This is installment two of four on recent house projects.

Oddly enough, the return loop from the second floor that caused us to make a hole in the closet wall also generated a need for us to access the crawl space under the small addition. It had been closed up by the home owner, and despite repeated attempts to learn why, we couldn’t get it out of him. Well once we broke through his silence became immediately obvious. One of the foundation walls is caving in.

It appears there is a drainage problem and water is saturating the ground outside the wall freezing and unfreezing. This is causing too much pressure on the wall, which is causing it to push inward. Fortunately, this is a small addition, and it is the only thing support by this wall. … Read More »

This is a first post in a series of four dealing with the various house projects that fell out of having the heating system re-done.

To get heat to the second floor we had to run a 3/4″ pipe up the wall in the living room (the feed side), and to get the loop back to the boiler we have to run a 3/4″ pipe down through the small addition on the back of the house. In order to do this there was a section of house that had no access that we need to get in. Harry and I cut a hole in the wall to gain access to the space. Later we added a door to make it look like it’s always been there. I say we, but in truth Harry did the bulk of … Read More »

We’ve had the heating guys here this past week working on installing a new heating system. The bad news is we had to go with base-board hot water (a.k.a hydronic heating system), which is costing 50% more than we had budgeted for. The good news is that it is a much superior system for this climate (as opposed to the forced hot air system). Also, there are a couple of benefits to it — 1. We will get zones for the first and second floor, and two the water heater is part of the system, and this baby can put out 175 gallons/hr @ 140 degrees.

There are some downsides too, it is more expensive, and it covers the base board on many walls. We are also going to be left with inactive registers in the floor … Read More »

Anita has wanted a new kitchen floor for a while now, and Harry decided to take on the project this summer. They decided to lay a wide plank pine floor. The material arrived in late June, and it required a few weeks to acclimate. Harry started laying the floor two weekends ago; he did the necessary demolition a few weeks ago. Kenny (Anita’s cousin) and Pat (his wife) came up the first day the project got started. Kenny and I helped Harry with the work that day. Harry worked on his own throughout the week and on Saturday. I helped again this past Sunday; I was the designated nailer. I have been paying the price for the past couple of days, my legs are so sore I can barely walk.

<edit>I was just … Read More »