointed to see the install from above the patio doors. These doors were just poorly put in from the beginning. The installer was a temp guy and I just didn’t think he was interested in the job. He put new polyiso up against the sides of the doors but just left it torn off at the top. The inside was sealed with spray foam but the outside was left completely open.

Top edge of patio doors

I started taking off the old polyiso, naturally scarred from the siding removal, and tomorrow I will cut the new pieces and tape the polyiso on.

I also wrote Mark Attard an email telling him the doors will be ready and maybe they can be painted next week.

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

Measly Shovel Meets the Impenetrable

Posted on August 18, 2015 by ellen

After working all day yesterday putting the rest of the siding on the spa, except for the equipment side, today I installed the cover rollers to have a place to put the cover when the spa is open, and cleaned the inside of the spa.

Then I was able to start the electrical trench. Simple 18″ deep trench from the side of the house to the patio wall, right?

So here is what I found lurking just a few inches under the top of the dirt!

Concrete blocking trench

This is one big sucker of a piece of concrete, and is it covering something or just there as construction debris? Should I dig it out, try to break it, or try to dig under it? Maybe the trench will have to go around it. DARN.

Concrete piece at least 6″ thick

This discovery was at the end of a pretty productive day. Nice cool weather today, probably only in the high 60’s or low 70’s and just gorgeous. Who wouldn’t want to live and work here?
These rollers are installed with two of the long screws that came with them and four shorter screws for where they only went through the siding. I drilled extra holes to hit the support for the longer screws but it is only a 1 x 4 and they recommend 2 x 4’s, but that is what we have. The weight of the cover did not seem to stress the plastic holders. They are made of that tough plastic that they make step stools out of. I actually was expecting it to be metal, because the kit of these two supports was rather expensive, about $87. I guess they won’t rust anyway. I like it that the supports easily fold down when not in use.

Roller supports for spa cover

I used the wet vac to vacuum the water that got into the bottom when the cover blew open during a rainstorm and spent a good amount of time cleaning out the spa with Clorox Clean Up in hot water. It worked great to remove the dirt and stains.

I discovered that the owners had installed a shelf over the filter strainer and then removed it and caulked the holes. There were lines of brown, showing they used screws that rusted. I got most of the rusty streaks out using a 3M pad. Actually a shelf in that corner is a good idea, to hold drinks or whatever, but I don’t know how we would get the right materials or get it to fit exactly in the corner. I think that type of fabrication is beyond my skills.

Sparkling clean spa

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Flagstone Stoop Partial Progress

Posted on August 15, 2015 by ellen

Another project I am working on is finishing the front stoop flagstone patio. I ran out of flagstone and have been looking on craigslist for low cost or free stones. I missed a free stone offer because the truck had a flat tire, and I could not get one ad poster to respond to me although the ad stayed up. So finally I found a couple of women who had just moved into a house on the other side of Arvada who were hoping to get some of the excess flagstone out of their yard. I have to admit it is kind of dirty and dull compared to my pretty buff pieces, but I really want to get the stone laid so I can say the stoop is done at least for now.

They were really nice and helped me load the stone, but I didn’t get enough to finish! So I’m hoping they will let me go back and get a little more to get this done.

Patio dark and light stone

I figure given the smaller size of their stones, I need at least 10-12 more to finish.

Smaller open area not completed

I also need some smaller pieces to fit in the larger gaps between some of the stones.

Larger open area not completed

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Back to Spa Prep

Posted on August 15, 2015 by ellen

I had to stop part way through the spa prep to go on multiple vacations. Poor me. So back at projects now that we are home.

I’m working on finishing the spa insulation and then mouse proofing the cabinet before re-installing the siding. Here you see all three layers of insulation partially finished. The top styrofoam layer will just have Reflectix added as there is not enough room for more insulation there.

Layers of Spa Insulation–Reflectix, Roxul Rockwool and Polyiso panels where I can fit them.

There is Reflectix on the bottom of the spa along with the layer of hardware cloth. I ran out of Reflectix so I ordered an extra 16″ x 25′ roll from Home Depot that I should be able to pick up tomorrow. I just need to finish the layer that goes over the styrofoam R-Tech at the top.

There are polyiso pieces cut to fit between the metal frame, at least along the bottom. The Roxul fills the upper space so I will leave out the polyiso just to make it easier for me to finish. Otherwise I would have to make all the batts narrower and that is too much trouble.

I did a bit more work on the spa insulation today so I’m adding to this post. I finished the polyiso board installation and sprayed foam between the boards. I added the new Reflectix to the upper area after installing the white styrofoam boards wherever they had been removed. Then I sprayed insulation between the white styrofoam too.

Spray foam between polyiso

I stretched the hardware cloth around the two sides that were finished with insulation and stapled it into place. Now these sides are ready for the siding boards.

Hardware cloth installed

The equipment side will need protection with hardware cloth too but I’m not sure how I’ll install the insulation and cover on this side yet.

Equipment side needs final design

Once I figure out how to insulate the equipment side I’ll install a removable panel or some kind of door on hinges instead of the full sheets of siding. At least that is my goal. Of course I still need the electric line connected too. I may do a quickie install of the panels to enclose the equipment side for now, just to get water in it and see if it works. Wouldn’t it be a surprise if it didn’t?

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End of Summer Fun

Posted on August 14, 2015 by ellen

We took the grandkids on an RV trip to parts of Colorado and we even drove into New Mexico a few miles just to say we had been there.

Road trip!

Stopped at the Florrisant Fossil Beds National Monument.

Fossilized (petrified) Redwood tree trunks

Stayed at St. Luis State Park when visiting the Great Sand Dunes.

St. Luis State Park Basketball

Played in the stream at the Great Sand Dunes that was still running in August which is unusual. Also the boys hiked up to the dunes and rolled down.

Great Sand Dunes

Drove all the way down to the southern boundary to stay at Navajo Lake for a couple of days. Navajo Lake is mostly in New Mexico so we drove down along its west end into the next state. On our way south from St Luis we stopped at a river campsite overnight and Chimney Rock to get a glimpse of the pueblos and kivas of the ancient Indian tribes who had a large group of settlements stemming out miles from Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

At Chimney Rock Pueblo–kids are trying out the corn grinding stones.

Another unusual rainstorm for Colorado–hail, downpour and flooding in August. This was our campground while visiting the Black Canyon which is next door to the Curecanti National Recreation Area based near its large reservoirs. Loop D of the Elk Creek Campground near the shore is unusual for a National Park because it has electric hookups. Nice for stopping with kids who need microwaved chicken nuggets and hot dogs and adults who appreciate air-conditioning in hot, humid temperatures.

Deluge with hail at Curecanti NRA visitor center

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park was awesome.

Painted Wall at Black Canyon of the Gunnison

On the way home from a great trip.

4 year old’s view of the road

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Spa Prep

Posted on August 3, 2015 by ellen

I started working on the side of the spa that is next to the deck wall before we left for Estes Park and finished it when we returned. My two sons helped with this project–stretching 1/4″ hardware cloth to keep out mice and using a long metal bar to lever the spa into its final position.
I had read several blogs and articles about spa insulation. I decided to follow this advice.

Wrap foam pipe sleeves around all of the hot water plumbing pipes. The inside diameter of the pipe sleeve correlates to the outside diameter of the pipe. If you do not know which are the hot water pipes, fill up the hot tub and run the heater. The heated pipes will feel warm as they heat up. Cold water feeder pipes will always remain cold. Wrap the pipe sleeves around the hot water pipes. In most cases the sleeves come with their own taped joints that will join together once they are in place. Make sure the seam in the sleeve faces downward. Wrap the sleeves to seal them with cable ties, placed a foot apart, or use metal foil tape.

I had some high quality pipe insulation left over from the project of insulating the pipes in the crawlspace. It was made for 3/4″ pipe but it stretched around the 1″ pipes on the spa. I used the yellow plastic tape from the Restore to secure it. Then I ordered a less expensive pipe insulation that was also 1″ think but it is only R-5 instead of R-7. I ordered it a bit too large for the 2 inch pipes and had to stuff and seal the open ends with scrap pipe insulation and more tape. I insulated both the hot and cold return pipes. The cheaper insulation was also stiffer and more difficult to get around the pipes, but it is better than no insulation.

Pipe Insulation–black

More online advice about hot tub insulation:

The tub came with foil bubble wrap under the skirting and 1/2″ styrofoam behind that. I added 3.5″ of Roxul insulation (R14) inside the styrofoam. Roxul is a mineral wool insulation. It repels water and therefore doesn’t lose its insulating value if exposed to moisture. It’s soft like fiberglass but denser and stiffer. It was easy to fit into tight spots where pipes come close to the cabinet. It can be easily cut to shape where necessary and is stiff enough that its doesn’t sag where there is no support. I installed it right up to the underside of the shell, so it also closed off the gap between the shell and the skirt. I left a gap between the shell and skirt near the blower pump so that the blower would have a supply of fresh air. I used thin wood dividers to keep the insulation away from the pump motor air intakes.

I wrapped the inside closest to the fiberglass shell with Reflectix insulation (foil bubble wrap) then replaced the styrofoam in the frame with 1 1/2″ polyiso just on the wall side and taped the seam between the panels. I left the styrofoam at the upper edge because it was glued and there is no room for the 1 1/2″ polyiso up there. I wrapped the frame on that side and the bottom with 1/4″ hardware cloth to keep critters out of the warm insulated space and stapled it to the wood siding supports. I also laid the Reflectix under the tub on top of the hardware cloth.

Reflectix and Hardware Cloth

Reflectix Lining with start of Roxul Insulation

Then I screwed the siding on where it abuts the deck wall. When that one wall was finished, my sons took our large metal lever and lifted the tub to remove supports and shoved it against the deck wall. Nice that I had two strong men visiting to help with the project.

Spa against wall with Roxul stuffing and conduit for wiring

I have plenty of both 24 inch and 16 inch wide Roxul rock wool insulation for 6″ walls. I thought I could stuff the batts in between the hardware cloth and the Reflectix on the wall side after the siding was on, but all I got for my efforts was only a couple of feet of coverage and scraped arms from the edges of the hardware cloth.

Space between the Reflectix and polyiso in the metal frame for Roxul

For the other sides, I’ll put the Roxul in before the polyiso and the hardware cloth.

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Reunion Fun

Posted on August 3, 2015 by ellen

We left town for a wonderful week in Estes Park for a reunion with extended family. Plenty of good food, fresh air, relaxation and lovely hikes in the park.

Tundra walk on Ute Trail

Big Thompson River

Rocky Mountains

Needless to say the house projects were put on hold while we enjoyed the beauty of Colorado with family.

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Moved the Spa but…

Posted on July 22, 2015 by ellen

Dave and I were able to move the spa onto the concrete pad by some accurate trailer back up placement and an ingenious plan to hold the spa on the pad while the tilted trailer moved forward. Much easier than loading it was I must say.

Rope tied to tree

Rope tied around spa

Spa about at edge of slab

I actually got up on the trailer tongue and lifted up on the spa to get it to start moving off the trailer which seemed to work but then once it started moving, I lost my balance and fell off the tongue of the trailer. So after Dave saw that I was alright and not hurt I got on the trailer which was easier. And as he drove the truck forward the spa slowly slid off the trailer onto the boards we had on the pad to help us move it into its final position.

Tilt trailer did its job

Spa still needs to be positioned

Before we put the spa against the wall though, it occurred to me I had to install the insulation on that side at least. I had not prepared a final insulation plan. All this time and although I had looked up how spas were insulated, I had not actually planned how I would do it.

Insulation problem

So first it is obvious that the piping should be insulated. I had some good pipe insulation left over from the crawlspace project but it only fit one of the pipes. So I had to order more for larger diameter pipes. Then I realized that insulation would just get eaten up and nested in by mice and other critters. I looked up mouse control and found out that 1/4″ mesh hardware cloth should keep them out. So I ordered some of that, even paid for expedited shipping but of course it didn’t make it on the promised day. Then I decided to replace the 1 inch Styrofoam on the sides that was partially shredded, probably by critters, with some of the leftover polyiso we have from the ceiling project. I will leave the Styrofoam against the top because 1″ fits there better there than 1.5″ would. I’ll fill in the gaps with spray foam.
After I finish insulating the pipes, I will install the polyiso, then wrap the outside with hardware cloth one side at a time, and stuff Roxul between the tub and the polyiso. Roxul is good insulation for spas because it is not harmed by moisture. Will have to leave some space around the pump and equipment so that it can get enough air to operate properly. Anyway, the project is on hold until materials come in and I have time to do the insulation and put on at least one wall of the siding. THEN we can move it into its final position.

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