At Home In The Woods

   / At Home In The Woods #2,421  
Obed, yes constrution dust can set off the detectors as well as spiderwebs and dust. My parents had a problem with dust and spiders years ago. Unfortunately the alarms were monitored by the local FD so they had to respond to the alarms. It happened about 3 nights straight before they found the source of the problem. Why do the alarms always seem to go off in the middle of the night. :mad:

That is one of murphy's laws!!!!

J
 
   / At Home In The Woods #2,422  
"I'm hoping we don't have to do the chamber pot routine again."

Your giving me bad dreams. :)

Cary (Were in the house.)
 
   / At Home In The Woods
  • Thread Starter
#2,423  
"I'm hoping we don't have to do the chamber pot routine again."

Your giving me bad dreams. :)

Cary (Were in the house.)
Congrats Cary! I was just wondering the other day how you house build was going.

We have forecasts of a winter storm coming tomorrow then it's supposed to turn very cold with lows of 10 degrees Monday and Tuesday nights. We'll have to keep the cabinet doors open to get heat to our water lines and drip water but that still might not be enough to prevent freezing. The highs are predicted to be 25 degrees which doesn't help thawing the lines. I'll dump the black (sewage) tank in the camper tomorrow before the temp is supposed to drop. I hope the heating pad under the black tank will keep the tank thawed but don't know if it will be enough for those cold temps. Hopefully this is the last winter I will have to be concerned about cold weather.

We got insulation installed in the basement of our house on Thursday, just in time for these cold temps. I put a jug of water in the basement in the corner that is most like to be the coldest spot in the basement. I'm curious if the water will freeze. The gas has not been hooked up to the furnace so we only have the heat pump in the house for heat. I don't know if the heat pump will be able to keep up it the upcoming cold temps.

Obed
 

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   / At Home In The Woods #2,424  
Congrats Cary! I was just wondering the other day how you house build was going.

We have forecasts of a winter storm coming tomorrow then it's supposed to turn very cold with lows of 10 degrees Monday and Tuesday nights. We'll have to keep the cabinet doors open to get heat to our water lines and drip water but that still might not be enough to prevent freezing. The highs are predicted to be 25 degrees which doesn't help thawing the lines. I'll dump the black (sewage) tank in the camper tomorrow before the temp is supposed to drop. I hope the heating pad under the black tank will keep the tank thawed but don't know if it will be enough for those cold temps. Hopefully this is the last winter I will have to be concerned about cold weather.

We got insulation installed in the basement of our house on Thursday, just in time for these cold temps. I put a jug of water in the basement in the corner that is most like to be the coldest spot in the basement. I'm curious if the water will freeze. The gas has not been hooked up to the furnace so we only have the heat pump in the house for heat. I don't know if the heat pump will be able to keep up it the upcoming cold temps.

Obed

Obed,
I am a little farther south of you.. (30 miles south of Asheville, NC) and I have a heat pump..
It did not keep up last week...
and we then found out the emergency heat strips in the unit were bad...

Do you have heat strips in the air handler?
We have a 20KW heat strip.. and I think our house is about the same size as yours.

I have been thinking about what it would cost to add a gas furnace to our heat pump.... but we have to go with Propane as there is no gas service in this part of town....

Let us know how you make out!

J
 
   / At Home In The Woods #2,425  
We have baseboard stops where they are possible.

Just be aware that they are most likely NOT childproof. The little caps can usually be pulled right off and stuck in the mouth. You might solve that problem by going around and gluing them on with silicone or something (little dab in the cap and push it back on).

BTW the house is looking really great!! Given any thought to what you are going to do after you move in and the pace of life totally slows down?? :laughing:
 
   / At Home In The Woods #2,426  
OBED

My downstairs (main floor) is a dual fuel unit. I set the t-stat to switch to gas at 32 degrees. The HVAC guy had it set at 45. When we lived in Arizona all we had was a heat pump with no aux strips. It did get down into the teens at times and we were OK, maybe you will be alright. I am doing window trim and still need to do baseboard, interior doors and cove moulding, but the race is over and I can take my time. The doors are one panel solid hickory and are not pre-hung. I am going to try and make my own jambs out of some 7/8 oak that I have. The only other thing left will be the porches, which will happen in the spring. This is the benefit of being on 122 acres in Kentucky, less regulation. Everything that you have done looks great. You're getting close.

Cary
 
   / At Home In The Woods
  • Thread Starter
#2,427  
bake321 said:
The only other thing left will be the porches, which will happen in the spring. This is the benefit of being on 122 acres in Kentucky, less regulation.
Cary
Cary,
We would have liked to have finished all our porches after moving in but were having problems getting the county beaurocrats to allow it. They wouldn't let us move in without having permanent posts supporting the porch roofs. We couldn't put up the permanent posts until the slabs were poured.

We will be able to move in without finishing the main floor back porch and deck. However, we are required to barricade the door leading to the porch with wood to prevent the use of the door.

Yes, you have less beaurocracy than we. Enjoy it.

Obed
 
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   / At Home In The Woods #2,428  
I really do not care for any hinge stops, but sometimes they are a necessary evil. I've found that if they just have to be used, they perform better with one on the top hinge and one on the bottom. This helps distribute the weight and does less damage to the door. I would want rubber bumpers on anything that makes contact.

If I had floor drains in a basement or garage I would want them draining out as yours, but I am kinda surprised that you are getting away with the floor drains not going into the septic. My understanding of TN regs is that any drain under the roof of the dwelling has to run to the septic.

I knew of one guy who wanted drains in his garage so he could wash his cars inside during the winter. Codes said no can do unless ran to septic. He argued, "you mean I can wash my car just a few feet away in the drive and the wash run all over the ground but I can't do it in the garage and let it run out the drain onto the ground". Codes held their ground. He skirted the codes by installing the drains, covering with newspaper, pouring the concrete over, and chipping out the thin layer of concrete later.

Lots of changes in codes these days . . .Graywater codes allow most all but toilets and kitchen sink to go to a branched graywater drainage system that waters the yard. Arizona has the most liberal graywater code but others are not far behind. Google branched graywater system to see lots of info.

Our house in Arizona (when we get it built) will have a redundant system that allows graywater to go to the gardens or the septic with the turn of a (few) valve.
 
   / At Home In The Woods #2,429  
Our house in Arizona (when we get it built)

Man I wouldn't have one built there. They are giving away the ones already built. Many of them are brand new and never lived in. Mine depreciated over one million dollars with the real estate crash. Also if you thought OBED had to fight some subs, wait to you see one built by a bunch of illegals.

Cary
 
   / At Home In The Woods
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#2,430  

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