Today’s River House project was the installation of the island vent hood. The work was fairly straightforward with the most time spent ensuring that the vent was perfectly plumb and sealing the ductwork. I got a good upper body workout as it was necessary to hold a number of different components overhead while screwing them into place. Once installed, I had to open up the controller board and set a jumper to limit the maximum fan speed to 390 cfm. If you go over 400 cfm then you have to install a make-up air system which is something we do not need and didn’t want to be forced into. The hanging blue tape is to keep taller folks from running into the glass canopy before the island is installed. As it stands, I can just walk under it without banging my head.
Our double oven was delivered today. Of all the components going into our new home, it had the longest lead time of more than a year. As if to ensure it was here to stay, I immediately installed it, a task easier said than done given its weight of 333 pounds. Working alone forces you to always have an approach that does not rely on brute force. In this case, I built a temporary platform out of scrap lumber so that I could slide the oven directly into its opening. None of the cabinetry I have built has more demanding tolerances than the one for the double oven. It has to be dead plumb, dead level, and perfectly square in all orientations. If any one of these attributes is off by even the slightest amount, it will show up as a problem with the installation. I am happy to report that the time I spent making sure that the cabinet was just right resulted in a perfect fit. Also operational now is our microwave. We debated for some time if we should even have one in the kitchen. The new oven has a steam heating feature which is the healthiest way to reheat foods, the primary task which we have used the microwave for in the past. In the end, we decided a microwave would be convenient but need not be large and we wanted it to be located for convenient use. Our Road House has an under counter unit with automated drawer, a perfect solution for three foot tall people but a terrible location for anyone taller.
The bamboo plywood I am using is constructed of three plys. The front and back are 1/8″ thick vertically oriented laminations. The core is 1/2″ thick with laminations that run perpendicular. Whenever I need edge facing, I cut the top and bottom layers off leaving the core as waste. Having saved up all of these half-inch strips, I glued them together to create an end-grain cutting board. Jeanine liked it so much that she wanted me to make an entire bench top using this technique. It is a great idea but would represent a very time-consuming effort and perhaps one I could tackle well after we have moved in.
Precordial catch syndrome (PCS) is a non-serious condition in which there are sharp stabbing painsinthechest. These typically get worse with inhaling and occur within a small area. Spells of pain usually last less than a few minutes.
The underlying cause is unclear. Some believe the pain may be from the chest wall or irritation of an intercostal nerve. Treatment is usually via reassurance, as the pain generally resolves without any specific treatment. Precordial catch syndrome is relatively common in children between the ages of 6 and 12 and is less common in adults. While in my twenties and thirties, I experienced a half dozen or so episodes.
Yesterday, while working on a ladder in the basement of the River House, I had a PCS event. Given the spotty cell service there and the proximity to Emerson Hospital, I decided to drive to the emergency room out of an abundance of caution. It has been more than thirty years since I last had an attack and I thought it better to be safe than sorry. I arrived in under 5 minutes and was immediately connected to an EKG monitor which showed no signs of heart anomalies and my pain had all but subsided. Much ado about nothing but interestingly, no one at the hospital suggested PCS as the cause and were intent on following up with a bunch of tests and x-rays that would have been pointless. While I truly appreciate being evaluated so quickly, once it became apparent that I was not having a heart issue minutes turned into hours while waiting for my blood work to come back. I eventually decided to disconnect myself from all the monitoring equipment and check myself out.
Our new home uses a Zehnder ERV (Energy Recovering Ventilation) system to provide continuous fresh air to the very tightly sealed building. Today, I installed the exterior intake and exhaust vents which look and act like nostrils. I then powered up the system for the first time. Everything worked as expected and the system self-test confirmed that the unit can deliver its maximum specified 600 cfm of airflow. At this rate, all the air in the house could be replaced with fresh air once every hour. The recommended rate of exchange is once every three hours so we will operate the system at 200 cfm.
Mount Mansfield is the highest mountain in Vermont with a summit that peaks at 4,393 feet (1,339 m) above sea level. Maya originally planned to do a solo ascent last weekend but was joined by Nicolai who saw an opportunity to train for his attempt to summit 18,996 Cayambe Volcano in Ecuador this fall. He will be making the climb to raise money for the Range of Motion Project (ROMP) whose mission is to ensure access to high-quality prosthetic care for underserved people, improving mobility and independence. Nico used the climb to shoot a fund-raising video with Maya as his videographer. Should you wish to support this cause you can use the link below to do so.
As planned, our new septic and pump chamber tanks were delivered and installed today. Offloading and placement of the tanks took less than 30 minutes, a testament to the careful preparation work. Since septic systems are based on gravity flow, any discrepancies in elevation will result in compromised function and must be corrected at this stage. Happily, the tank heights were perfect and the remainder of the day was spent connecting the tanks and beginning the backfill work.
Excavation for a new septic tank and pump chamber took place today at the River House. The addition of our attached garage forced us to relocate the existing ones because they no longer met the setback requirements. The tanks are due to arrive on site tomorrow and we are hoping to have the septic system operational by the end of the week. That leaves water as the last service we need to connect to the house. We may choose to put this off for some time since it will involve tearing up the driveway and we still have many trades coming and going on a daily basis.
One of my favorite things about living in Concord is that we have our own electric utility, the Concord Municipal Light Plant (CMLP). Today, the line crew above connected our new underground lines to the grid and we now have power throughout the house. All the folks at the CMLP are extremely customer focused and it is such a pleasure to work with them. Trying to get anything done with Comcast, Verizon, National Grid, or any other major utility by contrast is an exercise in total frustration. These guys arrived exactly when promised and 30 minutes later we had power to the house. 15 minutes later they had removed the overhead wires that have been providing temporary power for almost two years.
The bamboo plywood I am using to build the cabinetry for the River House is available in a natural or carbonized version. We selected the darker carbonized color for our project and I was befuddled when the first shipment arrived with a few sheets of natural mixed in with the carbonized. I even found two sheets that were natural on one side and carbonized on the other. Earlier this week, I received a make-up shipment to replace the product that was damaged during the initial delivery. To my dismay, the color did not remotely match the material I have been building with. I sent the company a detailed e-mail expressing my frustration and asking them to explain what was going on. They insisted that the replacement sheets were carbonized even though they looked like the natural version to my eye. Fast forward one day and I happened to turn over a sheet of plywood I was about to cut. The mystery was solved the instant I saw the outline of the hard core foam insulation slab that I used as a sacrificial base when cutting sheets with my track saw. It was apparent that the plywood changes color dramatically when exposed to air, presumably as moisture is absorbed.
Hardscaping for the River House will make extensive use of natural stones. Jeanine and I visited a stone yard yesterday where we reviewed the inventory and learned all about how large boulders are cut into slabs. Slabs can be 7 inches thick for stairs or 2-3 inches thick for patios. We will be using both types. Pictured below is the saw used to make the cuts. It is conceptually similar to a bandsaw except it is oriented horizontally and uses what looks like a rope instead of a band. The rope has diamond-impregnated beads every few inches.
I have been working on the new house 7 days a week for several months now. Today, I took the afternoon off to go stone shopping with Jeanine. Our patio area will feature some massive stone steps, all to be cut from a single ginormous boulder. It was very fun checking out all the possibilities and learning how the stone is cut. Later we joined friends on an evening birdwatching walk through Great Meadows. We were hoping to see Night Hawks but they never showed up. Instead, we were treated to a very beautiful Green Heron.
The pantry in our new house will feature open shelving from floor to ceiling on one side. In total, there will be six shelves, each 8ft long. Jeanine likes the look of thick shelves so I am laminating two pieces of plywood together faced with a 1/8″ thick veneer. Pictured here is a glue-up of three shelves at once.
The front door to our new house is sheltered by a small portico. Today we installed a single 5-1/4 thick slab of bluestone as the floor for that area. Working with a stone that weighs over a ton was no easy feat but in the end, it fit perfectly into the opening which was lined in a copper pan and sloped downward to shed water. Jeanine was on hand to film the installation which took about an hour in total. Our past homes have all incorporated smaller stones set in mortar which are much easier to install and significantly less expensive. Over time, however, the constant freeze-thaw cycles experienced during the winter lead to the failure of the joints. The slab we installed today should last for hundreds of years.
Last week the Flexzilla air hose I use with my portable compressor developed an internal bulge for no apparent reason I could ascertain. The hose, manufactured by Legacy Manufacturing, carries a 5-year warranty and naturally, I purchased it nearly 6 years ago. The fact is that I have used the hose more in the last month than since I acquired it. I decided to file a warranty claim given how little use the hose has seen and was pleasantly surprised when I received a prompt reply stating that they were sending me a replacement. This is an example of a company doing the right thing for its customers. They can now count on my business for life and I can highly recommend Legacy products to others.
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