Last week, DS drove 40 minutes to drop off her mom's old cast iron kettle, a pot and two lids at a sandblasting place for cleaning. The items were supposed to be ready by Friday. She didn't get a receipt. The guy said he lived near us, so he would bring the items home for pickup, rather than have us drive out. We called Friday and the 'receptionist' said they needed to be redone and knew nothing about it. Monday, the guy was there and said they'd be ready Tuesday and he would call for pickup. No call. I sure hope DS hasn't lost these items; she'll be heartbroken.
The septic guy called Monday evening...checking on the dates. I said Tuesday, because we still have to clear the way for the discharge to the stream...He asked if we were there all week. I got the feeling that he's got a conflict, but he assured me that it will get done next week.
I've been thinking about using the firebricks left over from the old fireplace to make a bench next to the hearth. Just high enough to accomodate boots underneath, for drying. It would be a place for mitts and stuff to dry, and be more thermal mass.
The big news this week is the financial crisis in the U.S. resulting from the slowing economy and that huge sub-prime mortgage fiasco. I was reading an article the other day that talked about retailers with associated credit cards, who are thought to be the next sector of dominoes to fall. The article explained that it depended on the business model used by the retailer. If the business model was based on customers paying their bills, they should be fine, but if the business model was based on customers not paying their bills, it could pose a problem. Not being well versed in economics, I didn't really grasp this whole concept. A business model built on customers defaulting on their credit card balances just didn't make sense to me.
Big Orange helped me understand. If you've read all these posts, you will know that they have financed the renovation of our current house for various periods, at no interest. In 7 years, we have paid them less than $4 in interest. We almost always have one of those 'no interest, no payments for 6/12 months' things on the go. This year, we had 4 on the go at once. Three were due between Feb and June, the last was in July. It got confusing at times, but they all got paid off on time. Now we have three more on the go for various dates next year, and we are nearing the $2000 limit on that card. Yesterday, they sent me a special 'Thank you' offer for 12 months no interest. One of those cards you keep for the next 3 months and can keep reusing. Regardless of date of purchase, the due date is December 2009.
That's when I figured it out. Our card has seen more activity in '07/08 than ever before, because of the cottage. Our balance is up there. Now, we know that we have budgeted accordingly and that we will pay no interest on these plans, but they don't know that. We're nearly to our current max on that card and they are offering to loan us more money, in chunks of a minimum $300. I'm sure if we requested an increase in our credit limit, they'd accommodate us. It looks to me that they use the business model based on customers not paying their bills on time. This nets them more interest revenue. Now I get it. Thanks for the lesson in economics, HD!
That said, I am contemplating suggesting to DS that we go for it. It would be worthwhile to change some of the baseboard heating units in the cottage to more efficient ones with electronic thermostats, particularly since we're doing some wall work now.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
The downside of the part-time rural lifestyle
After each having had the 'week from hell', we managed to scoot out of the city a little earlier than usual, leading to a very reasonable arrival time of 10:00 PM Thursday night. The light-sensitive zillion-watt lamp that watches over the property from dusk to dawn was out. Since DD and SIL were the last ones at the cottage, we figured they had been star-gazing and had forgotten to plug it back in.
DS learned the power was out when she tried to switch on the outside light after unlocking the door. There had been some rainstorms on the way up, with significant winds, so we weren't that surprised. Then DS opened the door to the house. One whiff and she thought "there's something dead in here, and it's bigger than a mouse." She wasn't far off. The smell in the house was horribly putrid. I reached into the chest freezer and felt nothing but softness. Yuck. The power had obviously been out for a while.
A call to Hydro connected me to a snippy woman with attitude. She checked and commented that something had happened on Monday, had we been gone this week? 48 hours or more. Well, that explains the smell. "Go to the main switch on the panel, turn it off, wait 10 seconds, then turn it back on. I'll wait if you want." Damn straight you'll wait. I waited 15 seconds just to be sure. Nothing.
This result left her a little perplexed, until she dove further into the layers of our connection details. "Are you the only ones on your transformer?" Yes, it's right outside the house. An accusatory tone, as if I've been a naughty child: "You must tell us when you call that you are alone on your transformer." Now, how am I supposed to know that? I have dealt with a live person at Hydro several times, twice for power failures, and no one has ever mentioned this. Ms. Customer-Service-of-the-year puts me on hold to check something else, at which point I begin to explain to DS what is going on. The Hydro clerk returns and quickly says something that sounds to me like 'Monday morning'. Monday morning??? Are you &^*% kidding me? I think but "Excuse me?" is what I say. DS thinks I'm talking to her, so she repeats what she just said at the same time as Ms. Clerk repeats herself. I still hear 'Monday morning', and am trying to process this. Clearly, I am not reacting as quickly as she would like as she testily says "Madame?" I explain that someone else here is talking at the same time and could she repeat again? "One o'clock in the morning." (in French, they sound quite similar if spoken quickly) Ah, okay, thank you. Click, she hangs up. No explanation, nothing.
DS and I are left to try to figure out what to do. No power means no running water. We have two choices: get the corn roast propane burner out of the garage, get water from the lake, and start cleaning while we wait for Hydro to show up, or make the bed and try to sleep. We opt for sleep. I find some essential oils and place a couple of drops of Bay on my pillow and Eucalyptus on the bed between our pillows. We open up several windows and pile the blankets on the bed. The breeze from the patio door means we get only an occasional whiff of rotting flesh and dairy products. Even the dog finds the odour too much and abandons his familiar, comfy sleep locations for the floor next to the bed.
In such a situation, you can either laugh or cry. We choose to laugh and try to make the best of it and we're still chatting when Hydro pulls up next to our transformer, but leaves without doing anything. A few minutes later, we hear the faint 'beep, beep' of a truck backing up, and the lights come on seconds after that. We start a fan to keep the smell away from the sleeping area, close most of the windows, and drift off to sleep.
The next morning, all we can muster is coffee, which we drink outside on our ritual morning walk. We don masks and elbow-length rubber gloves and empty the fridge and freezer, wash them out and haul the garbage bin to the road. Thankfully, garbage pickup is the next morning. Once all is clean, the smell is gone. Phew.
All this unplanned activity has put us off our work schedule, however. There is nothing to eat in the house, so we head out for breakfast, then pick up some groceries. By the time we get home, the day is pretty much done.
Friday morning, I get busy removing the latest installment of the beaver dam. It's been two full weeks and the water level is fairly high. This beaver is using rocks and is clearing the bottom of the lake of deadwood. We don't mind, but the fish probably do. It's not a huge dam, though, and I'm done in an hour.
The woodstove guys are scheduled to arrive and show up at 10:00. Thirty minutes unloading and setting up, and two and a half hours later, they are pretty much done. I had asked them if they could remove the top two sections of the old chimney, and we had some cash on hand to pay them for this job, as it was not included in what we paid for. They do it, tape the open top every which way from Sunday, and refuse payment. By 1:00 PM, they are packed up and gone.
We proceed to light our 'break-in' fire, and of course, record it for posterity:
We have a family dinner to go to, but when we get back at 9:00, we put in a real fire. At 11:00, we throw a hunk on the fire and go to bed. We're burning the wood left by the previous owner, very dry, but softwood, so it is consumed fairly quickly. I wake at 2:00 AM and the glow of flames dancing on the LR ceiling is gone. But when we get up at 6:00 AM, the top of the stove is still a bit warm. One burn and we can tell that once we have learned how to use this stove properly, it will serve us very well indeed. The stove is a Hearthstone Mansfield, and cost us about the same as a significantly smaller, full enamelled cast-iron stove would have.
I also spoke with the municipal inspector on Friday. He was curious as to the placement of the discharge pipe from the second septic tank to the stream. I explained about the micro-hydro and he thought we were seeking approval for that now. When I cleared up this misunderstanding, he said he would go ahead and prepare the permit.
Saturday the first order of business was the damn dam. Again. Very small, though, took me about 15 minutes. After that, we moved on to the bulldozer work. We needed to get started on lowering the level of the clearing where the septic tanks will go. We also needed to scope out the path the discharge pipe will take, because we need to fell all the trees along that path for 12' wide. It took us a bit to get used to working with the 'dozer, but once we got the hang of it, it went well. Typical for us, we forgot to take before and after photos. I did get a photo of DS in action, though:
About halfway through the afternoon, after a bit of a jolt, the 'dozer just quit and wouldn't restart. Turn the key, nothing was happening. We know next to nothing about engine mechanics, but we guessed it had something to do with the battery or the starter. We fiddled with this wire and that, and reconnected two wires that seemed to have been broken or cut, but no go. DS called her brother who confirmed it had to be something electrical. I have a multimeter, but as of yet, haven't the faintest idea how to use it. We decided to take the battery out and put it on the charger. That would at least tell us if it was dead. The needle kept going end to end, so DS disconnected it. While she did that, I cleaned out the battery compartment, which had been filled with pieces of old rubber innertube. Once they were all out, I learned why: an old battery had leaked and there was a hole in the bottom of the compartment. I put everything back tidily, and in a manner to keep the battery from bouncing around too much. Then, for lack of something else to do, I proceeded to clean the battery lead connectors. One seemed dirty, the other not, but I did 'em both anyway.
Reconnect the battery and voila, the 'dozer starts. We were amazed, and still aren't sure what the problem was. I worked for a bit, then turned the key to turn off the dozer to let DS take over again. Now the 'dozer wouldn't stop! I ended up stalling it to get it to stop. We disconnected the wire we had reconnected, figuring that was the reason for the new behaviour. It seemed to be because the 'dozer responded normally after that.
Yet another adventure. We look forward to many more.
DS learned the power was out when she tried to switch on the outside light after unlocking the door. There had been some rainstorms on the way up, with significant winds, so we weren't that surprised. Then DS opened the door to the house. One whiff and she thought "there's something dead in here, and it's bigger than a mouse." She wasn't far off. The smell in the house was horribly putrid. I reached into the chest freezer and felt nothing but softness. Yuck. The power had obviously been out for a while.
A call to Hydro connected me to a snippy woman with attitude. She checked and commented that something had happened on Monday, had we been gone this week? 48 hours or more. Well, that explains the smell. "Go to the main switch on the panel, turn it off, wait 10 seconds, then turn it back on. I'll wait if you want." Damn straight you'll wait. I waited 15 seconds just to be sure. Nothing.
This result left her a little perplexed, until she dove further into the layers of our connection details. "Are you the only ones on your transformer?" Yes, it's right outside the house. An accusatory tone, as if I've been a naughty child: "You must tell us when you call that you are alone on your transformer." Now, how am I supposed to know that? I have dealt with a live person at Hydro several times, twice for power failures, and no one has ever mentioned this. Ms. Customer-Service-of-the-year puts me on hold to check something else, at which point I begin to explain to DS what is going on. The Hydro clerk returns and quickly says something that sounds to me like 'Monday morning'. Monday morning??? Are you &^*% kidding me? I think but "Excuse me?" is what I say. DS thinks I'm talking to her, so she repeats what she just said at the same time as Ms. Clerk repeats herself. I still hear 'Monday morning', and am trying to process this. Clearly, I am not reacting as quickly as she would like as she testily says "Madame?" I explain that someone else here is talking at the same time and could she repeat again? "One o'clock in the morning." (in French, they sound quite similar if spoken quickly) Ah, okay, thank you. Click, she hangs up. No explanation, nothing.
DS and I are left to try to figure out what to do. No power means no running water. We have two choices: get the corn roast propane burner out of the garage, get water from the lake, and start cleaning while we wait for Hydro to show up, or make the bed and try to sleep. We opt for sleep. I find some essential oils and place a couple of drops of Bay on my pillow and Eucalyptus on the bed between our pillows. We open up several windows and pile the blankets on the bed. The breeze from the patio door means we get only an occasional whiff of rotting flesh and dairy products. Even the dog finds the odour too much and abandons his familiar, comfy sleep locations for the floor next to the bed.
In such a situation, you can either laugh or cry. We choose to laugh and try to make the best of it and we're still chatting when Hydro pulls up next to our transformer, but leaves without doing anything. A few minutes later, we hear the faint 'beep, beep' of a truck backing up, and the lights come on seconds after that. We start a fan to keep the smell away from the sleeping area, close most of the windows, and drift off to sleep.
The next morning, all we can muster is coffee, which we drink outside on our ritual morning walk. We don masks and elbow-length rubber gloves and empty the fridge and freezer, wash them out and haul the garbage bin to the road. Thankfully, garbage pickup is the next morning. Once all is clean, the smell is gone. Phew.
All this unplanned activity has put us off our work schedule, however. There is nothing to eat in the house, so we head out for breakfast, then pick up some groceries. By the time we get home, the day is pretty much done.
Friday morning, I get busy removing the latest installment of the beaver dam. It's been two full weeks and the water level is fairly high. This beaver is using rocks and is clearing the bottom of the lake of deadwood. We don't mind, but the fish probably do. It's not a huge dam, though, and I'm done in an hour.
The woodstove guys are scheduled to arrive and show up at 10:00. Thirty minutes unloading and setting up, and two and a half hours later, they are pretty much done. I had asked them if they could remove the top two sections of the old chimney, and we had some cash on hand to pay them for this job, as it was not included in what we paid for. They do it, tape the open top every which way from Sunday, and refuse payment. By 1:00 PM, they are packed up and gone.
We proceed to light our 'break-in' fire, and of course, record it for posterity:
We have a family dinner to go to, but when we get back at 9:00, we put in a real fire. At 11:00, we throw a hunk on the fire and go to bed. We're burning the wood left by the previous owner, very dry, but softwood, so it is consumed fairly quickly. I wake at 2:00 AM and the glow of flames dancing on the LR ceiling is gone. But when we get up at 6:00 AM, the top of the stove is still a bit warm. One burn and we can tell that once we have learned how to use this stove properly, it will serve us very well indeed. The stove is a Hearthstone Mansfield, and cost us about the same as a significantly smaller, full enamelled cast-iron stove would have.I also spoke with the municipal inspector on Friday. He was curious as to the placement of the discharge pipe from the second septic tank to the stream. I explained about the micro-hydro and he thought we were seeking approval for that now. When I cleared up this misunderstanding, he said he would go ahead and prepare the permit.
Saturday the first order of business was the damn dam. Again. Very small, though, took me about 15 minutes. After that, we moved on to the bulldozer work. We needed to get started on lowering the level of the clearing where the septic tanks will go. We also needed to scope out the path the discharge pipe will take, because we need to fell all the trees along that path for 12' wide. It took us a bit to get used to working with the 'dozer, but once we got the hang of it, it went well. Typical for us, we forgot to take before and after photos. I did get a photo of DS in action, though:
About halfway through the afternoon, after a bit of a jolt, the 'dozer just quit and wouldn't restart. Turn the key, nothing was happening. We know next to nothing about engine mechanics, but we guessed it had something to do with the battery or the starter. We fiddled with this wire and that, and reconnected two wires that seemed to have been broken or cut, but no go. DS called her brother who confirmed it had to be something electrical. I have a multimeter, but as of yet, haven't the faintest idea how to use it. We decided to take the battery out and put it on the charger. That would at least tell us if it was dead. The needle kept going end to end, so DS disconnected it. While she did that, I cleaned out the battery compartment, which had been filled with pieces of old rubber innertube. Once they were all out, I learned why: an old battery had leaked and there was a hole in the bottom of the compartment. I put everything back tidily, and in a manner to keep the battery from bouncing around too much. Then, for lack of something else to do, I proceeded to clean the battery lead connectors. One seemed dirty, the other not, but I did 'em both anyway.Reconnect the battery and voila, the 'dozer starts. We were amazed, and still aren't sure what the problem was. I worked for a bit, then turned the key to turn off the dozer to let DS take over again. Now the 'dozer wouldn't stop! I ended up stalling it to get it to stop. We disconnected the wire we had reconnected, figuring that was the reason for the new behaviour. It seemed to be because the 'dozer responded normally after that.
Yet another adventure. We look forward to many more.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
The Wild Life
Or, as some would put it, the wildlife. This is the post where all the animal-related stories will get placed, so check back every so often.
Not long after the warm weather showed up, I noticed a baby garter snake in the grass near the deck. I know how DS feels about them, so I kept my mouth shut. One day, we were moving some wood and I got a splinter. Not a bad one, but in an annoying spot, so I went inside to remove it. I grabbed my tweezers and headed for the head of our bed, where the patio doors are. This is where there is the best daytime light. Now, there's about 18" between the head of our bed and the door, and I sidle in and push the bed away a bit to get some room. I'm about to sit down when my brain tells me there's something amiss. I guess I noticed out of the corner of my eye that something didn't look quite right.
I glance down, and stretched out peacefully in the sun, in the guide track of the patio door, with one languid loop hanging out, is a garter snake about 16" long. Inside. I head to the door and yell to DS to get in here now. On my way back, I grab a pair of glove and the BBQ tongs. I know that I am the one who will have to deal with this intruder; DS is simply too put out by snakes to be able to be of much help.
The way she tells it, she figured I had come upon a whole family of mice, as we were still working on evicting them all from the premises at the time. But when I passed their likely location and kept moving towards the LR, she figured Murphy the groundhog was on the back deck with all the kiddies in tow. As we approached the patio doors, she was able to see the deck was empty. 'What the heck was all the commotion about, then?' she wondered. Following my gaze, she spotted our guest. Simultaneously shrieking and jumping back about 5', she asked what we were going to do.
I suggested she get a pair of gloves and a long stick, just in case I missed. I explained my plan was to grab the protruding loop with the tongs and remove the reptile, to allow her to then unlock and open the patio door. I knew I had one chance to grasp it. If I missed, it would move and all hell would break loose. There was no telling how long it would take us to capture it then. DS got the gloves and a baseball bat the previous owner had left behind in the woodshed. She also moved her nightstand and dresser about 10 feet away from the site of operations.
I took a deep breath and grabbed. My aim was true, but the snake was pissed at having his nap interrupted. He was writhing at the end of my tongs and sticking out that tongue. I moved him to the side so DS could handle the door. She was so rattled by this situation that it took her four tries to get the door unlocked and open. Finally, I was out on the deck. With one mighty swing, and a perfectly-timed release, that snake travelled almost to the middle of the lake.
"You know, snakes can swim," DS pointed out. Damn. I didn't know that.
Not long after the warm weather showed up, I noticed a baby garter snake in the grass near the deck. I know how DS feels about them, so I kept my mouth shut. One day, we were moving some wood and I got a splinter. Not a bad one, but in an annoying spot, so I went inside to remove it. I grabbed my tweezers and headed for the head of our bed, where the patio doors are. This is where there is the best daytime light. Now, there's about 18" between the head of our bed and the door, and I sidle in and push the bed away a bit to get some room. I'm about to sit down when my brain tells me there's something amiss. I guess I noticed out of the corner of my eye that something didn't look quite right.
I glance down, and stretched out peacefully in the sun, in the guide track of the patio door, with one languid loop hanging out, is a garter snake about 16" long. Inside. I head to the door and yell to DS to get in here now. On my way back, I grab a pair of glove and the BBQ tongs. I know that I am the one who will have to deal with this intruder; DS is simply too put out by snakes to be able to be of much help.
The way she tells it, she figured I had come upon a whole family of mice, as we were still working on evicting them all from the premises at the time. But when I passed their likely location and kept moving towards the LR, she figured Murphy the groundhog was on the back deck with all the kiddies in tow. As we approached the patio doors, she was able to see the deck was empty. 'What the heck was all the commotion about, then?' she wondered. Following my gaze, she spotted our guest. Simultaneously shrieking and jumping back about 5', she asked what we were going to do.
I suggested she get a pair of gloves and a long stick, just in case I missed. I explained my plan was to grab the protruding loop with the tongs and remove the reptile, to allow her to then unlock and open the patio door. I knew I had one chance to grasp it. If I missed, it would move and all hell would break loose. There was no telling how long it would take us to capture it then. DS got the gloves and a baseball bat the previous owner had left behind in the woodshed. She also moved her nightstand and dresser about 10 feet away from the site of operations.
I took a deep breath and grabbed. My aim was true, but the snake was pissed at having his nap interrupted. He was writhing at the end of my tongs and sticking out that tongue. I moved him to the side so DS could handle the door. She was so rattled by this situation that it took her four tries to get the door unlocked and open. Finally, I was out on the deck. With one mighty swing, and a perfectly-timed release, that snake travelled almost to the middle of the lake.
"You know, snakes can swim," DS pointed out. Damn. I didn't know that.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Craftsman style becomes the solution
When we began contemplating the upgrades we wanted to make, we hit a bit of an obstacle. We both really liked the cedar shingles used for the gable ends, but adding insulation to the exterior to bring it close to R-20 meant ripping all the exterior coverings off. Although the profit we'll make on the sale of this house will be enough to fund the upgrades, we're not made of money, and at $5.00+ per sq ft, that shingle-look siding is out of our price range. So are cedar shingles themselves. We were concerned that removing and re-applying the shingles would damage too many of them.
Remember that housing project with the Craftsman look DS was working on? Well, it gave us the solution. On the ground floor, we will upgrade the insulation from the exterior. On the gable ends, we will do the upgrading on the inside. We will address the wall variation on the outside by doing this:
That little bit of roof detail between the top and ground floors will hide the inch or two difference. We've seen the framing required on the jobsites and it's tedious, but not difficult. The roofing will come from the roof we remove when renovating the woodshed/carport.
There are many variations of porch supports in the Craftsman/Bungalow style. DS and I have decided that this is the look we prefer, more or less:
With that in mind, here is a view of the woodshed/carport as it is now,
and more or less how we envision it once the changes are made:
Just add some gable detailing and windows, and you get the picture. I admit, my SketchUp skills are very rudimentary, but I'm working on it.
Remember that housing project with the Craftsman look DS was working on? Well, it gave us the solution. On the ground floor, we will upgrade the insulation from the exterior. On the gable ends, we will do the upgrading on the inside. We will address the wall variation on the outside by doing this:
That little bit of roof detail between the top and ground floors will hide the inch or two difference. We've seen the framing required on the jobsites and it's tedious, but not difficult. The roofing will come from the roof we remove when renovating the woodshed/carport.There are many variations of porch supports in the Craftsman/Bungalow style. DS and I have decided that this is the look we prefer, more or less:
With that in mind, here is a view of the woodshed/carport as it is now,and more or less how we envision it once the changes are made:
Just add some gable detailing and windows, and you get the picture. I admit, my SketchUp skills are very rudimentary, but I'm working on it.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
We Wanna Be Free....
We are both finding it increasingly difficult to resume the day-to-day of our worka-day life here in the city. With some 2 years, 7 months and three weeks (but I'm not counting) left to go before we pack up here and move to 'the cottage' permanently, we wonder how we are going to make it.
For the first year of ownership and part-time residence there, it was hard to come back, but not as hard as it is now. Our theory is that the first year was clean-up and small maintenance projects. Now that we have actually started renovating, we are more 'engaged' in that property. We are starting to leave our tangible marks on it. We have a clear vision for the property and are itching to 'get on with it'.
The rational side of me knows that the 2+ years will go by quickly; after all, we have been travelling there for 17 months and it has gone by in a flash. Last year's puppy, part Lab, had us wondering if he would ever settle down; he is now a very well-behaved 17 months old, seemingly in the blink of an eye. We'll make it, we know, but it's not easy.
For the first year of ownership and part-time residence there, it was hard to come back, but not as hard as it is now. Our theory is that the first year was clean-up and small maintenance projects. Now that we have actually started renovating, we are more 'engaged' in that property. We are starting to leave our tangible marks on it. We have a clear vision for the property and are itching to 'get on with it'.
The rational side of me knows that the 2+ years will go by quickly; after all, we have been travelling there for 17 months and it has gone by in a flash. Last year's puppy, part Lab, had us wondering if he would ever settle down; he is now a very well-behaved 17 months old, seemingly in the blink of an eye. We'll make it, we know, but it's not easy.
Friday, September 5, 2008
A new homeowner!
Okay, it's not us, but I'm still excited. DD, after living in her brand-new condo since last December and paying occupancy costs, actually closed this morning. The unit is now officially hers. This is important, because her monthly payments go down since her mortgage is at a great rate, and she starts building equity. This was right down to the wire, because the excellent rate she got for her mortgage would have expired on the 10th.
She has paid her adjustments and her legal fees and has a bit of money left over. This is a huge change for her: not being one to wait and save, she was quick to spend money on 'stuff'. At one point, while still a student, she was a few thousand dollars in debit via credit cards. Such behaviours are all in the past. She is putting money into savings, and is still living well. And, as a parent, I can breathe easier knowing she has the tools to make it.
She has paid her adjustments and her legal fees and has a bit of money left over. This is a huge change for her: not being one to wait and save, she was quick to spend money on 'stuff'. At one point, while still a student, she was a few thousand dollars in debit via credit cards. Such behaviours are all in the past. She is putting money into savings, and is still living well. And, as a parent, I can breathe easier knowing she has the tools to make it.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Finally, movement on the septic system
So I ended up copying the septic system plan, drawing what we needed on it and e-mailed it to the soil engineering firm. I let them know I was less than impressed with what had happened since the soil tests had been done. Not surprisingly, I got a call from the engineer himself explaining that so long as distances from the house, well and property line were respected, the tanks could be anywhere, given that a leaching bed is not involved. When I pointed out to him that the report itself says that deviations from the plan need prior authorization from them, he explained that if the contractor digs and can't install where the plan shows, a few feet one way or the other isn't a big deal, the contractor can just pick up the phone and call. Nice of them to say so now. He did say that a corrected plan would go out, however, PDQ.
Also got a call from the second contractor with more questions and info about the installation. The compartment which permits the compressor to be installed outside the house costs $300. He thought that was a lot. I said from our perspective, to be sure we don't have the noise of the compressor in the house, it was fine. It is, after all, a completely watertight enclosure. Also, it must be within 6 feet of the house. Not a big deal.
While showing the contractor around, he was looking at possible points of entry for the wiring for the pump, compressor and alarm. We pointed out the wires that had run from the antenna tower to the house and explained that a junction box could be installed and the wiring run down to the sewing room on the first floor, as the wall is completely open on the second floor at present. The electrician would just have to figure out what breaker it's on. In fact, this placement would be ideal, even if new wiring has to be run. The compressor can take its air from inside the closet of Bdrm 2, minimizing any sound, and the wiring for the alarm and pump can be run from the back wall of the closet to the sewing room on the other side. Even if a totally new circuit needs to be run, there is access from overhead in the unfinished eaves, and the breaker for the food disposal is now unused, and will never be needed.
Food disposals are not recommended for houses running on septic systems. They chop the food into particles that can suspend in the liquid, and they can therefore pass into the leaching bed, clogging it prematurely. While we won't have a leaching bed, they have never interested me.
This second contractor pointed out that if we are able to dig down deep enough to place the septic tanks without having to pump the waste uphill from the house, there will be too much soil on top of the tanks. Because of the need for periodical inspections, 36" is the maximum collar height. We explained that we had a bulldozer and would be happy to bring the whole clearing down as much as was needed. We also discussed timing. Since we'll have some work to do before the installation, we decided the days just before Thanksgiving would be good. There won't be snow yet, but the vegetation will all be gone. That will give us three full days to get the bulldozer work done. In fact, if we need to, we can go up a few days early for Thanksgiving and finish what needs to be done.
Hopefully, we can finish the upstairs window install, too. I forgot to mention that we picked up the window on this last trip. We were really very pleased with the look.
The second contractor sent us his price estimate last night. From the looks of things, both are very much in the same ballpark, so it will be a question of who we got the better intuition from.
Also, we had gone to pick up an ABS bed base. We had seen them for sale at a local shop and thought they were an excellent idea. With our move to our bedroom coming up, we figured it was time to make this purchase. Unfortunately, with the rising cost of oil, the manufacturer has stopped production. Yesterday, though, an IKEA ad came in the mail and I got the notion that we could use some of their bedslats. In fact, it will likely be a less expensive solution, and more comfortable.
So, the revised plan has now arrived by e-mail. Looking at the elevations and where the bedrock was found, it's anyone's guess as to whether we'll be able to dig deep enough. The good news is that we will only need to bring the clearing down by about 6-8". We were going to bulldoze anyway, to clean up the mess of junk that resulted from the previous owner bulldozing the greenhouse, and to clear all the scrub. The plan was to have a spot, sheltered from the wind, where we could have our outdoor fires.
So, it is finally looking like the septic system will be happening...
Also got a call from the second contractor with more questions and info about the installation. The compartment which permits the compressor to be installed outside the house costs $300. He thought that was a lot. I said from our perspective, to be sure we don't have the noise of the compressor in the house, it was fine. It is, after all, a completely watertight enclosure. Also, it must be within 6 feet of the house. Not a big deal.
While showing the contractor around, he was looking at possible points of entry for the wiring for the pump, compressor and alarm. We pointed out the wires that had run from the antenna tower to the house and explained that a junction box could be installed and the wiring run down to the sewing room on the first floor, as the wall is completely open on the second floor at present. The electrician would just have to figure out what breaker it's on. In fact, this placement would be ideal, even if new wiring has to be run. The compressor can take its air from inside the closet of Bdrm 2, minimizing any sound, and the wiring for the alarm and pump can be run from the back wall of the closet to the sewing room on the other side. Even if a totally new circuit needs to be run, there is access from overhead in the unfinished eaves, and the breaker for the food disposal is now unused, and will never be needed.
Food disposals are not recommended for houses running on septic systems. They chop the food into particles that can suspend in the liquid, and they can therefore pass into the leaching bed, clogging it prematurely. While we won't have a leaching bed, they have never interested me.
This second contractor pointed out that if we are able to dig down deep enough to place the septic tanks without having to pump the waste uphill from the house, there will be too much soil on top of the tanks. Because of the need for periodical inspections, 36" is the maximum collar height. We explained that we had a bulldozer and would be happy to bring the whole clearing down as much as was needed. We also discussed timing. Since we'll have some work to do before the installation, we decided the days just before Thanksgiving would be good. There won't be snow yet, but the vegetation will all be gone. That will give us three full days to get the bulldozer work done. In fact, if we need to, we can go up a few days early for Thanksgiving and finish what needs to be done.
Hopefully, we can finish the upstairs window install, too. I forgot to mention that we picked up the window on this last trip. We were really very pleased with the look.
The second contractor sent us his price estimate last night. From the looks of things, both are very much in the same ballpark, so it will be a question of who we got the better intuition from.
Also, we had gone to pick up an ABS bed base. We had seen them for sale at a local shop and thought they were an excellent idea. With our move to our bedroom coming up, we figured it was time to make this purchase. Unfortunately, with the rising cost of oil, the manufacturer has stopped production. Yesterday, though, an IKEA ad came in the mail and I got the notion that we could use some of their bedslats. In fact, it will likely be a less expensive solution, and more comfortable.
So, the revised plan has now arrived by e-mail. Looking at the elevations and where the bedrock was found, it's anyone's guess as to whether we'll be able to dig deep enough. The good news is that we will only need to bring the clearing down by about 6-8". We were going to bulldoze anyway, to clean up the mess of junk that resulted from the previous owner bulldozing the greenhouse, and to clear all the scrub. The plan was to have a spot, sheltered from the wind, where we could have our outdoor fires.
So, it is finally looking like the septic system will be happening...
Scrap Metal Wages
Leading up to, and during our holidays, we expended a fair amount of energy collecting and loading all the scrap metal from the garage, the woods and the clearing into a container. A company dropped off the container and picked it up when done. They would pay anywhere from $.06 to $0.10 per pound, depending on the quality of the scrap you have.
When we were told that we had 9876 lbs of scrap, we were disappointed, and suspected they were being dishonest on the weight. After all, we had a 9' snowblower that by itself weighed a fair bit: our Case bulldozer was able to lift it and move it, but the ass end of the 'dozer lifted off the ground at the slightest bump. That snowblower was close to the weight limit of the 'dozer for sure. Then, there were several trailer frames, and a whole lot of small pieces that weighed a ton. Anyway, we calculated at $.06 a lb and arrived at just over $500. Not quite what we had hoped for. We recognized, though, that we had no recourse.
Well, the check came in the mail today. They paid us at $.10 a lb, for a total of just under $1,000. That's more like it! We are quite happy with that amount.
So, this gets added to the pot for the woodstove:
$710 found money, $987 scrap metal, $1400 saved so far and $54 in beverage container returns for a total of $3151. This leaves about $2500 to come from the proceeds of the sale of the 5 acres, which we will reimburse to ourselves over time. With any luck, we'll have enough left over from the stove and septic install to do the second floor insulation upgrade this fall. Keep your fingers crossed!
When we were told that we had 9876 lbs of scrap, we were disappointed, and suspected they were being dishonest on the weight. After all, we had a 9' snowblower that by itself weighed a fair bit: our Case bulldozer was able to lift it and move it, but the ass end of the 'dozer lifted off the ground at the slightest bump. That snowblower was close to the weight limit of the 'dozer for sure. Then, there were several trailer frames, and a whole lot of small pieces that weighed a ton. Anyway, we calculated at $.06 a lb and arrived at just over $500. Not quite what we had hoped for. We recognized, though, that we had no recourse.
Well, the check came in the mail today. They paid us at $.10 a lb, for a total of just under $1,000. That's more like it! We are quite happy with that amount.
So, this gets added to the pot for the woodstove:
$710 found money, $987 scrap metal, $1400 saved so far and $54 in beverage container returns for a total of $3151. This leaves about $2500 to come from the proceeds of the sale of the 5 acres, which we will reimburse to ourselves over time. With any luck, we'll have enough left over from the stove and septic install to do the second floor insulation upgrade this fall. Keep your fingers crossed!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Accomplishments and frustrations
This past visit included DD and her boyfriend. They practically live together, so he merits the tag SIL. They both helped with the woodstove hearth project. DD washed the slate tiles and SIL helped stack and fill the concrete blocks.
But first, the frustrations. A new beaver dam has appeared, so now we are into Beaver Wars, Part Deux. Not big dams, though, and he waited until Sunday night to rebuild.
The 'corrected' report from the soil engineer still wasn't right. I'm getting pissed.
Now on to more fun stuff: the hearth project. DS mentioned that she has seen masons on jobsites cutting blocks many times and would be happy to try her hand at making our half-blocks. Why didn't she say so earlier? Her cuts turned out excellent, as we already had the stone chisels used for such work. We bought them to take apart the old fireplace last summer. We went out and rounded up all the full and half-blocks we could find of the dimensions we were using for the wall. We were able to get enough in good to excellent condition to do a wall about 6' high. That will be plenty of thermal mass.
Since we ultimately decided to pour concrete into all the CMU (concrete masonry units aka cinder blocks) voids, and used rebar in the edge voids, we opted to not surface coat the wall. The last voids have a 5' rebar from the bottom block upwards and the next ones in have a 4' rebar from the top down. We're confident that the wall is not going anywhere, at least, not anytime in the next 50 years.
We used an OdJob for mixing, which was easier than hand mixing in a wheelbarrow, and margarine buckets for moving the concrete to the voids. The mixer, when full, was too heavy to lift into place. As it got emptier, we were able to hoist it into position and 'pour' the concrete into the voids more quickly. Then, as the wall got higher, we had to do everything bucket by bucket.
At first, we lay 4 rows of blocks, then filled all the voids. That was tiring, so after lunch, we opted for laying two rows then filling them. We didn't vibrate the air out, but we did use a 1/2" x 1/2" stick and tamped down each void every 4" of concrete or so. For a total of 9 rows, it took 7 66-lb bags of concrete. We earned every bit of the steak and shrimp dinner that followed.
Here we are transferring the last of the concrete from the OdJob to the wall:
Here's the view from the top showing the rebar in one of the voids:
And here's the (mostly) tiled wall and hearth:
We'll need a tilesaw to finish and we just missed the sale on the one we wanted to buy. But, enough is done to have the woodstove installed and not worry about the stove and/or pipe getting in the way or plastered with thinset. Once the drywall and wood are on the wall to the sides, we'll install one last full tile on each side of the wall section. Because we'remaking the wall wider than planned, we'll have less tiles for the bedroom side. This means we will have to use all the tiles, even the broken ones. We've decided that we'll break up any broken pieces and do some mosaic squares, and that we will also do an irregular pattern using all the off-cuts as well. Should be interesting.
But first, the frustrations. A new beaver dam has appeared, so now we are into Beaver Wars, Part Deux. Not big dams, though, and he waited until Sunday night to rebuild.
The 'corrected' report from the soil engineer still wasn't right. I'm getting pissed.
Now on to more fun stuff: the hearth project. DS mentioned that she has seen masons on jobsites cutting blocks many times and would be happy to try her hand at making our half-blocks. Why didn't she say so earlier? Her cuts turned out excellent, as we already had the stone chisels used for such work. We bought them to take apart the old fireplace last summer. We went out and rounded up all the full and half-blocks we could find of the dimensions we were using for the wall. We were able to get enough in good to excellent condition to do a wall about 6' high. That will be plenty of thermal mass.
Since we ultimately decided to pour concrete into all the CMU (concrete masonry units aka cinder blocks) voids, and used rebar in the edge voids, we opted to not surface coat the wall. The last voids have a 5' rebar from the bottom block upwards and the next ones in have a 4' rebar from the top down. We're confident that the wall is not going anywhere, at least, not anytime in the next 50 years.
We used an OdJob for mixing, which was easier than hand mixing in a wheelbarrow, and margarine buckets for moving the concrete to the voids. The mixer, when full, was too heavy to lift into place. As it got emptier, we were able to hoist it into position and 'pour' the concrete into the voids more quickly. Then, as the wall got higher, we had to do everything bucket by bucket.
At first, we lay 4 rows of blocks, then filled all the voids. That was tiring, so after lunch, we opted for laying two rows then filling them. We didn't vibrate the air out, but we did use a 1/2" x 1/2" stick and tamped down each void every 4" of concrete or so. For a total of 9 rows, it took 7 66-lb bags of concrete. We earned every bit of the steak and shrimp dinner that followed.
Here we are transferring the last of the concrete from the OdJob to the wall:
Here's the view from the top showing the rebar in one of the voids:
And here's the (mostly) tiled wall and hearth:
We'll need a tilesaw to finish and we just missed the sale on the one we wanted to buy. But, enough is done to have the woodstove installed and not worry about the stove and/or pipe getting in the way or plastered with thinset. Once the drywall and wood are on the wall to the sides, we'll install one last full tile on each side of the wall section. Because we'remaking the wall wider than planned, we'll have less tiles for the bedroom side. This means we will have to use all the tiles, even the broken ones. We've decided that we'll break up any broken pieces and do some mosaic squares, and that we will also do an irregular pattern using all the off-cuts as well. Should be interesting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)