Call for Action!

Only shirlsd had suggestions for our time capsule. To her we owe thanks. No one else had a suggestion. The time is near for us to finalize the wall closing.

Billn has ripped down many walls and always likes finding old newspapers or magazines. Newspapers and magazines are interesting, but if the next homeowner of 70Hack is interested in X year old news, he/she will be able to use a web search to find it, or visit the library (if such institutions still exist in the future).

Instead, we want to leave something special. Perhaps a two-paragraph opinion on something that is interesting to you. Imagine the recent documentary movie that chronicled WWII soldier's letters home. We want to say something to the next house renovator about ourselves, about our perception of current events, about what you think about current events.

Those of you old enough, imagine what you thought about Gulf War I then and how history portrays it now. Imagine reading a letter from yourself about it. Billn can remember not being that informed on Operation Desert Shield and then when we went to Desert Storm he and his dopey roomates were worried about a draft.

What do you think about something that is going on in your world today; will that something be interesting to a future reader? Will that person enjoy reading your perception of something that is in his or her history book as "fact?"

Write something, send us things you want us to bury in the wall.

Saturday work, May 26, 2007

"Avoid silica dust" says the warning sticker on the cementatious backer board. Who needs instructions?

Sandy visited with us today, she helped apply primer to our walls. We are grateful for her trip here (Sandy is a bandit, flatlander from New York) and we are glad the visa paperwork cleared at the border to our republic. Sandy's singing voice is on par with the Brooklyn Barrister's (between a screeching air horn and a braying donkey). Hopefully one day we will have some help from somebody who can sing. Until then we will limit singing from helpers.

Also, Lauren is here, you can see she is doing an important job, we are EXTRA grateful for her childcare help; E and A love her a lot.

Here Sandy applies primer to the hallway, she has completed the primer in the first floor bathroom. This picture is taken from the first floor bath.

Billn installed the cementatious backer board on the floor of the laundry room, before applying a second coat of drywall compound. The backer board will be below ceramic tiles soon.

Here is the first floor bathroom, after billn removed the old 9"x9" tiles. For those that are "in the know" likely the tiles and the mastic are ACM. For those of you who do not know what ACM is, don't worry. For those of you that do, billn bagged up the waste and it is ready to go. Billn installed a new self-adhesive floor in the first-floor bath today (along with mowing the entire property, second coat of drywall).

Here is the completed floor. It came out OK, not billn's best work, but when he was finishing at just before midnight, he realized he didn't mis-cut any pieces and had no avoidable waste. This floor is temporary, a new bathroom is scheduled here in 2008.

The previous owner was not a clean freak, this brown spot is on the tile behind the water closet. The WC is a newish 1.6 gallon per flush unit, so that means the previous owner had a chance in approximately the last 10 years. He chose to replace the WC but not clean the wall.

Overall, today Jenm and Sandy completed a good piece of priming and painting in the first floor bath. Billn applied a second coat of compound in the laundry room. Billn is a lousy applicator of drywall compound. Billn removed the old floor and installed a new one in the first floor bathroom. Billn also mowed the grass, front and back. Since today is (was) Saturday, we also visited the farmer's market; coffee from Capitol Grounds, we saw some people we know, including our current apartment neighbor with her 5 day old baby. We love Vermont.

Tomorrow, more painting and more drywall compound.

Hot today, drywall, insulation, first coat

Tonight billn completed the necessary minor carpentry, hung the remaining drywall, insulated the exterior wall and applied the first coat of drywall compound. It was in the mid-80's when billn started. But he prevailed. No pictures, the camera didn't feel like working today.

It was so hot, it was hot like pastrami. This line is for the Brooklyn Barrister. Another line for the BB: Billn had to redrive all those screws you drove without dimples; "they are under the tape." They weren't.

Jenm picked up Lauren, a niece to help with childcare over the long weekend. Hopefully we will complete painting in the bedrooms and upstairs hallway, paint the living room and first floor bathroom, install the vinyl self-adhesive flooring in the first floor bathroom and paint the laundry room.

Sandy is coming up tomorrow for the long weekend also, so with the extra hands, we feel good about meeting our goal.

Movers come Wednesday to haul our furniture and washer-dryer to the house. The end of living in Plainfield is near.

How does 70 Hack paint the stairway? Other picture

Here the Brooklyn Barrister applies primer under Jenm's watchful eye. Oh boy.

Painting the walls and ceiling around stairwells is always difficult. We built a scaffold from a bit of recycled lumber (from CindyKen's kitchen) and a recovered solid-core door from a pizza shop billn did work in. We then let the children use it for a play area.

To those who would call child services, you must bring your head in the Republic of Vermont way - that is of mind your business.

To those that look closely, there are no pliers in one of the photos and they are really well hidden in another.

Weekend: painting, drywall, leaks

We had a number of helpers this weekend. Alissa (sister of Jenm) visited, we thank her for her childcare and cooking abilities.

The Brooklyn Barrister also visited. His help was much appreciated, but it is good he has full-time employment as an attorney; his drywall installation and singing skills could never provide him gainful employment.

70Hack: What do you think of a radiant ceiling so far? We wish we had more floor space for in-floor. Why? Because as careful as billn and the Brooklyn Barrister were during the drywall installation, they caused two holes in the ceiling mounted hot water tubing (drywall screws are much stronger than the PEX tubing). The leaks are repaired with couplings, but repairing those holes was painful. Perhaps billn's first radiant heat project should not have been something so ambitious as a ceiling? We'll never know (we also won't know about why PEX tubing has memory activated by heat, since our chemical engineer friend won't share information).

Regardless, the ceiling in the kitchen, dining and laundry room is complete.

Also, Jenm accomplished a fair bit of primer application. In fact, with BB's help, the entire second floor is primed. Tomorrow there might be some ceiling paint application, or back-yard lawn mowing. Lastly, the front half of the lawn is mowed.

Carbon footprint question for those so inclined: Is a lawn carbon-neutral? Certainly a lawn does take carbon out of the air (even though certain national leaders don't believe in climate change, here in Vermont we do), but do we negate all that carbon removal with the lawnmower?

Panel is alive, unkink with heat

Tonight billn did some cleanup work to prepare for the weekend work. Hopefully we prime and paint the second floor. The Brooklyn Barrister will be here tomorrow; Alissa (jenm's sister) is here today. Also, we plan to finish the aluminium installation on the ceiling and hang the drywall there too (drywall is being delivered, drywall lift rental is reserved).

Here you can see billn is not only an engineer, electrician, plumber and carpenter. He is also a metalworker. For any that doubt 70hack's VT "cred" (credibility) this metal is from removed electrical boxes. This is recylcing the way it should be.

Here you can see the home-bent box parts protecting the wires from errantly driven screws.

Here is the panel schedule (listing of what circuit breaker number controls which loads). Look closely.


Here we tested our new heat gun. We kinked a piece of PEX tubing. Then we hit it with 1,100 degree hot air for 60 seconds and voila! The kink is gone.

Here is the after picture (no, we did not take a picture before kinking it, this heating really works). Perhaps a reader with a degree in chemical engineering can explain why cross-linked polyethylene has this memory.

Billn powered up the new electrical panel from the old panel. Since it is open, we are protecting workers with this dielectric cardboard.

Billn bought new shoes today. We won't refer to them as Shirlsd does as "fabu" since we don't live on the West coast. If Chris G. sees this, he can feel happy billn now owns the same brand of shoes as he.

Dare us to post pictures? Here they are.

So shirlsd dared billn and jenm to post pictures of February 2007 when the heat was out in our apartment. Billn does not maintain heating equipment here, rather he simply lives. It was cold this winter.

Remember, we currently live in a 19 century building, in a basmenet apartment, next to a river. Next to a river means the foundation of the building is in the river.

Electrical panel done, phone, thermostat wires in

Tonight billn completed the wiring of the circuit breaker panel. These pictures show the progression from start to finish.

Also, billn brought thermostat wires from the future boiler room (far end of the garage) to the different locations. The plan is to have five heating zones when we are done. The zones will be:

Kitchen

Living/Dining

Guest/Toy

Second floor bedrooms and bathroom

Master bedroom

Additionally, the boiler will serve the domestic hot water heater, as a sixth zone. Hopefully billn will complete the boiler and mechanical equipment installation before the winter comes.

More electrical work, nice time at the playground

Today we spent some excellent time at our local playground. Our children continue to show the influence of billn in their climbing/jumping/leaping. After a dinner on the grill billn made good headway on the electrical panel circuit installation. Tomorrow the circuit panel will be finished. We'll have photographs of the progress then.

Saturday work, May 12, 2007

Today billn cut the grass in the front, which is slightly more than 1/2 of the property. Mowing isn't fun, but necessary. We are the only family with a push mower on our block. We also hit the Farmer's Market and the co-op for some food. Here is a cookie senior daughter bit before leaving the store.

Billn's parents visited for special friend's day at senior daughter's school on Friday through Saturday. We were glad for their visit.

Here we model the latest in rural-urban fashion.

Jenm potted a few new plants to brighten up the exterior. We'll transplant them later in the summer.

We completed the laundry plumbing rough, here is our rig to pressure test the new piping, no leaks. We also completed the drain for the laundry sink and extended a pipe for the kitchen sink, when that comes in. Also, we finished the foam board installation on the dining room and little pieces in the kitchen. Installing the foam board in the dining room was an exercise for billn's brain. The fiberglass insulation sags down a little from the joist bottoms, so the foam board had to push the insulation up. Driving screws into the foam just pulled them through. Billn had to use large diameter washers and screws with a careful push up on the board when driving the screw. Challenge met. We also put up the first piece of aluminum trim coil on the kitchen ceiling. This aluminum will help transfer the heat from the radiant heat pipes laterally, improving the heating efficacy.

Today we go to a local farm to buy some plant seedlings, cut the back 1/2 of the grass and bring the wires into the electric panel.

Range hood rough, some plumbing rough

Tonight billn completed domestic water rough in for the laundry room sink and the ice maker. Those of you who are plumbing-minded will notice the really slick copper bends with PEX fittings on the ends. Neat part. The really observant will see a problem with one of the PEX fittings that we repaired after this photo was made.

We also adjusted the house framing to accommodate the range hood. We had to add wood where the wall bracket will mount and to remove the top part of a stud to allow space for the duct to discharge through.

Also, we pulled the radiant ceiling tubing through a hole in the floor joists below the kitchen to allow space for the adaptor fittings from the PEX-AL-PEX to just ordinary barrier PEX.

Can anybody out there tell me why we should be using copper for any of this work?

On a note completely unrelated to the renovation at 70Hack, billn's coworker sent this link to a really funny VT youtube video. It is worth 4 minutes of your life. "Rednecks in Barre always be hatin'"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL7uW4TYqbs

Kitchen ceiling ready for trim coil

Here are pictures of the completed tubing on the ceiling of the kitchen. One picture is right before installing the 1/2" foam furring. The tubing is spaced more closely together along the exterior wall to give more heat there. The other picture shows the foam furring; this foam is the same thickness as the tubing, so we can apply drywall below the system.

Before we install the drywall, we will cover the entire kitchen with thin aluminum called trim coil. This aluminium will press tightly against the tubing, helping to distribute the heat away from the tubing into the room. It will also hold the tubing up. We will remove the existing clamps that are holding the tubing up right now. If left them, we would hear the tubing move every time it expanded (due to change in temperature). Also, the sharp copper straps holding it up would eventually cut a hole in the tubing.

Tomorrow we install the foam furring in the dining room. Here the foam serves as furring, a moisture retarder and a little more insulation.

Sunday, Monday work

Here is the gate billn built last week at the work day at senior daughter E's school. The posts were there from the beginning, as was the left hand gate. We built and hung the right hand gate. Those of you familiar with the philosophy of E's school know that this crooked, bent gate fits perfectly with the rest of the fencing system.

Jenm cleaned and painted the medicine chests (it is nice to recycle material like that). The medicine chests are serviceable, just dilapidated looking. Some cleaning fluid and new paint and we will be in business.

Shirlsd previously asked what was cooking, you can see here a variety of vegetables, some locally grown. In one month or so, nearly everything on our grill will be local.


We started installing the radiant tubing on the ceiling. We are using 1/2" Pex-Al-Pex tubing. This is a plastic tubing inner layer, an aluminum center layer and another plastic layer on the outside. The aluminum serves to give stiffness to the tubing, which is good; you bend it and it stays in place. However, working with this material by yourself late at night is not so easy. The tubing likes to go away and we do not have an uncoiler. We wish we did; it would be quite handy. You can see our makeshift attempt at one, but it only 1/2 worked.
Tonight we complete the ceiling tubing installation and perhaps work on the 2" drain in the basement to pick up the laundry room sink and the kitchen sink.

Corian countertops cancelled

This was a fill up for billn's van. We'll have cardboard until 2009.

Laundry drain rough, insulation, cleaning

Here is the completed drain piping in the back of the garage. The white pipe is 1-1/2" PVC. The washing machine will discharge down through this pipe, into the trap (U-shaped piece) and into the 2" PVC horizontal run that tee's into the 4" tee (black fitting). The 2" PVC runs horizontally through the wall to the Southern side of the basement, where we will tie in the laundry sink and kitchen sink. For those engineering-minded folks, we skipped the vent, which is a code no-no, but since this is Vermont and we do what we want, we are putting in no vent. We don't really need a vent for this, the trap arm is so short. There is another code violation here though; the "filling head" of the trap is greater than 24". In retrofit situations, you cannot always follow all the codes.

Billn grills with safety glasses.

Shirlsd asked where are children were, they are safe, just working.

Billn finished pulling wires to the guest/craft room, pulled a lot of wires out of the old electrical panel, made custom nailers for the kitchen ceiling and completed insulation in the kitchen and dining room. Jenm led a cleaning effort.

Also, before going to the house Saturday, we visited our local farmer's market which was nice.

Time capsule suggestion request

We are closing in a part of the house soon that will not be accessible until the next owner rip open our ceiling. Give us suggestions of what we should leave up there.

We considered a CD-ROM of this blog, but by the time somebody rips that ceiling down, *.html will be a forgotten piece of history. Be mindful of the format of the media or items we leave there.

What story should we record there? What do we want curious minds of the future to know about us, our time, the place we live, what we do every day, what the world looks like to our eyes. Pictures? Stories? Be original, we are already planning magazines and newspapers. What is special that you think we should store.

Think and post your ideas. We need them.

Painted siding, laundry sink purchase, insulation

Today Mikem and Jeffm (Jen's dad and brother) visited. They painted the siding (that's the white spread in this photo). They also assembled our new propane grill, we are extra glad for that, grill directions are universally bad.

Jenm bought a laundry sink and faucet today, along with a few other items (including an azalea). She started some priming in senior daughters' 2 floor bedroom.

Billn ran the new range wire and put a final coat of Spackle in the second floor rooms. Also, he started the insulation in the kitchen/dining. This included adding unfaced insulation and rafter-r-mate airflow channels to the roof. The pink foam boards in this picture are the r-r-mates. They ensure air can flow across the bottom of the roof, cooling in summer and giving moisture-removing ventilation in winter. Previously this house had insulation socked tightly in this joint, which is not so good.

Here is a picture of the kneewall of the adult's bedroom, it had 3" insulation now it has 9".

Here is the laundry sink and faucet. This will be our kitchen sink between move-in (end of May) and cabinet arrival (early June).

Here is the washer machine rough-in box with hot and cold supply lines. We may put the drain line in tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the first day of our local farmer's market so we go there for produce and then to the Agway to fill our propane cylinder so we can use our new grill.

Tomorrow we will probably rough in the drains and complete the insulation in the kitchen/dining room. Also we hope to apply more primer in the second floor rooms.