Guest Geckos and a fire box

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Flue

POURING THE BOX

We poured the wood stove box this past weekend. It was a long overdue event and a great milestone for the project. Never having attempted anything like this, I was nervous to say the least. I consulted everyone from concrete contractors, suppliers, radiant floor specialists, mechanical engineers, a local solar panel rep. and the code official that will ultimately pass or fail me next month. I learned more than I ever anticipated and was once again reminded of how little I know about so many fundamental things we do as designers.

We cast 2 lines of 3/8" Pex tubing inside the concrete that will distribute water throughout the box. These lines are connected to a larger line set in the radiant floor and will transfer heat from the wood stove to the floor. We want the concrete to absorb heat from the wood stove, but we don't want it to overheat. We will have two thermostats on this part of the system: one on the water as it exits, another on the box itself directly behind the wood stove. These will allow us to monitor the temperature of the water and the concrete. An expansion tank and pressure relief valve will provide relief for the water line. A digital display will provide a readout of the actual concrete temperature.
We rented a mixer to make sure we were consistent and used as little water as possible. To minimize the labor involved, we set up a mini assembly line to get the concrete mixed and in the forms without killing ourselves. I looks a little bit hillbilly, but it sure did make the job easy. Hats off to Monster truck for this one!
It's a pretty narrow form and we worked hard to make sure the piping stayed in place.
We were concerned about the dry mix not penetrating all the reinforcing and piping. We used a 1" dia. vibrator (the smallest we could find) to help us work the mix through. We tried not to over-vibrate the pour but only time will tell.
We drilled a small hole and placed a nail in it to create a cavity for the thermostat.
Later that evening we troweled the edges and covered it up to dry. We plan to leave the forms on for about 10 days. (The concrete will take about 28 days to cure.) This should give us time to complete the framing and bring in the wood stove. As I sit here blogging in my winter coat and stocking cap I dream of firing that thing up!

Ceilings, painted walls and other Winter colors

It's winter again and the days are short and cold. Most of our work is inside but there is still plenty to be done on the exterior. I finally put the metal cap on the second vent box last week. In the spring we will put the roof vents on these two boxes.
We had a day of nice weather so we clad the back porch ceiling with plywood. This will serve as a sub-base for the wood cladding we have been saving over the years. The original house has a lot of wide plank, heart pine on the walls and floor. We tried to save as much as possible during the demolition phase. If we have enough, we will use this to clad the porch ceiling.

Meanwhile, the walls were being painted inside. The front room is almost finished and should be ready for use by the end of the year. Julie's boyfriend dropped by to have a look....

Ceiling Panels

With the walls primed, we began staining our ceiling panels. Because of the cold weather we had to stain all 16 panels inside the house. We had panels drying everywhere! We are using 1/2" Sandyply plywood panels that will match the existing ceiling we installed 6 years ago. It's a lot harder to discard a piece of cabinet grade plywood than a sheet of drywall so we spent a lot of time laying out our cuts. Glen came back to give us a hand and the installation went off without a hitch.

Corner beads and Tape seams

With the drywall in place, Sam and his crew began taping and mudding. I had forgotten how drywall cleans up all the rough corners. After looking at rough framing for the last 8 months, the precision of corner beads and taped seams was a welcome addition to our little project. We haven't turned on our heat pump this season because of the dust and the cold weather was coming fast. Sam and the guys worked straight through Thanksgiving weekend to help us get ready for the upcoming cold spell.



Sam and his guys did a great job of cleaning up some difficult corners where the new house met the old.After a fresh coat of primer (yes, low VOC) we were ready for some paint!