Thanks for correction Mountain Don...like I said..I am not a plumber...although the wife makes me try to be one..she makes me try all kinds of things, Plumbing, Electrical work, Roofing, painting, landscaping.....

Yea all I know about the tank and plumbing of it is what I saw on the roof...I had to climb up there to check the float thing as it was over flowing with water. The land lord wanted to know if the float was stuck before a maintenance man was dispatched...lol..man there's another woman trying to get me to do stuff I am not trained on...lol

Well have a good one!
mike

Reducing the pipe size might not increase the pressure technically but it speeds up the water making feel like a shower. I'm planing on doing a similar system with a tank on the hill but haven't started besides putting the tank on the hill. I plan to use 1.5" pipe going down the hill to try to get more power. Maybe it dosen't matter but it's better to have more water than Less I think...

If you do something like this take some pics. That toilet valve float idea sound cool. When I lived in Mexico we had a tank on the roof too, it was the water heater also

Instead of the toilet float go to tractor supply and get a brass water trough float lasts alot longer.

Thank you all for your kind comments. As for the melanoma, it went into full remission I still go in for check ups every couple months for the next 5 years to make sure it stays gone. I receive full VA care. As for the situation with my aunt, everyday I wake up to the sound of woodpeckers and watch the hummingbirds and squirrels eating from my feeders I am very thankful that things worked out how they did.

In later news I picked up a tiny little diesel generator for $300 that uses basically no fuel at all that I can charge my batteries with while im saving up for the solar panels. Were thrilled to have it as the gas generator we have used a ton of fuel. Sorry for the short reply but were headed to lowes to purchase some kitchen cabinets, a bathroom sink, and a few other things. I will update with pics soon.

Quote from: havoc on September 07, 2010, 01:50:07 PM
Hey there Jeep buddy,

I followed your thread from the link off your Jeep Forum Profile.  Just wanted to say that you have done a great job on the house, and you have a very nice looking family..and how come you haven't posted your gal on the Hottest Wife/Girlfriend thread on jeep Forum??? She's a keeper. 

AS for the house, I have an idea for your water.  I was stationed in Okinawa and when we lived off base, we had water rationing.  It was during the summer and our house could only have the water on odd numbered days.  What the land lord did was put a water tank on the roof of the house. The tank had a float valve that would stop the water from being pumped in when the tank was full. It was like a toilet tank valve. When we were on the odd numbered days our tank would fill up so that on the even numbered days we would have water.

Now where I am going with this is water pressure..with the tank higher than the rest of the house we always had good water pressure for doing dishes, showering and whatnot.  Since your already pumping water up hill from your spring, why not put your water tank up on some stilts next to the house out back. As long as it's higher than your shower head and faucets you'd have good water pressure and wouldn't have to worry about an additional pump in the house tank. You could rig the level switch to kick the pump on or off for the pump at the bottom of the hill down at the spring.  If you know anything about plumbing, I do not, or you know a plumber get with him/her about pipe reduction. I believe that you could have like a 2 inch pipe coming out of the elevated tank and then reduce it down to 1 inch at each faucet to get you even more pressure.

Good Luck and keep us posted!

Your keep buddy,
Mike
havoc64

Hey there! This is Shanes fiance 
I wanted to start off by saying thank you for the compliment, that was very sweet of you! He has put me on that thread before, but its been awhile because we dont have internet where we live right now.  I think we are going to end up having to get a cable dug down to the cabin, but we really dont want to have to do that. Weve gone so much out of the way to make the cabin off the grid i just feel that would defeat the purpose lol. Any other ideas about internet anyone?
Shane has done such a great job working on our home, im a very lucky girl to have someone so devoted to his family to work so hard like he does. Ive been the photographer for most of the projects hes been doing, but ive helped as much as I could, keeping him fed and cleaning as much as I could. We both filled in the nail holes and sanded them down before we stained the siding yesterday. Amazing how different it looks with just a little stain. We finished painting the outdoor windows today too. I cant wait to get my kitchen in, ive missed cooking! 
Anyways, just wanted to put my input on here, I know shane mostly does this thread. He really appreciates everyones advice and motivational words, makes him feel very good about all he has done! Thanks again guys!
-Lindsay

Broad band thru a satellite TV provider.A wireless internet hub thru a cell phone company,if you have service there.I have no service in the mountains of KY.Cable internet would have fastest data speeds and be a more stable connection.

Wild Blue is a reasonable satellite internet...

Oh yea, I remember the pic, Denim Skirt and Boots at the fair...(acutally I just looked it up..lol)

As for the internet, you could contact your cell phone provider. Most of them now have wireless broadband. I set up a neighbor this way. There's a router that the provider sells that has an air card slot in it. The aircard is the connection to the net like a cable would be normally.

Also a lot of laptop makers can build in GOBI air cards into their laptops. You could go that route as well.

Satellite connections sometimes need a phone line for the upward connection, so that might not be an option.  

There's also Microwave in some areas. My Aunt and Uncle use Microwave internet as they are out in the Sticks.

And your both welcome for the complements...

Happy Trails!
mike

I don't know if this might be of interest but it is a way of getting internet through the cell phone network.

Virgin MiFi - http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/more-on-the-virgin-mifi/

I have tried the internet through wireless companies. Nobody can get a signal to where we live. the nearest tower is 8 miles and because there are so many trees i cant really get anything.

Satellite companies do NOT require a phone line.  They are 2-way dishes.  They can be an easy solution.

Some used to in the old, early days of sat dish internet.

Wow!  I am glad I decided to poke my head into this thread tonight.  You move fast! 

We use a mobile broadband card in an area with horrible service.  We added a trucker antenna and an amplifier and we get pretty good internet.  Not sure if that is an option or if it is something you want to invest in only to be unsure if it will work or not.  But an idea.

Keep up the good work!

Been awhile but I have been super busy. We still need to put down flooring but here are some progress pics. We got hot water, washing machine, and everything else installed also. Here is a pic of the living room and kitchen. Cabinets are hickory with little bronze twigs and leaves for knobs and handles. any questions feel free to ask.

   Your progress is amazing!   Congratulations  . . .    Job well done!

/.

Looking awesome.Like the openess of the main floor.

Looks good.  I see a cookie jar too!!!!!  Kitchen is now perfect....

Very nice work Eagles.
Where is your stove at by the way?

Quote from: astidham on September 21, 2010, 03:44:58 PM
Very nice work Eagles.
Where is your stove at by the way?

I just installed it last night. It is on the right side of the kitchen across from the fridge. ill get some more pics.

Awesome work on the cabin! Just a note on internet service, I had HughesNet for 18 months before we got DSL and really had no problems. Had to switch satellites one time because the bird broke but a service tech came out and took care of it. Being off grid, you would not have to worry so much about the Fair Access Policy, you probably would not be YouTubing off of batteries. If you exceed your download quota, based on package, they will throttle your bandwidth down to about dial speed for 24 hours. This happened to us 3 times during the 18 months.

A few more pics, were slowing up a bit. Been spending alot of time cutting and splitting wood. Were hoping to lay the linoleum and hardwood flooring in the kitchen and living room respectively this weekend.




Hand peeled log railing I been working at.


Rock fireplace



A couple others.

Ive been following your thread for quite a long time now but this is my first post on it, so let me just say VERY IMPRESSIVE! I think you were a contractor in another life.  Great design and great execution

   You really have made this house a home!   Congratulations!

   It looks like you really have it all together . . .

   A handsome young woods-man you have there!

/.

Great job.  I would be happy living in there!  I will point out one thing, you should put something on the wall/ceiling above the stove to protect the wood from the heat.  It will dry the wood out quickly and cause it to catch fire quickly.  It may already be in your plans. 

Quote from: phalynx on October 12, 2010, 10:30:45 PMI will point out one thing, you should put something on the wall/ceiling above the stove to protect the wood from the heat.

That could be done with a metal sheet with a 3/4 to 1 inch air space behind it.   Good point phalynx.

Also that is something that should be done with the wood stove and chimney. The black pipe is actually way too close to combustible material by the looks of it. It is usually recommended that black single wall pipe be kept 18 inches from combustibles. Less is possible with heat shields or special double wall pipe. What clearance recommendations came with that wood stove? It also seems rather close to the walls which appear to be wood.     Nice looking wood though.