We called our favorite drywall guy, Hector, to return and touch up the drywall. He has been very successful the last five years and we were glad he came back to do more work at our house. We had the walls in the back drilled to blow in insulation. Then the drywall plugs were inserted. But the drywall was not really finished enough and it needed to have the texture applied to match the rest of the walls. When Hector visited I asked him about finishing the upper windows with drywall and he also did the rear bedroom upper window.
Finished rear bedroom window and patches
He and his helper drywalled all the upper windows.
Unfinished window trim
Finished window trim and sealed skylight
I also asked him to insulate and seal the openings where the skylights had been. There was one in the family room and one in the middle bedroom. It was one of the most important finishing jobs. We chose to remove the old skylights when the new Tesla roof was installed. They were out of date and leaky. The voids were filled with two layers of roxul insulation and 2″ of blue XPS foam insulation because I didn’t have more of the recycled poliiso. The 2” blue foam was a craigslist find that i have used to repair the insulation at the house foundation. Then the air barrier was stapled in and the edges taped.
Finishing the middle bedroom window and patches and sealing the former skylight
Two of the shower edges also needed to be finished. When he originally did the drywall I didn’t know how the tile would be installed so he left these areas unfinished but we didn’t have enough tile for these areas so I had him finish the edges with drywall.
Unfinished Master Bath Shower Edge
Finishing the shower edge
The unfinished edge in the family room bathroom also was drywalled.
Unfinished family room bath edge
Finished family room bath edge
The upper windows were a bit of a pain to get to but Hector’s worker was light enough to work from the metal light shelf. Where he ended up crawling along to do the installs.
Finishing the living room upper windows
Seems like baby steps in a long process with many twists and turns but it’s wonderful to have kind and capable workers help out.
Dave got a new grill for his birthday last year. It came with a grill cover but that cover kept blowing off and eventually ripped. Our area of Colorado can be very windy. This year there were some record high winds. So he asked me to sew a new grill cover.
I was happy to have another sewing project to use the vinyl that I bought at Repurposed Materials. I have several bolts of vinyl and white material. So its good to have a project that can use both the vinyl and the industrial walking foot Sailrite LZ-1 sewing machine.
First I took apart the old cover and looked at how it was put together. Basically one piece of plastic material from front to back and then added sides. I decided not to use it as the pattern but cut a more tailored pattern from plain interfacing. This can be pinned together to build a custom fit.
Pattern mock-up using interfacing
I unpinned the interfacing and used the pieces to cut the vinyl. Even vinyl can shrink so I washed it in the washing machine but hung it to dry.
Washed vinyl
The vinyl is a heavy duty weight so I needed to use the Sailrite sewing machine. But first I oiled it because it needs frequent oiling unlike my home machine, it’s supposed to be oiled before every major project.
I asked for advice on the Facebook user group for Sailrite machines. I was trying to decide on the seam finish. Although there were several suggestions, the easiest was the single or semi flat fell seam. I watched the Sailrite video to see the directions for this seam. They make everything look easy.
The seam is just sewn as normal right side to right side. Then the seam is spread to one side. It is pressed by hand into place. I have a roller to help spread and flatten the seam. Then the seam allowance is sewn again over the seam allowance to one side of the original seam about 1/4” away.
This was a pretty easy seam to sew. I used special vinyl seam tape for the curved edges but not for the straight. The seam tape pulled away from the vinyl too easily. I had good luck with the edge clips by themselves. Vinyl cannot be pinned.
Partial vinyl cover
After each section was sewn I took it out to see the fit and double check the measurements of the next piece.
Adding the side table
It was the most difficult to create the corners. I ended up sewing darts in the front corners. The right side fit better than the left.
Fitted cover before hemming
The old cover cinched with a cord and pull tab but the vinyl was too heavy to use that so I just hemmed it.
Finished cover hemmed.
Last week was windy. One day it gusted up to 25mph but the cover stayed on. If the wind does not blow it off and tear it that means success.
We experienced a flat tire on our first day of RV travel to our son’s wedding. We have had Good Sam Roadside since we first owned an RV in 2009. Once before I called them for an overheating issue in Kansas and the service station man was very nice. He brought oil and checked things out but it was ok. He suspected the very hot day. It was over 100 degrees. After a rest we were able to continue without issue. At first I just thought the tire was low so tried to refill it with our air compressor. But when that didn’t happen Dave suggested calling Roadside. It was getting late in the day on Saturday. However the dispatcher was able to find a technician to bring out a new tire. He was working in his headlights and the cold to remove the old tire from the rim manually and install the new. He said we had run it flat so it was ruined. He also said the valve was loose.
The Good Sam Agent had told me to take a photo of the DOT code and the tread but did not mention retaining the tire to prove a roadside hazard caused the flat. He also didn’t mention the other number I had to call for tire coverage. That is a separate insurance number. I did not keep the bad tire for their inspection. I dont think that’s practical because the RV was packed for travel. I just didn’t know the very restrictive rules on coverage and I could not find them online. It was there but I was reading the wrong brochure. My insurance card said Platinum but actually I had Platinum Plus. So although I argued that there was no way to keep the tire the service guy did not point out a road hazard caused the flat and only road hazards are covered by the insurance. Run flat afterwards? It’s your problem. Our old RV had a spare tire mounted on the back that we never used. Naturally once we no longer had a spare we needed one.
The best part of the story is that a new tire was installed and we were on our way in the morning. It was very disappointing though and I’m not confident we will ever use the tire insurance with the built in loopholes. Roadside is worth the cost but tire coverage is not.
My Tesla team watches and maintains the solar roof without me having to do it too. Winter has been hard on production. Mine was so low it concerned them enough to make an appoinment to send a team to check on our equipment. It turns out that a north facing system is not very practical in winter. All the inverters and other equipment were operational but there was snow on the roof and only 16 degrees when they arrived. Obviously production was low. Additionally they found that snow and ice were piled up where the roof meets the ground. One whole series is not producing. I am expecting production to soar once its spring. The sun will rise over the peak of the roof and the panels will get sun all day most days.
The back area of the house was not on the original gut remodel list. But several upgrades have been made. The crawl space was conditioned early in our thermal envelope work. Completed Crawlspace! The attic above was layered with all the extra fiberglass that was still in good condition when taken from the slab area deconstruction. The entire hallway is included in the original reinsulation with Roxul rockwool because the roof extended that far. The bathroom was remodeled so the rear wall was reinsulated.
Hall before drywall
But we did not want to remove and replace all the drywall to reinsulate the rear. We were willing to hire a level 2 thermographer to document the existing insulation which we knew to be fiberglass batt fill same as the rest of the house. I knew the corners were colder from my own thermography so eventually after I had heard so many good things about Bestway Insulation and their dense pack cellulose, I decided to have the rear of the house reinsulated. This will eliminate the need for a thermographer who has completed level 2 training and has been impossible to find.
The Bestway crew arrived with their truck in mid-January during a relatively warm spell.
Bestway truck at the back door
The process was to drill hose nozzle sized holes in the drywall and pump the cellulose into the wall cavities. We were fortunate because the wall cavities were not blocked so one hole sufficed for the whole cavity.
Dense packing with hose
The design of the house is a bit unusual regarding outside walls. There are half walls over the buried concrete walls and these are deeeper than 6”, there is a clerestory wall but only to the attic area and there is one full wall in the end bedroom.
The holes in all these areas were sealed with foam to maintain the vapor barrier and then patched with drywall.
Sealing and replacing drywall cuts
Both the walls and the ceiling were insulated in the “Red” middle bedroom and just the walls in the end bedroom because there is attic above. Then there was a lot of vacuuming to clean up the spilled insulation. But the workers both removed and returned boxes to the shelves which was appreciated.
Drywall cuts replaced
I took a couple of Flir thermal images with the new insulation and a very cold 13 degree temperature outside. Although there are lighter and darker areas in the thermal photo indicating difference in temperature, there is only a difference of near 7 degrees from point to point measured. The room temperature at the thermostat was 64 degrees.
Annotated Flir image after dense pack
Flir image after dense pack
I had a before photo of this spot but unfortunately didn’t annotate it. This is from October of 2015 just after the new windows were installed.
Red bedroom temp difference at back wall
Having the insulation reinforced with dense pack seemed like a good next step. I would also like to replace the radiators in this part of the house with underfloor radiant. I have plenty of HePex pipe left for this project just need to get to it eventually.
We had a long trip planned to Arizona for our son’s wedding. In order to bring all the decorations we were hoping to use and the materials for the chuppah, and to be able to be there for an extended time before and after the date we had decided months before to go in the RV. I reserved a two week spot at a small rv park located between the condo and the wedding venue. Then I prepped the RV for a long trip. We had the truck checked out mechanically and besides fixing the rear brakes we had a suspension upgrade.
Several larger RV’s that are prepped for longer trips have washing machines included. Usually in a special closet built for them. Sometimes they are an all in one washer/condensing dryer although condensing dryers are notoriously slow to dry clothes. Some are the typical stacked apartment units that run the dryer on 110 volts.
I looked online at small washing machines for what seemed like months. I found several types of small washers. There were twintub types that washed on one side and spun about half a load at a time on the other. There were machines that had an insertable spinner that washed first then after removing the clothes spun again a smaller amount of each wet load. A few actually spun the same load after washing. These were often labeled all in one machines. But most of these were not automatic. The water had to be filled and drained, once for wash, then for rinse, then spin. Some specified only cold water. These machines could be very small holding only a few lightweight items or a bit larger usually measured from 2-17 lbs in clothes instead of volume. Full automatic was another category with cycles like larger machines that ran wash, rinse, spin all at once. These machines are larger from about 1-3 cu ft.
Portable washers
I was searching for the most automatic machine I could that would also fit in the RV closet. The inside of the closet is 16”w x 23”d but the door opening was only 15 5/8 inches. Except for the tiniest, most machines of all types were too big in at least one dimension for the closet. I read that Laundry Alternative made the best stand alone clothes spinner. They also made a very nice all automatic machine for sale on Amazon that was too large for the closet.
But when I searched the products on the web site I found exactly what I wanted. This machine had the crucial measurement to fit inside the closet.
Washer measurements
But it also had many features that none of the other machines I researched had. Instead of 2-3 wash cycles it has 10. Two actually heat the water in the machine and the diaper cycle not only heats the water very hot but does two rinses. At the end of each type of cycle the washer spins to a very effective damp dry.
Ten cycles including internal water heater
Another feature I like is the double lid system. The inner lid latches in place on the internal tub and the larger lid closes over that helping to insure no water is spilled.
Dual lid system
This is a 1 cu ft capacity washer rated at 7 lbs of wash dry weight. That is about a quarter of a regular load at home. I filled the tub with a quarter of the dirty clothes in our folding laundry bag and did four loads. It was very easy to tell when the inner tub was full. I also washed a set of sheets and also the towels but I used the rv park washer for the mattress pad. The machine runs at only 32 db, astonishingly quiet. I had to order a set of faucet adapters to get the right combination for the hose to attach to the RV kitchen sink. I also extended the hose a little bit with a 12” piece I had saved from an old RV water filter. The hose is equipped with a fast connect coupling, I leave that on the faucet and hookup is fast and easy.
Laundry closet set up
One item bought in preperation for using the washing machine on the road was not necessary this trip because we had full hookups, a sewer, water, and electrical connection at oir campsite. The washing machine uses about 10-15 gallons of water for a load. The gray tank holds 26 gallons. That would require a place to put extra water until it could be dumped properly in the disposal. A famous product for this is the Barker ”Blueboy” now known simply as the Barker tote.
I bought ours from Camping World because I had a coupon. Unfortunately I tried the largest size since it could hold both tanks of waste water but it was so big I could not handle it myself. I returned it and bought the next smaller size. 32 gallons instead of 42 gallons. I investigated a few ideas to carry the tank. Originally I wanted to put it in the basement storage but it was too large. I found a bumper bracket instead also from Camping World
Bumper mount for tank
The bumper on the RV had been replaced with a welded steel version that is stronger than the original so I was not worried that it could not carry 37 extra pounds. The tank is strapped to the metal arms.
Medium size Barker waste water tank
This tank works like a wagon to haul waste water to the dump station. It can even be towed. The piece de resistance is the small electric dryer that fits in the storage area. We dont have to hang our wet clothes or even beach towels if we have power-generator or plug in. The inverter probably would not handle it.
Small dryer in storage area
I bought this dryer several years ago hoping to mount it behind our smaller RV but never tackled the project. The washing machine is a welcome upgrade because I didn’t have to haul the clothes anywhere and could do other projects while it was washing.
Of course any project no matter how unfamiliar can be tackled with online directions. I used this plan.
Chuppah how to
But of course I made some modifications. My son was a bit repelled by the idea of buckets plus they are expensive. I already knew about cloth planters so I ordered two kinds. These are very inexpensive a set of six 7 gallon “grow bags” was about $20. I also ordered 5 gallon bags but decided the taller bags would be more sturdy. Plus the yellow/tan color matched one of the wedding colors. I lined the ”buckets” with pickling bags made of a heavy duty plastic.
Sample cloth planting buckets
There were many beautiful chuppas online to emulate. This was the design that caught our eye.
Inspiration
I was planning to use some antique organdy I separated from an old bedspread with the eyelet pieces as the roof. But I found out that a tallit, a sacred Jewish cloth is used instead. Rachel, our bride, was using her grandfather’s. We drove our RV out so we had plenty of room for materiaIs. The posts were loaded in the cab-over as well as boxes of accessories like candles and craft supplies. I brought a couple of bolts of white material I had bought at a repurposed materials auction. I used lenths of the lighter weight material.
I didn’t start the buckets or pole construction until we got to Mesa’s warmer climate. Instead of using all cement, I layered sand and cement. I was intending to just buy the 4” plastic pipe in Mesa when I saw there was a shortage of the drain pipe. So I brought the length that I had. I brought several power tools too: the impact drill, the heavy 1/2 inch power drill with the cement mixing paddle, the multi tool saw, and the electric staple gun.
Bottom layer is sand
I cut the pipe lengths with the multitool. I figured that layering sand and cement would make the buckets lighter than all cement and easier to move. Sand is also cheaper than cement. I started with a layer of sand because I reasoned that I could shift that layer to help even the buckets on uneven ground. I bought a 5 gallon bucket to mix a layer of cement at a time and alternated about an inch of concrete with about an inch of sand.
Ready for cement
The buckets seemed sturdy enough to hold the poles at a little more than half full. I used 1 3/4 bags of cement and 1 1/2 bags of sand. the top pieces were rails from a recycled log bed and were exactly the right length to build a 7’ x 7’ x 7’ chuppah for good luck. Each end was held at the top by one long screw so easy to put together and take apart.
Working to set up
One of the poles was a little too thick for the pipe so I trimmed it with the multitool saw until it fit. At the venue we would turn the poles until they appeared straight and used cardboard to shim a couple in the pipes. Next I cut the pieces of material for the drape and purchased two lovely bouganvillea plants as decor. I had two grow bags left to cover the black pots.
Trial set up at RV Park
Unfortunately the white material was kind of dirty so we decided to wash it at the hotel. But we didnt have time to iron it. Better clean than flat I guess.
Set up at venue
Certainly not obviously wrinkled from a distance and the chuppah was just what we had in mind. The wedding couple were very happy with it.
Although we seldom have a fire in the wood boiler we seldom have very cold snowy weather. At least not as much as I expected. But occasionally it gets down to zero and negative temperatures. Then it feels right to put a fire in the stove and enjoy the ambiance and extra heat. I have explained the workings of the boiler in the past. The fun part is that it still works flawlessly.
Cheery warm fire in fireplace
First the primary boiler pump is turned on then the fire is lit. When the circulating water in the stove reaches a warm enough temperature the second pump turns on and sends the water to the heat exchanger. I increase the thermostat temperature in the back of the house so there is a call for heat and the system pumps turn on. But the fire warmed water circulates without the boiler igniting because the water is already warm enough. A thing of beauty considering how long it took me to figure out the installation.
What I love is that we are getting heat from the boiler without using gas. That means we are gaining way more from our fireplace than most.
Boiler not firing due to temperature reached
Boiler code #6 temperature reached
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Back when we had visitors I reconsidered the boiler set points and thought I was setting the boiler to perform more closely to typical conditions. As it got colder this winter it appeared that the settings were keeping the boiler temperatures too low so that it was taking longer to get the house warm. I went back to the original settings. This is the factory setting and it appears to be better than raising the maximum heat and lowering the outside temperature. Not intuitive to me but the proof is in a warm house with warm floors.
We have used our SPT dishwasher now for about seven and a half years. I purchased it from a grad student at CSU to fit in the corner of our rustic kitchen. After a few years the inlet valve broke but I fixed it with an inexpensive part. Lately the calcium buildup in the dishwasher has been accelerating. I reduced the circulation time for the Mangox filter to save water. We were using 600 gallons a week and now it uses 300. But that meant build up in the dishwasher more frequently.
In order to address the problem without treating all our water, I purchased an RV water softener for just the dishwasher.
RV softener ad
The first step was hooking the unit up to a faucet to run the water until clear. It’s cold outside and I could not use the outside hose faucet to easily connect it so this took me awhile. I had just purchased a set of faucet adapters for a small washing machine hookup. So I dug through those to find the right combination to make the connections. I tried the washing machine hose but it leaked profusely at the elbow no matter how hard I tightened it. So I used the hose that came with the softener and an old washing machine hose on the other end. Neither leaked. After prepping it I was ready to install it on the dishwasher. The unit is 10 3/4” wide.
Measurements
The dishwasher fits under the sink cabinet but in the corner so there was enough room for the softener behind it. This is a portable dishwasher originally set up to connect to a sink but I had altered that with pex and pex sharkbite connectors. I reduced the 3/4” hose connections with hose to 1/2” FPT connectors that I had already and purchased two 1/2 MPT to pex connectors. I have leftover pex pipe so I used most of the existing pipe to connect to the softener and cut a new piece for the line to the dishwasher.
Installed with pex connectors
I was able to push the softener all the way back into the corner. I left enough pipe so the dishwasher can be pulled out any time.
Supply line with drain and power cord
The softener came with test strips and I confirmed that it was working by running a rinse cycle and pausing it to test the water. It tested at the bottom on the scale.
Water hardness test strips
The softener claims it’s good for 2000 gallons in the ad but the directions are more conservative. They explain that it depends on the hardness of the water going in. In our case the water delivered to the softener is at 250 ppm on the test chart. The equivalent grains per gallon is about 15. The 16,000 grain capacity is divided by this hardness measure to determine that the unit should soften just over 1000 gallons before it needs regeneration.
Water test from tap at 250 ppm
The dishwasher uses 4.25 gallons. If we run it every day, though it’s more usual to run it every other day, it should soften for about eight to sixteen months. We can use a test strip every couple of months just to check. It is recharged with two boxes of table salt. Then it has to run for 20 minutes at low flow and 10 minutes at full flow to flush the system. I can disconnect the sharkbite and run it into the kitchen sink. Once a year it should be back flushed which means disconnecting it and hooking the supply hose to the output. Then it flushes backwards for 5-10 minutes. Also the case should be tapped on the floor to move the resin back to the bottom of the tank. I might as well recharge and back flush about the same time each year. If I do this in summer I can just attach it to the outside spigot. It’s extra maintenance but worth it to have the dishes get clean and keep the dishwasher from clogging and breaking.
Just before Christmas we took the RV to the truck shop for our long awaited rear brake job and suspension upgrades. While in the shop there were also delays because when doing the brakes the differential needed service. Then we had to wait for them to schedule an alignment so we didn’t pick up the RV until after we returned from our vacation. I took the RV in a few months ago for an inspection and evaluation. They found the rear brakes were worn and a couple minor items, the battery terminals needed to be cleaned and a clearance light cover was broken on the cab. I took care of these minor items myself. I asked about new shocks and a new stabilizer bar and helper springs. I decided to just change the shocks and add the bar for now. The springs were going to make the cost too high. And I thought it would make sense to upgrade incrementally. It took so long to get parts that I didn’t take it in until the week before Christmas. And it wasn’t finished until after Christmas and then we were on vacation. But the shop held the RV until my return. Before the shop was ready for the RV, I started having problems losing air in the passenger duallies. When we returned from California it was completely flat. I pumped the two tires up so I could get to the tire shop. The tech measured the tread and said he could not repair them. I bought two of the less expensive Rocky Mountain tires and had them put one new and one old tire, from the less worn drivers side, on each side.
New Rocky Mountain tires
On second thought with advice from Rv.Net, putting the new tires up front and pairing the older tires as duallies made better sense. So I had the shop switch them. After the new brakes and resulting differential service they installed the new sway bar and Koni shocks. Then there was noise from the rear that concerned them and they checked it out finding nothing. The rear brakes probably had to “set” and the noise went away. Then they scheduled the alignment I asked for and that took a few days at a different shop. Finally we picked it up the day after we returned. The new Hellwig bar is thicker than the Ford bar.
Ford OEM sway bar
New front Hellwig sway bar
I asked for the name of the shocks they installed and they told me Lmax. That is an older prioduct name for the Koni shocks. But I could see they were the ones I asked for due to the gold color. These shocks have FSD. ”Koni Frequency Selective Damping (FSD) shock absorbers provide superior handling characteristics without compromising ride comfort. The FSD is firm where you need it, such as through corners, but rides soft over expansion joints and rough roads. A special valve filters out annoying vibrations before they enter the vehicle, resulting in a smooth ride over a variety of road surfaces.” These were the shocks recommended by users of the rv forums.
New Koni FSD shocks
I really didn’t notice fewer bumps on the road home but I did notice better handling in strong wind. The ride in this newer RV seems to be rougher than our old one. Could be the extra four feet in length on the same e350 chassis. Maybe the helper springs will be the next upgrade.
My son and his family live only 3 miles from us. We really enjoy being so close to our three grandchildren especially since our older two moved with their parents to Germany. They were the reason we moved to Colorado in the first place and their temporary move turned into a more permanent one. As they were leaving we had a nice family camping trip to the Grand Canyon and my son’s wife was impressed by how their son immediately loved his grandpa. They had been looking for a home in California with no luck. All houses no matter how old and small were at or over a million dollars. So they decided to move to Colorado to be closer to us! I took six months off from working on our house to update their new house before they moved in. There are countless benefits to living close. We eat together at least once a week. We have the older kids overnight and can go camping together. We also take longer trips together. It’s easier with four adults to care for three little ones and also be able to relax. Since my son loves white sand beaches and water activities we took a vacation to an all inclusive resort in Cozumel for the week after Christmas. We really had a wonderful time playing with the kids at the beach, swimming in the pools, and having no chores or obligations for a week. Every meal was cooked for us, we had a choice of four restaurants and two snack bars. It was very relaxing. We stayed at the Grand Park Royale in Cozumel. It was built to be long and skinny so almost every room faced the sea.
The hotel
My grandson was so impressed with the view he took the first photo from our balcony.
View from our room
Although the beach was small it was not overcrowded. Probably due to Covid. We all wore masks except at the beach and in the pools.
Fun at the beach
When the family ventured to the beach early in the morning they caught sight of many unusual fish in the waters. We also saw a pelican at this beach one day. And one day we arranged to go snorkeling. We had to wait until a less windy day as the coast guard closes the reef areas under strong winds. Our trip included life jackets and snorkel gear but I also brought our snorkel gear. My goggles are magnified since my sight needs correction to see anything. We stopped at the beach for lunch and had it almost to ourselves.
Snorkeling trip with lunch on the wide empty beach.
Hanging out around the pools we saw some cool looking lizards that hung around the trees in the shade. Since we also saw a cat we figured these creatures were for pest control.
Iguanas at poolside along with a cat to control critters
It was a week in paradise as they put it. And it’s true that all work and no play make Jack a dull boy.
I have been interested in green roofs ever since a USGBC conference in Denver featured them. Our house has a nice flat and almost flat roof on the south side. I had an engineer study the photos and evaluate the design and he concluded the existing roof could take the weight.
South facing roof with old asphalt roofing.
When Tesla installed the solar roof they quoted redoing the flat roof as well but it could not use the solar tiles as the slope was too low. I asked if they could install an EPDM roof and they said it’s not what they quote nor could they change so I didn’t have them redo the flat roof. Then I had a bit of trouble getting a roofer to commit to the job. I would even have taken a tpo roof. But no call backs. During the solar home tour the first weekend in October I helped at a new build that had a beautiful EPDM roof deck. I asked the builder, who volunteered his time to the tour, to share the name of his roofer and he enthusiastically recommended someone. This nice man called me back right away, came out and took a look and scheduled the job for the next week. I was lucky because at that late time of year he was happy to do a few small jobs. He thought the roof had two layers of asphalt but when he took off the first layer it was a tar and gravel roof. That was why the aging asphalt had not leaked into the house.
Tar and gravel to be scraped off
This substrate had to be scraped off and discarded which was extra work but the roofer declined to charge me more. I asked him to remove the old disconnected chimney but when his roofer touched it he felt heat so was unsure it was abandoned. Turned out that heat was just from the sun that day so they had to go back and remove the chimney and patch it. No big deal with EPDM.
Finished section later removed non-functional chimney
The roof is additionally insulated with 1.5 inches of polyiso that makes a better underlayment for EPDM. Polyiso was in short supply but this roofer has long standing relationships with his suppliers and he went to two different places to get enough for my small roof. Polyiso is rated at r7.5 for heat and a bit more for cooling. So that part of the finished roof is now over r60.
Polyiso roof underlayment
It is very exciting to have the whole house well roofed and the EPDM is warranted for 40 years. Other jobs are more pressing right now but eventually we can have a garden patio on the roof.
My sister told us that her son in law took a couple of extra flights and returned immediately to keep his flight status for another year. That made me realize that I also had just a few miles to reach the next level of membership in Delta’s Skymiles program. I reseached flights that would not take long but would earn enough miles to qualify. In the meantime my cousin’s husband had a question about his new boiler thermostat. His boiler needed a switch instead of a typical 24 volt signal to turn on. I had never heard of this so I downloaded his installation instructions and did some research. He talked to the vendor and they told him a model of thermostat and 24 volt converter he could purchase but the combination was quite expensive and he wanted a WiFi thermostat so he could monitor the system while they were in Florida in winter months. My cousin off handedly suggested I come and help and I said seriously I would love to! So I made a reservation for a first class seat to boost my miles and flew to Chicago just days after returning from California. They picked me up at the airport and we stopped at a favorite Polish restaurant that serves huge portions of dumplings and ethnic dishes. We took enough home for two more meals. Yum. I had ordered a basic Nest thermostat at a pre-Christmas price and brought it out as a Christmas present. We enjoyed sitting at the kitchen table and setting up the thermostat to communicate with their WiFi. No small task because the technician who set it up changed the name of the modem to the old system keeping the old password which of course nobody had written down. The tag on the modem was incorrect. I thought it meant completely resetting the modem and the 20 items on the network. But they called their provider and they had the password. So we were saved. The old password was affixed to a label on the modem so it would not happen again. Once we had the thermostat on the network we figured out which wires would act as just a switch. The instructions were not clear about this but we knew that humidifiers and other accessory equipment did not take a 24 volt signal. Then we headed downstairs for the install. When the house was built about 15 years ago my cousin’s smart husband had the basement floor laid with pex for an eventual hot water system. He also laid pipe in the garage and had already installed a hot water system there making it comfortable to work in the garage in the winter. He snagged a great deal on a Rinnai M series 060S. He also found the piping for the close spaced tees as a unit for $100. And he had several zones on a couple of beautiful distribution manifolds.
System with manifolds, primary loop, and mechanical thermostat
I researched the difference between dry contacts and a typical boiler signal. And how the nest might be configured to work with the system.
Typical HVAC thermostat install
Nest control for plain switch-dry contacts.
Luckily the Nest had wiring for the dry contacts. It needed an inexpensive transformer to provide stepped down power to the thermostat. It was easy to find one because there are so many now that need a “C” or power wire to operate and older houses are not typical wired with power. I had to rewire all our thermostats when we did the remodel.
Nest installed and working. Removing old thermometer.
This old thermometer from the 50’s was inaccurate because the glass bulb had slipped down below the indicating marks. So it will get fixed. My cousins keep everything and reuse older things. It’s really nostalgic to visit their home. I was only there two nights and the second night we were able to have a Christmas toast and dessert with my brother in his new downsized home in a 55+ community. It was such a fun short visit!
We travelled most of December and despite Covid enjoyed our time with family. Dave and I visited my sister in California for a week and really enjoyed being together. She has my mother’s dining room set that my brother lovingly refinished a few years ago. But the material on the chairs was not her style. She had enough material to recover them so I brought my upholstery tools and recovered them during our visit.
Recovering the dining room chairs
It took me several days to lay out the material and cut the squares for approximately the same design placement in each chair. We reused the old foam and they may have been puffier if I had replaced it but wanted to finish while there. The material was a beautiful floral tapestry and was fun to work with.
Finished chairs
Of couse she took us site seeing also. One day we went to Luther Burbank’s home in Santa Rosa. There was a Christmas open house and we toured his first Santa Rosa home. He had lived in a larger house across the street but after his death his wife moved back to their first home and kept up the greenhouse and gardens. The signs and docents spoke of his work in cross pollination and invention of multiple new fruit, vegetable and flower varieties. One was the thornless blackberry and he developed a thornless cactus among thousands of other crosses.
Luther Burbank’s greenhouse set up for Christmas treats.
We strolled through the gardens taking photos of some of his experimental plants and enjoying the fresh air.
Part of Luther Burbank’s home garden
Another day we went to Bodega Bay to see the ocean but we only stopped briefly, being hungry we went to a roadside stand for clam chowder. The chowder bubbled in big pots under an awning at an outdoor stove. It tasted great and there were large loaves of sourdough bread to go with it.
Seaside lunch at a clam chowder restaurant
Our last venture took us to Napa, the famously beautiful wine country. Known not only for its wine but for its olive oil.
Long standing olive oil barn
Inside there were many Italian treats, breads and sausages, and types of pasta and their own olive oil some steeped with herbs, as well as balsamic vinegars of various flavors. It’s a nice old fashioned place. Locals buy their oil by the gallon jug and bring the jugs back to be refilled. We drove on to visit the big garden and greenhouse across the street from the famous French Laundry restaurant. We investigated all the plots of land and said hi to the chickens and bees. The restaurant itself is not that impressive but the menu is renowned and farm to table is practiced with the gardens right across the street.
French Laundry restaurant garden
We had lunch at an outdoor burger place that is another landmark of the area. With Covid it was great to have several eateries with outdoor seating. The burgers, fries and shakes were quite good.
Lunch at Gott’s Roadside Burgers.
Our last stop in Napa was at one of our favorite and most beautiful wineries. Francis Ford Coppola the famous movie director bought the winery and vineyards in the 70’s but not the Inglenook name. So for years it was the Coppola winery. Eventually he was able to purchase back the rights to the name. The day we stopped it was practically deserted but the staff was very nice and we toured the uostairs museum about the history of moving picture machines.
Inglenook Winery
My sister can plan absolutely wonderful days in her beautiful area of California.
The next trim project took four days. Scott and Robert worked on the “man” doors to the outside first. It was a bit of a scramble to get all the boards planed as they were needed. I planed the boards with an electric hand planer while the workers cut the logs in half and installed them as headers. The reused trim pieces that were long enough to trim the sides of the doors had almost all been used on the interior doors. We had six left for three doors. The door in the mud room entry got thicker trim cut from a 1×6 instead. Fortunately I had plenty of logs for the headers although they were all weathered.
Back door
Each door had the drywall edge sticking out past the door jamb. So each casing had to be shimmed out with a narrow piece of wood. The first day the three entry doors were trimmed. The second day they tackled the three patio doors. I filled in some spaces with foam and added a layer of SIGA tape around the wood.
Patio door trim
Wider boards were used for trim between the doors bridging the whole space. The three log headers all met at the top over the trim. This disguised the drywall edge that stuck out over the door.
While Scott was finishing the patio doors, Robert worked on changing the hall closet door to a rustic solid door to match the others in the lower part of the house.
Storage closet door
This one turned out really nicely. It used to bind but now it opens and closes smoothly and it matches the other doors.
The third day the large kitchen window was trimmed. It took a lot of figuring because the window had metal clips that held it in and they stuck out similar to the drywall but unevenly. So they cut narrow pieces and spaced the trim out the necessary distance. But it took all day to measure and cut each piece and install it.
Kitchen window
The space was so wide they ripped 2×6’s to the right depth to fill in. Then used the planed edge trim inside and around the outside. Luckily I also had leftover 2×6 lumber.
Kitchen window trim
The fourth day was a little shorter. They only returned to trim the master bedroom window. This window was similar to the kitchen window with spacers that bridged the metal clips. I also filled in any hollow areas with foam spray and taped the wood sides. There was time left to work on the jammed door lock in one of the patio doors. Although the doors seem to be a little crooked in the frames they all open and close well now. And they appear to shut tightly. During the blower door test we only felt incoming air in one upper corner of the frame. That will be caulked. In four days, four big projects were accomplished. And all the wood was reused from the original house. In this day of high lumber prices I’m so glad we salvaged and reused all the interior trim work.
Since working with the Metro Green Homes Tour I have met several people who have been active in sustainable and energy efficient housing for years. One of these new friends offered to come over with her equipment and do a blower door test. We had a test in 2012 when we first started the remodel. Although not terrible it was 3250 cfm at 50 pascals, the typical blower door pressurization that sucks air from the house. At that pressurization the number of cfm that are pulled through the house measured by the air pressure device is used to determine the air tightness of the house. The motto is build it tight ventilate right. Nancy K. set up her equipment to do the test. First a metal frame was assembled. It had latches to slide the pieces up and down and to the correct width for my door.
Blower door frame
Then a nylon cover was draped over the frame and Velcro’d on.
Frame cover
The cover’s frame was set into the door and stretched to fit tightly then clamped in place. The large barrel fan was inserted into the circular opening and the tubing was connected to make the readings with the air meter.
Frame positioned in door
When the meter reached 50 pascals of air pressure the reading of cfm passing through the fan was measured. The reading pulled air from within the house at a steady rate of about 2700 cfm.
Waiting for 50 pascal air measure
Given that I had worked pretty hard to seal up the remodeled part of the house I was shocked that the cfm reading at 50 pascals was 2700 cfm. That’s only about a 17% improvement. New windows and doors and new insulation in the walls and ceiling with expensive air barrier membrane inside would expect a bigger gain in air tightness. We went around the house looking for spiderwebs moving in the corners. We also felt for air intrusion. It turned out there is lots of air intrusion from the rooms I have not done. The most came from the foundation areas around the new windows and the rear of the utility room wherever pipes pierce the outer wall. And the garage door actually whistled as air came rushing in all around it.
Nancy could see how disappointed I was. Oh my, all the work done and money spent on our main living space only to be losing so much air through the older part of the house! I fretted about it for a day then started making plans to seal up the rear of the house. No excuses. It has to be done. now that I have a friend with a blower door though I can improve and get another test before the LEED evaluation.
I just could not seem to make progress on the house so we decided to hire some help. I found a recommended handyman service on a neighbors group and called. This was the third time I had tried to hire someone but the other times there was no interest. I met with Scott from Universal Service Solutions and he was interested in the work of trimming out the doors and windows. He brought his partner over and they discussed approaches to the custom work the windows and doors needed and scheduled to start the next week with a phase one job: all the interior doors. We set up in the garage with my table saw and their mitre saw.
Saws in garage
This team was more than willing to tackle the more difficult job of trimming the doors with half log headers and reused trim. I had saved all the trim from the tear out. It’s a nice 2 1/8” x 1/2” rounded edge pine. I have a hand planer and was able to plane the finish side of each board while the guys worked on ripping the recycled logs.
Planer and boards for trim
Planed boards
The effect inside is exactly what I had hoped to see. The half logs vary in tone. Some are lighter and some are darker.
Trim on bedroom door
They were willing to add a shelf above the utility room door which was also out of reused wood. There were some oak accents in the house so this shelf is oak.
Utility Room trim with display shelf
In some cases the trim had to be cut to fit around a narrower space like inside the bathroom.
Bathroom trim
Phase one was completed in three days and next we discussed phase two, which was a bigger project trimming the three outside doors, the three French doors, and hanging the matching closet door.
Believe it or not someone read this entire blog. I am amazed because it obviously takes a certain kind of interest to slog through over 630 posts with 9 years of projects. I received a letter from this gentleman and he lives in Parker, CO. About 30 miles away from us. He asked to visit the house and I called him back right away. I love the interest and talking about our renovation. We scheduled a visit for Saturday and he and his wife drove north to our house to see the Tesla Roof and the energy saving features. Unfortunately my house is rather messy right now. As it is most of the time because I seldom expend energy cleaning up after myself. And I didn’t give myself enough time to straighten up. I know it gives a poor impression. But these visitors seemed to be more interested in a tour and questions about the renovations. We talked most about floor heave and the Wafflemat solution. Then there were questions about the concrete floor and radiant heat. Some answers I did not know as the decisions were made years ago. For instance what is the set point for the radiant system? I know the Delta T is supposed to be about 20 degrees. The water returning from the system should be 20 degrees lower than the water that is heated to circulate. The design circulating temperature is calculated for zero degrees here in Colorado and that is modulated or changed up and down depending on the outdoor sensor temperature. That number is set in the boiler and I guessed it was about 110 degrees. But I was incorrect. It was set at the factory minimum of 86°. That is the maximum the boiler would operate at when the temperature was zero but I reset that to 100° when the outside temperature is -9 which is a more likely lowest point.
Minimum outdoor temperature
Maximum boiler temperature
The lowest outside temperature sensor at which the minimum boiler heat will fire is the factory low of 60°. The low set point is 80°. That means when heat is called for the lowest temperature the boiler sends is 80°. I believe both high and low settings should return the 20° Delta T that is recommended.
Minimum outdoor temperature to provide heat.
Minimum boiler temperature
I remember the floors require 86° at zero outdoor temperature so for warmer days that are not heated by the sun the boiler will send slightly lower temperature warm water. I’m not sure how efficient that is but return water temp in a condensing boiler should ideally be 80° or below and these settings should ensure that and maximum boiler efficiency.
Our visitors had very impressive backgrounds with multiple engineering degrees both civil and electrical and seemed more than capable of designing and building an energy efficient home. The entire blog took two weeks to read and he had a fresher background in our house history than I do. I hope they send updates as they make progress in their design and build.
The Tesla roof was up and running for part of the day on August 28th. It has been operating for almost three months. The app does not have a date to date feature so I downloaded performance for each full month, September and October. The charts show the total KWh the house used each day in the first column of data, the second column is the total solar generated kWh. The Power wall numbers indicate extra power generated and stored, the positive numbers show the days where more power was stored than used, the negative more used than generated. The grid kWh’s were used from the grid when positive and when negative excess power was sent to the grid.
Tesla Roof Performance 9/21
The average home use over the month of September was 41 kWh. The average electricity generated was almost the same at 40.99 so it would seem that the solar roof provided 100% of use in September. But the power wall contribution is negative for the month at 1.93 because the batteries fill each day and use 47% of the stored energy when solar does not meet the house use. The negative draw of the power walls is exactly what the grid contributed for the month, 1.93 kWh.
We would expect October to produce less electricity since the sun is lower and the roof is on the North side of the house.
Tesla Roof Performance 19/21
The average use was 37 kWh and the average production was 27 kWh. So in October we produced 70% of our electricity use and the grid provided almost 30%. The power walls drew 1.83 kWh more than the change, that 5% is included in the 11 kWh drawn from the grid. One day seems to be an anomaly with the house using 133 kWh. I have no idea what happened that day that created that large increase.
My theory was that the power walls would charge with the sun only and return that power after the sun set. But it appears that they also charge from the grid. If a storm threatens they do not use power in the house but save it for a potential outage. The amount of power the walls use each day is a little more than used to charge them so it appears at least in the fall they do not contribute to a lower use of the grid. I put all these averages into a circle graph that shows the relationship.
September solar performance
October solar performance
As winter approaches the solar roof will produce less power. I expect the numbers will again begin to climb slowly after the winter solstice.
