Tear Down This Wall!

Today, being Saturday, I took the opportunity to take down the wall between the east and west rooms on the south side of the basement. Lots of bead board to use somewhere. These walls have been there for some time, as the bottom of the wall was embedded in the "second" concrete floor poured in the laundry area.

Excavation

Mike and "Bobcat" Tom showed up this morning and the foundation excavation began. I mentioned to Mike that Bob (landscaping) would like to keep all the good dirt. Tom is piling it up along the fence.

That's Mike and Morgan (next door neighbor) conversing while Tom moves earth and piles it along Morgan's fence.

I noted to Mike the proliferous sprouting of new utility flags in the front yard yesterday. Mike said he noticed that as well, but was not sure why. It turned out not to be a harbinger of any activity today, but they look very festive in the front yard.

Tom did not stay long. Gone by 1:30 pm. That seems to be it for the week. This morning, Mike confirmed he expects the foundation people will be here next week.
The back yard will look better in the future.

Basement Work Approaching Finish Line

Much to our surprise, "Pipefitter" Greg showed up this morning at 7:00 am. While we had been previously told they would not be back until Friday or even Monday, nobody, except us, seemed to be surprised that he showed up this morning. No problem, we were glad he arrived and did not break down the basement door again. It probably would have been easier today than it was on Tuesday. Greg's assignment for the day was to complete all the remaining basement plumbing in preparation for pouring the concrete, now targeted for next Monday. The largest issue for today was tying in the new 2" basement vent line to the vent line in the first floor bath. This involved cutting a hole in our newly papered walls. It is a good thing that T left this morning for Texas. She would not have liked to watch. Greg worked hard on it and encountered a multitude of problems, but he finally persevered. With the mirror in place, you cannot see the hole he had to cut. We will talk to Mike about getting it patched however. Interestingly, while the bathroom side wall is drywall, the other wall, in the butler's pantry, is lath and plaster. Obviously, an original wall.

Greg also finished removal of the cement floor below the conservatory. The ground is solid and they will pour a new floor next week.

As expected, Rob (electrical) and Frank (HVAC) showed up with Mike early this morning as well. I had a good chat with Frank. We talked a lot about the hot water system. We reviewed our current and potential future hot water demands. He now has a much better idea of what we need and will be reviewing our options. I told him that I really liked the on-demand hot water approach, but it has to deliver the performance we require. I am comfortable that Frank understands what we need and I am anxious to see the potential solutions he develops.

"Bobcat" Tom did not appear as Mike had anticipated to start the foundation excavation. Before Mike left this morning, he said he thought that Tom would be here after lunch. He never showed up. Maybe tomorrow. I talked with Bob (landscaping) and he concurred that, if possible, Mike needs to leave as much "good" dirt from the excavation on-site to support the subsequent landscaping work. 

Final note. Taking the recycle bin around front this evening I find our front yard full of yellow, orange and red plastic flags. These were placed by the gas, electric and water companies denoting the locations of their utility lines. Since these location flags are of very temporary (just a day) duration, it might imply there may be something going to happen tomorrow in the front yard. The only thing I know of, in the front yard, is the replacement of the lead water supply line. Maybe we'll see Vern (outside plumbing) tomorrow.

Tomorrow Is A New Day

Bob (landscaping) sent over the latest version of the landscaping plan. Take a look. Comments are encouraged. We live in a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5.

Today I cleaned up the basement and T and I ventured to the local plumbing supply store and purchased a dual tub utility sink. Below is the basic arrangement we are planning for the washer/dryer and new sink.

We got a call from Mike this afternoon. "Bobcat" Tom is expected to be on-site tomorrow to start the excavation for the foundations, the footings for which are still scheduled for next week. Mike also said that Frank (HVAC) and Rob (electrical) will be here in the morning as well. We have not met Frank yet, but we are anxious to do so. We had planned to replace the existing 40-gallon hot water heater (shown in the picture above) with two 50-gallon units. With the size of the house and the size of T's bathtub on the second floor (~300 gallons, full), the current 40-gallon unit is just not large enough. Two 50-gallon units will take up a lot of floor space. Frank has suggested, as an alternative, using a natural gas fired "on demand" unit. These units have no reservoir and just heat water when you need it. Very energy efficient (~94%). We have some major concerns about whether or not this unit will be able to handle the demands put upon it. Frank is envisioning this same unit will supply the required heat to the water-glycol mixture to be circulated through the sunroom radiant floor heating system. Tonight, T took a bath. We measured the fill time and the water temperature. We believe she used 150 gallons of water that was 100F in the space of 7 minutes. If my calculations are correct, during that 7 minutes, she consumed energy at the rate of 321,000 BTU/hr (cold water being at 70F). The unit Frank has spec'd out has a maximum energy input of 150,000 BTU/hr. While this is not the largest unit available (the largest shown from the same manufacturer is 200,000 BTU/hr), we have some serious concerns. Anyway, it will be an interesting discussion.

Sticky Door

Yesterday morning, "Pipefitter" Greg ("Jackhammer" John's indoor plumbing confrere) showed up. They both work for Mark (inside plumbing). After the City Inspector arrived and approved the new drain lines ($50 for a less than 5 minute inspection), Greg filled in the trench in the basement. It was nice to have that big pile of dirt out of the middle of the floor.

Greg finished yesterday's work while we were out shopping, and upon leaving, tried to force the exterior basement door shut. This door is in one of its seasonal obstinate moods, binding badly and not  wanting to close completely, making it impossible to turn the deadbolt. When it is forced to close, it does not want to reopen (I had to use a pry bar on it over the weekend). When we arrived home yesterday afternoon, I noticed Greg had not thrown the deadbolt when he left. When I tried, I could not get the deadbolt to turn. For overnight security, I barred the door with a 2"x 4" dedicated to this purpose. We slept peacefully, knowing the basement door was secure.

This morning, about 9:00 am, while making coffee for T, I heard two loud thuds from the basement. I immediately knew that Greg had arrived and was employing his "universal door opener" on, what he thought was, a stuck door. By the time I got to the basement, my door frame was shattered and Greg had a sore shoulder.

Today, Greg ran the copper water lines to the sink and toilet in the basement bath, as well as the three water lines (hot, cold, purified) and natural gas over to the south wall. These lines will pass through the south basement wall, 42" below grade, to supply the sunroom and garage. The water lines to the bath were not hooked up today since the water supply valve in the basement leaks through and we could not find the outside valve. Undoubtedly it is buried somewhere in the front yard. Since they are brazing the copper lines, it has to be dry. They will have to bring their metal detector next time to locate. He also ran a new 2" vent line to the first floor bath, but it still needs to be tied  into the vent line in the first floor bath. Finally, he installed the drain for our to-be-named new utility sink, to be located over by the washer. As he was leaving for the day, he said they would be back to pour the new floor either this coming Friday or next Monday. Still a lot to finish on this "small" portion of the overall project. They still need to pour the new floor, install the old sink and toilet, attach the vent line in first floor bath, finish removal of the floor under conservatory, pour the new floor under conservatory, remove the old tub and kitchen sink, bore the holes in basement wall and run lines to sunroom and garage. But, I guess that's all the plumbing work we are going to get done this week. A lot of this was not in the original scope for the project, and we still have never scoped the outside downspout drains. Greg did put the door back together and hung a sign saying "Knock Before Breaking Down Door".

I called Mike yesterday evening to find out if he still expected "Bobcat" Tom to be out this week to excavate in preparation for next week's installation of the foundation footings. Mike said that was still the plan, but he had yet to make contact with Tom.

I also mentioned again to Mike that he needed to make the call on when to place orders for the long lead items, like the windows and the fireplace. The quotes we have are at least 30 days old and some of these quotes have expiration dates. With Mike's encouragement, last night I sent notes to both "Window" Mike (Marvin dealer) and "Fireplace" Bobby (Lennox dealer) asking for updated quotes and asking how we could protect ourselves from price increases until we place our orders. Today I received a reply from "Window" Mike saying the quote for the sunroom windows and doors is good through the end of the year. I hope that is long enough!!!