Hindsight is 20 / 20

Whao there Nellie! Wait just a gall durn minute here! You don't jump straight to putting a roof deck on without a few other minor details first. You know, like walls and trusses maybe? We have been so busy with our remodeling work that we have been building when we can. Our chief blogger's head exploded and he had to be sent away to an undisclosed location. While he was away walls were built and trusses were set. The walls were framed with 2x6's set 24" on center. The premise is simple. The fewer studs there are, the more insulation coverage there is. Our corners were constructed with advanced framing techniques to, again, reduce the number of studs and allow the introduction of more insulation to the corners.

We had some great help with the trusses. Jeff Harris and JD Olsen of Harris Construction helped us get the trusses up on top. Bill Dorr joined Arun and Reese to put them in place and tie them all together. All of us were overseen by "Angelina" the 'goddess of early spring' framing. She provided the warm days when we needed them, and helped to keep a smile on everyone's faces. We are not sure where she came from, and she seemed to move around a bit in the evenings when we were gone. But, we'll take all the help we can get.

Roofer Madness

Spring has sprung
Fall has fell
Summer's coming
and its hotter than........usual.

The roof deck has been cut, shuffled and dealt. It is finally in place. Arun and Reese have been working every chance they can to get it ready for shingles. We have consulted with the good folks at Healthy Homes about what shingle we need in this part of the country. They felt that we don't get the kind of extended exposure to strong sunlight throughout a substantial part of the year to justify the cost of "Energy Star " rated shingles. We have chosen from the "Certainteed Landmark Plus" collection. It is an excellent architectural shingle in 'Colonial Slate'.

Bill Dorr is in charge of our roofing installation. We want it done right. He's the guy!

The Hook'em-Up

GEO-THERMAL BABY, we all love a good hook-up. The rough in for our geo-thermal was completed 2-3-10 and stubbed into the basement. It is not rocket science or brain surgery...but there is a very cool "hot" tool involved. The well drillers left behind 4 -155' deep holes with black tubing sticking out. They brought their end loader back to break the frost and dig an "X" shaped trench between the four locations and the "Loopers" hooked them in a parallel system that runs the 'transfer liquid'
[ethanol] into the four holes and will return the fluid to the heat pump. Funny how a liquid can be both warm and cold without ever really changing temperature. Like so many things in life...it is all 'relative'. The tool that "welds" the tubing joints heats the sleeves up to 500 degrees, they join them, and "Bob's yer uncle" that's it. They simply melt together. They pressure test the joints and if there is an incomplete weld, the joints will whistle and sing. Our's were quiet. That's a good thing.

Getting looped for the first time!

Two weeks ago they really drilled us. Last week we got looped. The folks from G.O. Loop came with the sunshine and dug trenches. They connected the tubing from the four 150' holes and stubbed into the basement. They will come back when it is time to activate the system and connect to the heat pump, fill the tubing with ethanol, and we will be heating and cooling "geo-thermal style". Cool stuff

Arun and Reese built the bearing walls needed in the basement that will allow us to begin building walls on the main floor. If it would only snow a little.

What's under your basement floor?

Last week we brought a little heat to the situation. We had a small glacier in our basement and unlike the polar ice fields, it was not retreating. It looked like it was happy to settle in for the winter..... which might last till the 1st of July....you know, kind of like last year. Sure the ice skating was fun, but it was time to move forward with the underfloor plumbing. Once we got the main floor deck in place, it was time to chip a little, shovel a lot and bring in heat to coax the frost out of the ground.

Our friends at Lloyd's Plumbing and Heating "hooked us up" and things loosened up so they could "rough in" the underfloor plumbing drains and the 'geo-thermal' chases. Wow, that is a big sump pit! It actually serves two functions. We are also running a vent out of it to a fan above the garage ceiling [when there is one] to vent any potential radon gas and ventilate our footings...a great way to keep our basement dry. It is all a part of creating a healthy home environment.

This week brought more progress with large trucks and machines. Tuesday the 26th, the "driller dudes" came with their big rig. Huemann Well and Pump arrived and bored their way through dirt, clay, gravel, sand and water to drill four 155' holes straight down and installed the tubing that the "looping guys' will tie in next week. Huemann Well and Pump along with G.O. Loop are partnering with Lloyd's to provide the geo-thermal HVAC system.

The basement floor will be poured next. Before that happens, our friends at Healthy Homes suggested that we install 2" styro board under our poured floor. A little extra insulation never hurts.