Thinking and Plumbing etc.

I've put on a few random photos of things going on, and they are in no special order. We have a fair bit of snow, and it has been pretty chilly. I have seen alot colder, but it has been hanging in the area of about -20 to -27 Celcius/ roughly about -6 to -16 on the Farenheit scale. I even had to finally fire up the old John Deere and do some serious snow plowing as the pickup was starting to push snow in places. The snow is still hanging on the north side of the house, but it did let go on the sunny side. (no pic.)

As usual, I did'nt physically accomplish as much as I would have liked to, but I did get the loft floor all glued and nailed down with some ring shank nails.

I have been spending alot of time with plumbing. There's the heater, burning 20 lbs of propane in about 6 hours time. Costly, but I do like to take the chill off.

This is just a glance from the loft looking down to the living room.

From the basement looking up.

There is the main plumbing stack. First I had to frame in a wall against the stairs or it would have been hard to do later. Yes, the main stack is crooked, and it's probably going to stay that way, I hope that does'nt matter. The cement used to glue this stuff together sets real quick, and when I was putting that one elbow on the top of the stack, I could'nt seem to find my mark until it was to late. It was'nt off by much, but enough to show a bit of a lean from this angle anyway. The three inch line running coming from the toilet will flex up enough to have the right flow angle. I think. lol. Most of the plumbing is done, but there are a few little touch ups, such as some of the lines that come off the main stack and goes to the sinks etc. I have to shoot the stack out the roof yet, but I think I will wait until that snow comes off first. It would need to be a bit warmer of a day anyway.

Before I got real serious about this plumbing, I had the permit guy come out and get me set straight on a few things so that I would get it done right the first time. I THINK I have it right. Anyway, he is the same guy that does the heating inspections. I kinda threw my idea at him about what I wanted to do about a heat system, but I'm not real sure if my plans are going to be totally acceptable. He has mentioned things like HRV (heat recovery ventilators), which I think I am slowly learning that is mandatory in a new house. Also, energy efficient heating source, such as a furnace. I was'nt really prepared to get any answers on things at the time. When I first started to study these things, it made me laugh a bit. How can something that uses so much electical power be classed as energy efficient? They're easy on the gas, but the solar system might take a bit of beating. I have been doing alot of research on this stuff, and also research on wiring lately. I am going to get an electrical permit soon, but I just don't want to sound like too much of a dummy about things when I do go there. I am now wondering if my inverter and all that is going to be up to code on all this stuff. Might have to bite the bullet and get me a more modern system, but I'm not real sure at this time.

A forced air furnace could actually be a good thing in my little house. I really don't think the fan should have to run all that much to keep up to things. It would be a nice touch for the summer when you need a little heat in the evenings and cooler days. I still don't think the genny would have to be used all that much. But in the winter, it is going to mean a larger battery bank, and possibly even an automatic starting generator system, which would be quite do-able, I guess. I'm thinking just a small 3000 watt honda or something should handle it all maybe, and should beable to be set up for autostart with the right inverter. But I better not get too far ahead of myself here just yet. I guess I'll get prepared for a little chat with my friend the inspector guy. Who, by the way has been very helpful to me so far. Boy, if Tony(Did It My Way) were still with us, I could just hear him right about now. lol. He never was very fond of the permitting process. And if I lived somewhere, where it did'nt matter, I would'nt be either. (Future plans possibly).

Anyway. Seasons greetings to all. Hope you all have a real good one.

Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.
 

Snowy Solar Panels---Dec Update

This is truly one of the downfalls of solar power in the winter. When the panels get covered like that, they don't charge very much. But then even if I were to clean them off, the sun is'nt shining all that well. I do alot of thinking about how I am going to clean them off when they are way up there on my house. I'm thinking some kind of vibrator system, or maybe compressed air, or maybe just let the sun melt it off. This really is'nt an issue for me right now though. This time of year the generator is usually utilized off and on even when the sun is shining. I use it to warm the batteries up in the old deep freeze. I got the shack all skirted in again for another long and cold winter. When I get more snow I will keep banking it up around the shack for added insulation.

The dirty old Peterbilt truck dash tells alot of info. the far left gauge is a thermometer that is reading -28 Celcius outside. Thanks to the Peterbilt getting tired and having some engine work and transmission issues rectified, I am on about a 2 week break from work to try and get some things done on the house. The old Peterbilt has less than 600,000 kms on it, but that is quite alot for a bush truck, where I have been driving it anyway. If it were mostly on the highway, it would probably have well over a million kms before all this stuff takes place. It's about 17,000 hours on the engine. It's got alot of hard mile on it. It can't seem to be helped with some of the places we go and the weight we haul. The boss offered me a brand new tri-drive, but I turned it down and let the other driver have it. I've had my taste of that, and don't really like it that much for what we do. They are really awkward to get around and also, it will be expected to be busier. I don't want to be real busy at work anymore. Not for awhile anyway.

All the windows and doors are in. I had that done for awhile now, except for the ones way up there.

Recently I have been working on the main loft floor. I always had some plywood up there to walk on, but nothing was cut to fit or secured. I now have it all sized, but still have to glue and nail it all down. I am going to concentrate on getting all my indoor plumbing done soon, as my permit, that I already had to get extended once, expires mid March. It'll be nice to get that out of the way, then get the electrical all out of the way so I can insulate and actually hold some heat in when I am burning propane. I can aim the heater at myself where I am working, and it does help alot, but I sure am going through the propane. It's been in the area of -20c/-8 ish F lately. I'm not going to let the cold slow me down much though, however, the lack of knowledge probably will. I spent most of today (Friday) just planning and measuring. I never was completely sure how I wanted to arrange my bathroom, but I do have a pretty good idea now. I think I'll get the plumbing permit guy to come out next week if he can, cause I have a big list of dumb questions for him. Drains, vents, even chimneys for propane appliances and woodstoves. I think he's into all that too. But now that I know what I am doing, it would be really neat to find out just how to do it. lol. Code, code, code. Anyway, just a little bit of an update for now.



Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.