a little progress, not much

There has been a little progress but not much.

Thursday, Ameren IP came and installed the 400 amp service upgrade, the electrician switched our house to one meter, the pool will be on separate meter now so I can monitor usage separately.

Friday, the proper geothermal heat pump arrived. Thank goodness! Tim indicated his plan is to have it up and running by the end of next week. That would be wonderful.

Deb has been trying to keep up with weeding and gardening, but the weeds are winning in a lot of areas.

Kitchen progress--not much. With a neighbor's help, Chris, Deb and I got the patches on the ceiling where the soffits were. The kitchen is cooler and smells better now! I am still bogged down in wiring, now I cant get the circuit to work that has the GFCI's. I am suspicious I have a bad GFCI, going to try a different one next. I still have the dedicated lines for the micro, dishwasher and computer to wire, then tear out and patch the floors where the old cabinets were. Then I can get to drywall installation on the walls. Then, we can move to doing the lights in the mudroom and bathroom. It seems so far away. Its more difficult now with my working a full 40 hr week again.

The work continues

Its been a while since I posted about our remodeling.

Deb has been working on the great room, putting some finishing touches on painting, doinf some trim up to the parts where I need to finish the last board on some walls. It has come together nice so far.

I have been working on the kitchen. Demolition came first, the soffits were the first to go. Then the walls on the north, the west, and the south wall where cabinets were. It has been frustrating, slower progress than I wanted. The house kitchen needed to be shut down, so the RV went to the driveway to be used for dining and some cooking. The decisions to be made for the lighting and receptacle locations, and the rewiring wiring of this has been slow. The trips to town is getting old too, but they have been necessary trips. It always seems like I have missed something, so off I go. Today, I finally came up with the wiring plan,. and started wiring the overhead cans. I have the lights on the generator circuit, and possibly an outlet or 2. Its really touchy business working in the panels, but managed to survive the day. Finally about 6 I quit, tomorrow is a new day. I goofed and forgot to wear a mask when I stuck my head in the attic to run wire, now I dont feel so hot.

I've never taken on this scope of remodeling before, its getting nerve wracking.

Tim and his 2 men worked the last couple days on the pool geothermal, they got most of the duct work installed in the building. The factory goofed, so they had to send me the unit I had ordered, the one that is here has to go back. Another delay, but I want it right. I felt if I kept the one that was here, I would always regret it. I will say the company bent over over backwards to make it right, even though the factory goofed, not Dry-Air. I am pleased with their customer service.

Off to watch a movie, I'll try to post more often about the progress.

Geothermal-almost done

Tim came yesterday and almost got the project completed. He has all the ductwork done, and hooked up the hot water heat system. The last thing to do is install the humidifier for winter usage! Will be interesting to see how this works! Its amazing how many people I have talked to that have geothermal or know someone that does. I have yet to talk to anyone that is unhappy with their systems.

Great room-saga of the screw gun

I worked on the great room again today, but didn't make very good progress. A friend of ours bought a screw gun, then let me use it. I could NOT get this to work, would just sit and spin, wouldnt countersink screws, it was frustrating. I went to a store on my own, ended up buying a Makita, with a Quick Drive attachment. I had trouble with it, so went back, and he had trouble with it too. After some work with it--it turned out I had it set up wrong--boy will this ever put the screws in. I only got 1 row of plywood in, but look forward to getting a good day in Thursday on the floor. I want to get another row of plywood down, then start on the hardwood part. That gives me some room where I can move a little furniture to make room to demolish the other half.

Chris and Larry started breaking up the ceramic tile in the kitchen before the dumpster goes away. It is a chore, and makes a mess!

Debby worked all day on the garden and landscaping before it rains.

The supply duct was basically finished today, he will be back Friday or Saturday to work again.

Great room progress

Worked on the floor all day today. Demolition of the carpeted area was in order. I sawed the particle board into smaller sections, then used a crowbar to pry it off the subfloor. Boy I cannot describe how I hate particle board. It would not stay together in order to pry it up, just broke into little pieces. It was late, but I did get all the old carpeted area done. I found I have some patching to do around the heat vents, not really sure how I am going to do it right now. Anyway, a new day tomorrow, I hope to get some plywood and hickory floor down tomorrow.

While I was doing that, Deb got the rets of the plants for the 2 front areas in. It looks nice, we are pleased.

Tim got some more supply duct in today, he will be back tomorrow to work on the geothermal for the house.

House geothermal now running, great room and landscaping

We now have the house geothermal up and running. A hearty thanks goes to Tim. He worked until almost 10pm last night to get the supply ducting ran where we could get AC for the weekend. We have no return ducting yet, and the supply is not final by any means, but at least now we can cool the house. Considering the rain and storms last night and this morning and the heat forecast for the weekend, we are really grateful. Not many contractors would have done what Tim did, working so late to get us air, especially when the day starts early. Our family gives a big thumbs up to him! And wow! Even on a somewhat crippled basis, does this unit ever cool a house fast! I started it up, and in no time, it had dropped 4 degrees to the set point. The 2 stage system works like a charm. I'm impressed, and its going to be interesting to see the performance when all the ducting is fully operational.

Now we can commence painting the great room! I want to get that going, I have a big job ahead of me on the floor especially, and the painting is not going to be an easy job working around the furniture.

We went up town yesterday and bought some more plants for the front area and the shade garden under the hawthorn.

Off to get started now!

Busy day

Tim came to work on the geothermal unit. He worked almost all day till about 4.

Durbin Enterprises came about 9am to do a flush and fill after hooking up the lines. It was almost 730 before they were done.

The drywall finishers came about 4 to put another coat of mud on. Tomorrow he said he is going to sand and spray the ceilings in the great room.

During the day, I got the ornamental grass area done on the SW corner of the house. Lots of cleanup and work was done out there, but glad its done

I have to get up at 4am tomorrow to go to work, so off to bed now.

Geothermal and great room

Tim came and worked some on the geothermal system, doing some piping hookups,and working on the ductwork for the house.

The drywall finisher came and put some mud on.. He will be back tomorrow.

Hectic 1st half of the morning

I went out a 6am and watered the new grass I put in yesterday. I saw all the dirt had pulled away from the shed, so piled some up real quick so it would not destroy the concrete.

Tim got here to start on the geothermal, then in about an hour the unit showed up. t was fortunate I was here, it weighed over 300 lbs, and in a non lift bed truck. A quick switch into the forklift, the explored in the road to protect us from the Homer lake express, and it was set into the garage. Then the fun began. Tim, the delivery man, and I mud wrestled the unit into the basement. Now I am really sore.

The drywall finishers are coming at noon, so have to get the great room ready before then.

Off to do more basement cleaning, and water plants.

Delays....

The geothermal will be starting today at 715am. The contractor had delays on his previous job, which carried over into my job. Its been a long wait, and am excited its finally here!!

I dont know what happened on the great room, nothing happened for 2 days now, and no contact with the contractor. I'm frustrated, I want to get to work on painting and putting the hickory floor down. I'm excited to see the final result, but as with the geothermal, it always seems to be well into the future.

My day off wasn't a total waste however. I worked several hours on the landscaping, and got a large area graded and seeded. I guess I'm getting older than I want to admit. A few years ago, that kind of work would not bother me that much. Last night, I was so sore I could hardly move, totally spent and used up. I'm really draggy this morning as well. I want to get the grading and seeding done, its been hanging over me for a couple years, and need to get it done!

Geothermal, greatroom, and landscaping

The geothermal unit for the house is being delivered, and the installation should start today. Tuesday, the electrician came and started some of the wiring, and hopefully will be back today as well. I cant wait to see how much difference in operating cost this makes. SHould be interesting.

Great room-Tuesday some patching was done on the drywall. I expected them back yesterday, but no one showed. Hopefully today as well.

Landscaping-After I got home yesterday at 4, I measured and set the corner posts for the yard and garden. After that, I graded and prepared to seed some more yard.

By that time I was pretty tired, so went in and watched a CSI-NY with the kids.

Long tiring day

First thing this morning, I fueled up the tractor and cub mower. I figured that the snow plowing was over, so I took off the blade and put on the tiller. Boy thats always a fun chore, the PTO shaft tends to be stubborn and not go on. Finally success, then off to the house to take the dog on her morning walk. After breakfast with the kids, it was time to work! I mowed the areas where the garden was going to be, then tilled about half the veggie area. After that, I started working on the side yard where it needed grading, preparing to seed later. Till and grade a couple of times, but my string is a tangled mess, so some new string for the year is in order. Mandi was anxious for the tiller, I told her it would be available at 9am, I think the tractor disappeared at 901. Then off to MTD to drive. Debby got all the pototoes in, I think she said about 250 ft of row went in. After getting home at 7pm, I seeded all the garden walk paths in preparation for a rain, and had Chris help me back the RV in. I'm tired, time for bed.

On the geothermal note, all the well drilling is done, boy talk about a sloppy mess, water and slop may be almost 2 ft deep in spots. Sheesh.

Tomorrow, I may get to finalize the contracts for the pool geothermal and get the unit ordered and the down payment made. It may not arrive for 4 to 6 weeks though.

Geothermal construction begins!!!!

Let the construction begin. I've been waiting a long time to get started, and am relieved its finally here. The geothermal drilling began yesterday by Durbin Enterprises from Beecher City. It was fascinating to watch, and have some pictures and video to post later. They are drilling 9 wells 200 ft deep for the loop, then in a few days the trenching crew will come in to connect the loops and get the pipe into the house. This will handle both the house and pool geothermal heat pumps. They drilled 5 wells in about 12 hours, so its not a real fast process. Its is a very messy process though, water and slop are everywhere in that area.

Looking ahead, we have to get the basement prepared for their work, all the ducting will have to be torn down and replaced, since geothermal moves a lot more air. I also need to prepare the wall of the garage for the pool geothermal, and they have to build an insulated room in there for it. So much for a 2 car garage.

As soon as they get the geothermal unit in the basement and most of the duct in, we can turn the boys loose to demolish the kitchen floor. They cant wait, boys love to destroy things, especially when they have permission to do it.

We still have the pool geothermal unit to finalize and sign contracts for, I hope to get that done this week. Delivery is in about 5 to 6 weeks, so need to get it ordered, but dont want to make any costly mistakes either.