There are two major stories for this post. First, we had the Heart House water service line replaced. Second, I took a trip to visit Felicity and Peter in New York and worked on a number of projects for them. Here are *many* photos of these events and narrative about the projects.
We had planned to get our water service line replaced as the old line may have been lead-lined or galvanized with a high lead content. Two reasons for the replacement: Make the house more attractive (in a future sales scenario) to families with children by having lead-free water lines, and proactive replacement of the line before it ruptured.
Given the age of the lines, many of our neighbors have had leaks in their supply lines. We decided to be proactive and replace ours, knowing the insurance would not cover any cost of the project.
Pam took a few photos of the men replacing the line.
The city does not assume the responsibility of sidewalk repair, so we have asked our concrete man, who did the walk between the garage and house, to stop and give us a quote. In the short term I will see what I can do to make the walk passable.
The other “big” story was my trip to New York to visit Felicity and Peter and work on projects they wanted done. Projects included: 1. Amish-style clothesline installed. 2. Insulate floor under kitchen. 3. Build an “ice house” around incoming water pipe to keep it from freezing in the winter. 4. Repair and upgrade broken front door and convert screen door into a storm door. 5. Build a “firewood deck” where they could stack wood off the ground. 6. Cut and split some of their wood pile. 7. Try to level out ruts in yard made by construction machinery.
All this in 10 days. I did put Felicity and Peter to work where they could help.
- Clothesline construction was straight forward. Two 4×8″ poles, set about 32 feet apart, buried 2 feet deep in an 8-inch diameter hole. I used 300 pounds of Quickrete to set the poles. Once set I attached the crossbars and hung the pulleys and lines to complete this project.
The new Gorilla cart was a gift from Pam and me. Other small tools were also provided by me to be added to the tool collection.
Other projects were accomplished, most with the goal of making the house more livable. I won’t go into detail on all of them; suffice to say the home has been improved a bit. Two other projects I will mention include the door upgrades and the firewood platform.
The main door had broken glass in it, and the matching screen door had broken screening and trim. Felicity wanted me to convert the screen door to a storm door and do what I could with the main door by replacing the broken glass with plexiglass. Both doors turned out well and are much improved from the time I arrived.
The other major project was building a firewood platform where wood could be stacked to keep it off the ground. There was a fair amount of lumber on the lot, including several pieces of plywood in various states of usefulness.
I put together an 8′ x 16′ frame and used the solid plywood to make the floor. T-posts provide end points to keep the firewood from falling off the deck. In retrospect I might have done things a bit differently and used more lumber instead of the T-posts, but that may be a future upgrade.
Here the deck is finished and some wood already stacked on it.
The wood you see is mostly cord wood they bought. I did have access to a splitter and managed to process some of their wood pile, but I ran out of time and did not get all the wood split. Peter was introduced to basic chainsaw techniques and cut several longer chunks of wood into shorter pieces. For a beginner he did pretty well.
I did not get to filling the ruts left by construction equipment, but I did talk to a neighbor who has a tractor and rock rake. He will come over with the tractor and work the ruts out, so in a way I did give that project some attention.
One the way home Pam had me swing by a couple properties in southern Michigan. The most attractive was this old church and house next to it.
I don’t know what we would do with a church, but it was in an attractive area. Drawback: It is on a dirt road about a mile or so off the paved road. Very quiet neighborhood!
Also worth noting: Prior to my departure, we celebrated Becky’s birthday with a candle, pie, and gift.
Taken together, it has been a very busy and event filled few weeks since my last post. The next weeks should be somewhat calmer!
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
Busy with puppy training. Incremental progress!
Rock on.
Today’s Humor:
