At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

Obed, you're going to enjoy your Quadra-fire once you get it started. We put the same unit in our house and it really heats the main living space. We have an open floorplan so those areas are toasty. The master bedroom and bath do get cold because the furnace does not run as often.

WBWI,
Did you run any ductwork from the fireplace to heat other areas of the house?

We ran one duct from the fireplace to the hallway toward the end of the house where the bedrooms are. We also have an auxilliary H&A return in the ceiling beside the duct from the fireplace so the HVAC system fan can circulate warm air from the fireplace. We don't know if using the H&A return to recirculate heat from the fireplace will be very effective or not but we will be interested in trying it.

We also wanted to run a second duct from the fireplace to the dining room/office but the length of the run would have been so long that we might not have benefited from it. So we only ran one heat duct from the fireplace.

Obed

 

[mkane09]

O:

I'd be surprised if your heat pump can pull enough heat from our air at 17 degrees. I've got an all electric 2100 sq ft ranch somewhere near you and the heat pump is good down to about 24 degrees. My supplemental electrical heat then comes on. But, yours might be more insulated/tighter than my house, too. Looks like you got more snow than I did.

mkane09

 

[tony Cecil]

I think you should keep your guard up about the freezing pipes.....Our experience has been that late January- February is the time....I don`t think things have cooled off over a long enough time---although this cold snap is a rarity this early in the year..and cold it is ....A possible solution to the pipes would be a flush mounted dryer vent cover painted black, or possibly the color of the bricks....It has a little flap to keep any thing out, and wouldn`t look too unsightly...

I`m surely not a critical person, but I urge you and anyone else riding a tractor down a steep hill with snow to plain just not do it.....They can so easily get away from you....When your project is finished and this miserable winter is over with, that hill and drive will still be there, and snow will come again, so take my warning to heart.....Accidents happen so quickly and it takes so long to recover even from just a good scraping Tony

 

[dstig1]

This is the type of vent cover I have typically seen. Heard it called an "egg" for the shape. One pipe goes out through, the other is behind the cover so they are separated enough as required. But you need to put the pipes in to plan for this ahead of time as the spacing is fixed.

Sidewall Flue Vent Kit for 90% Furnaces

No knowledge of these guys, just the first pic I found that was what I was looking for.

Options you may have would include painting them a similar color to the brick to camouflage them. They could pretty well disappear that way. Worry about it next summer... Like you say, just have him cap them where they sit for now or something.

 

[charlz]

I got down to 17 degrees last night. The house thermostat was set a 58 degrees and we think the heat pump kept up but are not sure because we didn't check the house temperature until later in the day. I put a pan of water in a cold spot in the basement last night to see if would freeze. This morning the water was not frozen. Tonight it is forest to get down to 13 degrees F. We'll have to see if the water pan in the basement will freeze. I'm just wanting to know if we will have any pipe freezing issues in the basement. So far so good. My biggest concern regarding freezing are the pipes running down the framed basement walls that feed the two hose bibs. I expect that the piping that runs under the main floor through the trusses will stay above freezing.

I wouldn't expect just one or two cold nights to be able to freeze pipes. It usually happens when you have day after day with the highs below 32 and the cold slowly advances through the building.

You could always buy a couple electric 'milk house heaters' and put them in the areas of concern. They look like this and can find them most anywhere this time of year (around here anyway)

Amazon.com: Flow Pro Milkhouse Heater - 1500 Watt, 5120 BTU, Model# 83035: Home Improvement

One or two of these is always handy to have anyway if you need to work on something in garage/barn/whatever in the winter.

 

[WBWI]

WBWI,
Did you run any ductwork from the fireplace to heat other areas of the house?

We ran one duct from the fireplace to the hallway toward the end of the house where the bedrooms are. We also have an auxilliary H&A return in the ceiling beside the duct from the fireplace so the HVAC system fan can circulate warm air from the fireplace. We don't know if using the H&A return to recirculate heat from the fireplace will be very effective or not but we will be interested in trying it.

We also wanted to run a second duct from the fireplace to the dining room/office but the length of the run would have been so long that we might not have benefited from it. So we only ran one heat duct from the fireplace.

Obed

Obed,
I wish we would have run some ducting from the FP but we did not. Wisconsin frowns on tying the FP into the HVAC. I don't know why. We do run the circulating fan on the furnace to try and distribute some heat but it doesn't seem to help much. The FP will put off a lot of heat and I'm sure you'll appreciate it.

 

[Obed]

Obed,
I wish we would have run some ducting from the FP but we did not. Wisconsin frowns on tying the FP into the HVAC. I don't know why. We do run the circulating fan on the furnace to try and distribute some heat but it doesn't seem to help much. The FP will put off a lot of heat and I'm sure you'll appreciate it.

We have a dedicated duct running from the fireplace to a register in the ceiling of the hallway. Beside the register we have an HVAC return that is also in the ceiling. So technically speaking, our FP is not tied to the HVAC. We'll have to see if this setup does any good. When my wife was researching fireplaces, people's comments online mostly stated that the fireplace puts out enough heat that they didn't need any ductwork running from the FP to other areas of the house. We strategically located our FP somewhat in the middle of the house and not on an exterior wall to make it easier to use it to heat the house.

Obed

 

[Obed]

So far this week almost no work has been done on the house. Yesterday the HVAC guy said he would work on our house today. Today when he didn't show up, my wife called and found out he went out of town today and will be gone the rest of the week. Of course he made no effort to let us know his plans. Remember, we didn't hold back enough of the final payment to motivate this guy to get us on his priority list and finish the few small things left. My wife put in some calls to other HVAC companies today to see if we can get someone in to finish the job.

Today the tile guy came today and finished cutting holes through the master bath tile floor for the claw foot tub water lines and drain line. He was the only worker who came today. Tomorrow the electrician is supposed to come and finish the electrical work so we can get the final electrical inspection on Thursday. Thursday the plumber and the hardwood flooring guys are supposed to be here.

We have freezing rain forecasted for tomorrow afternoon and evening which may impact the work.

 

[walleyed]

So far this week almost no work has been done on the house. Yesterday the HVAC guy said he would work on our house today. Today when he didn't show up, my wife called and found out he went out of town today and will be gone the rest of the week. Of course he made no effort to let us know his plans. Remember, we didn't hold back enough of the final payment to motivate this guy to get us on his priority list and finish the few small things left. My wife put in some calls to other HVAC companies today to see if we can get someone in to finish the job.

Today the tile guy came today and finished cutting holes through the master bath tile floor for the claw foot tub water lines and drain line. He was the only worker who came today. Tomorrow the electrician is supposed to come and finish the electrical work so we can get the final electrical inspection on Thursday. Thursday the plumber and the hardwood flooring guys are supposed to be here.

We have freezing rain forecasted for tomorrow afternoon and evening which may impact the work.

Hang in there Obed. Almost there. Sounds like you are getting frustrated just a little bit. Weather & sub problems at a bad time in the build. When are you thinking you will move in? Do you have that CO inspection scheduled yet?

You and the wife should be very proud of what has been accomplished. Not many couples could do this. I know you two will be proud of this for the rest of your lives and will be reminded of this every time you update this thread with the new things you're adding over the next couple years. I guess that was a not so subtle hint:thumbsup:

 

[dcyrilc]

Good morning Obed,

I thought I might look back and quote a couple of your posts from todays date last year just to remind you of all that you've accomplished. You've come a long way and done a fantastic job.:thumbsup: Hang in there... you'll get through it.

We finally poured the concrete slabs! I'm glad this part is over. The concrete pouring began yesterday morning at 8 AM and was all poured by lunch time. The finishing work continued until late Monday night. We got a warm dry spell Monday - Wednesday. The pictures show fog but no rain. Overall I was impressed with the concrete contractor and his crew. They were very hard working and gave attention to details.

Chairs for the Wire
Using or not using chairs under the wire evoked quite a lot of comments in this post. I read the comments Friday regarding the chairs and I can see the advantages. So I called a general contractor friend that I trust who is an hour away and asked his opinion. He said he only uses wire chairs if an inspector requires them. He said that the chairs fall over and that they get in the way of the workers who will have trouble walking on the wire. He said you have to have trustworthy workers who are conscientious about pulling up the wire, chairs or no chairs.

Well, Friday evening I went to Lowes and Home Depot. Neither place sold chairs for wire. All the chairs were for supporting rebar and were too tall (3 1/2 to 4 inches). I later talked to our CM who said that putting chairs under the wire would just make the concrete crew mad when they showed up onsite. He was very much against using them even if I installed them myself. To be able to install the available rebar chairs under the wire, I'd have to jury rig the metal chairs used for pairs of rebair in footers and bend them over to be 2 inches high. Using wire chairs was quite an uphill battle so I ended up not using chairs. It appears that using chairs under wire in this area is rarely done.

Monday when the pouring started, the CM made a point to tell the concrete workers to pull up the wire. I observed that the workers were very conscientious about pulling up the wire. If you look closely at the pictures, you can see the workers pulling up the wire, either with their rakes or bending over and pulling with their hands. Was the work perfect? Probably not. Was the work good enough? I'm going to believe it was. Anyway, there's no use worrying about it further.

 

[brandoro]

Furnace and Water Heater Exhaust Vent Question

The PVC pipes sticking through the brick wall are the exhaust vents running from the gas furnace and gas water heater. It sounds like the H&A guy plans on cutting off the pipes and putting 45 or 90 degree PVC elbows turned downward at the ends of the pipes. While that seems like it will work, I envision the result to look hideously ugly. Is there a solution that is more visually attractive?

I may just have the H&A guy leave the PVC pipes the same length they are and place the elbows on the end without glueing them until I can figure out another option.

Thanks,
Obed

When I put the high efficiency furnace in my last house the vents pipes were a bit of an eyesore. I painted them the same colour as the siding and they nearly disappeared. Harder to do with brick but I think if you painted them with a matt finish paint that is close to the colour of your brick they would not draw the eye like they do now.

 

[Danno1]

.


Brick colored camo !!!!!!!!!!!!!



.

 

[WBWI]

Obed,
I thought about you and your PVC furnace intake/exhaust last night. I would be hesitant to cut them off or cap them too close to the house. Condensation from the exhaust might freeze on the brick exterior on really cold days. Mine exit the house under part of my deck and mositure accumulates there every winter. Last night I had to break the ice off of my intake pipe beceuse it was completely frozen over. The furnace does not like that very much.

 

[Obed]

Guys,
Thanks for the encouragement. This week has had its share of adventure. I'll fill you in on the details tomorrow - with pictures of course.
Obed

 

[Obed]

When I put the high efficiency furnace in my last house the vents pipes were a bit of an eyesore. I painted them the same colour as the siding and they nearly disappeared. Harder to do with brick but I think if you painted them with a matt finish paint that is close to the colour of your brick they would not draw the eye like they do now.

I'm thinking that a dull black might work. Our brick has some black in it.
Obed

 

[Obed]

On Wed. the plumber finished his work and got his final payment.

 

[Obed]

Ice Storm

We have freezing rain forecasted for tomorrow afternoon and evening which may impact the work.

On Wednesday my work laptop got an ugly virus. The virus tried to claim it was an anti-virus package, that my computer was infected, and wanted me to enter my credit card information so it could "fix the virus". That was the low point in my week. My notebook had to be rebuilt which meant I would not complete my required projects for my job before I went on vacation this Monday. The result is I will have to work while I am on vacation. Bummer.

Wednesday night we got the forecasted freezing rain. I really needed to get to work to get a new laptop so I could start configuring it in hopes of salvaging some of my upcoming vacation. I had parked my car at the bottom of the steep hill that runs to our house so that I could get to work on Thursday. I put some plastic over the driver's door so it wouldn't freeze shut.

Road conditions were slick but seemed manageable. However, about a 1/2 mile from my house, as I went over a hill I saw that the road was solid ice on the downhill slope. I wasn't going fast but there was no way to stop. As I slid down the hill, I knew I couldn't stop so I then started looking for the least damaging thing I could try to run into. I slid through the stop sign and ran into the ditch across the intersecting street. My car appeared undamaged but I had taken out a mailbox.

There was no way to get the car out of the ditch until the ice thawed. I talked to the owners of the mailbox and told them I would repair it on Saturday. So I hiked through the woods back home. Late in the afternoon after the ice had thawed, my wife and I pulled my car out of the ditch using my pickup truck and a chain.

Needless to say, with all the ice, we didn't have any workers make it to our house on Thursday.

On Saturday I replaced the mailbox post and reattached the mailbox. When I had dug the post hole 18" deep, I hit a large rock. I ended up chipping pieces off the rock with my digging bar until I could make the post hole 24" deep. Also, while digging the post hole, one of the wooden handles on my post hole diggers cracked where it was bolted onto the diggers. So I cut off 4" of the handle, drilled a couple holes through the remaining handle and bolted the shortened handle onto the post hole diggers. Fortunately, I had all the tools I needed with me and was able to finish the job in one trip.

 

[tommu56]

When it rains it pours then freezes for you guys!

I have to use a computer all day at work too
I came to the point that just after I get all my programs on it I ghost the hard drive for a quicker recovery.
It is still a pain in the but!
And I have been using a external hard drives for all my data and alternating them daily

Please keep up posting your project is interesting at the least.

tom

 

[Ranger Rick]

Ice Storm

On Wednesday my work laptop got an ugly virus. The virus tried to claim it was an anti-virus package, that my computer was infected, and wanted me to enter my credit card information so it could "fix the virus". .

Obed if you ever get the problem again run Malware Bytes a free program and run it on your computer in safe mode to remove that virus. Been there done that. Rick
House is really looking great. It has been great following your project for the past year. Have a happy holiday.

 

[Obed]

Friday, every sub we have except the painter showed up. It was a three-ring-circus. That morning, before any of the subs got here, my wife had parked our pickup truck in front of the garage. Why she did so, I'm not sure. Shortly afterward, the H&A sub shows up pulling a trailer. Then 3 other pickups arrived behind him. Our truck was blocked in and I needed to drive it to work. It took almost 30 minutes to get all the vehicles moved so my truck could get out.

We had the H&A crew, electricians, hardwood flooring crew, garage door installers, and trim carpenter all here at the same time. The state electrical inspector is also approves the H&A installation. My wife learned from a different H&A sub that we are supposed to have a permit for the H&A installation. When my wife asked our H&A guy about the permit, he said he didn't think he needed a permit. The state electrical inspector also inspects the H&A installation and verified that we need a permit. He will inspect both the electrical and H&A installation next week. The H&A guy is supposed to get a permit Monday.

Last week we returned the duel fuel stove (gas range/electric oven) we had ordered and picked up from Sears. My wife didn't like the way the burners were arranged on the stove. There doesn't seem to be a standard for gas stoves regarding where the gas line connects to the stove. You really need to know which stove you will use before the gas line is run to the kitchen. Yes that seems extremely stupid but that is what we have found out. If we had kept the stove we purchased, the gas line behind the stove would have needed to be moved or it would interfere with the stove.

My wife decided that she didn't like having to move the gas line every time we replace stove so she had the H&A guy reroute the gas line so that it is recessed in the wall behind the stove. My wife is going to build a metal box in the wall to house the H&A line. The picture shows the she made in the wall and shows the gas line after it recessed in the wall.

The duel fuel stoves are unbelievably expensive; the one we returned was $1800. My inlaws have given us the electric stove they recently replaced; we will use it until we get around to buying another stove. When you're spending $1800, you really want to get something you like rather than something you can "live with". If we wait for sales, we can probably get an all gas stove (range and oven combined) and a separate electric wall oven for the price of one duel fuel stove. We have a spot in the cabinets where we can put a wall oven if and when we decide to buy one.