Utility/Communications Closet

Not a very glamorous subject but a necessary one.

There are two closets behind the fireplace wall, one on each side of the firebox.  Both are accessed from the hallway on either side.  Before demolition, one side housed the old water heater and the other the old AC system.  I had hoped to reclaim both spaces for the usual closet storage by moving both the new AC and water heater up to the new mechanical deck.  The AC made it up there but the water heater had to be pulled down due the ducts taking up more space than anticipated.  It's going back into the original closet.

Oh well, crap happens.

Water Heater
To maximize the space (and because it would have been the best fit had it gone up on the mechanical deck), I bought a new 33" high 38gallon 2.5 person electric water heater.  I figure it would be sufficient for this house, and in particular me.  The previous tank was a tall 40 gallon tank so I'll not be missing those other 2 gallons.

Call me Stubby!

Since the foundation is of the slab variety I can't have the water heater sitting on the floor as there is no where for the required drain pan to drain to.  The only resolution is to raise it up off the floor on a platform of some type so WA LA.....a platform!

Raised 11.5" up off the slab

Raising it up off the floor solves the drainage problem as the drain pan can now be connected to the existing laundry drain pipe nearby.  The combined height of the platform, water heater, and the necessary space above the hot water heater for connections is going to be approximately 42".  It will be vented on the back wall allowing any heat build up to vent freely up to the cupola.  The space above it will be sealed off into a separate compartment and will serve as a communications closet

Drain Work
The existing laundry drain will have to be modified to become multifunctional handling the laundry, the new AC condensation drain, and now the emergency drain for the WH.

 The drain pipe will have to be cut off about 10-12" up from the slab with a new multiple "T" fitting installed to handle it's various connections.

Communications
The compartment above the water heater compartment will contain the communications equipment; Cat5e cable hub, Satellite/Cable TV cable hub, sound system amplifier and speaker wire hub, wireless modem, printer, additional PC equipment (if needed), etc.

I've been busy stringing Cat5e cable (blue) so each room can be hardwired to the internet via an internet modem/hub.  While wireless capability is certainly a given option and will, in fact, be present in the house, there are occasions when it would be appropriate or even required to have a hard line connecting a particular component to the internet versus the communication being open to the airwaves and susceptible to security breaches. 

Since all of the walls are open and accessible, it would be irresponsible to not take the opportunity NOW to cable each room with multiple cable drops to facilitate the potential for that need.  Each room is also being wired with white TV antenna cable, some rooms with multiple jacks for convenience.

Cat5e (Blue),  TV antenna cable (White)

Cables will terminate in at their respective Hubs

More on this later.

To-Do List Revisited

It's been seven months to the day, February 25, 2011, since I drafted my original To-Do list.  A lot has happened since then so I thought it would be fun to go back and review the list to see what's been accomplished, what's still pending, and what's changed.

Completed

ü Remove all trashy trailer paneling wall covering.

ü Drop sheet rock ceilings in all rooms

ü Remove all old insulation

ü Rework and/or improve wiring as necessary to facilitate new features or the relocation of existing services (ie; appliances, furnace/AC, etc)

ü Widen all closet openings to full width of closet

ü Redesign kitchen layout (It’s been redesigned but not yet purchased or installed)

ü Add window to kitchen

ü Relocate appliances as appropriate (I don’t have the appliances yet, but I did relocate where they will go)

ü Gut both bathrooms down to studs

ü Relocate (or install new) AC/Furnace to attic space

ü Replace solid front door with new glass insert type

ü Install two skylights (location TBD).

ü Replace all windows and sliding glass doors with energy efficient double pane equivalents.

ü Add series of small windows to master bathroom to let in natural light (added two windows)

ü Add skylight/solar tube to central windowless main bath.

ü Insulate all walls and under roof deck with expanding spray foam insulation

ü Replace exterior roof with standing seam metal roofing.

ü Demo the existing one car garage to return area to drive through carport

ü Redesign carport support structure to remove center support posts

ü Add electrical outlets around exterior perimeter

Pending

• Rework/replumb laundry facilities.
• Rework bath and kitchen plumbing as necessary
• Add exterior under eaves lighting around perimeter (I have the lights pending installation)
• Dig French drain across front of house along road to handle run off
• Add gravel or concrete driveway to carport (I have to purchase the lots on either side of the house first and have given commitment on the lot to the right of the house.  I've not yet persued the two on the left side though I know who the owners are and where they live)
• Build round exterior storage shed to stay in sync with house.  (I need and want a shed so one will be built.  It’s questionable whether it will be round or not.  Likely not but who knows!)
• Dredge creek to become full canal with seawall.  (Contingent upon the purchase of the lot to the right of the house.  The channel is dry at the moment so need to move fast on this one).
• Build new round garage also to stay in sync with house (this may be pie in the sky….we’ll see if it ever pans out).

New Items

•        Clean and level concrete floor
•        Purchase lot to the right of the house
•        Purchase lots to the left of the house

Cancelled for Cause

• Relocate (or install new) water heater to attic space

Well, that was the plan but the AC system got in the way and I had to pull it from the systems deck.  It’s going back into one of the closets and will share space with future electronics gear (multi-media/computer components, etc.)

• Consider tankless water heater.

Given the decision to not go with propane, and electric tankless did not seem as efficient as desired.  In addition, and not many people consider this, a traditional water heater provides a valuable 38 gallon reservoir of clean drinking water should there ever by an occasion where the city water supply is disrupted for an extended period of tim

• Consider installing gas lines to convert heating sources to gas (house all electrical at the moment)

Got a fireplace so heat is not an issue.  Cooking can be accomplished on a propane tank if need be.

• Plumb for Central Vacuum system

I’ve really enjoyed this feature in my Dallas house but waffled on it for this house but ultimately decided against it given the degree to which the house is sealed by insulation.  Replacement air for a system that sucks up ‘conditioned’ air and sends it out of the building one way is proving to be problematic.

• Clean and stain concrete floors (slab foundation) in lieu of any floor coverings.

I was disappointed to find the floors were too rough and uneven to stain.  Plan B will be to even them out and either tile or lay wood flooring.

An unintended consequence

I mentioned in an earlier post about my having acquired a new job in my old line of work....which I thought I would never seen again given this country's propensity for shipping jobs off shore never to be seen again.  Out of the blue one day, a former coworker contacted me asking if I was looking for work.

Well, technically I wasn't but it would have been wholly irresponsible of me not to at least consider it.  After a discussion and because I could telecommute from the property here (they're 80miles away), I accepted their offer with the proviso I could start part-time for now keeping my other part time job at the big box home improvement store.  Later as my hands on work tapered down in favor of contracted out work and my free time increased, I could opt to go full time.

What does that have to do with anything in this post?  

Well, working both jobs has been taking up a lot of what otherwise would have been free time to focus on the house.  Mind you, I'm not complaining because in this day of a recession like economy and still high unemployment I'm grateful to be back in the old saddle making decent money again.   But it's had an unintended consequence; my efficiency at scheduling of tasks has been thrown off.

Cupola oops...

I had some pending work still to complete up in the cupola at the top of the house that I didn't quite get finished by the time the spray foam insulation installers arrived.   It's minor work; the install of a second bath exhaust duct, the attaching of both bath ducts to the exterior vents I had located in the cupola, and a power outlet for the planned exterior cupola lighting.  The install of the spray foam install and the time needed to air out the house delayed access for a bit, and then there were my two income producing jobs, all of which served as a distraction to getting the task done.  

Then before I knew it, the AC peeps had arrived and started their install.  Well, it wasn't until the duct work was nearly completed that I started to realize I might have a minor problem.  Before any work began I could easily stand up with my chest and head up in the cupola air space.  But now, between the AC unit and the placement of the supply and return air filter ducts, my ability to get back up in the cupola may have been unintentionally compromised.  

There's barely any room between the backside of the fireplace wall and the supply ducts to stand up.  And on the other side, the return duct and filter box appears to have cut off access to that side.  I'm going to have to venture up there and see if I can somehow squeeze up into those tight spaces to complete the remaining tasks.  The good thing is that once that work up there is done, I should never have to go up there again.  Oh well, sometimes you just gotta have some flexibility....., figuratively and perhaps in this case literally!

Somehow I have to squeeze up in there....

....and through there to get to the cupola.

In the meantime, it's on to the pending plumbing work, framing of the hallway ceilings, and a review of my electrical work.  All this has to be done before the next big milestone; sheetrock!  Because once the sheetrock is up, I'm screwed if I left anything amiss!

Got COLD air.... Install Complete

Another milestone reached!.  The A/C install has been completed.  It took 2 full days to complete the task.  Late Tuesday saw the inaugural run of the unit before the guys knocked off for the day.  Even without the ductwork installed, it cooled the temps down quite well.  On Wednesday the wall boxes and ducts were installed.  Unfortunately, there was a design plan casualty in the process.  

To free up two full closets, my plan was to place both the AC and the water heater up on the new systems deck with the water heater being behind the AC to the left of the fireplace, however, as the supply side ductwork started to go in, it became apparent that there would not be any room on that side so I decided it could go on the other side.  No biggie, same amount of room, only on the right side.


Well, that plan went down in cold air as they started framing in the return filter box and duct.  It took up the remaining useable space on the right side of the fireplace not leaving sufficient room for the WH on that side either.    Reluctantly I had to make the decision to pull it off the deck entirely and relocate it back into one of the two closets I had hoped to reclaim.

The Return side

The Supply side

It floats!

Duct to the return filter

Got COLD air....

They inaugural run of the new AC is a success!  IT's COLD!

Will post more with pics shortly.

AC/Heat Pump System

The original system, built somewhere around 1995-ish was a 10 SEER system, not very efficient by today's standards.   It was located in a hall closet that I wanted to reclaim so the new system is being moved to the deck above the middle entry hall.

Before demolition

During demolition

The fact that the previous occupants did not regularly install effective air filters left the A-coil clogged with dust, animal hair, and who knows what else, all contributing to even less efficiency.  It must have stank too because I found a scented candle in the air intake cavity.  And finally, given the extremely poor insulation up in the ceiling, the fact that the house leaked like a sieve nearly EVERYWHERE,  you have the makings of an expensive year round heating and cooling nightmare!!

I ripped it all out!

I'm determined to rectify that because like others, I want comfort and I want efficiency and lower bills moving forward hence the spray foam insulation sealing ALL sources of air leakage and an entirely new system with fresh ducts.

The new system....
As mentioned in a prior post, the system being installed is a 15 SEER 3-ton AC/heat pump system by Carrier.  I was blown away by how big the external condensing unit is.  Compared to the old system, it's massive.  Now I like 'big' as much as the next guy but, I don't know, this seems too big.  But the installers assure me it's good.

Mama bear, baby bear

The internal unit, the air handler, is about the same size as any other other unit.  It's designed to either stand up or lay horizontal which is the option I wanted given it was going up on the systems deck behind the fireplace.  I semi-sort expected them to just throw the unit up there, hook it up, and be done.  But they actually hung it from the ceiling joists up in the cupola.

The tool box is for height and balance

The supply end and hang strap.

Hanging it gives it height for drainage.  There's  a drain pan and two drain lines, a primary leading to the laundry drain pipe and a back up leading to the outside should the primary become clogged for whatever reason.  Jorge, one of the installers told me that if I should see water dripping out of the outside drain line that's an indicator of problems and to check it out.

The other benefit of hanging it is that it minimizes noise transmission through the deck floor.  Now it has only 4 straps through which any noise and vibrations through the structure of the house are minimized.  Later in the day they installed the supply plenum.

The white stuff seals the connectors

The supply plenum has seven connectors, two large ones for each side of the great room, three smaller ones for each of the three bedrooms, and two even smaller ones for each of the bathrooms.  All seams in the plenum are sealed with some sort of mastic type sealer, and trust me, you can sure get high off that stuff if you breathe in hard enough!  They knocked off for the day after applying it.  I can't blame them.  It was pretty potent!

The new AC/Heat Pump System arrives

Fun times!  The new Carrier 15 SEER 3-ton AC/Heat Pump system arrived late today.  The installers dropped it off and will be back in the morning to start the install.  It will take maybe one day, likely two.

The brand

The external heat pump/condenser

The horizontal air handler (standing on end)

The parts

Between the higher efficiency and the closed cell foam insulated walls and roof, I'm looking for a comfortable four seasons moving forward!

Work Days; No work

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are work days on my income job so no work on the house.

Biomax finally called asking for a check.  Seems the guys were supposed to have asked for it before they packed it in and drove off but they ended leaving without having done so.  I figured they'd be calling and the did so I wrote out a check and put it in the mail.

Now that HURTS!!

Poison Ivy results

Oh yeah....and true to mother nature....I got a good case of poison ivy rash spreckled on my arms and legs, this in-spite of being covered up.

Sigh.....

Foam Install: Day Three

Thursday, Sep 15
The guys were back to finish the cleanup.  The took out six large bags of the blue open cell foam I referred to in an earlier post, cleaned up all the floors and by 1pm had left for the day and I was finally able to relax a bit..

I spent the afternoon back out working on the lot cleanup.

Funny.....no one asked for a check.

In the meantime....

Wednesday, Sep 14
Since the second day of foam spraying and cleanup was keeping me from doing anything in the house, rather than sit around all day doing nothing (like the last half of yesterday) I decided to tackle the empty lot next door, the one I'm going to purchase from the original owner.

Mary, the original owner, is in her late 60's or early 70's, lives on the next street over, and is a feisty die-hard Republican with a capital "R".  I've had several spirited conversations with her.  I'm not practiced at putting my political views to voice so it was tough to keep up with her.  The best path was to take what she says with a grain of salt, smile, nod a lot...and consider the source.  Still, I do enjoy talking with her.  She and her late husband built their house from scratch back in the mid to early 70's.  She knows what I'm going through and likes to keep up on the progress so I fill her in or invite her over on a semi-regular basis.

Anyway, the lot is pretty much overgrown with a fair number of saplings, weeds, and A LOT of dreaded now dead but none-the-less dangerous poison ivy.   I only need to get near that stuff and I break out.  I've had it before, I'm sure I'll get it again.  Call me nutz!,  I decided to take it on in-spite of the risks.

You can almost see the property line

The house next door through the brush

I spent the better part of the day and evening mowing, picking up dead limbs, raking debris, pulling down those nasty Texas prickly vines that somehow can grow straight up with little support until it snags a tree and then, if left to it's own devices, can strangle a tree.  Funny thing is though, for a vine, a good strong pull and it will release it's grip.   I've got three piles; branches, vines, leaves and other such crud.  When the burn ban is lifted, it will all go up in rural smoke.

Poison ivy.... 
I tried not to touch any of the debris piles with my bare hands, but alas, even with the best of efforts, you can't avoid mother nature!  Everything was dry due to months of no rain.  Dry means dusty.  Dusty means poison ivy particulants in the air......and now on me.  It's pretty amazing how that stuff can get at you.  It was warm so I was perspiring.  My socks, jeans got damp which in turn allowed the poison ivy oil in the dust that settled on my socks, jeans, arms to migrate through the material and .....well you get it.   I'll know in a couple of days for sure!

As the weeds and such were either mowed or cut down, the lot started looking quite presentable.  Today's progress represents only about 50% of the clean up.  There's the other half to deal with still.

Foam Install: Day Two

Wednesday, Sept 14
Work started early at 7:15am and resumed with spraying the roof deck.  I would have thought they'd start with the highest portion of the roof deck, the cupola, but quite the opposite, they started low and worked their way up.

On Tuesday, with the place sealed up with plastic, the fumes were so strong that even the installer got a little light headed and had to stop for a bit.  Today, with one of the sliders opened and my big fan in the doorway on the other side of the house, the fumes were not nearly as bad.  I could actually go inside for a minute or two.....as long as I held my breath....not easy to do for very long!

While one guy applied the foam, the other guy started the clean up which included scraping all of the exposed surfaces where sheetrock would be installed.  The areas that were hidden away and not to be accessible after the place is sheetrocked did not need to scraped of the over spray.

Part of their responsibility before spraying was to tape off or otherwise protect surfaces that were not intended to be sprayed.  That included plugs, switches, the electrical panel and my table full of tools, etc.  For the most part they did pretty good but I discovered later some things that were missed or weren't protected as well as they should have been.

This was OK, just had to get in there to flip
 some switches

 I found a couple of light switches and plugs that were missed.

Of most concern was the top 6-8" of the fireplace wall.  Apparently the plastic sheeting came down a bit and the sprayer either didn't see it through is mask while focused on spraying or ignored it thinking he could avoid it.  In either case, there some foam residue that's going to have to be wire brushed off.

My new 3-way switch!

All in all, they did a good job.

Foam Install: Day One

It was pretty hot today so I let the installers go about their business setting up and readying the house for the install which included hanging and sealing plastic sheeting over all the windows and doors and taping off all the wall switches and plugs.

I checked in on them just after they started spraying.

Right out of the gate, a problem.
The thing about self education on projects like these (and I highly recommend it) is that you can recognize when something is not right (see my previous posting about the metal roof setback).  I had done enough research to instantly recognize that the baby blue (yuck) foam being applied was "open" cell foam as opposed to "closed" cell foam.  This in-spite of my having specifically reconfirmed with the project lead (who came and went earlier in the day) that I wanted closed cell.

Allow me to digress for a moment....
Open cell foam is what most people see on the TV because it's more dramatic in how it expands.  And it did...within about 2-3 seconds of being sprayed on, it blew right up and filled the wall cavity with a soft spongy foam.  Makes for great television.  Very dramatic.

"Open" cell gets it's name from the fact that given the speed of the chemical reaction and expansion, the cells tear "open" and thus lose their rigidity and R value per inch.   It becomes soft and squeezable and allows water vapor to migrate through.  Bad news if you have a leak somewhere.  It sucks it up like a big sponge.  Usually you have to then install a plastic vapor barrier between it and the sheetrock to eliminate moisture travel.

On the other hand, "Closed" cell foam expands slowly.  It's cells remain intact, each filled with the gas of the chemical expansion reaction giving the foam maximum rigidity and higher R value per inch.  It's rigidity improves the structural integrity of anything it's sprayed on to.  In addition, it offers a near impenetrable vapor barrier effectively sealing out the outside world along with it's clammy humidity.

Back to the problem...
I immediately raised the concern that what was being applied was open cell foam.  The installer acknowledged such indicating he was just clearing the lines of some residual open cell formula and that they would remove the foam before respraying with closed cell.  Well, at least he know what he was applying.  Only problem was was that he kept spraying moving from cavity to cavity.

When he got to the other side of the living room windows, he continued to spray only this time he would spray and then grab a hand full and tear it out and then respray.  He did it a couple of times till he got frustrated and returned to his outside rig to see why it was taking so long to clear the lines.

Turns out that while he had forgotten to clear the lines from an earlier job and there was more in the lines that he had anticipated (well....it sounded good).  Eventually though, the lines cleared and the foam finally turned to the creamy white color that was appropriate for closed cell foam.  The quality of the expansion and the product itself was immediately evident.  They came back later and pulled out all the open cell and resprayed with closed.  It sure makes for a mountain of foam.

You can see the two foams side by side

Now with closed cell foam

Here's a closer view of open cell -vs- closed cell..

Open cell expanding out past the studs

Closed cell looking fairly uniform.

Tomorrow:  The roof!!
Stay tuned!