Slashing the Bills, Part I

We visited friends of ours last night. They are completely off the grid and self-sufficient. Pretty awesome setup. It got me re-thinking my plan of action here, and got me to juggling some goals. All that aside, I have devised a way to get virtually free hot water, using sunshine and/or our woodstove. I'm hoping to land a side project or 2 which will enable me to purchase a kitchen cookstove and the stove pipe needed for it and our woodstove. Here's how that all fits together...

Currently we have a tankless propane water heater which provides us with our hot water. It is nice, but it costs money to use. With a clothesline up, and the plan to use the kitchen cookstove for most of our winter-time cooking, and grilling outdoors for summer, the next big expense is our hot water. So - commense thermosiphoning...what is that you ask? Here is a diagram of the plan:



Relying on the simple fact that heat rises, I will be making water go from a tank to the roof - as water gets hot on the roof, pump it down into a holding tank. As water cools and sinks in the tank, take the cold water on the bottom, and push it to the roof.

First, I plan on building the Collectors - probably 2 to start. I am going to buy the solar heaters used in pools - they look like 3x5 black sheets of tubing. They cost around five dollars a piece. They have 1/2" tubing at top and bottom, and 1/8" tubing running vertically. I will sit the collectors in a framed box covered with glass which will be fastened to the roof. As the water sits in the 1/8" tubing, it heats up. The glass is so the water will continue to heat up in the winter time when temperatures are cold outside. As the water reaches 140 degrees, it will kick the controller off to send a signal to the pump which will push the hot water to the water heater....I'll need to get a conventional water heater. The water heater will basically be an insulated storage tank for the heated water - it won't be 'on'. The water tank will have a cold supply from the house. The hot water supplying the house will come off the top of the water heater.

A secondary measure for heating the water in winter time will be used. Again relying on the simple fact that heat rises, I will be making water go from the tank to the pipe on the woodstove - as water gets hot on the stove pipe, the hot water will rise up to the holding tank. As water cools and sinks in the tank, the cold water will fall to the basement where the woodstove is located.

I know these last few entries have been backward - the DIY before I do-it-myself. I'll be building this sometime this fall...hopefully.

So about a year ago, as part of the house I built a 44'x16' structure resembling a deck. I say resembling because there are no railings on the deck, and with money so tight with building the house, the sole purpose of the structure was make "permanent scaffolding." The deck was to get us 10' off the ground so ladders would suffice for getting the siding up.

Well, now we're in the house and using this deck probably more than we should since it doesn't have railings. I managed to return roughly $300 worth of materials to Lowe's and received a merchandise credit card. With our number of munchkins running around, I'm sure we could fill that deck if we just put railings on it and was done with it, but I can't just do something easy...

So thinking back to the many pages of timber frame magazines, a particular house came to mind - inspiration! Here's the plan:







Taken from: http://www.hearthstonehomes.com/new/barkley/index.html

My plan is to put a roof over a 15'x16' area. With the merchandise credit, I have a pile of lumber sitting on the deck, just waiting to be put together. Hopefully over the 4 weeks I'll be able to at least finish the rails and make the deck kid-safe and ready for lazy evenings, sitting, watching the grass grow...and watching that soon-to-be-built outdoor fireplace...

Father's Day Project Plan

Every year for father's day, my one request is to have hard, grueling labor given to me by my children. Usually it amounts to 3-4 hours of hard work, and me announcing, "It's too hot - let's do something cooler and more fun," and the work ends. But this father's day, I have my eye set on a "grand" project.

With the departure of our trailer, we're left with, among other things, roughly 60 concrete blocks from the footers which supported the trailer. I'm planning on taking these blocks, and a bit of mortar I have left over from deck projects and masonry work, and throw it together and create something like this:



Taken from: http://www.wayraycontracting.com/images/upload/1159500921Fireplace%20outdoor%205.jpg

We have stone from an old stone wall which I plan on dismantling and re-purposing. This will be my first project embarking on stone masonry work. I'm still looking for plans to validate what I have drawn. Google, sadly, was not the great resource it normally is - most search results amounted to stuff like "Step 1, hire a mason", or "You can go to Lowe's or Home Depot to buy a book on blah, blah, blah" - You mean no one has ever tried something like this who isn't a professional? Maybe I'll find out why....but if it is a success, hopefully anyone searching on "stone outdoor fireplace plan" will get my subsequent post and be able to do this in their own backyard...

More to come...

Closet Systems

My wife wanted some nice closet systems in order to avoid the use of dressers and save on space in our bedrooms. After going to Lowes, I quickly realized that we could either spend a lot of money on particle board, get some metal racks and shelves that I wasn't particularly fond of, or spend the least of the above options and get to work building. Of course I chose the latter - purchasing (2) 4x8 sheets of sanded pine plywood 3/4" thick cut into 15 7/8" widths, thanks to the helpful guys in the lumber department at the local Lowe's store.

Below is the pile of stuff I started with:



Taking the 15 7/8" strips, I cut 2 at 80". These would become the sides of the unit. Taking another full strip, I cut them into 15 7/8" lengths. I then trimmed them down to 15" deep. Taking the 2 remnants from the sides, cut these to 15 7/8" x 15" for additional shelves. I had 6 shelves, starting flush at the top, the every 15 3/4" down from the top. Taking some scrap, I cut a piece at 15 7/8" wide by 2 1/2" tall.

Now with all of the pieces cut, I put the sides of the unit on their sides and put the top and bottom shelves between the sides. I pre-drilled holes through the sides and screwed the top and bottom shelves into place. If you use a size like 1/2" or 1", you can purchase plugs at the local hardware store for a nicer finished look - I just used wood filler. After putting the top and bottom shelves in, I put on a 1/4" plywood back on - this was definitely overkill and made it look more like a bookcase. I nailed the 1/4" plywood on, then pre-drilled and screwed every 32" on the sides. Once that was finished, I stood the unit up, and begun to put the other shelves in. I started from the top, measuring 16" down and placing scrap 3/4" ply with my clamps to temporarily hold my shelves while I pre-drilled and screwed them in. After doing that 3 more times, I had the following:



After getting it up and all the shelves in, I was left with the unfinished, untamed ends of the plywood facing out. I purchases screen moulding from Lowe's which I cut to length and nailed with a finish nailer on all of the fronts of the shelves and sides. After that, I filled all the holes, nails, and screws with wood filler. In order to match the rest of the bedroom, I decided to stain:



Finally, I screwed the unit into place in my closet, finding studs in the wall to anchor to:



Note the extra shelves and rods...didn't really get into that. The rods are just 1" round rods that Lowe's sells in 8' foot lengths which I finished with linseed oil - easier than staining and polyurethaning. I attached them with plastic rod holders which I spray painted silver.

The same process could be followed for a bookcase. Checkout the pics of the house to see more about that...

Drywall, Drywall, and MORE DRYWALL!!!

Wow - I had no idea what I was in for! This is taking forever!!! We hope to finish up the 1st floor this week. I was at Lowe's talking to my buddy at the contractor's desk - he said I should get my 3 closest friends to just zip through it in 3-4 days. So I asked him when he was available. :) After running my yap with my buddy at Lowe's, and talking with our drywall finisher, I now have 2 helpers with the hanging of the drywall and for working on the siding! Very good stuff!!! Anyway, I've found some great resources for hanging and finishing drywall:
Hanging: http://www.easy2diy.com/cm/easy/diy_ht_index.asp?page_id=35720188
More hanging: http://www.hometime.com/Howto/projects/drywall/drwl_4.htm
Finishing: http://www.drywallinfo.com/

Also, now that we're getting to the finishing, here are some links of stuff that I've found for houses we're modeling after:
Old Century Home - Bigfork, Montana
Parmalee Home - Highlands, North Carolina

Lastly, I made a visit to my friends up in Hicksville, MD yesterday looking for wood for my beams, mantles, and floors. Unbelievable prices! Hickory for $2.40 per square feet!!! My fireplace mantle is going to run me about $20-25 in materials. If you plan on doing any woodworking, it is worth the trip:
Hicksville Planing Mill
14464 Hicksville Rd
Clear Spring, MD , 21722-1240
Phone: 301-842-3474

That's it for now - next up, painting and some cabinetry.