A LONG WAY FROM THE HOUSE

SO HERE I AM in Adelaide Airport, South Australia; a long way from home, so to speak.

UPDATE ON  'FIX THE SUNROOM': Over the weekend prior to leaving for Oz, I completed the last project needing to be done before Winter.  Recall this aimed at fixing two problems: a slight problem with water seepage into the Sun-Potting room and the need to get more sunlight into this room during the cold months.  At right, you can see the dampness problem at its worst>

I have tackled this by digging out the topsoil around the foundation walls, laying down a waterproof membrane, and replacing the soil with a more porous gravelly mix.  This surely has fixed the water problem  and I now have a heap of topsoil to be used elsewhere in the garden.

The problem with the light during the cold months is the acute angle of the sun's rays.  These fall mainly onto the rear walls of the room.  As report in my last posting, I have concreted around the southern walls and planned to place off-white tiles over the slabs, extending out about four feet.  The theory is that sunlight striking these tiles will be reflected up through the windows and onto the ceiling, then to be scattered around the room.  We shall see just how effective this is when I return in early February.  Below is the completed job.

While I am away Daniel will be fixing a new roof.  Since painting the roof white, we have had trouble with a series of minor leaks, especially when the wind is in the north (the direction of the worst weather) which seems to have acted to lift the composite bituminous tiles (low pitch roofs act somewhat like wings, producing a lower pressure above the roof than below, within the attic space).  Despite all our efforts, we have not been able to fix this annoying problem and this has meant that I have not been able fully to insulate the space above the entrance hall and stairs.

So, when I return, a steel decking room colored polar white will welcome me.  This will be secret nailed to batons or furring strips that fixed through the current roof to the roof trusses.  This is lighter than covering the old tiles with new and will create an insulating layer of air between the old and new roofs.

A NEW PROJECT

A SLIGHT PROBLEM WITH THE 'ROOM UNDER THE DECK' has been a small amount of moisture entering as vapour and condensing as a very light dew... just some patches appearing on the western wall.  This is despite the waterproofing applied to the below-grade walls.  Apparently the soil under the stairway up to the deck becomes water logged and four feet of water is generates quite a bit of pressure.

Additionally, it would be very nice if I could get more sunlight into this room during the cooler months, especially early Spring when I plan to be growing seedlings and nurturing young plants, this despite that it has the equivalent of four windows facing to the South.

I have decided to solve both problems by digging out the soil surrounding the potting room walls, down to about eight inches (20 cm), then laying in some six inches of a gravel-sand fill over plastic membrane.

  I have completed the excavation and the remaining soil has a two inch/70 inch slope southwards and eastwards, leading to a shallow east to west trench.  I expect this to take away all the water that results even from heavy rains.  This will ensure dry soil around the walls but will not help with the problem of getting more light, and therefore heat, into the room.  It took several days to dig out the top soil.  I have included a picture of the resulting pile.

I think I can solve the 'more light' by paving out from the southern wall some three feet (c. one metre) with off-white tiles.  At the winter solstice (sun at the lowest angle of 42 deg. to the horizon) I calculate that the tiles will reflect light up to about half of the ceiling (which is lined, insulated, and painted off white).  This should assist with the heating of the room through late Winter and early Spring as the sun begins to rise to a higher meridian.  At the least, it will make the room even more pleasant to sit in on the days we have sufficient sun.  Of course, the heated floor will be great on other days.

I am awaiting the arrival of the gravel sand mix as I write this and am very pleased with progress on the project to date.  Soon I will be trundling the stuff by wheel barrow up to the work place!  When finished, besides the tiling, I will have paved in front of the stairs up to the deck and also the stairs going down to the room.  I have ordered up about twice as much mix as I need for this job; the remainder will be handy for other paving jobs around the house.  It costs $75 for delivery, up to ten  (non-metric) tons and $10 per ton,  so it a matter of simple economics to have a bit more than I strictly need for this project.  The next post will tell how the project went.

A NEW CLOTHES LINE!

THIS IS MY SECOND CLOTHES LINE...In a way, this is the end of a mystery.  When I moved into 74 Sterling, a single pole, upright in the back garden, eventually drew my attention.  What on earth could it be? I wondered.  Later, I noticed it was lined up with the west side of the house and had a (sort of) hook mounted near the top.  Going over to the edge of the old deck, what did I find?  Two more rugged hooks, about the same height as the ones on the pole.  Hum mm, I mused, likely as not there was a clothes line strung up between these points.

Now, at that time, it was about this time last year (beginning Fall) and I had been hanging up my washing on an indoor clothes rack, followed by a 'finish-off' in the dryer.  With the dryer winter air, this worked very well.  Come the late Spring and the Summer, the air was much more humid and indoor drying took forever.  Time to string a clothes line, I thought, which I did with rope, a pulley, and a strainer (a gadget to tighten the line).  It accommodated the product of one small wash, of which I do about three a week.  Is there a better feeling than hanging out the washing with a breeze in one's face, and then taking it down, all dry and fresh-smelling, after an hour or so?

The problem with my clothes line was that it sagged in the middle, and I could  not double hang things like sheets and jeans (one cuff on one line and the other on a second line).  Then too, I had to wait for one wash to dry before hanging out the next.  What I needed was a double line.

Now I realize that, for some of you (who live in some urban area where it is actually against city ordinances to hang washing out), this may all seem a little strange.  But recall that I am all for conserving energy.  Just hanging out the washing for eight months of the year means a saving of about $30 in electricity tariff.  My new line has cost me about $30 in various bits and pieces (hooks, pulleys and suchlike), including the cost of the original line.  I used scrap wood for the timber components.  So, next year will see me ahead having broken even this year. 

 To solve the 'bend in the middle', I fashioned a prop.  The rope passes through plastic tubing inserted through holes in the cross piece.  This protects from fraying and means it can easily be slid this way and that to accommodate washing.  The pulley systems gives a two times mechanical advantage and makes for easing tensioning of the lines.

To make a good job, I removed the rust from the old pole and repainted it in fire brigade red (matches the rear gutter recently de-rusted and painted).  It has two components, the line and spacers, and the tensioning apparatus (pulleys, hooks, and strainer) and can easily be demounted in the cold, snowy months.  This little project took me about half a day to complete and has been very satisfying.  It has fit very well with painting the deck.

The Autumn/Fall season has arrived somewhat early and the leaves on the blueberry bushes between the line and the rear alley have turned crimson.  There are touches of color in the trees.  The lawn grass is making frantic effort to grow and store energy in the root system.  The Canada geese have mostly departed so an early and cold Winter is to be expected.  I do not mind, I am off to Australia for two months in November and will not be back until mid-February.  Lots of work to do to have the house ready for the Winter!
 
I have also been acquiring furniture, some chairs
for the living area, and four chairs and a table for the dining area.  These all seem to fit in well with the overall arrangement and colors.

A winter project, when I return, will be a minor remodel of the kitchen area the details of which, I am confident, will come to me over the next month or so.

After virtually camping out in the place for most of the past year, I now have trouble deciding just where to sit!

MAJOR PHASES COMPLETED

FINALLY...
Pretty much done in the upper level.  The Living Area turned out much better than I had hoped.  The color (Cloudburst) you can see around the window, wall to the right, and doors is a bit of serendipity and seeks to import the clouded sky often present hereabouts.

I suppose this continues the theme of bringing into the house the colors of the environment. I my case, the basic colors used elsewhere, like Torch Light, Grass Cloth, and Crushed Orange, are somewhat 'loud' and used partly to remind me of colors found in Australia

It will be a while before I tackle minor improvements in the kitchen area.  I have since reversed the way the doors on the 'Fridge open and this makes things a lot easier as I now do not need to walk around the doors in order to get at the contents.  Here the philosophy is, "If it works, don't fix it.".  In the Fall, I will clean up this space and replace the present linoleum with linoleum tiles.  It will take a while to feel my way into just what to do.

It is hard to realize that this space was once two rooms!

My friend Blaine, from whom I purchased the road bike you can see in now over to the right in the regular content, gave me two prints of scenes from Central Australia he purchased when in Alice Springs (one of the Olgas, and the other of Uluru, otherwise know as 'Ayers Rock').  These are now framed; one is hung in the bedroom and the other in this area such that, coming up from the stairs into the passageway,  you can see one to the left and the other to the right.  This reminds me that, standing at the top of Uluru, one can see the Olgas some 30 miles away.  You can just see the Uluru print hung in the living room.  I am especially fond of these prints as, in my flying days, I made the trip to the Centre several times with various groups of friends.  I will write of flying adventures in the companion blog.

Since completing this work, I have turned more to the garden and am beginning to wonder just where to plant trees.  I have six blueberry bushes growing well,  a couple of trees awaiting re-planting, and a bunch of plants in the front of the house that will be moved in the Fall. I have also constructed the first raised garden bed.  Putting up an outside clothes line has completed the 'a la maison' feeling.  It is great have the washing out, fluttering in the breeze and drying in an hour or so.  The air is too humid during Summer for clothes to dry quickly indoors.  Of course, this enhances the energy efficiency of #74 Sterling Street.

The challenge now is to populate the interior with suitable furniture.  I have made up a list of what to buy and what to build.  Apart from my own needs in the upper area, I need to make the lower level able to receive house guests.

The deck needs treating with preservative and there is a lot of fixing, tidying, and cleaning beckoning me, not to forget that the exterior will have to be painted before Winter.  And so it goes, on and on!  Posting-wise, this will become even more sporadic as I work to recover parts of my life that got submerged in the overwhelming press of demolition and rebuilding.  I will work on some slideshows that will give you an overview of what has been accomplished.

So...Watch this space!

UNDER-DECK ROOM: FINISHED!!!

HERE WE ARE; THE END OF MAY AND...

The Sun-room/Potting-room is complete.  Both tiling and trim have been done, so have a look.  The room has turned out very well, far better than I had hoped and a far cry from the simple lower rear entrance into the laundry than I had originally envisaged.  The first picture looks to the South West while the second looks more to the East.  The orange trim panels were cunningly done but I will spare you the details.


I suppose that, one day, I will really hang out the washing on an outdoor clothes line.  Being just myself, I do several small washes a week and these dry well enough on an indoor clothes horse.  I use the dryer to remove wrinkles and soften the fabric.  This has worked well all through the Winter and Spring. However, the warmer air is also more moist so I may yet have the clothes flapping in the breeze outside.  All of which accords with my intention to minimize energy consumption.

I love the convenience of the lower entry as well as two entries from off the deck.  Sometimes I wonder, 'What is the shortest way out?' but I am getting used to it.  This room is very efficient  thermally speaking and is always cooler than the ambient air by day and warmer at night.  As you can see, I am well pleased with it all.


Even though I have turned on the heat in the floor only once experimentally, I can see that this will make for a great room in the Winter.  Of course it will also function as a mudroom in the wetter months and forms an airlock prior to entering the laundry/work room area.  Then the colors in the walls and tiles will make it a cheerful place indeed.

 I know you will like the tiles so I am adding a picture that will do the floor justice.  As you may have worked out for yourself, this picture was taken prior to the final trim.

In order to complete the floor trim in the bedroom, I have painted and trimmed out the shore passageway connecting this room with the general living area.  After entering the front door, one goes up a shore flight of stairs to this passageway and directly into the living area.

 Today I began painting the ceiling in this room so the next posting will be about that work.  Anyway, here is the pic of the tile job.  I hope you like it.  I got lots of cheap fawn (desert like) tiles at sale and my friend Uma gave me some  red and green tiles from her store renovation.  The problem was to find a pattern that would accommodate these 18  into the 100 lighter colored tiles.  Eventually I started  in the centre, beginning with a fawn tile and proceeding outwards in a roughly helical manner.  Every odd numbered space was for an Uma-tile; if a prime number, a red tile, otherwise a green tile.  It has a sort-of-random effect and most have found it quite pleasing.

Meanwhile, for the next week, the order of the day is painting the living area.  Although the cooking area occupies one corner, I will leave this to the last.  Until the next posting!

THE UNDER-DECK ROOM: GETTING THERE

THINGS HAVE MOVED ALONG SOMEWHAT, these last two weeks.

I have finished off the dry-wall and ceiling, work that was well along last posting.  The dry wall is now properly painted, primer-sealer and final coat.  The ceiling is a little off-white (Beach Sand), the same color as will be the wood trim around the doors and the windows.  The walls are the same color as in the upper bedroom on the western walls (Grass Cloth).  I am very pleased with the overall congruence and I hope you will be also.  The brown panel is one of my spare doors; placed on a couple of saw benches, it made an excellent work surface for the dry-wall work.

Now the problem is what color to finish off the foundation walls.  These are cinder block (Besser block, if you are in Australia).  Here in the US, a foundation wall sits on the footing and is usually the walling for the basement.  Basements are ubiquitous here in the North-East, and very common elsewhere.  They are mandatory in NY to ensure the footings are below the frost line, set at 48 inches below the grade (topsoil). As my house has no basement the lower level is half-buried by a berm to ensure this.  To keep to the theme of having earthy colors within the house, I had thought to paint these some shade of red (Frank Lloyd Wright would be so pleased with this!).  However, I have decided to wait until the tiling is complete so as to gauge the overall congruence.  Tiling will be underway this week.

With the drywall work is completed, I decided to have a look at the thermostat, thinking that it could not be 'rocket science' to hook up.  Just two wires, one red the other white and look...on the back of the unit that had been up in the kitchen area, these wires were still attached.  So the thermostat was a 'no brainer', as we say.  Outside, the ambient temperature was 39 deg. F.  In the potting room it was 52 degrees (not bad, so far as heat gain goes, given an over-clouded day and rain beginning to fall).  With 60 degrees F selected, it took just over an hour to get to this goal.  Very pleasing indeed and how nice to feel the floor warming as I planned the tile work, laying out tiles on the floor to check the pattern and proper placement.  The concrete floor holds quite a deal of heat, not to mention the water in the radiant heat looping buried within it and two hours after turning off the heat, the room has lost only two degrees.  I had been dreading that this might turn out to be a expensive mistake but all is well!

In my idle moments I have continued preparing for the lawn repair, carting soil about in my new wheel barrow, filling holes made by the earth moving plant tracks, leveling out boggy ground, and raking soil to and fro.  By very great luck I had all this work completed just yesterday so that today's rains, which bid to continue for a day or so more, have arrived just as I would like (did make use of the ten day forecast, I confess).  When this has passed along later in the week I am hoping for warmer weather to do the seeding, finally making use of the seed and the bale of straw still in the trunk of my car.

Other good news is that my 10 baby  trees arrived from the Arbor Day Foundation and have been tucked away in a sheltered area in the lee of my neighbor's wooden fence.  I am hoping for word of my half-dozen blueberry bushes ordered three weeks back.

So there you have it.  Tiling the next few days and some depiction of further progress in a week or two.  There will still be some work on trim around the windows but this will involve setting up for preparing and rabbeting the required stock.  I will be using two by fours from the earlier demolition as my source.  This work will enable me to complete the trim for the floating floor in the upper bedroom.

Of course, with the weather warming, there is the deck to be treated.  Does work ever end?

"THE HOUSE" UPDATE

IT HAS BEEN SOMEWHAT OF A SLOG, seemingly work, work, and more work, these last few months.  The main focus has been fitting out the remodeled bedroom.  After much consultation,  Torchlight became the main color, assisted by Grass Mat on the remaining wall, extending into the closets.  Then I cleared everything out to lay the floating floor, a simpatico Tacoma Oak.  This left the trim, finally selecting Crushed Orange.  To several visitors, this was a little startling and one commented, "Robert, you do have to sleep in this room?"  I have moved in, so far as sleeping is concerned and here is a picture of the bedroom end. 

From the outset, I wanted to bring the colors of the outside world into this room, as well as the sense of sunlight.  If you have been to Australia, you will know that there is a lot of red shades there, especially the red earth, so it also reminds me of my original home land.  It turns out that, for me anyway, this is a wonderful room to go to sleep in and especially in which to awake.  The morning sun shines through the eastern windows, steadily filling the room with golden light.  Later, the French doors take over admitting the light, so there are subtle shifts in color all through the day.

So far the house has managed to import heat quite well.  On a day when the temperature is in the mid 40s (F), the furnace rarely starts up.  Later, before next Winter, I will have to pay attention to nocturnal heat loss.  As you may divine from the photo, I run baseboard hot water heaters but revised the furnace somewhat (more of that another time).

With the promise of an early Spring, I ramped up work on the potting (come sun) room putting in insulation in walls, where possible (there is a lot of glass) and ceiling space, then putting up dry wall for the ceiling and on walls.  Today, this Easter Monday, I managed to complete all this work and have now to do the taping and plaster work, which I have just begun.  There were some tricky bits here and there but I am very pleased with my work so far.  What will remain are painting walls and ceiling, fitting the two dome lights to the ceiling, and then tiling the floor.  Somewhere along the way, we will turn on and test the radiant heat loop in the floor (when Ray,the heater man, returns from Florida).  This is a separate zone with a thermostat in the potting room. However, with the insulation and dry-walling, the room is importing heat quite well, running at about 15 degrees (F) above the outside temperature this afternoon.  Again, with all that fenestration, nocturnal heat loss will be a challenge.  Another picture for you, above.


As the weather warms and the days lengthen, the garden calls so my time outside is increasing.  I am preparing the ground ruined by the earth-movers (digging the hole for the potting room) for reseeding. I am pursuing the principles of permaculture (check Wikipedia) and plan for lots of trees, shrubs, and the like.  I have plenty of room!  My first ten trees are on the way from Arbor Day Foundation (their 'Wild bird" mix). I have ordered six blueberry bushes locally, and plan dwarf fruit trees as well.  Again, more on this later.

An underlying theme is a focus on systems: the house as part of the surrounding environment; using a natural approach to manage transfer of heat into and out of the house, according to the season; myself as part of this house/environment system; and the role of my abode to ensure a productive life, with good input into my well-being in this, my last quarter century (75 years next month).  I purchased the house on my birthday last year (May 29) and moved in on June 1st.  So far an amazing experience and lots of work.  I dips my lid to my contractor, Daniel, who has been such an excellent partner in following my dream.  I plan some sideshows for Photo Bucket so you can follow each aspect of the work in more detail.  Keep watching this space!

ONE MONTH INTO WINTER...NOW WHAT COLORS?

BACK IN CORNING NOW FOUR WEEKS...what progress on the house can I report?

The first task, in order of importance and urgency, was to stop the leakage of cold air into the house. The air pressure inside a house is usually lower that that outside, due to air flowing over the roof. The cold outside air then enters the house, forcing the hot air out. Heating costs money, especially when the temperatures are below freezing, as they are many days here in Corning. Number one target was the make the manhole airtight. Next, plastic sheeting to be attached to the inside frame of each window. Even though the windows are double glazed, air nevertheless leaks past the framing. After that, a matter of tracking down all the leaks from the outside. I still have a few to discover but the number times the furnace comes on and for how long has dropped considerably. I am looking forward to next month's gas bill to see what progress I have made.

I suppose, were I truly dedicated, I would read the gas meter each day, but this is outside (unlike the water and power meters). With the temperatures below freezing and lots of biting cold wind and four or so inches of snow every so often, I confess to 'wimping out' on this routine.

In the longer term, I plan to make indoor insulated shutters for each of the 15 or so windows to prevent the re-radiation of heat at night. Before that I have to set up my workshop in the laundry room. This is in progress and I have used a spare door as the starting point for a woodworking bench, gradually acquiring tools according to the jobs in hand. Serious work on this will begin with the arrival of a front vise for the work bench next week.

In the meantime I have plodded away at making good the repairs to the drywall (walls and ceilings) in the two rooms formed from four in the upper level. This has involved a deal of plastering to ensure seamless joins where the separating walls once were. 'A little often' is the rule with plastering repairs, with sanding down between coats. Not so bad with the walls but working on the ceilings has been somewhat 'yuck' and tedious, up and down the ladder and getting covered with plaster dust. This has been completed in what will become my bedroom and study space. This week, I painted the ceiling (13 feet by 26 feet) and applied a sealing coat to the walls at the joins. One can hardly tell where the joins were made. I am really pleased with the result...the hard work was worth it!

Now, how to paint the walls. Three walls (North, East, and South) will be some shade of orange, I have narrowed the search down to three choices and painted swatches on the walls. I will live with these colors for several days to assist the final choice. I have only rudimentary ideas about colors so have enlisted the aid of some women acquaintances. Thanks to them for excellent advice, stopping me from rushing in like the fool I am. The picture will give you some idea of progress. These three walls will painted toward the end of this week, taking me into February. This leaves the western wall and I think it will have some greenish hue; waiting to experience the effect of the first color on the room.

Down the track, once the painting is done, awaits the re-flooring. Feels like it is rushing up on me now that the painting is under way. One way or another, I am keeping out of mischief.

BACK IN CORNING AND...SNOW!

ELEVEN WEEKS ABSENT, I am back in my little house. Daniel has done quite a bit of work; strengthening the roofing timbers above the breakfast area, preparatory to removing what was left of the dividing (load-bearing) wall, and repairing all but a little of the dry-walling in this area and the bedroom. You may recall that I had removed all the dry-wall from off this partition. So now a commodious space reaches from the twin French doors to the South, opening onto the deck, to the large window looking northwards onto the front garden and the street.

I am writing this post in this new space and attest that it makes a huge, almost unimaginable, difference to the experience of the house. I begin to hear the house whispering to me about the possibilities around a minor kitchen area remodel and how to populate the eating area while preserving the sense of spaciousness.

The revised heating system is working well and easily maintains the interior at 65 deg. F in either level as required. I discovered that my less than completely efficient furnace (84% vs. 95%) heats the utility room to about 90 deg. F. This room is partly under the kitchen area so, last night, I installed a vent in the floor connecting the two spaces. Now warm air flows into the upper area. I consider this a fairly smart move that partially recovers the loss of efficiency I accepted in the choice of boiler.

And just as well...after a record breaking spell of warm weather through the Fall, the forecast for the past three days has been for low temperatures and perhaps 4 - 8 inches accumulation. About an inch of snow eventuated but the temperature fell from just above freezing to 12 deg. F (-11 deg. C) when I was clearing the deck and front paths this morning. As I was so engaged, the sun rose to begin a fine day. I think the threat of heavy snow fall has passed. As I edit this post, at 8 PM, the night temperature is expected to fall to 6 deg. F (about -19 C). I have rejigged the programing so the house will run a little cooler, so it will be snuggle up tight in bed tonight! At least the cold has frozen the muddy backyard.

As I began this post, Richard (one of Daniel's subbies) arrived to complete the dry-wall work. Mid-week, or a little later, this will all be complete and what remains is painting both rooms. I propose initially to complete the upper bedroom, first the painting, then the installation of the floating laminate floor, and finally finishing out the framing of the doors. Then I will be able to move my bed up from the lower level and begin to enjoy this new space. So a week or so of work there.

I have missed my house so much and it is grand to be back. I am especially pleased with the way the winter sun reaches far into these new, enlarged spaces, traversing from one side to the other as the day unfolds. Below the deck, work remains in the sun room. This needs to be insulated and lined, likely to be complete in February. At that stage, Ray will attach the thermostat for the radiant floor and commission that zone. I have a little work to do in the adjoining laundry area, setting up a workbench. Here I plan to make at least some of the furniture for my evolving home. High Ho...its off to work we go!