One might have thought that, with the kitchen remodel done, I would have run out of steam.
Not so, there is lots of work to do in the garden. I am sorry to report that the transplant of the four dwarf pines from just in front of the house to alongside the foot-walk turned out to be a total failure. The trees eventually dropped their needles and will be replaced by new dwarf pines from the nursery. Too bad but, as the saying goes, nothing ventured...nothing gained. On the positive side, most of my initial tree planting is gone well, with just three or so more to be done.
Daniel will be back mid-July, to do the small remodel of the upper bathroom. A shower recess will replace the bath, a window will admit light and air, and a new light and ceiling fan will be installed. I have a bath in the bathroom downstairs and, much as I like a good soak, the usual for me is a quick shower. As I grow older, I am concerned to make bathing safe, so showering in the bath is a hazard to can do without. Already this bathroom has some sturdy grab handles. The other day, I avoided a fall out of the bath courtesy of one of these handles, installed for the well-being of the previous aged owners. The recess will have a tiled sit-me-down, so that I can scrub my feet.
Mean while, I am embarked on painting the exterior. The soffits will be sky blue and the walls a lighter blue. I have been trying out possible colors on the southern wall, which is easy to do from the deck level. The really 'techy' bit is that I am adding a product (Insuladd) allegedly developed by NASA for coating the Space Shuttles. The object is to include tiny ceramic micro-spheres, that enclose a vacuum, and are very white, that have the ability to reflect significantly heat and light. The idea is to make the paint for the walls extremely reflective, while retaining the color. The expectation is cooler walls in the Summer and retention of heat within the dwelling in the cold months. If this works with the walls, I will repaint the ceilings, using this additive.Out of the packet, it adds 20% to the paint volume and raises the price by about 30%, so with energy saving and increased comfort within the house, this might be a very good deal. Anyway, I have the first coat on the southern wall and it looks very nice and was exceptionally easy to apply. Here are a some pictures of the early work.
Sorry not to have included a pic of the entire wall but I just plain forgot to take one! Next time, with a report on effectiveness.
Well, this brings me to a related topic. Earlier this week, I had a Home Energy Audit done on the house. New York State pays for this for impoverished folk like me. Actually, it is not all that much related to income and it is good that this state, which has double taxation (income and sales taxes), and runs ever at a loss, affords this benefit to its residents. Jason, the technician who performed the audit, had not heard of this product and was quite interested to follow the project along. He is back with his recommendations this week. I will try to have the western wall done with at least one coat before his return. If so, he will take temperature reading of the interior and exterior wall on that side. He was impressed that the combination of the reflective steel roof and soffit ventilation maintains the attic temperature at about ambient levels. His neat little temperature meter showed a nice uniformity of temperature across the walls and ceilings.
However, I sense that the afternoon sun on that western wall does raise the interior temperature of that end of the house by three to five degrees. Next posting will report his recommendations and what I propose to do based on what he has to say. Watch this space!
The weather has warmed up and day time temperatures have been as much as 85 degrees F (19 deg C), and fairly muggy these last four days. Thunder storms were predicted for late this afternoon and evening. Doubting that these would eventuate, I did some weeding and a little watering of the garden. However, across the lane,I spied a neighbor washing his new car. This will guarantee some rain, I thought. Sure enough, spots of rain began to fall, then heavy rain in bands, with thunder in the distance.
Altogether, a nice rain and a fall into the low 70's. I opened up the doors and windows to let the freshened air in.
A final note: on Thursday, my washing machine gave up the ghost. I thought to repair it myself; an internet search indicated a faulty timer and possibly one other part needing replacement. This work would take about 30 minutes to do. Alas, these two parts would cost almost $200! With other things possible to go wrong, I elected to buy another machine for $300, delivered, installed, and the present machine taken away!
