30x40 Earth Berm Passive Solar in Maine

Started by Bishopknight, October 13, 2008, 09:33:23 AM

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drainl

Great to see all that earth against the house!  Have you decided how you're going to finish your kitchen cabinets?

Bishopknight

#501
I was thinking of painting with an acrylic base coat and glazing afterwards. Something similar to this.



Sassy

Looks like home  :)  I like what how you're planning on finishing the cabinets.  Always enjoy seeing pics of your latest progress!
http://glennkathystroglodytecabin.blogspot.com/

You will know the truth & the truth will set you free

glenn kangiser

"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

speedfunk

BK.  Just curious how things are going?  I bet since your not on computer all day you don't have as much time to post . 

Jeff


Bishopknight

#505
A propane related post  :D

Propane Install

So the LP installer was going to charge me $5 a ft for the 3/4 black iron pipe so I bought and installed the long runs myself and he did the connections. It probably cost me around $1 a ft to do it myself and I bought extra fittings which he was willing to use and save me a lot of money doing. Prior to, the propane installer told me to use a pipe compound called "Blue Magic". I'd never heard of it before. They also don't sell it at Lowes and I doubt Home Depot sells it either. I found a distributor house though that does and I bought a pint for $15, ouch. Supposedly the reason its better than the #5 stuff they sell at Lowes is that Blue Magic has teflon in it. Either way, it worked great, when the installer pressure tested the lines, we had no problems. Also, if you're running propane pipes yourself, dont worry about over tightening. He said I couldnt over tighten them with my 8" pipe wrench, he said if I had a 2 ft pipe wrench, he might be worried  ;D



Bosch 1600H LP Tankless Water Heater

Works great for 1 thing at a time. My showers are plenty hot. I did have an issue though. Showers these days come with an anti-scald device which is utilitized by balancing cold and hot water. At first, the shower wasn't hot enough. I thought it was a problem with the anti-scald device. Alot of people on the web I found had this problem. However, after some tooling around, I took off the handle water regulator and fixed it myself, which i was very proud of figuring out.  [ add picture later to show what I mean ] For a while before I figured it out, I thought I had made a big mistake buying a tankless because they dont sell shower valves anymore without the anti-scald regulators.

[addendum] Maine Rhino asked me about the low flow regulator on the shower head. I actually removed that because with the low flow washer intially in there, the pressure was too low to turn on the water heater.

The propane is never on unless the heater is on. But on another note, there was one problem. The 3/4" pex that runs over to my kitchen sink all around the walls takes about 1 minute to warm up. If I had thought ahead and run an insulated pex line under the slab to the kitchen sink, the water would be hotter much faster. I'm not saying I cant do that, but cutting into the slab is a pain. But, I may be able to cut a 1/2" channel into the slab floor over to the sink. That comes with the risk of weakening the slab though for a small section, but it may be worth it. 1 minute is a long wait.

Empire LP Heater

I think I mentioned I bought an Empire RH-35 heater on Craigslist for $160 used. It works great, unfortunately, unlike my other 2 LP appliances, it needs a pilot light but doesnt require power which is good in an outage. It does 33k BTU. I'm going to start testing it out soon to see how it does at night. The thermostat on it is terrible, its a dial with a 1 through 10 on it. So I have to basically test it to figure out what means what  ???



Misc

I bought a plugin 'Kidde' Carbon Monoxide & Propane leak detector. It was expensive but I heard some scary shit about CO and we all know how dangerous LP is so I figured its something you dont want to scimp on.


I also had to buy a pin for my backhoe tooth that fell out and some starter fluid for cold weather. I need to lube it for winter as well. Backhoe is working great though. 1 repair for $85 in a year and a half after 200 hrs of usage. Can't beat that.

Thats it for now though, I'm tiling the shower this week. I will have pics of that when its done.  :)

HomeschoolMom

Either you saw my message on facebook or you have amazing timing!

That carbonmonoxide monitor, keep plenty of 9volts on hand.  I have one just like that and it seems to go through them...which I don't understand as it is plugged into the wall?  We don't loose power too often either... ???
Michelle
Homeschooling Mom to Two Boys
Married to Jason, Self Employed

Wanting an earth bermed hybrid timberframe...just need some inheritance  ;)  Will never have another mortgage again!

MaineRhino

Looks great BK!

Are you living there full-time yet?

speedfunk

Nice, glad things are going well.  pics :)   :P


Dog

The wilderness is a beautiful thing for the soul. Live free or die.

glenn kangiser

I find some wait with the tankless anyway, BK.  Even next to it it takes around 30 seconds for the heat to get up.  Lots of metal to warm before the water.  Still pretty fast though and no problem once it's started flowing hot.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Bishopknight

LOL Dog. Ok here are some recent pics.



Just like with cedar shingle installation, I created a ledge for a level clean first row.


I bought 1x1 polished glass tile on 12x12 sheets for the accent border, then cut them into 3x12 sheets. I need to buy one more. I also use duct tape to assist where necessary.


Dog

The wilderness is a beautiful thing for the soul. Live free or die.

Dog

The wilderness is a beautiful thing for the soul. Live free or die.


speedfunk

#514
BK.  I'm jonesen for some pics man!  It's like a bad (or good ) drug habit.. :)


Jens

Quote from: HomeschoolMom on June 16, 2009, 01:29:42 PM
I am so happy to see an update! :)  Your girlfriend is a cutie and looks to be a sport about it too.  Better hold on to that one. ;D

I was going to say "hot", but didn't want to make the wrong impression BK  ;)
just spent a few days building a website, and didn't know that it could be so physically taxing to sit and do nothing all day!

Jens

this place is coming along so well!  I haven't looked in a while, good-on-ya.  Maybe Jonsey can help me with that Aussie spelling.  What's the job front like?
just spent a few days building a website, and didn't know that it could be so physically taxing to sit and do nothing all day!

Bishopknight

#517
Thanks Jens and Jeff

Ya, Gracie is a keeper :)

So I finished tiling the shower. I still need to finish the trim around the outside but its fully functional.



And lastly, I used my 'Haddon' chainsaw lumber-maker attachment to mill an 8' Ash 12" diameter tree into shelving boards. Here is one of the boards after squaring it with a table saw.




glenn kangiser

Looks like you are coming right along there, BK.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

poppy

You're a good son-in-law.  It's a pantry I presume?

Nice looking ash board.  They make good shelving.  The last time I worked with ash was back in high school while making a bookcase, which is in my study but too messy for a pic.


Bishopknight

Some new pics

Since I built with 2x6s on the south facing side, I had to custom build the jambs. I cut jamb pieces out of 1x8 pine for the windows. I formed the window sills also myself, rounded and sanded them. Then I painted everything a high gloss white. Next will be the painting of the walls. I made the mistake a long time ago of painting window sills with flat paint, back when I was a greenhorn.  d*





Also did the moulding for the doors in the master bedroom. Caulked and painted high gloss white.





Heres about a week and a half's worth of wood to heat this place right now



They're clearing the lot across the street from me, probably selling it soon.



Shot of the house right now, can't wait to do the siding this spring.


glenn kangiser

Amazing how much you have done in a bit over a year, BK.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

speedfunk


Sassy

http://glennkathystroglodytecabin.blogspot.com/

You will know the truth & the truth will set you free

cilo

Nice to see more pics, you have done an amazing job and always good to see new progress.  I couldn't help but notice the wall sockets thought, are those installed upside down or are my eyes givin me trouble.  Can't wait to see more pictures.