Christmas at Gull Lake Ranch

At the airport a few days before Christmas

It was a quiet and mostly peaceful Christmas this year. Alex drove to Vancouver on the 19th to spend some holiday time with his dad and his sister, who had flown in from Toronto. That left Carol, me and the two dogs at the ranch. As per our usual practice, we had closed the office for the week between Christmas and New Year's so would have more than a week and a half at home. We were up early on Saturday, Christmas Eve, baking pies and preparing for the following day's feast. The pies were gifts for friends so we spent the afternoon visiting Bud and Lea Thorson and Sara at Dreamscape Ranch. We have all been busy with our lives recently so it was nice to meet up and share an eggnog and some good conversation. They've been renovating the modular home that sits by the entrance to their ranch and Lea was kind enough to show us the progress they've been making. It looks very cozy and will be a wonderful rental home. We made it home shortly after dark (sadly, only about 4pm!) and spent the evening watching a variety of old Christmas favourites on the tv.

We did sleep in until 8am on Christmas Day but were quickly busy getting the turkey in the oven, in preparation for our planned early dinner (3pm). We opened gifts, phoned various family members spread out across the country, and continued our tv marathon viewing session. The meal was fantastic, if a little much for just the two of us. It's a good thing we both like turkey sandwiches! It was the first real test for our new kitchen, and everything worked out perfectly. I have to say that it is REALLY nice to have a proper kitchen sink and a dishwasher!
Apart from the dogs going berserk every so often, it was a peaceful time. The weather continues to be unseasonably warm, but not warm enough to melt our snow yet. Carol has been working hard on her puzzle (thanks, Reen!) and I have made several forays down the driveway cutting and loading firewood to replenish our wood shed. It is turning out to be a wonderful holiday - one that is well earned after our busy building schedule this year. We are planning to wire and insulate the basement before heading back to work later next week so I had better go and get at it. Happy New Year!

Kitchen Sink

Home Depot called on Friday morning to inform us that our kitchen counter tops were ready for pickup. Of course, I had driven the car to the office so I went home at lunch time and swapped it for the truck. A few hours later, I was home with the counters. It is fiddly work getting them put together and mounted correctly so we opted to wait for daylight and do it on Saturday. The smaller chunk went in just fine in the corner between the stove and the fridge and looked great, but the larger piece comprising the peninsula had a problem. We were missing the draw bolts for that section and a small piece that finished off the backsplash at the end. The draw bolts (4 of them) hold the two sections of counter top together at the long mitred seam in the corner. Without them we couldn't mount the counters on the cabinets and therefore couldn't install the sink. I took some pics of the offending backsplash piece but seeing as it was very late in the day decided that an early trip back to HD on Sunday morning was in order.
After a beautiful early drive down the hill, I quickly located Carmen (our HD sales rep), showed her the pics and told her my tale of woe regarding the draw bolts. She quickly got me fixed up with the bolts, ordered the missing backsplash piece and got me on my way. The part should be here on Wednesday, she said.
So, back at home, I managed to get the two pieces of counter top bolted together and slipped into position on the cabinets. It looked great! Carol was busy prepping for an early mini-Xmas dinner for the three of us - Alex was heading to his Dad's place in Vancouver the next day. When she finished with her pie crust pastry, I screwed it all down, marked the position of the sink and proceeded to cut out the scary large hole in our beautiful new counter! We had assembled the sinks, drains, taps and water feed lines and just had to drop them into the opening. I must be getting better at this stuff because it fit perfectly! I still needed to make the connections to the supply lines and glue the drain pipes and trap in the correct position. Again, it all went smoothly and the sink was ready to go.
Carol came over to be the first to try it out. Remember we have been without a sink, other than the small one in the downstairs bathroom, since mid-August. This was a big moment for us! Luckily, it all worked great! We are very happy with our choices regarding the kitchen. The cabinets, counters and sinks all look really nice and work exactly as we'd hoped. The kitchen has been through several "looks too small", "looks bigger than we planned" phases as we got it all put together. I have to say though, that we're very pleased with how it turned out, and the size seems perfect.
Now that Carol is home from her trip to Ontario, we were finally able to get the Christmas tree and decorations out. Alex helped his mom put the tree up and Carol played `elf` decorating the place with the few bits and pieces that we have. The house looks really nice and the tree, nestled in the corner, really "warms" it up.

We will try and post again before "the day", but if we don't, we would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest New Year. Thanks, for following along on our blog and we hope that you are gaining something from our experiences building this house.

Kitchen Coming Along

In preparation for the counter tops arriving sometime in the next day or two, I worked on the peninsula wiring and installing the range hood and associated ducting. The roughed-in wiring was already in place but needed to be tidied up. The space under the counter for the dishwasher also accommodates a GFCI outlet and switches for the dining room chandelier and pendant lights that hang over the peninsula. While not difficult, the openings for the electrical boxes have to be cut into the decorative wood panels. My dremel tool came in handy for this job, but a steady hand is required as you can't easily repair a gaffe like you would if the boxes were being installed in drywall. The result looks great!
Installing the range hood was much more involved, requiring a 4" hole in the wall to the outside and a series of galvanized tin pieces. The hole went right through my precious cabinets, but was not such a big deal after cutting the 3.5"x 10" opening for the range hood exhaust itself in the bottom of the same cabinet! The range hood installed under the cabinet quite easily with only 4 pan head screws. Hooking up the wiring was a snap as was installing the breaker in the panel. A little metallic duct tape to seal all the joints in the tin parts and we were ready to go. Well, almost...I had to install the 2 LED downlight bulbs into their sockets, and then...Bazinga! It all works! The fan is very quiet, which was one of my requirements and the lights illuminate the stove surface perfectly.

Dishwasher

I managed to get the peninsula that houses the dishwasher and the kitchen sink in place on Sunday. It is quite fiddly as it needs to be anchored to the floor so it stays in place and presented a variety of wiring and plumbing challenges to boot. Our plumber, Jeff, had earlier roughed-in the 1 1/2" drain and vent pipes and ran the supply lines to the correct position, but it is our job to get it all connected up properly and to code. The vent for the drain is the most complicated in that it must be routed through 3 different cabinet bases and then make a tall loop under the sink - not really difficult but it did require a bit of planning to get it all to work. The drains are easier in that all the action is right there, under the sink. The dishwasher plumbing is quite straightforward if you have the correct pieces in place. I hooked up the clearly-marked power feed cable in the panel (thanks, James!) and voila, clean dishes! Yay!
After getting the cabinets and fascia panels in place, I made the final measurements for the counter tops and took them down to Carmen at Home Depot. We were hoping to have them back and installed before Christmas so I had to make a concession. Carol and I had chosen a rounded bull-nose edge for the laminate tops, but they would take 2-4 weeks to arrive as the shop had to custom order that profile. They could deliver the counters in a week if we would instead accept a rectangular profile that had rounded edges. With Carol away until next week, I made an executive decision and went the more expeditious route. Hopefully, I won't regret that decision later!
I found a nice Broan range hood on Craigslist and picked that up last night.
Today, it is "Seniors Day" at Rona, so it is with mixed feelings that I am off to buy a new kitchen sink and faucet - at 55 years old, I qualify for the 10% discount! The good news is that I might be able to have the counters, sink and taps ready to go by the time Carol gets home. Here's hoping...!

Knobs, Pulls or Handles

After checking a couple of the local hardware supply stores we settled on a "look" we both liked for the cabinet doors and drawer knobs/pulls/handles (you pick whatever works for you!). I should say that there are a ton of choices out there, and prices range from less than a dollar to more than twenty dollars each. We didn't really like the chrome or brass look of some of them so that narrowed down the selection. We both wanted something that was comfortable to put your fingers around or into. Some of the handles leave a space that is too shallow for the chubby sausages that pass for fingers on my hands to easily slide into. Some have uncomfortable edges that make using them akin to a Chinese finger trap. Anyway, the one we settled on is a dark, hammered pewter look that is very pleasant to touch and looks great, too, at least in our opinion, and that's the one that counts! We chose the same handle for both drawer pulls and door knobs.
They look even better once they are installed on the doors. We can't wait until they are all on as Alex has commented that the "soft-close" drawers are awkward to operate without pulls of some sort in place.

One small step for man...

Kitchen Cabinets

We've had our kitchen cabinets stored in our basement for the last 4 weeks, taking up valuable space and doing nothing to de-clutter the great room and kitchen. We have a variety of cobbled-together tables, stands and counter tops, littered with everything that would normally be inside the kitchen cabinets - pots, pans, dishes, cutlery, food, toaster, and...well you get the idea. We started work on the drywall in the kitchen last week, and although the ceiling still needs doing, we managed to get the walls mudded, sanded and painted with primer-sealer by noon last Saturday. Finally, we could actually put up the cabinets and get rid of some of the mess!
 I had purchased a B&D Crossfire laser level to help me keep everything level and plumb, and it worked great! Marking lines on the wall that I "knew" were level is a huge confidence booster to a first-time cabinet installer. 

As per many of the DIY sites, I started with the upper cabinets, specifically the upper corner cabinet. I worked out from there tackling the 3 boxes that run above the fridge and over to the corner first, and then the long run of cabinets out above the stove and finishing with the wine rack by the window. I had to do a little shimming, but for the most part the walls were plumb and flat.
With the uppers on the wall I could focus on the lower cabinets. Starting again in the corner I followed a similar program working along the walls. The corner base cabinet is a big one with a single bi-fold door that opens to an enormous cavern that fills most of 8 square feet to the left of the stove. It was here that we came across the first "glitch". The stove has to be about 3" off the back wall in order to clear the gas inlet and valve which comes up through the floor. This makes opening that cupboard door a bit of a challenge so we had to move the drawer cabinet (the one directly to the right of the stove) another 3/4" to the right. The bi-fold door now easily clears the side of the stove. 
 Our plumbing vent comes through the wall into the back of the drawer box, so we had to cut an access to that. It is going to be a challenge to turn that 2" pipe 90* and still maintain adequate clearance for the drawers. I managed to place the big "2-door with a drawer" cabinet that opens into the dining room after cutting a hole for the feed to the outside tap, and that's where I ran out of time yesterday. After all, my BC Lions were playing in the Grey Cup (the Canadian Football League championship game) and I couldn't miss that! (BTW, we won the game!)
Today, we are going knob shopping. Carol is going to Ontario for a couple of weeks and her flight leaves tomorrow morning, so if she wants input as to what handles/knobs we're getting, today is it!

Tractor going again

No pics today, but just an update. Our tractor had run out of fuel on the upper part of the driveway and had remained there for a few days while I waited for some warmer weather to "bleed" the air out of the fuel system. It is not a difficult job, but does require "bare hands" to do effectively. Yesterday, was quite warm so we figured this was our chance. We played hooky from work after lunch and zoomed home to try and perform the fiddly task. After getting into my space suit - okay, not really a space suit, but it feels that way, the overalls, heavy jacket, giant sorel -100* boots, elbow length insulated gloves, and touque (sp.?) and/or balaclava make you feel the way the moon astronauts looked on the moon walks - I drove the car down to the stranded tractor and had it running within a couple of minutes. It was almost too easy.
I then proceeded to plow the entire length of the driveway...twice, to ensure as wide a road as possible. The local neighbours tell us that the road width narrows as the winter progresses. The plows experience lots of difficulty moving the big frozen berms that form on both sides of the road from previous plowing sessions, so each time is slightly narrower than the last time, hence starting as wide as possible.
Anyway, this morning we woke to an inch of fresh "heart attack" snow, and drizzling rain. Ahhhhh, winter in Kamloops!

Winter has arrived

We've had a few small dumps of snow over the past couple of weeks, but this weekend marked a shift toward full-blown winter weather. We have 8"-10" of snow on the ground now, and temps dipped to -20*C on Friday night. 

The house looks pretty with its backdrop of fir trees and a blanket of snow below. I've had to put the ladder up outside so I could clear the snow off the solar modules. We found a sort of backwards snow shovel on an 18ft. extendable pole that allows us to clear the lower 4 modules from the deck. I have to be on the ladder to get the upper ones cleaned off.  For the most part, they do stay fairly clear of snow due to the steep 45* angle of the roof. 

We did discover a problem with our new generator. While it does an awesome job charging our enormous battery bank, its automotive-style alternator has failed and is not charging the on-board battery used to start the generator. We have taken to removing the battery after starting the generator and then moving it indoors to a small trickle charger to keep it ready for the next time. 

I managed to run the tractor out of fuel on Friday night, leaving it stranded on the driveway. Of course, after filling it with fresh diesel it needs to have the air bled out of the system, meaning that it will have to wait until the weather warms a few degrees. 

This is Ben's first winter and at first he didn't know what to make of the snow. He didn't want to actually touch it! However, all the good smells are buried under the fluffy white surface and it didn't take him long to get into it, bounding around like a jack rabbit, sticking his nose in the snow every three or four bounces. Now, as soon as we let him out he's off exploring this new, white universe, oblivious to our calls for him to come inside. Well, at least until one or more of his feet get just too cold and he hobbles in and lays close to the fire to warm up. Joey fares better with her thick undercoat and stays out for what seems like a long time - sometimes an hour or more, checking out all the new deer and coyote tracks that criss-cross our property. We sure must have a lot of wildlife because there are tracks everywhere!

We finally got started on the kitchen, installing the framing for the small bulkhead above the stove where all the plumbing from the upstairs bathroom travels down to the basement. We even  managed to get a few sheets of drywall up before running out of light and energy yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. I need to get a few strips of corner bead, more drywall mesh tape, and a proper drywall knife. We are hoping to have the rest of the kitchen drywall up tonight and we can then tape and mud it. Hopefully, within a few days, we can start installing the cabinets!

Tiling the bathroom

OK, we have the insulation (on the top two floors) done. Now we need to finish the tile installation in the main floor bathroom so we can move on to the kitchen.
On Sunday, I had installed a cleat on the wall, exactly 1 tile height above the bathtub. The idea is that you install the cleat perfectly level and then simply lay your first row of tile on the cleat. After you have filled in the rest of the field, you come back and install the bottom row last. I had started the row atop the cleat before realizing that I was going to need 1/8" spacers. I thought I could do it by eye, but it was more difficult than I thought.
Carol picked up the spacers on Monday and we left work early so I  could take advantage of the light. As you can tell by the pictures, I managed to get quite a lot done in the 2 hours before darkness put an end to it. We chose ceramic tiles and a marble mosaic for the accent, in colours that best matched our vanity sink top. Now that it's on the wall, we're both very pleased with how it looks. There is probably 5 hours of tilesetting left before we get to grouting the whole thing to make the shower usable. That will cut down on the trips to the local pool to use the showers there!
We have been exposed to some winter weather lately, with a few cm's of snow on the ground at the house. The PV modules are completely white with snow and frost so I will have to go up and sweep them off if they don't get lose their wintery patina over the next few days. Up 'til now, we have been doing pretty well with power generation and haven't really needed to supplement the solar power with our diesel generator.

With the snow, I have another couple of jobs to add to the pile - secure tarps to protect the spare dimensional lumber and the skids of Certainteed siding, and insulate and protect to the top of our water well to keep it from freezing. We don't want to be hauling water during the cold winter months!
I had to include a pic of the two dogs. Because we have all our food in boxes on the floor, Joey had taken to eating anything she could get at while we were at the office and she was home alone. We have been putting her in Ben's crate during the day while we struggle to get the kitchen cupboards installed. She goes in quite happily as we give her a dog cookie, so Ben has taken to joining her in the mornings on the off-chance that he might get a cookie too!

Hallowe'en Update

We apologize for being lax when it comes to keeping the blog up to date. We've all been hard at it.
Mike and Alex have made numerous wood gathering forays to the piles of trees knocked down during last winter's driveway construction. We have finally managed to fill the new woodshed, but we calculate that should only last us about 6 weeks! Every log we can get now, will be one less we have to extract from the snow in a month's time. Typically, Mike chainsaws the fallen trees up into 18"-20" lengths, Alex loads them into the truck and then splits and stacks them when we return to the house. We are burning 24/7 now as temps are below zero at night and rarely go above 7 or 8 degrees C during the day.
We have finished insulating the top two floors. Vapour barrier is done but for one small area upstairs and one section of the cathedral ceiling.
We have managed to get the plumbing for the downstairs bath/shower installed and working. Now, if only we could get some time to do the tile work and put up a shower curtain we could actually shower standing up! Still, it's nice to see the bathroom progressing, even if the work goes slower than we'd like.
Our kitchen cupboards arrived last Thursday! Carol and Alex had a tough day cleaning and tidying up the basement to give us enough room to store them. They were 9 days early and we're not quite ready to install them yet. I still have to frame in a bulkhead above the stove and then drywall the kitchen walls. While not all that difficult, it is still a challenge to find the time to get it done. We ordered the kitchen stuff from Home Depot and have chosen a shaker style in a dark cinnamon colour. Pics will follow as we install them.

Generator is working

Last night, after getting home from work, I set to connecting our generator to the Xantrex inverter/charger. The Xantrex unit includes 2 automatic transfer switches to safely energize/de-energize power from the grid and/or a generator. If you remember, we had Eric's guys dig trenches for the gas line and the power cable from the generator. I had purchased and then buried the cable last weekend so we could get our driveway back (it was criss-crossed with the open trenches), but had not connected it at the generator or pushed it through the basement wall to the mechanical room. I have yet to find a connector that will act as a strain relief and weatherproofer for the generator end as it has surface mount lugs for attachment with just a swing-up cover for protection. If anyone has some suggestion as to what to use here, please let us know. The inverter panel end was a no-brainer, and we simply purchased the appropriate connector. The Midnite Solar connection panel makes it easy to connect/disconnect all your electrical wiring and panels to the inverter, coming pre-wired with buss bars for the various inputs and outputs.
I turned off the "power" to the inverter (shut off the battery disconnect switch) rendering the panel safe to work in. Connecting the ground, neutral and two load wires (don't forget, we're talking 240V single phase power from the generator) went quickly, and likewise at the generator. After a warm-up we turned on the output at the generator, checked the output voltage, went inside and checked the voltage on the generator input and then threw the breaker, energizing the system.
The inverter took a little while as it checked the power from the generator to confirm that it was a viable and safe power source, then switched the inverter off, powered the electrical panel from the generator power and finally, started to charge the  batteries - very cool! I have yet to connect the Xantrex Automatic Generator Controller to the generator, so we do not yet have the benefit of a "smart" generator - we have to go and manually start the generator each time we need to use it. Eventually, the system will sense when the batteries need to be recharged and will automatically start the generator and switch into charge mode. No need to go outside in my pyjamas on those cold winter mornings!

Thanksgiving

We needed this long weekend. We had lots to do before the "real" cold weather arrived and this was our shot. Carol would give the new stove a workout preparing a turkey dinner with all the trimmings for our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. We chose the first day of the holiday weekend for the big meal so we could take advantage of the leftovers the rest of the weekend! We would get the big ladder in and put the 45 or so remaining batts of R40 insulation in the cathedral ceiling. Vapour barrier installation would follow but was not quite so critical as retaining heat was the main focus.

Saturday morning, I was up and at it early. I put the plastic on the wall behind the TV and then went outside to see about moving the shipping pallet that originally held our windows. At 11 feet long and almost 4 feet wide, it would make a good floor for a small woodshed. I rigged a sling around it, picked it up with the tractor and moved it over to the north side of the house, by the back door. It would need to be solid and flat so I had to cut a number of 4 foot lengths of 2x10 lumber to shim it level and oriented it the way I wanted. It would be equally easy to access from the back door and the end of the "driveway". This would ease delivery of the unsplit logs from our chainsawing expeditions. We had bought an electric log splitter on sale at Canadian Tire and found that it worked well when positioned on the back deck, adjacent to the woodshed area.

The shed would need to keep the rain and most of the snow off the wood so it would burn nicely during the cold winter months. I envisioned the building with 3 solid sides and a sloped roof with an overhang in the front to help protect the opening. I framed it all in, making sure to keep it all plumb and square and built the roof separately. I shingled half of the roof to save time later and to keep the weight down to something that Alex and I could safely manage. After installing the half inch sheathing on the walls, we hoisted the roof up, screwed it down and stood back to admire the fruit of our labours. It came out well, in my opinion, and should serve to hold enough dry wood to get us through about 1/4 of the winter months. The remainder we would have to store under the deck.
Back inside, we set to getting the big 4'x2'x1' thick batts of insulation in the ceiling. We had decided against using scaffolding to do this as we had a bunch of furniture inside already and it would be too crowded. So, from the ladder, we could put in 6 batts before having to move. Once we had developed a system, the work went quite quickly, and we finished work on the south ceiling easily.
Alex and I then went out to get as much wood cut as possible before Carol had the dinner ready.
Dinner was great! Everything looked and tasted amazing...and the Leafs won! Sadly, in the late game, my Flames were extinguished. All in all, though, a wonderful day with lots to be thankful for.
Sunday, we finished the insulating! Yay! I managed to finish the shingling on the woodshed later in the afternoon and we all had enough turkey sandwiches to keep even Carol happy.
Brian Foley had arranged to meet us on the holiday Monday morning to show us a few spots where there would be some easy-to-get firewood (we think that the neighbours are worried that we'll freeze to death this winter!) and Brian Jr. even felled a pine beetle afflicted tree for us. Of course, it fell right across the road, eliminating going back the same way, so we followed them over to their house so Brian Jr. could sharpen our chainsaw chain, and so we could wish Louise a Happy Thanksgiving.
After returning to our house, Alex and I went back to cut up the giant pine tree. The freshly sharpened chain made the cutting easy and we quickly filled the pickup to overflowing with 20" lengths of varying diameter. Returning to the house, I went in to get going on the vapour barrier while Alex set to splitting and stacking all the logs. The little splitter worked awesome, and even logs up of 16" diameter easily succumbed to its powerful embrace. It took him several hours, but Alex was able to split and stack it all in the shed. No freezing to death this month for these city slickers!

Gas is all done

We would like to thank Michael at Superior Propane for all his efforts getting our gas installed and operating. He went through a lot of challenges during what should have been  a fairly straightforward installation. In BC, Superior has no water heater rental program, so we ended up with a Rinnai tankless water heater after all. Of course, we had to buy it outright, but their service was great and included all the venting hardware and plumbing bits and pieces. These things are cool, very efficient and should last for years, so we're pleased at the way it ended up.
Michael had estimated we would require 12 hours of installation time to run all the gas lines for the current appliances and additional lines for future installation of 3 direct vent space heaters; convert all the appliances to run on propane (not natural gas as delivered); and "balance" the pressures throughout the house. It took him only a little over 8 hours. He had to come back twice, once to deliver and do an initial installation of the water heater and a final time to finish it all up and run the additional gas lines. The driveway was like a 4x4 test track on his last visit and we were happy that he got in and out again safely. Thanks, Michael.
I am attaching a photo of our new Aurora 10kW "silent" generator. It is definitely not silent, but at less than 60dB, the sound it makes is not too intrusive and certainly not annoying. We're hoping to have it "online" and ready to charge our battery bank later this holiday weekend.
That's right everyone, the Thanksgiving Day long weekend in Canada is here! I think we'll be giving thanks that it's over on Monday night - we have so much to do this weekend! Alex and I will be spending the day on Saturday, cutting and splitting enough wood to hopefully last us through several months of cold winter weather. I have promised Carol that we will finish the insulation in the cathedral ceiling of the great room and get it all covered with vapour barrier. The downstairs bath is in but needs tiling and drywall before it is ready to use. We are starting to smell kind of funky so there is a big motivation to get that done, too! If that's not quite enough, we have the upstairs toilet ready to put in if we get some "spare" time.

Carol will be cooking a turkey and baking pies while Alex and I are busy with the firewood. Yum! While we have a fridge and stove in the kitchen, we don't have any cabinets, counters, dishwasher or sinks in place yet. Our cabinets are ordered and due to arrive on November 4th. The counters will follow shortly after, so we should just about be good by the middle of November. The only working sink we have right now is in the downstairs bathroom. Fortunately, Carol is a magician in the kitchen so we're confident that our celebration meal will be spectacular!

Insulation progressing well

We have been working hard installing the insulation over the last few days. We have all the main and upper floor walls, the 2nd floor ceiling and some of the big main floor vaulted ceiling complete - about 75% of the job done. The basement has barely been touched, but we still need to get the wiring done down there and inspected so we can cover it up. It will be a challenge to coordinate the insulation/vapour barrier inspection so we can go ahead and start drywalling. The main floor bath tub goes on sale today so we will be picking that up. We have the moisture and mould resistant drywall for the bathrooms at home already and will be pushing to get that in right away. We have Superior Propane scheduled for Monday. They are bringing the 500 gallon "submarine" tank to install behind the house and will be providing and installing the water heater and gas lines for the stove and dryer. That will be great news! Hot water and a working stove/oven will be a wonderful luxury after the last few weeks. We hired Eric Chipperfield's crew to come out and dig the trenches for the gas line and the generator wiring so we'll be ready for Monday's gas install.

I have been energizing a few of the simple circuits on the main electrical panel to try and reduce the number of extension cords we have snaking around the place. Everything is going well on that front. Over the last weekend we managed to bring the satellite tv and cell booster equipment from the Knutsford house so we have our TV and internet connections up and running. The place is starting to feel a bit more like "home".
We received a call from Home Depot that our kitchen cabinets will be ready on November 4th - yikes! Oh well, another couple of weeks without cabinets is the least of our worries.
We are hoping that we can have the insulation and vapour barrier finished up this weekend.
The 10kW diesel generator from Aurora Generators arrived on Tuesday. Brian, our neighbour, came out with his big tractor and unloaded it from the back of our pickup - it weighs 1,300 lbs. We have set it up just behind and to the side of the house so we can access it easily from the  back door. After installing the antifreeze coolant, engine oil and fuel we are ready to start testing it. Roll on the shorter, darker winter days!

Ben, enjoying the warm spot in front of the fire.

Pudding!

I know...that's kind of a cryptic title for a blog post that only a few days ago was talking about wood stoves and chimneys. But it fits, as in "The Proof is in the Pudding". With the weather having taken a turn for more normal, fall temperatures over the past few days, we would have been very chilly if we didn't have our wonderful wood stove to keep us warm! It is working very well, even better than we had expected. I guess that's the difference when you start with a high quality stove. We can attest to the fact that it will burn all night if loaded up when we go to bed, which is precisely what we wanted. And, if I do say so myself, it looks great!

Slate hearth is finished

Steve and James from the Fireplace Centre are here installing the chimney and stovepipe as I write this post. They arrived about an hour ago, shortly after I managed to move our Regency F2100M wood stove into position on the slate tiles. Last night I worked feverishly to grout and finish the tiles in anticipation of today's events. I am very pleased with the result!
I vacuumed out the stove, replaced the firebricks, and cleaned and polished the exterior. It looks great sitting ready to heat our little place.
We learned that in spite of our best efforts, we will have to have a 4 inch "kink" in the stovepipe to accommodate positioning the chimney correctly between the rafters.
I will update with more pics later as the chimney installation is completed.

Busy times

Alex and Beverley are gone now, back home in Markham, Ontario. We had an awesome time with them, taking in the sights, sounds and vistas around Kamloops. It was great to have you guys, and we hope you'll come again when the house is in a more finished state.
With fall and the accompanying cooler weather quickly approaching, we have lots going on. While rushing to get the insulation in all the wall and ceiling cavities, we are having to find time to finish the fireplace hearth and pad before the Dustin's gang from the Fireplace Centre comes out on Tuesday to install the chimney. BTW, for any of you considering a wood burning stove, be advised that the stovepipe and chimney installation will set you back as much as the best stoves on the market, and several times the cost of less expensive stoves. We were stunned to get estimates in the $2.5k-$3k range for our very straightforward install!
The folks at Superior Propane are coming out sometime in the next few days to view our site and help us choose the best location for the 500 gallon tank that will have to be installed. All our gas appliances will have to be in place before they do the actual installation. Finances have dictated that we will have to forgo the tankless combi water heater for the time being and will instead be renting a high efficiency tank-type from Superior.
Carol ordered the kitchen cabinets and counters last weekend, taking advantage of a 25% discount offered at Home Depot. They will arrive around the middle of October.
Yesterday, we ordered our diesel generator - a 10kW "silent" unit from Aurora Generators in Ontario. These run the same Chinese-made, 3 cylinder engine that is in our little tractor. Although these generators have had some reliability issues in the past, most if not all of those problems seem to be long gone and the more recent word is that they are an excellent choice for our application. I guess we'll find out, one way or another! Delivery time is estimated at around 10 days.
We have also ordered our TED 5000. No, it's not some reincarnation of the computer in "2001 A Space Odyssey" (the HAL 9000 IIRC), but is an acronym for The Energy Detective. TED monitors power generated and consumed, maintaining a detailed log and helping eliminate electrical power hogs. The 5000 model also allows online, remote monitoring via the Internet. Hmmm, we'll have to see how feasible that is in our situation, but stay tuned for the URL if and when that happens.

Work goes on... hearth and insulation

We've been having a great time doing all the "touristy" things with Beverley and Alex while still putting in the time at the ranch. The good folks at Home Hardware gave us a great deal on all the thermal and sound insulation, and even delivered it up here on Saturday morning. Thanks, Shane and Carlene. It's hard to believe that all these batts are going to fit into the walls and ceilings!

The other project we're working on is the hearth for the wood stove. In order to satisfy the safety requirements, it must sit on non-combustible material and be specific distances away from adjacent walls. We decided to cover the pad and surrounding walls with black slate. It looks great, in our opinion, and will act as a storage medium for heat, radiating warmth even after the fire has gone out. Our stove sits central to the house for a variety of reasons, so that puts it right in front of the staircase leading to the second floor.
We first had to create a slightly raised platform for the slate to sit on, so that it will be above the finished floors once they are installed. There was no need for structural reinforcement of the flooring as the wall below it is very beefy, in that it also supports a large beam in the basement. This makes the floor very solid. We then installed Durock, cement backer board on the wall surfaces that would hold the slate. This stuff is very hard and inflexible and makes a great base for the thin set mortar. The floor received a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood cut to the shape of the hearth.
We had previously sorted through the boxes of slate picking the more interesting pieces to go on the walls. We snapped string lines creating a grid that the tiles would approximate when finished, allowing us to keep them all level and plumb - or at least as level and plumb as natural stone can be. Every piece is a slightly different size and thickness so the grid was only a guide. Starting at the bottom of the back wall, we spread out only enough thin set mortar for one row at a time, making sure to "comb" it out with the trowel. We "back buttered" the slate tiles before setting them in the mortar, giving them a little "shimmy" to ensure a solid bond. Between the tiles, we inserted 1/4" spacers to allow an even space for the grout.
The job went fairly smoothly, with the help of a wet saw to make the cuts on edge tiles along the stairs.
Once the back wall was almost done, we moved to the floor, repeating the process. We like the result so far and can't wait to finish it up over the next couple of days.
We have also begun insulating, starting with the upstairs (since we sleep there and it's been quite cool at night). It is a little challenging because of the vaulted ceilings requiring at least one cut piece at the top of every void being filled with the fluffy, pink fibreglass batts. It's a nasty job requiring a respirator mask and full coverage clothing to keep from becoming too itchy from the fibreglass. It really feels like we're making some progress with the inside now, though, so that spurs us on.

Our new family member, Ben

This post is a little off the topic, but we have had several people asking for info on our new puppy, Ben.
Ben is a 12 week old blue heeler-terrier cross we found on Kijiji. We were looking for a buddy for Joey, our 7 year old border collie-aussie shepherd cross. When we do finally move up to the ranch, we won't have the luxury of built-in neighbours to let the dogs in and out on a daily basis, or play with them while we're at work (thanks Patou!). We worried that she would be lonely, or worse yet, vulnerable to the many coyotes that live around the property. The search was on. After a few false starts, we stumbled across Ben. His new owner, Brianna, was unable to keep him so she had put him up for adoption - luckily for us!
We were concerned that Joey wouldn't like him, given her penchant for trying to beat up any dog that comes near her. However, our fears were unfounded, and she has accepted him into our family, if a bit grudgingly at times! They play and wrestle together whenever they are together. We feel so sorry for Joey. Like a real trooper, she puts up with the sharp teeth and constant attacks of her little pack mate. She does have to tune him in a bit when he gets too rambunctious for even Joey to deal with.
So, enjoy the video and the pic. I'm off to the ranch to setup for the slate tiles that go under and behind the wood stove. Wish me luck.
BTW, Carol's parents, Alex and Beverley arrived safely a few minutes ago. Welcome to Kamloops!

"Go ahead and cover."

I am typing this post on Sunday morning at around 8am, while looking out one of the dining room windows in the house at Gull Lake Ranch...
That was the phrase, uttered by Wayne, the electrical safety officer, that removed tons of stress and worry and made me smile with a big, silly grin. We had met, as arranged and made our way to the house. As we chatted outside, while observing the solar modules mounted on the roof, he came across as amicable, interested and helpful. He gave me a couple of great tips as we went inside to check things out. He seemed generally pleased with everything he saw, making a few observations and recommendations before uttering those four simple words that made the day seem just a little sunnier.
That means we can go ahead with insulating and vapour barriers throughout the top two floors. The basement will have to wait for another inspection later on, but we expected that as most of the wiring still has to be done down there. As far as the SafetyBC people are concerned, we can drywall and finish up the main and second floors, however the TNRD have to come and inspect the insulation/vapour barrier prior to actually drywalling those floors. One step closer!
We had a motorcycling friend from Edmonton, Owen, come and camp at the Knutsford property for a few days. He wanted to see the new house before he left (he follows this blog!) so we arranged to ride up together on Saturday morning while Carol brought the car. He gave us a hand moving a couple of heavier items up from the basement (Alex, we miss you already!) before continuing on his way to Kelowna. Thanks, for the help, Owen. We hope you have a fun week and a safe ride home.
Carol and I had decided to stay at the house over Saturday night - our first night in the new place!With Dad and Beverley coming on Tuesday, it would be a good "practice run" for us as we were going to be staying up here during their visit.
Brian and Louise (the neighbours who sold us the property) had stopped by to enjoy the beautiful evening from our deck. We shared some drinks and good conversation before the air cooled enough to send them on their way and chase us inside to watch a movie on the computer. BTW, a quick shout-out to Darren, the Bell TV installer who had come up earlier in the day and installed the dish and wiring, ready for the receiver to be hooked up in a few weeks when we move in permanently. Thanks, Darren - great job!
The night went smoothly, with lots of new noises to keep us entertained if we happened to wake. The coyotes were in good voice and Brian and Louise's cattle (which are now grazing on our quarter) were the orchestra. Their low bellows were accented by the mooing and often high-pitched wailing of the bulls. It was quite the performance!
So, here we sit on Sunday morning, nestled in our couch, sipping our coffee - no milk :( - enjoying the sun rising over the valley with the mountains behind. It doesn't suck!

Electrical Inspection Today...finally!

So, after submitting our request for our first electrical inspection from SafetyBC on Auguest 15th, they finally called yesterday and booked our inspection for today (Friday, Aug. 26th) at 1:30pm. I am meeting the inspector by the highway and he can follow me up to the house. Of course, not everything is perfect so I am now in "worry" mode. I have no doubt that what we have done is up to code, so I don't really know what I'm worried about. I suppose it's just that this is important so I am nervous.
Assuming that we get a "pass", we will be able to start insulating and installing the vapour barrier on the outside walls and in the ceiling, at least in the areas he is inspecting today. The basement plugs are not yet wired as we have lots of "stuff" from Ontario stashed throughout the basement making access difficult. We are having visitors next week, Carol's parents from Ontario, Alex and Beverley Brown. They will be staying at our current residence in Knutsford. Apparently walls, hot water, showers and a kitchen have some sort appeal to them, so they won't be staying at the new place! Carol and I are going to try and "move in" this weekend. I'm sure that will motivate us to get going and finish the place!

Soffits are done...finally!

Yes, that piece of news is VERY good! The dreaded soffits are finished. Moving on....
I have been lax keeping up the posts recently due to the fact that I'm really busy! Work has been feast or famine but quite hectic as everyone seems to want everything immediately when they do actually send us some work. I go in and try to clear up anything that requires my attention, and then head out to the various suppliers and pick up whatever widget(s) I need for the day. I go to the new house, work for a few hours, and then return to our place in Knutsford to eat and sleep. Working by yourself, things seem to take a long time to accomplish and I have to try and focus on one task at a time. My mind is going a thousand miles an hour worrying about the dozens of things I need to do to finish the house and I sometimes get caught zooming from one task to another and getting nothing done!  
Oh, and the house survived the lightning storm just fine. Some neighbours had gone up in a water truck and controlled the fire until the Forestry Service guys got there and put it out. The Forestry guys were back the next morning to put out a second fire close to the location of the first one. Thanks, guys! We have a new appreciation for the work you do!
I am spending most of my time working on the house electrical rough-in now. We have pulled almost all of the wire and mounted the switch and fixture boxes. Splicing all the wires in those boxes is a bigger job than I estimated (that seems to be a theme here, don't you think?). Anyway, it is progressing well and I should be ready for at least a partial inspection tomorrow.
Bob, the builder, was up to take care of the issues the final framing inspection had brought to light - nothing too serious, but necessary before we can insulate and install the vapour barrier. He has rented out his beautiful log home a few clicks down the road from us, and moved into a house he owns in town.

Lightning!

Carol and I planned to spend the afternoon and early evening working up at the new house. We ditched at the office around 3pm and zoomed up the hill. I quickly got to work on the #$%@* soffits... We were keeping an eye on the sky as the weather was predicted to include some thundershowers. I didn't want to be working on a 26 foot lightning rod (ladder) with all that electricity in the air. After about an hour it started to spit rain so I took the ladders down, put the tools away and generally made sure everything was battened down in anticipation of the storm to come.
We didn't have long to wait... The first lightning bolt hit very close to the house with the attending boom of thunder at almost the exact same time. Soon the house was reverberating with a multitude of cracks and booms and the sky around us lit up like a fireworks display. It was exciting and very scary at the same time. Lightning could be seen striking the valley below the house and even lit up the hill behind us. I was very pleased that we had implemented all the grounding and lightning protection when we installed the solar modules. It was paying off now, as we didn't even get a flicker from our power system. We did hear a couple of clicks and pops when the violent flashes lit up the sky, but everything just kept purring along, just like we designed it to do. Exhilarating!
It was all very intense and by the time we had wolfed down our hot dog supper, we were both ready to hit the road and get out of the area. The lightning was receding but it was followed by torrents of rain that made our driveway slick and slippery.
As we were almost home (back in Knutsford) we received a phone call from Jackie, our realtor and neighbour asking if we were still up on the Range (the Robbins Range, where our house is situated). After telling her that, no, we had left 30 minutes before, she gave us the news that there was a fire raging on the property directly behind ours, no doubt caused by the lightning storm. Her husband and some of the neighbours were going up with a water truck to contain the fire until the forest service could get there to put it out. There was no use us heading back up - we have no lights at the house and it was nearly dark by this time. All we could do was sit and hope that the fire was small and did no real damage around the area.
It's Thrusday morning as I write this. We didn't hear anything else last night so we assume that all is okay and our house is safe. Carol is off to the Western Canada Summer Games this morning - she is a volunteer swimming official. We will take a trip out to check things out after lunch. I will keep you all posted.

More of the same

We started the weekend early, after abandoning Loni and Bill at the office before lunch. We needed to get the soffits finished, complete pre-painting all the trim and get the domestic water system working. It was a long shot, but we've never done anything the easy way!
We stopped at Home Depot to pick up a vanity for the downstairs bathroom. Carol had spotted it the day before and we both liked it, especially since it turned out to be on sale when we got to the cashier. We purchased the matching mirror. Now, if only finding a bathtub was as easy.
We needed some special tools to connect the Pex piping to the water pump, so we put that on the shopping list for Saturday (the "shopping list" never seems to end!).
Carol soldiered on with the trim. Since it was all stored outside, she had to wash and wipe down each 16 foot piece and let it dry before hitting it with the white paint. The trim comes pre-primed so it takes the paint well, but there is soooooo much of it!
The soffits, I've decided, are a nightmare job. I just hate it. It is difficult to motivate yourself to do something you dislike, and do a "quality" job of it. I tried to make the best of it, and for the most part I'm pretty happy with the results. After working on it all weekend we have just the very difficult front of the house and the northern dormer "eyebrow" to complete. I am back at it again today (Monday).
We were able to get the water working, so now the toilet fills by itself after flushing - yay! The vanity sink now sports a nice tap set and is working great. We have left the drain disconnected for now to enable us to do a neater job with the drywall. A bucket serves nicely to catch the drain water for now. Alex helped us move the clothes washer up from the basement. We had bought it used a couple of months ago and since we had pressure water now, thought we could employ it to help keep the towels and dishcloths clean and ready for use. Hooking it up was easy as the plumber had installed one of those nifty tap and drain kits in the wall behind where it sits. Cool!

Soffit Update

We spent the long weekend at the house working on our long list of projects. The weather was spectacular with only a gusty wind making dealing with the lightweight aluminum soffit panels a real challenge. Carol kept busy putting the finish coat of white exterior latex on the exterior door and window trim. We chose to use LP Smartside trim products for the trim and fascia on our house. Smartside is a great product utilizing what would otherwise be scrap wood fibre and strands, bonding it together with a treated resin to prevent rot and insect damage, embedding a wood texture to the surface (smooth texture is also available) and then coating it with a latex primer to ensure excellent paint adhesion. The trim boards come 16 feet long and are a little cumbersome to move around, but because there are no knots or defects, the entire length is usable. We set up a little paint shop in the basement, enabling Carol to paint 6 lengths of the board at a time, supported on our homemade saw horses. Over the weekend, she managed to get about a third of it done.
Meanwhile, I was struggling with the soffit installation. Not a horrible job, but certainly a fiddly one, and one that is performed at the top of the outside walls. Of course, this is accomplished while working on a ladder or two. The idea is to install "J Track" to the side of the house and under the rafter tails and then cut and fit the ventilated aluminum soffit material to fit in the tracks - not too tight though, to allow for expansion and contraction, but tight enough that it doesn't fall out of the tracks. It sounds so simple doesn't it? Well, I have to say that I'm developing a healthy respect for all the tradespeople out there. Over the three days I managed to get about 1/3 of the job done. Understand that this is the easy 1/3 - none of the gable ends have been attempted yet and they are by far the most complicated parts of the whole job. I am getting much more efficient at it though, and should be up to the task for the rest of the job.
Robin at Groundwater Systems promised me that the water system would be completed and tested yesterday. We will see as I am headed up there this afternoon.

We picked up the sink, vanity and mirror for the main floor bathroom this morning. We will get it installed over the next day or so...yay!

Fridge, soffits and a great summer day

The weather today was perfect! I picked up Alex and we went straight to City Furniture and picked up our new Samsung fridge. We drove gingerly out to the new house and arrived around 10:30am. Carol had gone ahead and taken up food for lunch and dinner and a variety of snacky foods. We bought the Samsung for a variety of reasons. It was white, had a bottom freezer, was Energy Star rated, and was a great price for a relatively small efficient fridge. Oh, and the door could be mounted to open on either side. Of course, we needed it to open the other way to the way it was when it arrived. The instructions said it would be an easy changeover. Well, it may not have been rocket science, but it did take me almost 2 hours to do the trick. Of course the poorly translated instructions did not help. They had me remove both the fridge and freezer doors among other things, but at no time did they instruct me to reinstall them! Anyway, the result is wonderful. The fridge looks and works great!
Carol made us some sandwiches for lunch and then we started in on the soffits. Having never installed soffits before, I was justifiably concerned about how I was actually going to do it. I had read lots of articles in preparation, so didn't feel completely lost. Over the space of a few hours I did manage to get about 20 feet of it installed, but not without a good deal of cursing, measuring, and re-cutting and fitting. I hope that the rest goes more smoothly. At least I think I finally understand the how. Now it's just a matter of getting my hands to do what my head is telling them!

Carol continued to vacuum up all the wood chips and sawdust and almost has it beat - for this time anyway.

Solar power system is complete

I will apologize in advance - I have been lax with my photos recently and don't have any new ones to post. However, I have some news to report. The solar modules are all connected and our power system seem to be working as designed. This is great news! You design and plan this stuff but there's always a nagging doubt that it will do everything you hope it will do, so it IS wonderful when it does  :)
Today (Saturday) we are picking up our new fridge and taking it up to the house so we can keep stuff (i.e. the beer) cold. [Take note all potential volunteer/helpers!]
We have borrowed Patou's nifty little shop vac and have been cleaning up house after all the plumbing and electrical rough-in mess. Today's tasks include painting all the outside trim boards(white) making them ready for installation in the near future, and installing the soffits to make the house somewhat bug-free. I have not attempted soffits before so this could be interesting!
The weather is finally looking much better overall with a forecast of 30*C and sunny today. That will certainly help us out!
I want to close with a shout-out to Paul and the guys at Riverside Energy here in Kamloops. I had one MC4 cable that was too short for our setup. Paul had the cable in stock and I was able to pick it up on Friday morning, and his price was the best we could find anywhere. They have been a stellar supplier for the last-minute things we have needed and we will certainly be recommending them to anyone who asks.

Beam me up, Scotty

Wouldn't that be nice?! After another busy weekend, I would have loved to have someone to "beam me up" to the roof of the house, allowing me to finish wiring up the solar modules. First off, let me say this, "Kids, do not attempt this at home." This work is certainly not for the faint-of-heart. I am working on a 12/12 pitch roof. That means the roof is angled 45* off of vertical (or flat, for that matter). The roof sits above our large wrap around deck and that itself, sits almost 10 feet off the ground. If you slip and fall off, it's a long way down! Note to self: "Do NOT slip off the roof!"
In order to get enough angle on the ladder to make it safe, I positioned it on the ground next to the house. I dug shallow depressions for the ladder to sit in so it cannot slip, lashed the bottom of the ladder to one of the concrete deck footings, and finally, tied off the top of the ladder to one of the mounting bracket legs on the solar array .I was/am able to work safely, albeit a little slowly as I move the big ladder around.
Carol's daughter, Jessica, is visiting us so on Saturday we took the opportunity to go golfing with her and her brother, Alex. Tobiano Golf Club has a special deal for Kamloops residents so we decided to give that course a try. If I could use one word to describe our day there, it would have to be "spectacular!"
It is the nicest course I have ever played. The scenery (it sits on hills set beside and above Kamloops Lake) and the amazing natural terrain, along with the efforts of the course workers and management, make it a challenging and beautiful golf course. I won't go into the details of my score. Suffice it to say that Alex played the best of our threesome! It was a fantastic day and will live as a fond memory for many years.
So that took Saturday off the table as far as working at the house was concerned. Sunday morning however, saw us heading up to the new place. It was a stunner of a day, hitting 27*C at the house, and 34*C down in the valley. In the E-Panel, I put the final crimp connector on the cable from the solar modules and connected it up to the input breaker. I spent a couple of hours drilling and installing the grounding clips on each module in the array, and then ran the copper grounding wire through each clip and into the combiner box beside the array. The last thing to do was to actually connect the modules to the system. Two panels connect in series and then the four sets of two are wired into the combiner box. Each pair is wired to its own breaker and the negative busbar and then the load side of those breakers connect to the cable that feeds down through the conduit to the Midnite Solar E-Panel. You must be careful that you wire everything with the correct polarity, positive to positive, etc. as it is easy to damage the modules if wired incorrectly. This meant lots of volt meter work, checking and rechecking before switching on the appropriate breakers in the combiner box and the E-Panel. Anyway, I wired up two pairs of modules, flipped the breakers and ... it works! Yay! I still have two pairs to hook up later this week, but at least now the batteries are receiving a charge.
It might not be getting the "warp core" online but it is "one small step for man....". I will try and make Scotty proud.

Electrical Update

We've had a busy time dealing with the electrical system. First, most of the rough-in wiring is done. We mounted all the boxes for light switches, outlets, fans, light fixtures, etc. over the weekend. With the help of an friend, we were able to obtain all the wire and hardware at wholesale prices - a great saving, and at a time when every dollar counts. Thanks, James! I have been working on getting the solar modules online and generating power. As part of that process, I have mounted the combiner box on the roof next to the array and run 1" conduit from there down into the utility room where all the batteries and charging equipment are located. Although that sounds like an easy task, it has taken me quite a number of hours to accomplish. I only have a few feet of conduit left to mount, but that is all in the utility room, out of the rain.
That brings up a sore point - the weather. OMG, I don't know what is happening with the weather! People in Ontario are melting in 40*C+ temperatures while here in BC we just can't seem to break out of this cold, soggy spring-like weather pattern. We are getting biblical amounts of rainfall in the form of everything from light showers to frightening thunderstorms that seem to roll through almost daily. Standing in the rain on a tall aluminum ladder, while making wiring connections and grounding solar modules with long runs of solid copper wire is NOT an enjoyable experience while all around you lightning flashes light up the sky. I have been trying to do that work between monsoons, but it is taking  some time.
Now that I have completed wiring the combiner box to the inverter system, the last job is the wiring on the modules themselves (grounding and wiring them to the combiner box). The job has to be done in that order because of the nature of solar modules. When exposed to sunlight (even on cloudy or rainy days) they produce power. If you work from the modules back to the inverter system, you would continually be making electrical connections with live wires (current is flowing), so you must make all the other connections before finally connecting the energized modules. Of course, this problem disappears if you do the installation entirely at night!
On another front, Robin from Groundwater Systems will be installing the feed piping, pump and accumulator tank this week. That means we will be able to fill the water cistern and pressurize the domestic water system - yay!
Jayson demo'd the gravity feed system from our well last week and it was very impressive! He had attached a length of 2" water pipe to the end of the run down to the cistern. He went up to the well and turned on the main valve allowing water to flow down the pipe, almost 500 feet, to that length of pipe. I had positioned it above the cistern, pointed away from the house. Nothing happened at my end for about 30 seconds. I could hear the air being forced out of the pipe by the water now pushing down the hill to where I was standing. A few gulping noises emanated from the end of the pipe and then...whoosh! A column of water 2" wide shot out of the opening, traveling in a 6 foot arc before splashing harmlessly onto the ground. I yelled and Jayson shut off the valve and walked back down to the house. Several minutes later when he arrived, the water was still pouring out of the pipe, albeit with a little less enthusiasm than before. It was an impressive demonstration!
I forgot my Blackberry at the house last night so I can't post any pictures today. I will put them up once I retrieve the phone.

Game of Thrones

Ok, so I'm not that sharp when it comes to plumbing. After exhaustive research online, it became obvious that the preferred method for removing the factory plug in the toilet flange was to hit it with a hammer. No really...you simply bust it outta there with a hammer. If that doesn't work, get a bigger hammer... Apparently, not a time for subtlety! So, the problem solved, we mounted the "throne" in all its glory and stood back to admire our work. We saw that it was good. Ok, lots to do.... moving on.

I couldn't put it off any longer. I had to figure out the wiring for the inverter and E-panel. When I had first looked at all the wires and bus bars, it totally freaked me out. I was already very familiar with all this technology from my time living on boats. At least, that's what I thought. Having said that, it actually didn't take me too long to figure it all out. I had to take it one section at a time, trace it all the way through and BAZINGA! I managed to get it all wired and had no left over parts (always my gauge as to how well the project went!).  I had emailed Hiltz at Energy Alternatives to discuss my grounding questions, and as usual, received an elegant easy-to-read instruction set. On his advice I have hired the guys at Riverside Energy Systems to come out and check my work and help me with the ground rod/plate installation. I have learned that sometimes it's just best to hire the experts! He comes on Friday morning.

Jayson has been busy with the water system. He recently completed the work at the actual well, and has trenched down to the house for the water pipes. Today he was excavating and installing the 1,500 gallon cistern that will hold the domestic water from the well. It has been designed so that the well will supply water by gravity feed to the cistern until it reaches a certain level, at which point it will close the valve and the water will stop. We have a pump that will supply water from the cistern and pressurize the plumbing fixtures in the house, just like the water in your taps in the City. That will save us from having to throw a bucket attached to a rope into the well and then manually "feeding" the toilet, so it will flush. Wow, all the modern conveniences!!