Category: house construction

So, while Kate was out checking on me last week, on Friday (the 23rd) the outside temperature had plummeted, and the inside temperature had dropped to below 60 degrees. Kate was complaining that her room was too cold and she wanted to get another electric space heater for her room. I conceded and we picked one up and I also agreed to have the Bosch furnace checked. Since it had been over three years since it was installed I figured it was time.

I called the furnace installer (Air Innovations in Casper) and since I wasn’t declaring a heating emergency, arranged for them to come out on Monday. (I did notice that this year the furnace seemed to be struggling more than previously.). On Monday I met Gabe, the technician and we descended into the bowels of the basement after checking that the thermostat was working correctly. In the basement we discovered that the furnace was not functioning at all; the blower would come on, after a minute or so the flame would come on and immediately go out. His initial diagnosis was that he electric flame detector needed cleaning, so he spent the next hour or so struggling to get it extracted and cleaned and reinstalled.

Unfortunately, that didn’t fix it, so he dug deeper into the guts of the furnace checking this and that circuitry and eventually found a display with an particular error code. That involved a call to Bosch tech support, and they had no record of the furnace ever being installed. That was a little confusing, since Air Innovations had records of the purchase and installation. We spent 15-20 minutes getting the furnace registered and then Gabe started in with tech support, so I left him down there deeply in tech support hell.

He resurfaced about lunch time and said he had to go get some parts and try to get my furnace registered as when it was installed to make sure it was covered under warrantee. About an hour or so later I got a call from the clerk at Air Innovations saying that they had gotten the furnace registered with Bosch at the time of installation, and that parts for repairs would be covered under warranty and Gabe should be back out in a little while.

Shortly thereafter Gabe showed back up with a new main board that would require some modifications to the system before installation, and with a new air filter (it was white instead of a dingy brown), He disappeared back down into the hole. When he emerged about an hour or so later, he declared victory. While he wrote up the ticket, documenting all the troubleshooting, he stuck a thermometer in one of the heating vents and confirmed that warm air was coming out.

Note to self: Have Gabe come back out late this fall to do a pre-season check.

When I was last here it was early April in the middle of the snowstorms. It is now mid-May and the weather couldn’t be different. It is now upper seventies – low eighties and spring has definitely sprung. Last month, after the Snowpacolypse, we moved the Starlink antenna up to the roof.

After we moved the antenna, we started working on the Front Deck. I had long planned on an expansive front deck, on the north side of the house to be shaded during hot weather. I had planned to move the ramp from the trailer to run along the font of the house for easy access.

Above is the underpinning of the deck. The white PVC pipes are clean outs for the plumbing drains. The next picture shows the cement pad for the NE stairs

The above shows the stairs on the NE side of the porch. Note that the steps and the deck are the same colors, just a difference in reflectivity.

The white ramp is painted to protect the strand board. It will be covered with planking running crosswise.

Last week I saw a turtle climbing up the slope from the pond between my house and Jills. According to AT it wasn’t a snapping turtle (shape of jaw is different).

The turtle was very skittish and so rather than perching it on a fencepost, I herded it back towards the pond.

It’s been windy over the past week, so finishing the outside paneling is on hold. So AT & Johnny have been working inside.

I think it looks good, it’s primarily a tan color with light brown overtones.

In the bathroom, they have started installing the shower. So far they’ve gotten the sides and back installed.

Once the glue/caulking dry they will put the railings up and install the semi-circular doors.

Amplifying info to follow.

I’ve got another update on Jill’s house. It’s a couple of weeks later. Progress has been slower than Jill & AT would have liked, but most of the difficulties have been worked out progress is back on track.

The cabinets have been all set, in place and fixed to the walls, and the window trim molding is in place.

The gas powered, flow through Water Heater has been installed. It is the same one that I have installed and seems to work just fine.

The yellow piping is the propane input the clear plastic piping is the hot & cold water lines.

We’re on the second day of calm, almost not wind and the major focus of today is continuing work on the siding.

The goal for today is to try to get as much of the siding as possible up before the winds start up this afternoon.

The siding is precut with 2 pieces (one for each side) stepping up in 6 inch increments. Once the sides are on working on the South wall (with all the windows, and doors, and the support beams) will begin.

This is about 3:00 pm, and the winds are picking up. I think we will be shutting down for the day shortly.

Amplifying info to follow.

It’s mid-December and time for an update on various projects.

Jill’s tiny house continues to progress.

The slab has been poured and cured. The blue line is the water line coming in from my basement. The white fittings are various drain and vent lines.

Johnny is insulating his grandmother’s slab; 24 inches down. Now that the slab is insulated and backfilled AT will be erecting the walls and wrapping them with house-wrap to weatherproof the exterior.

Also, not pictured, is the power run up from my house to Jill’s.

We expect the walls to go up this week. Jill and I are in Southern California waiting to go on a 3-day cruise to Ensenada with Jan & Mike and Terry & Voula.

I left on Monday, a day before I planned, to outrun a large storm that descended on Monday evening dropping 6-8 inches of snow. It’s planned to continue until Wednesday dropping close to a foot of snow.

After the cruise, I will drive up to Steve & Irene’s house to see them and spend the night. Tuesday morning, I will pick up Jill and we will drive back up to Casper with the first load of her belongings.