House Projects

I've been pretty busy lately. Here are some of my latest projects:

We can canoe in our backyard.

2-part epoxy paint on the garage floor.
(this makes me very happy!)

Complete new multi-stage water treatment system. The well water is chock full of iron and sulfur as it comes out of the ground. It takes some doing to get it cleaned up. The system came in 14 boxes and was a considerable plumbing project to hook up.

Under sink reverse-osmosis system for drinking & cooking water.

We paid to have the new dish washer installed but the guy wasn't too thorough. I had to re-do most of it.

Built a platform to get the new front loading washer and dryer up off the floor to make them easier to use. Also made a place for the kitty litter box underneath. Had to take about a foot out of the dryer duct in the attic to pull the inlet up over the deck of the platform.

This is the piece of duct that came out. It was slightly in need of cleaning!

We paid to have these delivered and installed as well. It had to do with the govt. rebate. Anyway, the guy only did half the job here as well. He didn't want to lift the units onto the platform and went on about liability and other such claptrap. Again, I had to do most of the install work myself.

Added lots of shelving to our bedroom closet.

It came with one course of shelving half way around. There was room for lots more.

Added shelving to closet of one of the front bedrooms that has become my "man cave."
Maybe I should call it the "Dan Cave."

My guitars now have a cozy home.

New handle for screen door on lanai.
Previous set-up was to reach through hole in screen to slide latch.

Hung bird feeders.
(The blackbirds had obviously shown up the day I shot this. They clean it out pretty much in one go.)

If you have good eyes, there are three feeders and a bird bath.
Well, even if you don't have good eyes, they are still there.

The Dan Cave during normal hours of operation.

Here's an unpanorama. Look at the next few shots and imagine yourself turning counter-clockwise.

The shelves and hardware to hang them used to be in my dad's office/library.
They are oak stair tread boards, which I don't think you can even buy anymore.

5 stones are from the stream bed in the Valley of Elah. Look it up!

You can probably tell I was going for sensory overload. Esther doesn't go for this style of decoration. But she gave me this room to do with as I pleased and has admirably not said a word about what I've done. The other guest room is hers to do with as she pleases and I'm keeping my mouth shut.

Speaking of Esther, here she is in her kitchen. We still don't have a stove yet, but she has been feeding me delicious meals nonetheless.

The place is actually starting to look like it is inhabited by humans and not the cardboard box creatures.

We LOVE our lanai and our view! This we feel is God's wonderful gift to us. Many a peaceful moment is spent here almost every day.

Our kitty friends are becoming more and more part of the family. They are great pals.

Garage door opener. This one has a motion sensor that turns the light on when you walk in. Cool. It's also belt driven like a new Harley and very quiet. (not like a Harley)

Where the old tank water heater used to be. (see garage photo way above) I turned the plumbing around into the laundry room on the other side of the wall. Also stubbed out for a future garage sink while I was at it since there was a drain hook up for the pressure relief overflow on the tank (not required for the new one). Getting rid of the tank will make more room for my workbench to go in this alcove in the garage.

Ta da! The new tankless, on-demand water heater. Small, uses less than half the electricity, you never run out of hot water. But there are some gotcha's. I did a lot of research and I believe I have anticipated and addressed the possible disadvantages. I will summarize all by saying, spend the extra to get a German built Stiebel-Eltron for it's superior temp control system and get the biggest one your panel will handle, at least one or two sizes bigger than the recommendation for your house.

While it uses less electricity overall, when it's on, it uses a lot more for the short time a faucet is running. The old heater had one 30 amp, 220v circuit. This one needs two separate 60 amp, 220v circuits. Check out how much heavier #6 wire is than the normal house wiring. It's a fun electrical project as well as a plumbing project!

Each of the two heating vessels needs it's own 220v circuit. If you look close, you can see leads to temp sensors on the inlet and the outlet. Also there is a flow meter. These readings are fed to a microprocessor that uses them to control variable power to the heaters. It works fantastically to keep the temperature consistent, a weakness of other units that use flow switches instead of meters and have on/off switches on the heating elements instead of variable power. The other complaint is that they just don't quite keep up. This model is the Tempra 24, the biggest one that my 200 amp panel can handle. It definitely can keep up!
Okay, more than you wanted to know, I'm sure...

Again, while I was at it, I plumbed extra bypass valves and made up some pipes to enable easy flushing of the unit with vinegar. Calcification of the internals has been a problem for some, though it shouldn't be for us with our water treatment system. The fix is regular vinegar flushes. I'm going to do it just to be safe. If these things don't get gunked up inside with minerals they can last for decades.

The next project:
shelving in the garage and a workbench/shop setup. Already been designed and materials are ready to go.